Hey, nobody's perfect twice: Pats to go 12-4
On Pro Football
Hector Longo
The National Football League succeeded again in keeping Bill Belichick up late at night.
Blessed with the easiest schedule in the NFL (record-wise 99-157) thanks to six AFC East gimmes and rotating through the dregs of both the NFC and AFC West, the Patriots got hammered by the league with one of the most physically taxing slates a team could endure.
Five night games on national TV with three on the road, plus two back-to-backers on the West Coast will force Belichick to split his time between coach, travel agent and chief motivator.
Will this team make the unorthodox move and stay in California the early October week between the San Francisco game and the San Diego game or will the club fly coast-to-coast-to-coast-to-coast-to-coast, all in an eight-day span?
How about in December when they play at Seattle on the 7th and Oakland on the 14th?
Belichick has a lot more on his mind than the upcoming draft (April 26-27) and the impending June free-agent signing frenzy.
Taking all the factors into account, the Patriots will take a giant (oops, sorry folks) step back toward the pack, coming off the perfect 16-0 regular season. It says here New England will be human and will be beaten four times, a solid 12-4 campaign.
Week 1 vs. Kansas City: Belichick introduces the nine-man front and dares the Chiefs to pass. They can't. Damon Huard can't. Brodie Croyle can't. And Len Dawson and Joe Montana aren't walking through that door, fans. Pats breeze, much to the glee of the Foxboro faithful.
Week 2 at New York Jets: Belichick makes pregame announcement that jobs will be lost if Eric Mangini's hated crew ends the Pats' regular-season win streak (by this game it's 20). Fear and rekindled "Spygate" talk are exceptional motivators. Pats dominate green team and move to 2-0.
Week 3 vs. Miami: Vegas puts out an NFL record 35-point line and the Pats cover easily, causing another uneasy confrontation between on-again, off-again pals Belichick and Bill Parcells.
Week 4: Bye, bye, bye. Too early and at just the wrong time.
Week 5 at San Francisco: All the momentum gone, with the Pats looking ahead to a week in wine country and next Sunday's meeting with Shawne Merriman and the boys, New England finally loses a regular-season game, its first since December 2006. Haverhill's Duane Carlisle has the 49ers in the shape of their lives. Alex Smith returns with a vengeance. The Niners stun the slumbering Pats, who fall to 3-1. The murmurs about an underachieving Randy Moss begin to simmer.
Week 6 at San Diego: The NFL should be ashamed of this kind of scheduling. Toppling LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers under these circumstances is a humongous task, one an aging linebacking crew can't handle.
Week 7 vs. Denver: Gone are the days when the Broncos were a team to fear. Mike Shanahan rotates through the downward coaching spiral. And the Pats get back on the right track with a stumbling win.
Week 8 vs. St. Louis: Sandwiched between the Monday nighter with Denver and the game of the year coming next week at Indy, this would, in the past, scream out "trap game." The Rams, 3-13 a year ago, would fit in nicely with AFC East bottom-feeders: Miami, Buffalo and the Jets. Pats sleepwalk, but prevail rather easily.
Week 9 at Indianapolis: Belichick's defense simply can't stop the Mannings when it matters. Still, it's the game of the year, a Sunday night shootout and a wonderful preview of the AFC title game.
Week 10 vs. Buffalo: Talk about the right time for a run through the AFC East. Buffalo is the perfect elixir for a drained team needing a waltz or two.
Week 11 vs. New York Jets: When is a rivalry not a rivalry? When the Jets stand no chance of beating the Pats on any given Sunday. Another miserable performance by a divisional foe turns into a laugher.
Week 12 at Miami Dolphins: By now, Bill Parcells has plotted the course back to respectability for Miami, but there is much work to be done. Expect Miami to close fast, like Parcells' 1993 Patriots, but savvy New England snatches the win away late from the hungry, young fish.
Week 13 vs. Pittsburgh Steelers: It's not quite December (Nov. 30), but the Pats hit their prime at just the right time. Tom Brady outshines Ben Roethlisberger in a game which has to be changed to a nationally televised night game by the NFL. Stick a fork in the Steelers. Any Bill Cowher-era momentum is wiped away for good here.
Week 14 at Seattle: If the Patriots do one thing well, they unmask cowards and frauds. The Seahawks are both. Belichick has his team thinking this could be a possible Super Bowl matchup, and the New Englanders play like it.
Week 15 at Oakland: Laurence Maroney obliterates the 1,000-yard rushing barrier for the first time in his career. The ridiculous Raiders offer little resistance in a December yawner.
Week 16 vs. Arizona: The Pats pay here, at home, for all the traveling. All I can say, is let's hope this one doesn't cost the Pats home-field advantage in the AFC title game or, even worse, a playoff bye. Matt Leinart puts the beer bong down long enough to lead the Cards to the cusp of the NFC West crown with a win. They clinch it here in Foxboro, by waxing a weary group of frequent flyers, who are coming off their fourth West Coast game of the campaign.
Week 17 at Buffalo: A post-Christmas yawner. But why not find a way to get the momentum flowing toward the playoffs by assaulting an overmatched J.P. Losman? The Bills are weak and meek, falling to the Pats, who lick their wounds with a playoff bye.
So what does 12-4 get you? It gets the Patriots right where they want to be, owning a playoff bye and remaining home possibly right through the AFC title game.
Accept the four losses, folks As we all found out in February, nobody's perfect.
http://www.eagletribune.com/pusports/local_story_107002906.html?keyword=secondarystoryI don't know which is funnier, the loss to the 49ers or the Falcons clinching their division in Foxboro.