Do you see that word in there? “Alleging”? Do you know what that means?
Call me impressed with Lamar Jackson.
Do you think there’d be a different outcome in their record of they played the Chiefs, (old) Steelers, Ravens, etc twice a year?
The Pats always compete. And they always do crap like picking up a receiver like Sanu mid-season. I just wonder how things would play out if they weren’t guaranteed a division championship by winning nine games.
If it wasn’t for the B S tuck rule game nobody would ever even have known who Tom Brady was.
I’d imagine … but I think a lot of their success had more to do with the combination of Belicheck, Kraft (ownership), and the lightening strike that is Brady more so than their division … if you move that culture and combination of people anywhere else in any division I think you get similar results within a smallish margin of error
Think of their playoff record over the past 20 years … still phenomenal against the best the league had to offer
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I think “greatest quarterback ever” in the NFL is a tough argument. In baseball, individual stats like OPS, HR, etc… are pretty independent. In fact, baseball is called “an individual sport disguised as a team sport”. Mike Trout is clearly the best player, even if he can’t will his time to win because he only hits every 9th player.
In the NBA, there is a bit more “team”, but still individual players are pretty system-independent and one player can instill their will on the game. Give it to Jordan every time. Let Magic bring it up to set up the offense every time. Etc…
In the NFL, it is the most system-dependent. I obviously think Brady is an all-timer, but is he better than Aaron Rodgers, for example? Brady is awesome at being the head of a great team, and is calm and makes few mistakes. But Rodgers (and, for instance Mahomes) can take a team on their back and win single-handedly. I wonder how many others could have succeeded in the Pat’s system. Again, don’t mean to detract from Brady, but he is in a spot others don’t get to be.
One argument (especially in football) that I think is lame is Superbowl wins. So, all a QB can do is help put points on the board. If you put your team in position to score, and your kicker misses a 45 yard FG and you lose, are you a worse QB? If you put your team up with 2 minutes left, and the other team drives and scores a game-winning TD with no left are you a works QB? No, of course not.
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While their playoff record has been very good, it bears mentioning that given the weak conference they are in, the Patriots get a majority of their playoff games at home. A home playoff game is a huge advantage, especially in Foxborough in the winter. In fact, Tom Brady has a losing record on the road in the playoffs. So, I think the biggest advantage of playing in a weak division is the likelihood they will get more home playoff games.
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I don’t have an issue with your critique other than this. When they make it to one of the top 2 seeds in the playoffs, it isn’t necessarily because they played a weak division, it’s because they’ve won substantially OUTSIDE of the division better than the other teams in the playoffs.
Intra-divisional games account for 37.5% of their record. If they weren’t a strong team outside of their division, by winning the majority of their games interdivisionally they wouldn’t play at home. It’s precisely because they’re dominant across the league, not just within their division, that they get the top seeds consistently. Same reason any other 1 or 2 seed gets to play at home. They beat the pants off of other teams within and without their division.
I remember one year, I think it was Carolina made it to the playoffs with either an 8-8 record or a losing record. The only reason they made it was because they played in a weak division. The Pats, in recent memory, worst record going into the playoffs was 10-6 in the last 10 years. In a SB winning year, they were 11 - 5 … which was last year. One of those losses was to the Dolphins. They were 5-1 intradivisional.
Best record going into the playoffs was 14 - 2 (in which they won the SB - 2016). One of those 2 losses was to the Bills. Intradivisional.
Looking at the year they lost to the Eagles, they were 13-3. One of those losses was to the Dolphins.
Point is, they don’t dominate and get top seeding because they have a weak division. They get top seed because they dominate the league as a whole.
The best argument that I think y’all are overlooking in this particular discussion is that they’ve won their division 17 of the 19 years during the Brady/Belicheck era. That’s amazing. THAT might be the best argument that they have a weak division. Throw in the winning percentage of their conference over that time and you’ll have your argument, I think. It’s not the Pats winning, it’s where the other 3 teams in the division are in terms of competitiveness … compare their winning percentages to the league average and where they fall during this period. That’s your analysis and that’s your argument.
All of this other nit-picky shit is just getting into the weeds and easily refutable
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But, but, they cheat!
Oh gawd lol 
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They said that if the Patriots had never let their offense play a snap this season and only took points from their defense, the pats would be over .500 this season. Their defense is the real reason they are as dominant as they are, and it makes sense since their offense is decimated. Just masterful coaching and play calling as well as sound game decisions and discipline all around. Forget all the controversy, it is indefensible to criticize any aspect of their play thus far. And while I do genuinely rate their game schedule as the easiest schedule that a reigning champ has ever had to face, I still feel this way.
Discipline, yes.
And a fucking “legal-pick” game that is otherworldly good and frustrating to watch. They get in DB’s ways just enough every single damn play. Unless the opposing defense backs off into zone. In chich case they throw dink and dunk plays over the middle anyway. I’ve never seen an opponent take the middle of the field away from them.
Dude, you’re fucking delusional. He’s no where near Dak Prescott and shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as Wilson or Mahomes. Get the fuck out of here with your bullshit.
Edit: whoops, didn’t realize I was responding to my own post!
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I wonder if this has ever happened before.
2nd and 18.
Your team is down to the (previously) worst team in the NFL.
Defense is on the field.
Head coach is watching, right? Standing on the sideline?
Nope.
This guy is ‘developing’ our super young quarterback? Get him the fuck out of here. It doesn’t even help to have him here the rest of the season. He IS NOT ADJUSTING TO ANYTHING.
Wait, it’s happened before!
With…
Adam Gase.
Last year.
Mid game with the Jaguars about to take the lead over the under .500 Dolphins.
Final thought of the night:
The pats could still totally win, and even destroy the ravens, but the first actual challenge they’ve had, as DEFENDING SUPERBOWL CHAMPS IN WEEK 9, has them down 0-10 so far. Again, they could win very easily, but it does show how ridiculous the scheduling is. Could not possibly engineer an easier schedule.
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Yea man, they played a very good team last night and got smoked.
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Well, I still don’t buy that anyone can just win against teams as much as they have even with opponents that aren’t doing so well. They’re still the scariest team, and now that BB has time To review and adjust you can bet it’ll go differently next time. Lots of costly penalties and that’s not something he puts up with.
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Harbaugh game planned for BB all year. You could just tell. That play they ran a few times with Jackson in shotgun with two tight end sidecars and Ingram dotting the i… was a thing of beauty. How do you rush that backfield?
I’m not even mad the ratbirds will win the AFC north. Jackson was a tour de force yesterday. Maybe he can maintain that, we’ll see. It will be a shame when his knee gets shredded, but he’ll be fun to watch until then.
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