P Riv

Its year three for Allen with all the "weapons" he needs to succeed. Its make or break time, hopefully he's "the guy". Otherwise, this whole thing just goes sideways and sets the franchise back again. That, and looking to next year... NE will get back 8 players that opted out and has a ton of cap space. We have to win the div this year in order to be competitive next year also. If NE wins the Div this year, next year will be even harder for us. Just sayin

So you're saying Fitz plays two lights out games in a row at NE? Last Sep's match up of these two was 43-0 NE, with 130+ rushing yards and seven sacks. Nice idea you have, maybe hoodie shows up drunk without pants and it happens.

Sounds awesome, I'm seeing this though: Its going to be a dogfight and I think we split with NE, I don't put any stock in them falling off a cliff without Brady. At least not until it does, 20 years of waiting makes me hesitant.

He's a workhorse, somebody will snap him up in a "prove it" year.

Newton is just saying he's not up to starter standard of knowing the offense, it has nothing to do with the QB "competition". The competition is over, the learning curve is not and thats the take away.

So we're the preseaon fav to win the division with the worst back up QB situation... I don't like it, def going to cringe every time Allen gets hit or runs.

Its impossible to predict. NE is trying to build a run first team with a tough D, then ask Newton to manage the game and make plays with his legs when things break down. IF that happens they will be tough. IF we stay healthy, we will be tough. Just have to remember that we have a QB who likes to run, which puts him at a much higher risk of injury. Add in the COVID issue and this season is a total wild card and could turn on us in a heartbeat. No way to predict anything, we could have a battle of the back ups come November....

If Newton goes down, the plan will be Stidham. He's a total unknown at this point, so its tough to have an opinion. All I could get from articles was that he made strides in the offseason, made quicker reads and has a "live arm" but threw alot of ints in camp. None of that adds up to much. Newton being healthy and picking up their offense is noteworthy.

What? Who did we lose to??? lol

Newton is the starter, Stidham will be the back up and then starter if Newton struggles or gets injured. Hoyer will stick around due to COVID.

I didn't check the schedule, so that later in the season match up is good for us (injuries pending of course). FB for them looks like that German dude, forget the name (Jakob...?) with a couple of their TE's as H-backs. Their run game works very well with a FB, doesn't work without one as last season showed. They lost both FB's to injury last year, guessing that doesn't happen again.

Great analysis, but I think you are overlooking how Belichick goes about the match ups. In number 2, their "system" is to adapt to the strengths of the players they have. Cam Newton is a completely different animal than Brady, so their "system" is going to be a pretty much unknown to us and will give them an advantage. They have loaded up on RBs, FBs and versatile tight ends. My guess is that they play ball control to protect that young/rookie linebacking corps until they can acclimate. Also, defensively the Pats have loaded up on the personnel they need to negate our strengths. They have possibly the best secondary in the league and they have athletic guys on the edge to go along with big D linemen. Looks to me like they will double Diggs, contain Allen in the pocket and force him to hold the ball. We'll have to run effectively against them or somehow be unpredictable. I agree that it looks like a split with them (at this early point), likely close games, down to the wire.

Totally agree with the OP. We really do need a veteran QB as a backup/insurance, but also as a mentor to the young guys. This is pretty standard across the league since there really was a league and I think the Front Office is taking a risk when they really didn't need to. Could be a major eF up.

Interesting, it would bring back a legit AFL vs NFL flavor and might be a nice change.

Miller is just quality depth and a slightly different skill set than Michel. Michel is very average without a FB as demonstrated last year, but Miller can be decent as a single back and can catch. Michel means run usually, White means pass usually, Miller means either one is equally possible and is likely why they picked him up. That offense that everyone seems to think was very average last year managed to score over 30 points seven times, also take into account all of those injuries they had late in the season. I expect them to morph into a different beast this year, be effective and score more points than people are expecting. There are three phases of the game and their Special Teams are usually near the top of the League. Their Offense will surprise people and their D will likely be solid, so I expect a legit fight for this Division and they will not mail it in...

We need to win it first, just think how they'll be if we don't.

Beginning to look like this could be a lost season, delayed start-early end, etc. Either way, we are a strong young and upcoming team and the timing just royally sucks. The Pats will get a year off to transition from Brady while we stand idle. ?

Worst case is the season gets called off in the middle of it due to COVID concerns... As I look forward to beating the Pats, its really not a big issue. We shouldn't look at beating them on the way to a SB any different than they looked at beating us. If we're better than them, why make a big deal of winning games we SHOULD win.

IF...there is a full season its going to be really different to say the least. The COVID issue may just decimate any team at any given point in the season for 2 weeks at a time. Maybe these are the smart guys by opting out now. Pats are now F'd as it looks at the moment, but tomorrow could change everything. Going to be a wild one.

The Patriots were 10-1 in November last year before injuries took out both of their fullbacks (which limited their run game) and effected their entire WR corps. Harry was injured 1st half of the year, Edelman was banged up Nov-Dec, Sanu was a gimp, their TE group was a no show and they were forced to use a LB for a FB in spot duty. There is no way we can predict how that offense will look based on how the season ended. A new QB for them and injuries will change their line up and ours. What does stay the same are the coaches and experience, so this "The Pats will get the benefit of the doubt until someone (Bills hopefully) can take the division from them. They still have Belichick, a strong defense, and now Cam." Belichick brought the Browns to the playoffs and won with Testaverde, went 11-5 with Matt Cassel. So, food for thought... Another spot to watch is their ROOKIE kicker. #4 is a best case if everything goes right for them, #10 would be more realistic.

The sad fact is that flopping, lobbying the refs for calls, theatrics, etc. are gamesmanship and thats an additional skill set that players develop over time. Its part of the game within the game and it does influence the game sometimes.

Talk is cheap, I don't see it happening.

If you look at the stats, the Bungals dominated: https://www.footballdb.com/games/boxscore.html?gid=1989010801 Their defense was underrated, they held the Montana led 49er's to 13 points through 95% of the SB. In our case they were playing at home and we weren't the 1988 49ers. If the game was at Rich Stad, different story.

I think they sign Joe Thuney to a long term deal and add a mid tier OL or DL free agent for depth. As for the season and SB contenders, etc. this year is a total wild card due to COVID in my honest opinion. Any team can be decimated by positive tests at any time and lose half their starters for weeks at a time. I think its going to happen to some team, maybe a few teams and it will effect the season. So add COVID to the usual injury gamble and this division is potentially anyone's. NE has the best coach, staff, facilities, etc. which in times like this is a significant advantage. I look at Newton and don't compare him to Brady, I immediately think of how Belichick was able to make Testaverde a pro-bowl QB after his disastrous start in TB. They're going to be solid on D and special teams, run the ball and put their QB in a position to manage the game, which I think Newton can do. Worst case for us is all of that works, Newton is healthy and mobile and NE avoids the injury bug. I think they will be a different animal this year and last year is no predictor.