5 reasons to remain confident in the Patriots
COMMENTARY
The New England Patriots are 2-4 in their last six games.
They’re doomed, right?
Not quite.
Even with deficiencies on the offensive line and a sputtering rushing attack, the Patriots should still be considered one of the favorites to represent the AFC in Super Bowl 50. We’ve seen them overcome adversity to reach to the biggest game of the year before.
Still, injuries have the Patriots looking less like the juggernaut that ran the table in the first 10 games of the season and more like a team that could be on the verge of an early playoff exit. Despite recent struggles, there are a handful of reasons fans can remain confident the Patriots will make another deep playoff run:
1. Tom Brady: The Patriots’ quarterback is just a year removed from one of the best playoff performances of his career: He went 93-135 passing (68.9 percent) for 921 yards (6.8 yards per attempt) with 10 touchdowns, four interceptions and a 100.3 passer rating last year. The Patriots ran roughshod over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game, but Brady carried the offense against the Baltimore Ravens (14 rush yards) and Seattle Seahawks (57 rush yards).
It’s safe to say Brady is going to have to work that magic once again if the Patriots are going to advance. The Patriots’ running game has been inconsistent at times and nonexistent at other times this season. It’s less likely that the Patriots will suddenly discover their running game, and more likely Brady will get red hot in the postseason.
2. Return of the wounded: The Patriots missed out on the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC, but they still earned one of the two first-round byes in the conference. That gives them an extra week to get as healthy as possible ahead of the divisional round.
Left tackle Nate Solder, running backs Dion Lewis and LeGarrette Blount, and defensive tackle Dominique Easley won’t be making a return; but wide receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, linebacker Dont’a Hightower, and offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer should be back for the playoffs. Can those four players provide the spark for a championship run? It’s possible we’ll find out.
3. Bill Belichick: One person who can definitely help a team lift the Lombardi Trophy is Bill Belichick. Thankfully for the Patriots, they don’t have any injuries at the head coaching position.
Playoff football is different from the regular season. Mistakes are under a much bigger microscope. In the A Football Life documentary, Belichick famously said, “One stupid play, one stupid penalty, one mistake, ends it for all of us.’’ Belichick can’t control everything, but he is a master of preparation and of limiting mistakes.
Belichick also always seems to have a trick up those cut-off sleeves, as we saw last year with the formations making uses of different eligible/ineligible receivers to confuse the Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts. There was also the double-pass from Brady to Edelman to Amendola.
Given all the Patriots’ injuries, Belichick might have to get creative if the Patriots are going to advance in the playoffs.
4. Elite defense: The Patriots’ defense has had to do some of the heavy lifting lately while the offense finds its bearings. It’s a good thing that unit has stepped up in such a big way this year, despite all the prognostications of doom with cornerback Darrelle Revis taking the first flight out of Foxborough to join the New York Jets last offseason.
This year, the Patriots’ defense finished with 49 sacks on the season, the second-most sacks in the league and the most by the Patriots under Belichick. The addition of defensive end Jabaal Sheard and the renewed focus on a talented front seven helped this defense rank in the top 10 in scoring, yards, and against the run.
Add Hightower back to that mix and the Patriots’ defense could be a force in the postseason — just as it has been throughout the regular season.
5. The AFC landscape isn’t that daunting: Every team in the playoffs has its strengths, but none of them has a reason to believe that the Patriots are incapable of beating them.
Yes, all five other teams bring a legit defense to the playoffs. In fact, they all rank in or around the top 10 in scoring (Pittsburgh ranks 11th), and most of them rank in or around the top 10 in yards as well.
But if the Patriots’ offense begins clicking once again with the return of Edelman and Vollmer and with Amendola back to 100 percent, the other offenses in the playoffs could have a hard time keeping up. Just look at the rest of the quarterbacks in the playoffs:
Denver Broncos: Peyton Manning/Brock Osweiler
Cincinnati Bengals: Andy Dalton/A.J. McCarron
Houston Texans: Brian Hoyer
Kansas City Chiefs: Alex Smith
Pittsburgh Steelers: Ben Roethlisberger
Roethlisberger and Manning are the only formidable names on that list — and the latter isn’t very scary if he’s playing the way he did during the first 10 weeks of the season (59.9 percent completions, 2,180 yards, nine touchdowns, 20 interceptions).
Each AFC team poses its own set of problems, but none of them are head-and-shoulders better than the Patriots — even with all of New England’s injuries and deficiencies.
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