Success

They keep making the Brady comparison - both the media and Pats fans. The main comparison is that he's a dink & dunk game manager at this stage of his career, which is what Brady was at a similar time. And these Pats remind a lot of fans of the 2001 Pats - more defensive oriented, with a QB who doesn't make mistakes and can put a few points on the board. But to go from there to thinking that it's a natural progression to best QB in the league, GOAT and HOF is kind of a stretch. This may be as good as Mac Jones ever gets (and that was the assessment coming out of college - most pro ready, but lowest ceiling).

Man, I hope so. If we don't at least split w/ them this year, it will be a trying situation for me. Could be good for gummy & beer sales, though.

Sometimes, w/ this offense, I think it wouldn't be such a bad thing to not have homefield advantage in the playoffs.

Looking at wikipedia, it might have been. It looks like he was their singer at the time - I really had no idea that I might have seen Dio in my life! I only got into stuff like that much later. At the time, I was a kid and REO was my favorite band - Rainbow was their opener, which seems strange now on a few levels. War Memorial in Rochester. I just remember going in and thinking "who is this Rainbow band?," and being pretty blown away by their set. REO was pretty great, too. That was more in their rockin' days, and I still think Gary Richrath is overlooked/underrated whenever people talk about guitarists.

I'll tell ya - and I've said this before - but 20 years has done a # on me. I'm working through a ton of Patriots issues these days, especially w/ all of the hype after a much-needed 1 year respite.

I just know that Blackmore was playing guitar. I had no idea who he was at the time, but was certainly impressed by him & their set. It was '78...Bonnet maybe?

Man, some seriously good 1st shows here - Queen, Simon & Garfunkel, Iron Maiden, AC/DC. I wish I could have seen Queen back then. I still look up clips on youtube - one of the best live bands ever. Mine was kind of meh. REO Speedwagon, with Rainbow. At the time, however, I was blown away.

I figured we'd be in better shape at this point of the season. The team hasn't left a lot of room for a margin of error. We all hope that Jags debacle won't come back to haunt them. Good & great teams are allowed a mulligan, but that was a biggie. We've basically lost all 3 "had a chance in the last couple of minutes" games we've had. Those are our 3 losses. The rest of the games were all fairly easy wins (Miami #2 was closer until the end). We're going to have more close games in the next 2 months, and it's gonna be crucial that we win those & balance out the "close game" record more.

Man, with the Pats winning, the heat is ON! I'll take it. I was kind of hoping we could have a few years of "owning" the division easily, but for old timers like me, it's fun to have big division rivalry games coming up, too. It's been awhile. If we're the best team, we should still get the division title. It's that simple. I think the Pats need to sweep us if they want to take it (as long as we take care of business against teams like the Colts).

Watching Mac yesterday, it's pretty clear what he can do, and what he can't do. I don't think he'll ever come close to taking over a game like Brady & the best do. And the athleticism/escapability will be a major liability with even a good O-line (the Pats right now have one of the best). He would likely have twice as many sacks taken as Allen if he started behind this Bills line. He's smart, and goes through his progressions - which is big for a young QB. He's a great QB for Belichick. Perfect for how he gameplans, and they can win a lot of games w/ that combo. Once BB moves on? Probably not nearly as much of a threat. It wouldn't shock me if we were more concerned about Wilson in the division at that point. Enough of the hype, though. There is nothing too special about him, except that he plays for the best coach.

I can't help but feel for guys like that. It's a bit like Norwood - those "so close" moments that don't pan out. I'm sure athletes are wired differently, but I'd be a mess w/ stuff like that.

They could have had the next Matt Ryan. Who happens to also be playing tonight.

Jones is too overhyped. ESPECIALLY by this announcing crew. Game manager - at least so far. I would have taken a good game manager at any point during the drought, but it's not fear-inducing.

Hey! This thread got a mention on one of the Pats boards. Apparently, we're having a meltdown. I'm always melting down. So, there's that.

Teams self-destruct against the Pats. Every time.

Brilliant throw by Jones! To a receiver that had no one within 10 yards, while he had all the time in the world in the pocket! The next Brady!

Objectively, in 2 full decades, I have never seen a NE game where I felt like they got the short end of the officiating.

Everyone on the Patriots does their job. You could almost make that kind of a slogan for them.

This game is going to be aggravating to watch, isn't it?

It should be the blueprint. I feel like O-line should be our strongest unit now that we have Allen at QB. Protect that man, and he'll make things happen.

Folk is having a year. Of course, he's no Tyler Bass.

Did they just say BB is going to be coaching for a LONG time?

In all of the NE games I've watched - I almost never see anyone get pressure on Jones.

I wish they'd make him throwing the phone on the sideline in the 2nd game against the Bills last year part of the montage.

Fair enough, and if I overreacted, all apologies. We really only have 2 Pats fans who post here (that I'm aware of), and I appreciate the contributions generally. Sometimes I see what I'd call humble bragging, but it's actually kind of challenging to be objective when it comes to anything Patriots or Patriots-fan related these days. 20 years is a long time, and most Pats fans that I encounter in real life become like cartoon characters when the conversation moves into anything sports-related. I have no real reason to doubt what you're saying. In general, I'm tired of the Patriots, I'm tired of BB, and I'm already tired of the Jones hype. It colors my POV.