The New England Patriots have now won 6 Super Bowls since 2001.
Simple, concise, a model of success. In the NFL, there is no other parallel, and if you look closely, although the other four major sports have some worthy challengers, this run takes the cake.
Reports are surfacing this week that Tom Brady has a knee injury that is significantly setting him back. Brady was listed on the injury report prior to the Jets game last month, and reporters are citing certain film as evidence that the injury is effecting his gameplay. Brady has played throughout injuries his entire career, and as much as we joke about the TB12 method, we have to acknowledge that he is one tough SOB. I do not expect Brady to sit due to this injury, but at 41, can we expect him to play around it to the level the Pats need to make a playoff run?
It’s getting painful for this Patriots die hard fan, and it’s time to start getting brutally honest. I held out saying this following the Miami game, because I liked what I saw there. Sure, the Miami Miracle was horrible, but Brady played his best game of the season, Gronk looked like his old self, and Edelman was making great plays. After today, I cannot defend this team for what we expect it to be: a Super Bowl contender; that alone means something is wrong, and at 9-5, assuring we will not win at least 12 games for the first time since 2009, it’s officially time to say something is wrong.
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If you noticed it under a flurry of penalty flags, the New England Patriots beat the New York Jets yesterday, moving to 8-3 on the season.
Sometimes there’s small moments that occur in a game that end up making or breaking an entire season, a moment where a team either finds its way, or completely loses it. It may end up being inconsequential, but to me, the Patriots found themselves yesterday.
I just want to make something clear REAL quick. The definition of “trouble” for New England is unequivocally different than anywhere else. Since Tom Brady started his first game for the New England Patriots in 2001, the team has only missed the playoffs twice, and in one of those years (2008), Brady was injured in Week 1, and did not play the rest of the season. That’s 15 playoff appearances in 17 seasons.
Another way of looking at it? In that same amount of time, the Buffalo Bills have made the playoffs once, and lost their only playoff game in the Wild Card round.
Nevertheless, after losing 34-10 to the Tennessee Titans, things are not going as good as they should, and I think it needs to be talked about.
Hold My Drink 