A sad realization

Barring major injury I see no reason why the Patriots won't be back in the Super Bowl next season.

Unless a suprise team comes along or the Pats get destroyed by injuries, who is going to challenge them?

In no particular order:
1) Ravens-Lost Suggs and already mouthed off on spygate. Ouch. No matter how well they play.....NE seems to beat them.
2) Steelers-This is our best hope. And is it really a hope? Choosing between NE and Pitts is torture. Steelers until proven otherwise though are the Pats bitches in the playoffs. But, if NE gets bounced earlier then expected by another team then the Steelers will get those breaks again......
3) Broncos-They can't cover NE's offense and Peyton won't have the weapons Brady has. The game would also be in NE. Broncos schedule is brutal. We will see how much Manning can really improve them coming off a missed season. Denver put the F in Fortunate last year with so many lucky breaks.
4) Chargers-You know how many times they have almost beaten the Patriots before? Almost is not good enough though.
5) Bengals-Not yet
6) Texans-Intriguing. But, not if the game is in Foxboro. If it's in Houston we can talk. No matter how talented Houston seems though I STILL don't trust Schaub in the clutch. I also don't think Houston got any better this offseason. They have lost a few guys.
7) Jets-Seriously? Not unless divine intervention occurs.


Andrew Luck is the only hope and he and his team are not ready yet. *sigh*

The bills are on the rise.

Great post Jules!
I, too, hate the Patriots under Belicheat.
We were "supposed" to have 2 Super Bowls agains them, and choked vs the Giants, who then went on and knocked off the Patriots. Ironic.

Anyway, the Texans didn't lose anything significant other than Mario Williams. And they didn't even have him last year really. Their playoff run was made without him, and with their #3 QB. They will have all those same guys back, plus (hopefully) will have their QB back.

They re-signed stud RB Arian Foster. Stud WR Andre Johnson was banged up a lot last year, figures to be a bit healthier this side just based on odds.....

And they had a hell of a draft on defense, getting both Whitney Mercilus and Jared Crick. Plus they have the young Brooks Reed and JJ Watt.... that defense is good. It was ranked #1 last year under Wade Phillips, without Mario most of the year. Now adding those 2 key pieces on defense? Watch out for them.

The bad thing is we have to play there in week 6! A tough game indeed.

The Texans should sweep their division (Indy, Jax, Tenn).... hopefully they lose to us but go about 14-2 and get the #1 seed. I think they and Pitsburgh can stop New England.
Also, Suggs is awesome, but I think the Ravens still have a chance to beat NE.

We can only hope Dan. Those poor fans have suffered enough.

Houston lost a starting o lineman.
Houston can do it for sure. I just guess I don't trust them as much as a more experienced team. Now if the Steelers are healthy and that o line improves......I might choose the Steelers. Last time NE lost the SB to the Giants the Steelers jumped in and took advantage of things.

Houston might have a late season loss in Indy again, it seems like until they do win in Indy I count that as a win for the Colts. The Colts will lose in Houston. It's just how it works lately.

Titans could be sneaky. Hard to figure them out.

I am not feeling Baltimore this offseason. That was a gut wrenching loss they had in the title game too. I don't think they sweep Pittsburgh this year. Tough to say though with them. I feel for guys like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.

Sadly if it came down to the Pats/Steelers then I just can't root for either team. I would probably root for whoever was easier for the Packers to beat. Which would probably be the Steelers.

The more I think this over maybe we get a rematch between the Steelers and Packers. And history repeats itself. Just like it did with Giants over Patriots.

Steelers really rattled NE last year in the regular season. If they were healthy I think they could have taken the Pats this past year in the playoffs. Instead, NE got handed the flukey flukes known as the Denver Broncos. I can't believe Peyton is on the Broncos since I COULD NOT STAND that Broncos team last year.

Every year the Patriots are supposed to be in the Superbowl......except for the fact Brady can't seem to get them past the playoffs.

Yeah it is Tom Brady's fault when they don't make SuperBowl. Lets blame the best QB in football that consistently performs when they happen to not make it to the SuperBowl. Unreal.

New England Patriots will more than likely go to SuperBowl next year and only team in NFC that can beat them in that game is NY Giants.

Actually midnight mike your wrong. In SB XXXI the Green Bay Packers beat NE.

Actually I am referring to the current NE England Patriots team so you are wrong.

If your not specific then all avenues are open. It's not my fault you can't be more specific.

It'll be interesting to see how the Pats do when Brady & Bilichick retires. There's only about 4 teams that might. Be able to challenge the Pats in the AFC

One thing to keep in mind is if history repeats itself then this is the year an AFC North team jumps back in the SB. The SB winner since 2006 has played the NFC East in it's entirety. But, this year the AFC North also plays the AFC West. No team who has played the AFC West has won it all since the divisions became realigned in 2002.

So teams who have won the SB since 2006 who have played the NFC East in it's entirety:
Colts
Giants
Steelers
Saints
Packers
Giants

Victims of last years AFC West-Patriots and Packers. The Pats did play the NFC East though last year.

So this years SB winner according to patterns is from the NFC East again. Which is terrible news and hopefully the pattern is broken!!!

NFC South and AFC North both play the NFC East good luck charm. But, sadly for them they also play the AFC West jinx.

I don't know why Peyton went to the Broncos. He must not realize that division has been as jinxed as jinxed gets.

Can the Packers break the pattern? I doubt it's the Redskins. So the SB winner according to recent history is the Giants, Eagles or Cowboys. Not great news.

The SB loser could be a predictable combination of the Steelers/Ravens with perhaps the Bengals crashing the party.

Someone from the NFC South might be the NFC runner up.


Now it will be interesting come next January to come back to this thread and see how it all swings out.

Can Green Bay break this stubborn pattern?

Tom Brady is also turning 35 in August. How much longer will he be at the top of his game?

I am not truly asking you.....I am honestly curious. I feel he has been suffering from several injuries that are not made a big deal either. He plays through them but they might wear him down.

QBs tend to dip at 35/36 and if you look through history very few win a title past age 35/36. Of course a top run game or D can do wonders to help out in this situation. But, do I expect a Brady or Peyton to throw their way to a SB title? No. Neither ever did either. When the Colts won it all the D stepped it up. When the Pats won 3 the D's were all smart/crafty and one of the most respected in the league. The more I think about it this offseason the more I wonder why Manning turned down SF. Money? Control? That D is awesome. The special teams are awesome. They can pound the rock. Instead he chose the flukey *** Denver Broncos from last year. I think they could maybe get to the playoffs but I am not convinced that is a contender. And now I am not even all that high on SF. Hell bringing in Randy Moss alone makes me wonder what Harbaugh is smoking. But, we'll see.

Also against Tom Brady is the SB loser jinx, strange **** happens to teams who lose SBs. But, considering how weak the AFC looks it would not shock me to see Brady and BB get back barring major injury. They could become the new Buffalo Bills!

One guy who I believe might come back next year is Rivers. That was a strange season for him last year indeed. The league needs another elite QB to emerge at the moment to make things interesting.

There is a strange Peyton Manning karma thingie vs. San Diego too. I am curious to see if it holds up next year. Must have started when Eli and company turned down the Chargers. I have seen Peyton be absolutely brilliant and then go full idiot vs. San Diego and it started in maybe 2005 when they ended the Colts perfect season at home. Or even against Romeo Crennel he often has major issues. So all in all in the AFC I still find that an odd division for Manning to choose. It looks easy but there are a few ghosts in his closet there. Perhaps he wants to tackle them head on. I don't know.

I do like the pick up for the Pats with Addai though, if he stays healthy. He is the type of RB the Pats will adore. Underrated blocker too.

A win is a win. it's also a team effort. But if you go back & watch the first 2 SBs the Pats won in 2000 & 2001 the reason they won was b/c Vinetari made a FG at the end of the game. He misses those FGs & the Pats only have 1 SB ring.

Adam was also cluuuuuuutch for the Colts in 2006 as well. That divisional game in Baltimore too for example. Those were some bad *** FGs. Heck all the Colts scored was FGs so each one was CRUCIAL.

I love Adam. One of my all time favorite players. He was not kicking for the Colts for the 2009 postseason when losing to the Saints in the big one. The Colts were missing their good luck charm in Adam.

Yes a win is a win. I guess that counts for last years Broncos too who made me nearly pull my hair out lol. Some of those wins were just so damn LUCKY.

Tom Brady three for 5,235 yards, 39 TDs and 12 INTS last season. He is showing no signs of slowing down as of yet.

If they didn't have Adam Vinitari then perhaps game plan would have been different and Tom Brady may have taken downfield for TDs in those gamess. It is hard to conjecture what coula woulda or shoulda happenned. However stating that if Adam Vinateri wasn't on the team they only win one SB doesn't really make sense as is stating that NE Patriots may become new Buffalo Bills.

San Diego was never interested in Eli Manning. They just drafted him to hold us up and it was a smart move. Contrary to a lot of soeculation and false claims our second choice was not Phillip Rivers it was Ben Rothlisberger. We did the right thing by trading with San Diego for Eli Manning and have been rewarded with 2 SuperBowl Victories, the best QB in NFC as well as the greatest QB in NY Giants history.

Your biast & admittidly so am I. BUT it's the job of the ESPN sports annalists to do their do dilagence & they have said that Rodgers is at this time the best QB in the NFL. The players will vote Eli in the top 100 players this year. If I knew you'd pay up I'd bet ya $100.00 that Rodgers will be voted higher then Eli. Eli wil be around 10-15. Rodgers at worst will be # 2. I'm sure he'll be #1

I call it like it is unlike most of the analysts ob televison.

Eli Manning wasn't even rated in the top 100 last year and NY Giants were picked by the analaysts to finish near the bottom and not makr pkayoffs. We all see how that worked out. I could care less where they rate Eli Manning and where they pick NY Giants to finish. In fact I hope they pick us to finish dead last and I hope Eli Manning is not voted in top 100 again.

Aaron Rodgers is currently the 4th best QB in NFL and 3rd best in NFC.
Tom Brady, Eli Manning and Drew Brees are all better than him.

How in the hell is Rodgers only ranked 4th Mikey? How?

I mean if you asked many gms/owners around this league I am sure they would take Aaron. Heck Dungy said before the season started last year that if he had to have one QB to be on his team he would take Rodgers. And this was before he found out about the Peyton health issues.

Rodgers is 28 years old. He is the youngest of the "elites". Barring major injury or concussion he is in his prime more so then any of the others we speak of, as good as those guys are.

Let me guess, since the Giants won the SB and ELITE Eli won another SB MVP he is now at the top right? So if the Giants say lost to the 49ers or Patriots would you still have him as the best in the NFC?

I blame a lot of this junk on the Cowboys, they choked away the division. They iced their own freaking kicker damnit.

Listen though, I always felt Eli was underrated and very clutch so I am not bashing him.

But, I don't think you are giving Rodgers enough respect either.

Somebody needs to wake you up b/c there's no way Eli is better than Rodgers. Eli's good BUT Rodgers is better. Before you bring up the SB trophy wins let me remind you that GB has 13 Championships. NYG's are 3rd w/8 AND the SB trophy is named after the Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi. I know you care about that b/c if you say you don't care about it then you must not care about the championships the NYG's have won. I'm SO lookin'forward to the GB vs NYG's game. You guys got so lucky that you don't play us to open the season b/c you guys WILL LOSE!!!

I confused? Eli is hit and miss, Brees and Brady are pretty darn good but I still would say Rodgers is better than Eli, and last season he was better than Brees and Brady.

Jules, I am giving Aaron Rodgers mad respect. He is great and I am ranking him 4th whixh is pretty darn high. Dallas Cowboys had the chance to win. The division in the last game but Eli Manning and NY Giants refused to allow that to happen just like we refused to allow Green Bay Packers to beat us in playoffs. Coulda would and shoulda is a moot argument because if that were the case ee can just say that if Jay Cutler didn't choke twice in the red zone on the last game the year before then Green Bay doesn't even make playoffs ao they dont win SuperBowl XLV. You can't really count the "what ifs."

Vitrophy, you keep going off on tangents and keep making less and less sense. Vince Lombardi started his coaching career and learned his craft on NY Giants so this year Lombardi Trophy is ho.e where it belongs.

Pow, you are confused and I don't know why. Tom Brady, Eli Manning and Drew Brees are all better than Aaron Rodgers. Heck, Eli Manning has been in NFL only one more year than Aaron Rodgers and he has accomplished so much more.

Rodgers was a back up to Favre for 3 yrs. Brady is good BUT he's past his prime. Brees was good last year but needed more than 100 passing attemts to throw over 5K yrds. If Rodgers threw the same amount He would've beat Brees as Rodgers avg. more passing yards per throw. Eli is good & deserves more respect than what he gets BUT the players not the fans or ESPN voted for who they believe is the toughest to play against. So when the PLAYERS say Rodgers/Eli is higher than the other than I'm willing to let that be the deciding factor if you are. Or do you not have enough confidence in your QB. The players know better than we do. Are you in or out on the top 100 players deal?

Eli has shown a lot of moxie in the clutch but needs more week to week consistency for me to consider him the best in the NFC let alone the entire league.

Who knows, with the way things are shaping up there could be more Rodgers vs. Eli battles in the coming years. It could be the new Peyton vs. Tom. Eli/Aaron are close enough in age to make this a real rivalry in the next few seasons.

I think Brees as great as he is too has done his best work in the dome. If people used to say Peyton was a dome QB that could not win in tough environments in the playoffs like NE then the same should apply to the Saints and Brees.

And in the best years for Brees I feel like he has had a top run game. This past season and 2009 for example stick out in my mind.

Overall though I doubt there is a single Packers fan on this forum who would not mind if Rodgers' stats took a small dip if it meant the rest of the team (mainly the D) improved.