Perfect Patriots’ latest victory comes with some painful truths
Dion Lewis on the ground after a suffering an injury against Washington.
COMMENTARY
The Any Given Sunday axiom remains catchy enough to have become both the title of an entertaining football movie and something of a secondary NFL slogan. Either “We Make Football’’ or “Bow Before Goodell’’ is the primary slogan. I can never remember which.
The enduring idea of Any Given Sunday — namely, that any team can beat any other on, you know, a given Sunday (or Monday or Thursday) — has real estate in fans’ consciousness because often enough, it proves true. In the NFL, which is structured to promote parity and thus some semblance of true hope in the hearts of every potential purchaser of a $125 replica jersey or a personal seat license, perceived subpar teams defeat perceived superior teams with regularity, something the Denver Broncos found out Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis. It’s a perfect marriage of business model and slogan. It’s peak NFL, really.
Which makes it all the more remarkable that Any Given Sunday doesn’t apply to the New England Patriots, and has not save for the very rare occasion for the better part of 15 years. The Patriots have not missed the playoffs since 2008, when Tom Brady’s season ended halfway through the first quarter of the first game. That is also the last season in which they did not win the division. The Patriots have won every other AFC East title since 2002, an extraordinary accomplishment that barely draws acknowledgment because of the team’s countless other extraordinary accomplishments, especially the ones that end with confetti and parades.
Much to Goodell’s chagrin, I’m sure, the Patriots tend to turn the Any Given Sunday model upside down. There are teams that aren’t going to beat the Patriots without drastic and possibly illegal measures. That may sound arrogant or smug, but sometimes the truth is most effectively delivered that way. Any hope of an underdog upsetting the Patriots in a you-never-know-in-this-league moment is usually summarily dismissed by Brady and his brothers in the huddle, most often by proving an opponent’s hope to be false and misguided by way of a double-digit margin on the scoreboard in the first quarter.
That’s how it went down Sunday when the 7-0 Patriots hosted the 3-4 Redskins, the former being 14-point favorites entering the game. Lo and behold, the Patriots owned a 14-point lead 10 minutes and 30 seconds into the game. It may not have been the blowout on the scoreboard some of us (ahem) expected; there were no flashbacks to the 45-point throttling of Joe Gibbs’s team in 2007. But there was no suspense or drama, either. The only given on this Sunday was that the Patriots would prevail with ease.
That was a Just-Get-Through-It game, a fairly uncomplicated win that one can only hope does not complicate the big plans of the future with important personnel losses. You always hope the Patriots make it through 60 minutes of the NFL meat grinder as unscathed as possible. Sunday, unfortunately, the Patriots were scathed somewhat.
The offensive line, already a makeshift lot, lost tackle Sebastian Vollmer to a head injury. That meant Bryan Stork, the stellar second-year center who was making his season debut, had to play right tackle, while Cameron Fleming, who began the season on the practice squad, became the fourth left tackle charged with protecting Tom Brady’s blind side. They did the job well, as Bill Belichick’s players almost always do no matter their names and responsibilities, but the attrition is nearing a tipping point. The Patriots are one more twisted or torn limb from sending out an SOS for John Hannah.
Dion Lewis, the shimmying third-down back and one of the feel-good stories of the season so far, hobbled off with a knee injury. So too did emerging third-year safety Duron Harmon. No franchise epitomizes the do-your-job mindset better than the Patriots — you may recall that an undrafted rookie cornerback saved the Super Bowl last year. No franchise is better prepared for the season’s cruel but inevitable attrition, either.
Their quality depth is one of their most subtle and yet crucial advantages. The next time you hear some screaming ninny on the radio howling about how the Patriots won’t pay premier free agents (aka free agents said screaming ninny has actually heard of), remember how the Patriots always seem to have more useful, bright, well-coached players ready to step in.
Of course, there is not an endless reservoir of talent ready to draw from. At some point, as the injuries mount, you end up with situations in which Matt Slater is suddenly an appealing option in the passing game, or wide receivers are moonlighting as defensive backs out of necessity and desperation. The Lewis injury is a bummer if he’s out for a significant length of time, and Vollmer’s absence would be a difficult blow to overcome because of his experience and the scarcity at the position. But all it takes is one look at the list of available players in your fantasy football league — a list headlined by superstars whose seasons were abbreviated by injury such as Jamaal Charles, Le’Veon Bell and Keenan Allen — to appreciate that the Patriots have been relatively fortunate with their superstars and essentials.
If the Patriots are to repeat as Super Bowl champions — or even stage a legitimate defense come January — Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski must remain healthy. Brady’s open-field tackle Sunday after his interception was terrifying, and I cringe whenever Gronk is in the open field and some T.J. Ward wannabe lunges at his legs, as Dashon Goldson did at one point Sunday. I don’t even want Gronk spending his snow days anywhere near Ndamukong Suh.
There are other players who are or are nearly indispensable. I’d put Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins (who missed Sunday’s game with an illness), Devin McCourty, Julian Edelman, and Butler in that group. Maybe your list would be slightly different, but the point remains the same: The Patriots are a fearsome and electrifying 8-0. It’s a joy to watch them play each week, reigning champions who seem hell-bent on collecting another Lombardi Trophy from Goodell — and refusing to bow, of course.
And yet, when you see someone like Lewis limp away, don’t you wish they were just a little bit deeper into the season, that the playoffs were nearer, that there were a few less games for everything to be put at such risk? After all, the only thing that can slow the Patriots right now is the sport’s steep and relentless physical toll, one that is paid one way or another every given Sunday.
Chad Finn can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeChadFinn.
PHOTOS: New England defeats Washington
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