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More significant than Newton’s pedestrian play against the Bills was the fact that Belichick and the Patriots afforded their hosts a considerable amount of respect, with conservative game plans on both sides of the ball. This just isn’t what the Patriots do against the Bills. Whatever positive momentum the Bills have carried into a Pats game in recent decades, it is always almost immediately undone by a Belichick scheme that quickly exposes their fatal weakness. The Pats are the big brother, casually holding their little sibling at arm’s length while they flail helplessly and exhaust themselves, then wrestling them to the ground and sitting on their chests. They don’t just beat the Bills, they beat them in humiliating fashion. On Sunday, though, the Pats looked like a team trying to keep it close, trying to hang around against a better opponent in hopes of squeaking out a win at the end. It almost worked, but that didn’t make it less weird to witness. It seemed like a bear deciding to leave the good trash for a raccoon.
The Patriots have won the AFC East 16 of the last 17 seasons, the only miss coming when Brady was lost for the season in the opener in 2008. (And they still went 11-5.) But they are 2-5 now, ahead of only the sad-sack New York Jets in the division. Playoff forecasts give them between an eight per cent and 12 per cent chance of making the post-season. The last time they had odds like that after Week 8 was probably 1999, when Pete Carroll was the coach.
Maybe this is yet another dupe from the Pats. Perhaps the whole thing will end up as Belichick’s final masterpiece, proof that he could win NFL football games with a random collection of castoffs and hobos. I would hesitate to bet against it. But at this point, you could get tremendous odds on the Pats making the playoffs. The surest bet in sports has, in the space of a month, become a long shot. You crazy, 2020.
The Link LonkNovember 03, 2020 at 09:37AM
https://torontosun.com/sports/football/lifes-not-so-easy-for-patriots-without-tom-brady
Life’s not so easy for Patriots without Tom Brady - Toronto Sun
https://news.google.com/search?q=easy&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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