If the injuries to their offensive line aren't severe this could very well be the best team Belichick has fielded. That should scare everybody. I have to assume that at least one of their receivers will implode along the way, but this was an elite Patriots team with just one elite WR around. This is a solid offense with a much better D. And the good news is that with the best O-line coach in the NFL, I'm really not terribly concerned about that.
Yep, I agree with all of that. Regarding the offense, I had a fun thought earlier. This is a really dumbed-down way of looking at things, but still: As much of an undeniable superstar as Brady is, somebody else on the team played better in last year's SB to earn the MVP. That guy is still on the team. WITH BRADY. And now, they have somebody else on the team who is arguably even better than THAT guy.
What strikes me in your write up is how many of those include the phrase "not against good teams" or a variation on that.
I think you may be giving that too much weight. Yeah, I did say it twice, and maybe implied it two other times. But there is also some overlap in the teams I considered "not very good." And there are only six of those teams total (Jets, Giants (x2), Redskins, Bucs, Bengals (x2), and Steelers [without Ben and AB]). Are you telling me you think that labeling 6 out of 32 teams as "not very good" is an unrealistic assessment? I don't think it is, and I think the opinions that most if not all of those 32 teams are "not very good" will likely be borne out as the season progresses. Heck, they're already all 0-2, so going by the purely objective measure that they haven't yet won games this season certainly puts them on the "not very good" track.
No, I was going the other way, that the number of "not very good" is shockingly high. I'm a fan of "any given Sunday", but if you really look hard, there are a handful - and not more - of really good teams, but the bulk of the teams in the NFL are, in my opinion , skewed towards "not very good".
Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm not sure I'd say that there are that few good teams, but I don't disagree with the overall sentiment. Obviously, it depends on where you draw the line for "really good team." But most seasons, I kind of feel like there are an average of about 5 really good teams per conference. All things playing out in a pretty typical fashion, it usually shakes out along the lines of: 3 good division winners (one division winner of the 4 just making it in because they were in a weak division), 1 really good wildcard team (the other not generally as good), and one really good team that just misses the playoffs just due to some tough breaks, injuries, or maybe just having a slow start and not really putting things together until too late in the season.
Topic: 2019 NFL Thread v. Chiefs are Champs, Missouri rules the sports world (Read 125202 times)