50yrpatsfan

The Patriots haven't been great running the ball, but have been great moving the ball. The Bills are not going to slow them down. A snow game had me worried but that looks like it'll be over hours before kickoff. NE will score in the 30's. On D they'll focus on Cook and Kincaid, and force Allen to find his WR's. They held Cook to 49 yards the last time and feel they can do it again. Force a few punts and this game will be theirs.

Not looking for anything, and not predicting anything about the Bills who are still a dangerous team. But you can't let that poster's dumb comments to stand unchallenged. He's in the minority here and everywhere, on just about every point he made. Nobody has a crystal ball, but NE's game at Baltimore and the rematch with Buffalo will say a lot. But just last week they beat a comparable Tampa team away, so I'd expect them to compete well in those 2 games.

First of all, McDaniels is no joke. He's got the best resume for an OC probably in league history: 3 SB wins, 3 SB losses (one where Brady threw for 500 yards), 175 career wins as an OC, 18-8 in the playoffs, at 49 years old. Receivers running wide open all over the field every week. Yeah he sucks. Vrabel's career record as a HC is 63-47, 2-3 in the playoffs, and by all accounts a natural leader. Having a bunch of 30-ish starters is great for January football, it's exactly why the Pats went out and got those guys. And Milt Williams turned his ankle, he'll be 100% within 2 weeks. What is this "tape" you speak about? Is that what's causing DC's to get ulcers each week as they get a look at Maye? Physical? Do the Bills look more physical than this NE team, now or when they lost to the Pats?

They won the SB vs the Rams in the 2018 season, went 12-4 and lost a 1st round playoff game to Tenn in 2019, went 8-9 in the Covid year with Cam Newton, went 10-7 and lost a 1st round playoff game to the Bills in 2021, went 8-9 in 2022, 4-13 in 2023, and 4-13 in 2024 Tossing the covid year aside, they've been mucking around at the bottom for 3 seasons (Belichick's final 2 + the Jerod Mayo year).

If the Bills win the rematch with NE and they end up with the same record (both possible), then the loss to Miami costs the Bills the division, assuming NE beats the Jets twice and Miami at home in December (which is likely).

That's how we felt about Allen when he started. Mainly the FA class and draft class they had - 16 new starters. Plus new competent coaches, Maye ascending, and an easy schedule.

Watch him and you'll realize he's already as good as Burrow or Herbet, and he's 23 and still on the rise, and he's surrounded by a very good OC & HC as well as improved OL and weapons. NE's schedule has been crazy favorable, but Maye's talent is undeniable and he's in a near perfect situation for success.

The Chiefs don't look like a SB team this year, and could easily lose their next 2 games (at Denver, vs Indy) which would put them at 5-6 with the Chargers and Denver also left. They could miss the playoffs. But if they squeak in at 10-7 and NE continues to play well and is say 14-3, I'm taking NE.

It's not just Vrabel, McDaniels, and Maye's rise. It's the 14 new starters (rookies and FA's) at LT, LG, C, RT, RB, WR1, WR3, NT, DE, 3 LB's, FS, CB2 - plus CB1 & stud DE returning after missing last season. 16 out of 22. Plus new TE2, FB. WR5, K. There's only 6 guys who played a big role from last year's team who still play a big role. New coaching staff, 16 new starters, a couple of new execs in the front office to assist Wolf. It's like the team plane crashed and they started over.

This thread has aged well. NE is effin good.

omg this is the worst take in the entire thread. Only a matter of time before you walk it back. The Patriots as a team are still a bit of a question mark. Maye isn't, already a top 4-8 talent and rising. In no way does he resemble Lawrence. His closest comps are Herbert and Allen.

The odds are that NE is gonna win the division. They're solid, not falling apart, and the Bills have a much more difficult schedule. The rematch in Foxboro should be very interesting. Everyone knew that KC, Buffalo, and probably LA would be in the AFC hunt, but nobody saw Denver, Indy, or NE. It's a 6 team race. Probably Indy gets the 1-seed, they also have a favorable schedule.

Maye is for real, can make every throw, runs very well, good awareness, mature kid. He's already as good as Herbert or Burrow, all 3 are clones. But you can't really judge much from beating up on Tennessee, they are terrible. The next 3 games are Cleveland, Atlanta, Tampa - all good defenses. NE's OL is spotty, the RB's are below average, WR's are average. If Maye plows through those 3 in a similar manner then you'd have to say NE is a threat in the AFC.

Maye will never be Allen, he's not as physical or as fast a runner, and that's what separates Allen. Maye's play style and talent level are that of Justin Herbert, those 2 guys are clones. Last night he rose to the occasion and made many big plays in the 2nd half. I think he was 13 of 14 for 188 yards with no turnovers or bad plays in the 2nd half, as the game went back and forth. Numerous 20 yard plays. It was a clean, excellent performance.

We tried to tell you guys that the Patriots were playing pretty solid football and it wasn't gonna be a runaway, that even we couldn't believe how much better they looked compared to the past two years' 4-13 teams. And that was before seeing Diggs go off last night for the first time as a Pat, and the rookie kicker hitting a 52 yard kick with 20 yards to spare in the clutch. Rugged defense, new OL, Maye arriving, excellent coaching, very favorable schedule. They are indeed back.

"Inferior" is in the eye of the beholder, and most observers of last night's game would say that these two teams are more or less equal. NE actually seemed to have the slight edge in all 3 phases.

NE's putting up more than 17.

Yeah, the reason they lost that game was they coughed it up 5x, including twice inside the Steelers 2 yard line and another as they were moving toward the game winning score. But the point was that under McDaniels they're moving the ball much better than we've seen the past couple of years. How that looks in Buffalo is of keen interest to Pats fans. Nobody's really expecting a win, but a competitive 31-27 type of game is very possible. We feel like we have our QB, the OL is now fairly solid, and all the coaches are good. No QB runs like Allen. Maye has speed but he's looking to avoid contact. Maye's arm is good but a rung below Allen.

Reid calls the plays so he's the OC, not sure what Bienemy did. Shanahan the same thing. Belichick focused on defense, McDaniels ran the offense and called the plays. Even after Brady, he made a washed Cam Newton and a rookie Mac Jones look pretty good. He's failed twice as a HC so he's not good at that, but he's as good as they get at OC, top tier, very underrated, and the MVP of the Patriots so far this year. Maye looks pretty good but the OL-TE's-RB's are average, the WR's are below average, yet the offense moved the ball very well the last 3 weeks. The Steelers game 2 weeks ago was impressive, and we now expect that they'll do the same at Buffalo.

Wave your hand all you want, those are the facts. If you want to credit it all to Brady, then credit it all to Mahomes. Plus look at some of the other years in the 2010's when NE didn't make the SB but led the league in offense. McDaniel's record is unbelievable.

McDaniels is a 3x SB winning OC, plus a 4th SB where the Pats had 600 yards of offense and they lost. He's tied with Andy Reid as the most prolific OC in the game.

Carolina ran all over the Pats on the first 2 drives of the game, then were shut down almost completely with everything they tried. Pats also shut down the Steelers run game the week before and held them to 200 yards total offense, which was more impressive. In their first 2 games vs LV and Miami, they got run on pretty good. They have a very good front 4 of Barmore, Tonga, Milton Williams, and Harold Landry (none of them played last year for NE), and good depth rotating in. They're a real team compared to the last few years. Will likely win 9-10 games.

Think Justin Herbert. 6'4, big arm, accurate, athletic, mobile but not a runner per se. He's playing well, partly his own improvement and partly due to 4 new offensive lineman and a great OC.

Nobody really knows how good or bad the Patriots are at this point. They're a lot better/more competent than the past couple of years, which isn't saying much, and they should be 3-1. Maye is good, the OL is almost all new and significantly better, the DL can rush, ST's are doing their job. Josh McDaniels is a top OC and has the offense looking like a pro operation despite no explosive weapons. I think NE will possess the ball and score on the Bills, and Diggs & Hollins will be factors. How well NE can defend Allen is unknown. If the Pats don't turn it over and can keep the Bills in the high 20's, then an upset is within the realm.

NE is better everywhere. They should be 3-1 but blew the Steelers game with 5 turnovers, two of which were inside the Pittsburgh 3 yard line. Outgained them 400 to 200 and lost 21-14. The defense has been getting after the QB with Barmore, Milton Williams, and Landry, and the Pats' top corner Gonzalez is back after missing the first 3 games. The offense is playing good football for the first time in years. OL is solid so far with 4 new faces. The run game hasn't been great but better the past 2 weeks. Weapons are better all the way around, not great but effective. Diggs has been making plays and being a solid citizen. Love what Hollins brings. But the main thing is Maye and Josh McDaniels got it going. Maye is very comparable to Justin Herbert, and extremely similar playing style. The Patriots look about ready for a game of this magnitude.