136.6 decibelsFollow

Well, yeah. It's more a statement about how bad the division is than how good the Patriots are that they will likely win it. I expect them to be out in the first round. Their only chance is if Gronk can come back and stay healthy, which he doesn't exactly have a history of.

So kind of like a middle eastern league?

I wouldn't count on it. We are in deep **** already with TWO division losses.


I didn't harbor any delusions about this season. It is stupid to believe All Day is going to get 2k yards per season every season. We don't have a respectable vertical game and as a result opponents have absolutely zero reason not to stick 8 men the box.


-NW

Probably, but I changed my mind last night and decided this is what XFL truly needed. Real football, too. And soccer, baseball, rugby, chess ...

There's definitely potential there.

This is one of those cases you don't mind being a little behind the curve.

Random Sunday football thoughts:

1) The Panthers were under-rated, they do seem to have a really nice defense put together down there. Or maybe the Giants just really suck, suppose it could be both, but those cats haven't allowed very many points this year.

2) It'll be interesting to see how these read-option QBs adjust to everyone having figured out their tricks. Guess we see who is actually any good, and who just rode the new trick to a nice contract.

3) For all that "Pats are terrible this year" commentary I heard, they're still on top of what's looking like a tough division this year.

4) I'm not sure any of the pundits, columnists, etc can really identify which teams are any good and which teams aren't prior to the rest of us. It's like if there isn't 5 or 6 games on record for the team everyone is just guessing. It's hard to tell the difference between 2 good teams playing and two mediocre ones then? Beats me.

The AFC East is not a tough division. The Jets are terrible and the Bills are still a mess. They may be good in another 2 years. Miami's half decent. Winning at home versus a banged up Falcons team doesn't make them a contender. I'm a Dolphins fan, but I'm not blind.

And the Panthers aren't underrated. Their play calling is horrendous. The make tons of mental mistakes. They're poorly coached. Like Detroit.

The Dolphins seem like the only threat. We'll see how they hold up. NYJ and BUF look like cupcakes.

Given that people were putting them among the worst teams in the league following their 0-2 start, I'd say they were definitely underrated. Not that they're amazing or anything, and really not even play off material. Still appear more like a team that would be chasing a .500 season rather than one chasing the first pick in next year's draft. Average, not terrible.

But yeah, there's some questionable decision making going on there.


Edited, Sep 23rd 2013 12:04pm by someproteinguy

Internet hotheads of course, but them too.

SI had them at 30/32; bleacherreport.com had 31/32. Which seemed really odd at the time, since like you say there's quite a bit of talent on that team, if they could just get them all moving the same direction.