mannc

Hardman is a very experienced NFL return man…

Spagnolo was also a terrible head coach…absolutely meaningless when discussing his ability as a coordinator.

Tua, maybe. Herbert, absolutely not. He’s never won anything, despite having been surrounded with a talented team most of his career. He’s never come close to winning 9 games in a row, or being the leading MVP candidate.

Allen has had bad games here and there, but he has never meaningfully regressed, at least until Joe Brady got his hands on him…nor has Mahomes ever regressed. Regression is what happened to Mack Jones, Carson Wentz and CJ Stroud…Jordan Love is a current candidate…

There are definitely plenty of Pats skeptics out there, I’ll give you that.

Every QB does not regress. Allen didn’t, Mahomes didn’t, Brady didn’t…and I could keep going. Comparing Maye to Tua or Mack Jones (or even Herbert) is ridiculous. None of those QBs ever played near the level Maye has this year.

On DraftKings, Chiefs have the best AFC Super Bowl odds, followed by Indy and then the Bills, but NE has much better odds than the Bills or Chiefs to land the number 1 seed.

Remember, they’ve got Codrington sitting on the 53 and inactive every week…he’ll likely be released. Hardman takes his place.

I doubt anyone thinks Maye has “overtaken” Josh Allen (I’m not even sure what that means), but he has objectively outplayed Allen through the first 10 games of the season. There are lots of possible reasons for that, but it’s an undeniable fact. Of course that could change, and I’m sure Josh will return to form, but there’s no real reason to think Maye is going to suddenly regress. It seems more likely that he’ll continue to improve.

In what sense are the Pats “not a very physical football team”? They have the top defense in the league vs the rush…everything you’ve written is just projection and wishful thinking. All of the older guys you’ve mentioned have been healthy this year and their experience will be an asset in December and January…

And yet the Pats are getting better as the season goes on…there’s been plenty of tape on Maye for a while now…curious what part of “NFL history” you’re referring to, because that’s not much of an argument…

Pure wishful thinking. There is absolutely nothing about the Pats to suggest they will fold in December and January, other than the fact that they have a young nucleus, but they also have an experienced, cagey headcoach and an OC who’s won multiple Super Bowls…

Losing to the Chiefs in the playoffs every year is one thing…getting bounced from the AFCE by the Patriots is another thing entirely…it’s a huge wake-up call. I expect the Bills to beat Tampa on Sunday, but if they don’t, it’s gonna get ugly. This has been a bad week for Brandon Beane, but a loss to Tampa, followed by a Thursday trip to Houston, with a top 3 defense, is gonna make this week look like a picnic in the park.

Maye’s salary bump won’t kick in until the 2028 season. The Pats have a long runway….

Saying the Pats won’t go on a playoff run is just wishful thinking. They aren’t a soft dome team like Indy. They look to me like they are more than capable of winning playoff games.

Looks like a catch to me

According to gambling sites , Bills have a 12% chance of winning AFCE…you can win a lot of $ if you’re right….Bills have to win AND get some help.

How could I forget?

Who is Mathis? And is Cam Lewis the random practice injury for this week?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team where so many players regressed so badly from one season to the next: Milano, Rapp, Bernard, Johnson, even Benford…unprecedented. All under 30, too, except Milano…

To be ranked lower than Taylor Rapp…is really something. You’d have to be seriously injured or not even trying. Or both.

With their schedule, and the way they are playing, NE has to be considered the favorite to end up with the 1 seed. As you point out, the other 2-loss teams have MUCH tougher schedules, and both look somewhat fraudulent. NE seems to be getting better and gaining confidence.

The Bills have played pretty poorly in about half their games this season. KC game was an outlier…not to say they can’t turn it around, but if you think it’s all good, then you’re just kidding yourself. To me, the most obvious difference is that (other than QB sneaks) Josh Allen designed runs have been removed from the playbook. Defenses no longer have to account for him as a runner and that’s taken away a huge advantage…there may be good reasons for this, and maybe it returns in the playoffs (if any), but it’s a pretty stark difference from years past.

My memory may be a little off, but this seems like a carbon copy of the situation two years ago that got Dorsey fired: A seriously flawed offensive system gets figured out by the rest of the league and runs into a wall. If we see something similar vs Tampa, I don’t expect Brady to survive it.

Cook didn’t get many carries because he was getting stuffed every time they ran the ball and it was putting them behind the sticks in a game where they trailed from the beginning. People don’t want to admit it, but Miami has a pretty formidable front seven vs the run. It’s their DBs that are awful and we couldn’t take advantage.