May Day 10

While Im conditioned to not touch the hot stove, I'm actually not so sure this time. Objectively, I would rate them as the 3rd or 4th weakest playoff team ahead of the Eagles, Bills, and maybe the Vikings and Texans, and they likely wont play any of those. They havent gotten to a Super Bowl in this Brady/Belichick era without a 1st round bye. Their whole formula is based on the bye week for rest and planning (sometimes even being able to lay off the gas in week 17), then hosting a game (where they have some unexplainable home record) against a team they should beat. Followed by hosting another team, or going on the road with a puncher's chance with coaching, Brady, cheating, luck, etc. Then the Super Bowl with 2 weeks planning/coaching, Ernie Adams, etc. Their two most important offensive players, Brady and Edelman are old, beat up, and desperately needed a week or even 2 off. There is no Gronkowski who seemed to be the one to really bail them out of trouble when they needed it the most (like yesterday). Tennessee presents their worst match-up in the AFC outside the Ravens. Even if the Patriots win, it will be a street fight and they will be limping even more to face a rested KC or Baltimore away from Gillette Stadium. If they win that, they will likely face the other one in the AFC Championship Game on the road. That is a lot of ifs to come out in their favor, and that is before facing New Orleans, San Fran, Green Bay, or Seattle in the Super Bowl. It is impossible to overstate how bad this loss was for the Patriots' Superbowl hopes.

I cant find it now, but someone made a long and well thought out post about how being a fan has been eroded, and nobody cares about winning a Division title anymore. Nothing matters until the AFC Championship Game and everyone have been spoiled and now entitled. Back before this, they would kill to have won a Division and host a playoff game, and now it is like the end of the world and people wishing their own owner is jailed.

Apparently they have a group of fans they refer to as "Garoppolites", and they are "coming out of the woodwork"

I got stuck in the worm hole of reading that forum. There are a wide range of reactions ranging from sheer panic, wanting to run brady and belichick out of town, to defending and making excuses for brady, to expecting them to waltz to another super bowl. I think i would be worried if i were a patriots fan. During this 20 year run, they are yet to make a super bowl without a bye and hosting at least a divisional round game. Its part of the formula. Brady is 42 and seems to want big money and there seems to be some sort of divorce coming up. If not, he is 42, starting to break down, and seems to require an all-star cast as well. Edelman is breaking down, and gronk is sipping margaritas somewhere. There is little in the way of an heir apparent at this point. Would it be bridgewater? Newton? Not really too terrifying. They have a lot of aging pieces with a poor 1st round draft pick, no 2nd, and dont forget about the spygate 2 thing which could bring more sanctions. You have an afc east where 2 or 3 of the teams may have their stuff together for the first time in forever. They are not going to catch the bills sleeping any more, and flores looks like the mcdermott bills circa 2017.

Its finally happening!

This has probably cut the patriots' afc championship chances by more than half. Probably increased the likelihood of a brady divorce or something else major too

Im in shock at the patriots' meltdown

I think the titans would probably win. New england desperately needed that bye. They cant score on their defense and henry is going to run for 150 yards

IMO tennessee is a nightmare scenario for the pats.

Botterill is trash. Melon head has had 3 offseasons and they are still worse than they were under bylsma/murray.... and that is with a priming eichel. What a disaster this guy is

I saw the article in TBN right around the Dallas game and he was already angling about the Bills using his likeness and all that. Was a bit annoying. At least contact the team or something and see if you can finagle something out of them. Dunno. Passes, season tickets, a scripted appearance in a new commercial, team merch, or whatever. If he thinks he is positioning himself for a big payout or something, he is just going to humiliate himself and make people dislike him.

its not very disappointing to me they used the video

It just defies logic. A pudgy, unathletic nobody qb out of michigan goes on to this kind of career.... only spectacular because he "watches film" and is prepared? "Guesses" correctly out of the blitz like 95% of the time. 20+ game win streaks, edelman and brady like 42-1 at home (because those 2 are juggernauts i guess). This run of dominance does not make sense. Because they "prepare?" The fact that anyone out of belichick's coaching tree almost instantly becomes a clueless toad. These things that dont pass the smell test, along with all the allegations, and blatant cheating and lying (the slimy way they handled deflating footballs, nfl destroying spygate, etc) really adds skepticism Its because they "pay attention to detail"? No other team pays attention to detail? The patriots have been drafting poorly but dont pay a price? Still 13-3 or whatever.

The worst nightmare is we get a tedy bruschi game part 2

Loved that weird theilen off tackle run

Cousins is really terrible

That intentional grounding needs to be revised in the offseason IMO. Brady is the master at it, but it is really permeating through other QBs. It is pretty clear when a QB is between the tackles and 'turfs' the ball intentionally with no intention of completing a pass.

Fuller is key for them beating the Bills TBH. Without Fuller, the Bills have the upper hand IMO.

It was a smart move and an attempt to gain sympathy and/or sell it as a 'mistake'. The Patriots do the pick all the time and dare referees to call it. If the call is blown, a TD there means the end of the game and the Pats cruise to a victory. What annoys me is the 'all american', 'do everything the right way' mantra that gets levied on the Patriots all the time by the media. BS. Edelman is the most HGH hopped up, Oxycontin-fueled mess of a person, and he wont live to see his mid-50s. Who knows how Brady transformed from a pudgy reject from Michigan into this ESP-possessing QB (and apparently the only one who has discovered watching film which explains away the uncanny ability to "guess" correctly 98% of the time).

Buffalo 66 isnt exactly complimentary to buffalo, but its a fantastic movie

As far as mocking people for wanting coughlin here... Yes, i would have liked it. This franchise needed to be dislodged from brandon and whaley in the worst way. They were the "football minds" and ownership was inexperienced and continued a chronically dysfunctional front office full of 'lifers' who didnt football very good. Marrone's resignation was a powerplay to cleanse the football dept and he was correct. It turns out that McDermott was the guy to do just that, and i would rather have him and his culture than coughlin's culture from the 60s. I would still take coughlin-caldwell-marrone over brandon-whaley-whatever coach wants a job bad enough to work under those 2.

Yup, and id still take him over russ brandon and whaley

yeah, there is almost no way either team moves on at this point. I think we could almost lock Burrow in Cincinnati

Obviously, his 100-6 or whatever record and 6 titles in DIII was the main driver. I think he is good for UB. Even with the tough losses, this was a very impressive rebound off of last season's attrition and stumble out of the gate. Making a Bowl Game 2 seasons in a row is a program first. They are lined up to be a serious MAC contender for 2020. If they can be right there every/most seasons, that is great.

I like the train horn, to be honest. The sound of it is programmed in my brain to mean 'Bills game'. My kid will play Madden and I hear it and it brings me into the stadium. The shout song is a wild/funny tradition. It would be cool to have some sort of hype-song right before the 4th quarter. I think we would have trouble agreeing on what that was though. "Courage..." by the Hip would be awesome. Kickoffs would be cool to have something else perhaps. Seven Nation Army is unoriginal and we were very late to that party.