So I guess any questions we might have had over how the Patriots would respond to an emotional and contentious offseason have been answered.
The Pats haven't just been the best team in football. They've been dominant to the point of making these games non-competitive. The gap between them and everyone else appears so wide that you wonder if anyone can close it.
When the Pats play allegedly good teams (the Steelers), they make it look like chess vs. checkers. When they play bad ones (the Jaguars), they don't even punt. Alleged division rivals (the Bills) are embarrassed. The Pats have outscored their opponents by 49 points on the season (119-70), a total that is misleading on the low side due to all the garbage-time points they've allowed. The Pats at one point led Pittsburgh by 18, Buffalo by 24 and Jacksonville by 31 -- all in the second halves.
And, as hard as it is to believe, the Pats schedule has actually been tough by NFL standards. Their opponents have a collective 5-4 record, with Pittsburgh and Buffalo each looking like legit contenders when not facing the Pats.
By comparison, the other dominant team in the NFL so far has been the undefeated Arizona Cardinals, who own a ridiculous +77 point differential through three games. However, their opponents have been winless New Orleans, winless Chicago and the woeful 49ers (1-2).
But we'll leave the NFC to the side for a bit. Maybe Arizona is as good as their results indicate and Green Bay certainly has to be considered a legitimate threat on the basis of its quarterback alone. And Seattle lurks as well. (I'll eat my hat if either of the two undefeated teams in the South, Carolina and Atlanta, do anything in the postseason.) The gap between the Pats and the best of the NFC may not be as wide. Get back to us in February on that one.
The AFC is another story. No one in the improved AFC East is going to touch the Pats. The South is an ungodly joke (if the playoffs began today, the 1-2 Colts would win the division) while the North just lost its best player, Ben Roethlisberger. The West has 3-0 Denver, which owns a tough defense but a quarterback who can't throw in cold weather and is now having trouble in warm temperatures, too.
New England Patriots
Cincinnati? Once again, the Bengals own September, but when it comes to their postseason chances only one reaction suffices: Brawhahahahaha. The not-ready-for-prime-time Bengals are 0-6 in the playoffs under Marvin Lewis. They've been outscored in those game by a margin of 158-74, an average margin of defeat of 14 points. The Bengals don't just lose in big games; they don't show up for them. And no amount of early season victories will change that. If Cincy comes to Foxboro in January they will get slaughtered.
So who are the threats? Normally I'd say the Ravens, but at 0-3 their season may be over. The Colts gave up 33 points to a rookie quarterback (Marcus Mariota) yesterday; what would that total translate to versus Tom Brady? We'll find out in three weeks (If you think the Pats have been running up the score so far, you ain't seen nothing yet). I like the Jets, even after their loss to Philadelphia, but not against the Pats. That one isn't close. Pittsburgh? Need to know more about Roethlisberger, but even with him on the field the gap is too big.
As it stands right now, one of the few interesting games remaining on the schedule seems to be the same one we've hung our hat on for years: Brady vs. Payton Manning. The Nov. 29 matchup comes in Denver and, on paper, could have huge implications for home-field advantage in the playoffs. Regardless of Manning's postseason history and recent lack of velocity, you have to respect how he's gutting out and winning these games. He's doing it on toughness and guile. Unfortunately for him, he's probably going to have to win nearly every game the next two months make the Nov. 29 matchup as meaningful as it could be. Hard to imagine the Broncos and keep up.
In the meantime, the focused Pats and their hyper-motivated quarterback get to spend some time on the beach (or in Brady's case, the gym) this week. The rest of the NFL better hope there are no more league investigations during the break.
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