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Skip Bayless dismisses Patriots as ‘overrated’ for this reason
"That would be the easiest road to a Super Bowl championship in the history of the Super Bowl, right?"
The New England Patriots are just one win away from Super Bowl LX.
But that doesn’t mean that Mike Vrabel’s team is getting love from the national media — for a myriad of reasons.
Shortly after ESPN pundit Dan Orlovsky dismissed New England’s dominant defensive effort against the Texans as a direct result of C.J. Stroud’s implosion, longtime talking head Skip Bayless is also brushing aside New England’s standing as a contender as a byproduct of a weaker schedule.
“The Patriots beat one winning team this year, Buffalo,” Bayless said on “The Arena: Gridiron” earlier this week. “I give them that, but that was only one [team]. The records of the teams they beat this year are 85-150. 85-150. Way under .500.
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And now their path to the Super Bowl is going to be Justin Herbert, CJ Stroud, Jarrett Stidham, and maybe Sam Darnold. That would be the easiest road to a Super Bowl championship in the history of the Super Bowl, right? And so I’m not sold, because this is a different beast [in Denver], even without Bo [Nix]. That’s why [Denver] has a shot, because they’re being overrated.”
Bayless is right in that New England had the easiest strength of schedule in the league at .391. However, their opponent on Sunday — the top-seeded Broncos — were second in the same category at .422.
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New England’s lighter workload during regular season play also hasn’t translated over to the playoffs — where the Patriots have defeated the 11-6 Chargers and 12-5 Texans in back-to-back postseason bouts.
Even if New England has had some fortune fall in its favor at various points this season, former Patriots and Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib pushed back against Bayless’ take that New England has been overrated all season long.
“You talk about the quarterbacks they play, I look at the defenses they play,” Talib responded. “Beat the Chargers defense. That’s a good defense. Then they beat the [expletive] out the Texans defense, if they beat the Broncos. … and then if they beat Seattle and that Seattle defense, that’s the opposite of … you have the easiest quarterbacks and the hardest defenses in NFL history.”
“I’m looking at it like, defense wins championships,” Talib added. “And you beat all those guys. I’m looking at the opposite of you. So, man, I think that’s a damn good football team. I don’t give a [expletive] about no schedule, you beat who they put in front of you. … They’re a [expletive] great team.”
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Maye and the Patriots will have another tough test on Sunday, as Denver ranked fourth in the league in points allowed per game (18.9) and fifth in yards allowed per contest (287.7). They also recorded a league-leading 68.0 sacks in the regular season — 11 more than second-place Atlanta.
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