This years Pats defense is one of the best ever

[Sam Mills Fan]

How many points would Luke Falk and Josh Rosen have put on us? How many times would we have picked them off? I'm not impressed in the slightest. They play the Ravens in a couple of weeks, get back at me if they're doing this to them.

[Moo Daeng]

1 minute ago, Wolfpack352 said:

My gosh i hate the patriots so much!!!!  Really hate them!  It ticks me off that they are pretty much always making the playoffs due to the teams they play twice a year as pointed out by others.  Come on...If the panthers had to play Bills, Jets and Dolphins every year we'd be golden!!  Having said that yes I admit the patriots are still a great team, they got their Bleep together!  Brady is KING at throwing the ball hitting his WR in stride!  Still hate him tho!  

Hard to complain about the teams they play in their division when they roll to a SB win regularly.

[Wolfcop]

My FF defense - yes they are dominant so far. I still don't have to like them, though. 

[Black&BlueBubba]

Damn. I think they 0 blitzed 90% of the time against the jets just daring them to beat them deep.  
 

They blitzed the hell out of us in preseason also.  

[Captroop]

1 hour ago, Wolfcop said:

My FF defense - yes they are dominant so far. I still don't have to like them, though. 

Same. Leads to this really uncomfortable cognitive dissonance. I detest them, but I keep having to root for them to continue to demolish teams.

It's like a season-long, shame-filled, hate fug.

[countryboi]

Meh They are feeding on bad teams, I think they are a great defense but i just dont think they are historically great. 

[Khyber53]

Let's see them against some real competition. They've benefited for two decades by being in the NFL's weakest division by far and they managed to feast on six cupcake teams and a very young Bills team.

It's way, way, way too early to crown them. Imagine our guys if they'd had that same schedule...

[uncfan888]

2 hours ago, Moo Daeng said:

Hard to complain about the teams they play in their division when they roll to a SB win regularly.

Not really. Homefield advantage is massive in the playoffs and it's nice to have 6 free wins every year because your division sucks

[Happy Panther]

Good teams should beat bad teams. But NE is destroying bad teams. I don't see much that suggests they have lost a step.

[JARROD]

Fact— the Patriots do have a great defense right now. I watched them defense pass after pass, some of them decent passes but they had great bracketing and good plays on the ball—

facts— yes they haven’t played the great teams this year so it’s difficult to know how they stack up with the good teams and historical teams.

fact— the Patriots have a dynasty that’s only matched or rivaled by Green Bay’s in the 60s and was in a completely different era. As far as the modern salary cap, modern rules that keep changing year after year—- they just keep finding ways to change with them and winning.

fact—- we all are so sick of them winning all the time and have Patriot fatigue so anything we can say or see to minimize just how good they have been the last 20 years is an absolute must.

just facts. People hate them, but they do keep winning.

[MVPccaffrey]

They've spent a decent amount more 1st and 2nd round picks the last decade on defense than offense, and it's paying off.  Same philosophy that Gettleman haters critiqued, even when pointing to NE as the model franchise.  Hmmmm...

[SCO96]

11 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

A great D greatly aided by playing straight trash competition. Their always horrible division deserves a decent amount of credit for their dynasty.

Gotta agree with the last sentence.

I believe it was Bill Walsh that said "Beat the teams that you're suppose to (the bad ones) and go .500 against rest". If you are a solid team, that should put you in playoff contention every year.The Patriots have won their division every year for a decade and the AFC "Least" always seems to be composed of bad teams.

 The last time they didn't win their division was the year Brady go hurt (2008); and they still managed to finish 11-5 that season. That doesn't say much for the division as a whole. I think the best QB they faced in the AFC "least" for the for the past 15-20 years is Chad Pennington, a solid, not great QB, who had a career derailed by injuries. The division title win every year guarantees at least one home playoff game. If you can win 12 per year that almost guarantees a bye week. If you beat the 2nd best team head to head or get a tie break you're home for the playoffs. I can't recall the Patriots ever having to start the playoffs on the road for the wildcard round in the Brady/Belichik era.

That fact that they won SB"s and the AFC 3 other times proves that they are always solid, but I can't help but think having to play an extra game in the WC round, or less AFC title games at home would have made things a lot tougher.

 

 

[LinvilleGorge]

Just now, SCO96 said:

Gotta agree with the last sentence.

I believe it was Bill Walsh that said "Beat the teams that you're suppose to (the bad ones) and go .500 against rest". If you a solid team, that should put you in playoff contention every year.The Patriots have won their division every year for a decade and the AFC "Least" always seems to be composed of bad teams.

 The last time they didn't win their division was the year Brady go hurt (2008); and they still managed to finish 11-5 that season. That doesn't say much for the division as a whole. I think the best QB they faced in the AFC "least" for the for the past 15-20 years is Chad Pennington, a solid, not great QB, who had a career derailed by injuries. The division title win every year guarantees at one home playoff game. If you can win 12 per year that almost guarantees a bye week. If you beat the 2nd best team head to head or get a tie break you're home for the playoffs. I can't recall the Patriots ever having to start the playoffs on the road for the wildcard round in the Brady/Belichik era.

That fact that they won SB"s and the AFC 3 other times proves that they are always solid, but I can't help but think having to play an extra game in the WC round, or less AFC titles at home would have made things a lot tougher.

 

 

Yeah, I mean to be fair I don't hold it against them. It's not their fault that their division is a total dumpster fire year in and year out but it's a helluva advantage to get a cakewalk into the playoffs every year.

[MVPccaffrey]

1 hour ago, SCO96 said:

Gotta agree with the last sentence.

I believe it was Bill Walsh that said "Beat the teams that you're suppose to (the bad ones) and go .500 against rest". If you are a solid team, that should put you in playoff contention every year.The Patriots have won their division every year for a decade and the AFC "Least" always seems to be composed of bad teams.

 The last time they didn't win their division was the year Brady go hurt (2008); and they still managed to finish 11-5 that season. That doesn't say much for the division as a whole. I think the best QB they faced in the AFC "least" for the for the past 15-20 years is Chad Pennington, a solid, not great QB, who had a career derailed by injuries. The division title win every year guarantees at least one home playoff game. If you can win 12 per year that almost guarantees a bye week. If you beat the 2nd best team head to head or get a tie break you're home for the playoffs. I can't recall the Patriots ever having to start the playoffs on the road for the wildcard round in the Brady/Belichik era.

That fact that they won SB"s and the AFC 3 other times proves that they are always solid, but I can't help but think having to play an extra game in the WC round, or less AFC title games at home would have made things a lot tougher.

 

 

How do you square this with the fact they have run roughshed over the rest of the AFC in the playoffs for more than the last half decade?  One loss since the 2013 season.