Patriots Pulse Check: We Can't Stop Winning

I was fully ready to write this blog with the headline along the lines of "it's okay, no need to panic". I was expecting to have to defend the boys from the national backlash they would've inevitably received after losing to the first team over .500 they've played since week 5. All the Patriot haters and schedule merchants would've run out of their caves hootin' and hollerin', and I would've had to head up the French 75 revolution to stop them.

I genuinely thought this was a spot for a loss. I penciled it in when the schedule came out, and had those same thoughts going into yesterday. Weather turning bad up north, going down to Florida to play in the muck, against a good and very tough Tampa team coming off a bye, riding our six game win streak, it just felt like a tough spot.

But this team appears to be tougher than the spot, and continues to amaze me. I jokingly said before the game yesterday that I unbiasedly had the above concerns, and that I thought the injuries on offense may be tough to overcome, but biasedly they were going to win and may never lose again. Turns out I need to lean into my bias more.

The Game

I think Vrabel felt similarly to myself, because he was ultra-aggressive with decision making right from the jump. After the Bucs waltzed down the field for the Pats' weekly ritual of allowing an opening drive TD, he went for it on 4th and 1 in our own territory on the first drive. The drive stalled after the conversion, but the message was well received.

A similar situation occurred late in the second quarter, a nearly identical situation to the one we encountered in Buffalo with seconds to go in the half. Goal to go from the one, with time for just one play before the half expires. In Buffalo, Vrabes decided to kick. This time, he dropped his nuts and went for it. To be clear, I think both decisions were correct. This and the Buffalo situation are vastly different, because the team and the team's expectations are vastly different.

In Buffalo, we were near infants in the NFL world, looking to take our first meaningful steps and start our life's journey (idk when kids start walking). We dominated the first half of the game, turned the Bills over twice, but weren't properly taking advantage. The score at the time was 3-3, and while in the moment I wanted to go for it, I knew how demoralizing it would've been to play that well, as such big underdogs, and not have a lead. Morale being up vs. tied in that situation made kicking the field goal and ensuring the lead the right call.

In the five weeks since that Buffalo game we've not only taken our first steps, gone to grade school, and experienced the beautiful and awkward sensations of teenage life, but have dropped out of college and started our own MMM scheme on our way to becoming a millionaire in 12 months. We now dominate social media posts and TV headlines. We have people that used to pat us on the head like dogs coming out in flocks to disparage us. We've made it.

So being in the spot we're now in, I loved the call to go for it. Kicking the field goal to go from not winning the game to still not winning the game is for loser franchises/coaches without expectation, looking to fill the box score to use as leverage in their end-of-year interviews with ownership to say "see, it wasn't as bad as you thought". We also got the ball to start the second half, which wasn't the case in Buffalo, which I'm sure went into the decision.

Steph Diggs snagged an insane catch and said "I yam who I yam; I'm not somebody, like, standard" on his way to the locker room with the Pats having the lead, and as the great teams do, like teams of Patriot past, they never looked back.

In the blink of an eye Trevo Henderson bolted for a 50 meter dash as the boys double dipped the Bucs, going from down 3 to up 11 in the span of 48 seconds of game time.

A concerning trend of stalling offense in the second half continued for the Pats, which included two three and outs, a turnover on downs, and an inexcusable INT in the end zone that gave the Bucs life from the Drake. But in a promising trend, the defense manned up, allowing just 6 points in the second half before the garbage time drive, which included another timely 4th down pass rush to essentially end the game, and the offense closed it out on the other side of that 4th down stop.

All in all, the Pats went for it on 4th down three times. On the interception drive, they threw the ball on both second and third down from the two yard line up five with five minutes to go. Whether those were all the right decisions is a conversation for another day, but what it tells me is that the game plan was aggression. In an obvious let down spot, they wanted to take the game's reigns and let themselves determine the outcome. And for a team that's exceeding expectations, that's new to the spotlight, I love it. It'd be easy to play not to lose when you have house money. But we came to win, and we did exactly that. And the Patriots are 8-2.

Prevailing Thoughts

• These opening drive TDs kill me. How is it a defense this good looks so clueless on the first drive of every game? 21% of the season-long points scored against the Pats have come on the first drive. I don't have the stats to compare that to other teams, but imagine if we started out strong? We'd be the fucking '85 Bears. We've allowed the sixth fewest points in football, and are doing it without a ton of turnovers (1.1 per game) and taking a nap until the midway point of the first quarter, sometimes through to the second. We allowed our first RB to surpass the 50 yard mark (Sean Tucker of all people) by allowing 53. Hopefully the stats of longest streak without a 55 yard rusher start popping up.

  
  

• Josh McDaniels needs his flowers. I may dedicate an entire blog to him soon, but is it possible for coach of the year to go to a coordinator? If there was ever a time, this would be it. He's transformed an offense that in comparison to the rest of the top teams in the NFL is deprived of high-end talent, with a second year QB who in his rookie season was turnover prone and quick to escape the pocket due to the worst offensive line in football, into a top 10 unit. He's making Mack Hollins look like a WR1 every third week. He's using fourth string RBs on 4th and short and goal line formations. He sprinkles in his patented two-TE set, and defenses are constantly on their toes. He's one of the best offensive coordinators in the history of the game, and will be our offensive coordinator for as long as he wishes since he's capped his upward career mobility in the NFL after destroying two franchises.

  
  

• We have the Jets, Bengals, and Giants next before taking on the Bills and Ravens in back to back weeks. I can't imagine we're 11-2 going into the bye despite the easy upcoming road, but I also never imagined we'd be 8-2 at this point, so why not. I'm trying to stay even-keeled, but it's getting awfully hard. The skeptics are still out there (Bill Barnwell still highlighted the Pats schedule even after yesterday's win) and won't be going anywhere. But we're answering every question to every test correctly, and are beating the teams people don't think we'll be able to beat, at their respective houses. Us and Seattle are the only two teams in the league with an unblemished road record, so we can play anyone, anywhere. How many times we'll need to do that to convince people we're real is none my business.

Let's keep this train rolling. I can't believe we're 8-2.