jeanpierre

K Major

One small thing though Jerrah Jones ...

You don't have the Bill Bellichick aka the Yoda as your Head Coach and Tom Brady as your QB.

CHA_CHING

Bellichick wouldn't tolerate this BS from Zeke or Prescott wanting a huge contract. He'd off load them for draft picks or rob some team of some great talent they didn't know they had on their depth roster.

As much as people hate the Pats for their dominance, you can believe I am thankful that BB is not coaching Dallas. I have a strange respect for New England for the fact they prevented Carolina, Atlanta and now the Rams twice from hoisting Lombardis.

SmashMouth

Laveon Bell says hello.

jeanpierre

Pats are my 1A team going back to 1975-76 - Steve Grogan, John Hannah, Russ Francis, Stanley Morgan, Mike Haynes; part of it is my fandom for the Boston Red Sox (first real sports memories), Celtics, and Bruins...

I'm not as passionate for Belichick and Brady as I was in the early days; while BB is shrewd with the cap, he screwed Wes Welker after implying promise of paying him, hence the Darth Vader/Dark Lord comparisons...

There's no question it's Belichick's league and the rest are still trying to figure it out, including Payton; but Belichick doesn't wait to let a RB put him in a bind - he's always keeping the stable stocked with fresh horses - leverage...

Jerry showed his hand when he picked Zeke as high as he did with the fourth pick of the draft (Adrian Peterson is the only RB since Barry Sanders I'd taken that high); so Jerry's DOA if he thinks he's gonna muscle Elliot's agents...

It's not that my way is the right way, I just make the right way my way...

Beastmode

Dolphins, Jets and Bills are the strongest pillars of success for the Pats. The fourth pillar is Bellichick.

K Major

The Patriots are outliers.

No other team in the league can replicate what they consistently do.

CHA_CHING

This is a myth that can be debunked with statistics. New England is not barely skidding into the playoffs by their skin of their teeth with 10-6 or 11-5 records having to rely on 5 or 6 easy division wins every year. Despite being 11-5 this past year, they still won every game on their schedule against teams with winning records. Counting playoffs, they beat the living crap out of a Chargers team that everyone picked to beat them and then beat the Chiefs again; this time at Arrowhead.

The 2 teams whom have benefited from playing weak division foes since 2002 are the Packers and Colts. Both have a far greater win percentage ratio over their divisional foes than they do their non-divisional schedule opponents.

The Pats have dominated everybody, not just the AFC East. They have won over 80% of their non-divisional games since 2002. They don't rely on the AFC East like everyone tends to say. They have the highest win percentage vs NFC teams than any other AFC team of the last 30 years. A good comparison of an AFC team's record vs NFC opponents would be the early 90's Bills and late 90's Broncos with a sample size of 3-5 years and yet NE still comes ahead of these teams due to longevity in dominance.

They also boast an incredible win percentage vs the AFC West and AFC North teams. I highlight these two divisions cause for the past 15+ years, we've been hearing BS about how tough these divisions are. The only team to really posse a threat to NE has been the Broncos and since Manning's retirement and their collapse, the Pats have won twice at Mile High now in convincing blowouts.

The Packers and Colts on the other hand, have leaned on their divisional foes for success. Those early years with Andrew Luck, the Colts went 11-5 for 3 consecutive seasons. All 3 years they went 5-1, 6-0 and 6-0 again vs their division, meanwhile being just 5-5 vs the rest of their schedule. The Colts have benefited from the AFC South going back to the Manning years. It took Houston until 2016 to finally notch a win against them on the road.

Indy was able to completely tank one season almost going winless, then turn around and go 11-5 like flipping a switch, largely thanks to their crap division.

Green Bay is no different. All through Aaron Rodgers' career, they've been able to take advantage of crappy Bears, Lions and Vikings teams with bad QBs. The Bears went 7 years without a win at home vs the Packers since their 2010 NFCCG loss. Meanwhile, the Packers have struggled with the rest of their schedule yearly, especially on the road.

Remember the whole "run the table" year for the Packers? They went 5-1 in their division but only 5-5 the rest of their schedule. Rodgers' big 6 game win streak was boasted playing awful teams, including all 3 of their division foes.

GB also won their division with an 8-7-1 record in 2013, largely thanks to the whole NFC North being a joke and just wanting to sing Kumbaya anytime the Packers roll into town. Aaron Rodgers actually has a losing record on the road that is mainly boasted thanks to their many wins in Chicago, Minnesota and Detroit. Remove the divisional road games and his road record looks even worse than it is.

I don't think it's a coincidence that both Indy and GB have a collection of embarrassing one and done playoff losses, many at home where they were the favored team. Meanwhile the Pats have only lost a total of 3 playoff games at home since 2002 and unless they're playing the Broncos at Mile High, they typically roll these hyped up AFC teams that everyone picks to beat them.

CHA_CHING

When I'm not here, I typically hang out on a Pats forum. Of all the other NFL fan bases I've been around online and in real life, Pats fans are the only ones that haven't been hostile or rude with me for being a Saints fan. After Bountygate, I dealt with so much hate towards our Saints, but Pats fans have their history of issues with Goodell and in a way, we have a bond with them over this. A lot of their fans are like us, they're passionate about football and love their HoF QB, only their team has been much more successful than ours.

I agree with you on BB having a history with some bad decisions here and there. The big one for me was when he refused to pay Deion Branch in 2006. This came back to haunt them at the worst possible time in the 2006 AFCCG when their receivers got alligator arms and the Colts offense had finally woken up and was driving down the field consistently. Despite not having a receiver to scare teams with, they were still 2 minutes from making the SB. If they pay Branch, the Pats most likely get ring #4 that year.

This isn't the first time Jerrah selected a "misunderstood" player with behavioral issues. It's kinda his thing to do.

Dallas' offense is absolutely nothing to fear as long as Jason Garrett is the head coach. I liked Dak Prescott at MISS State and think he'd fare better under a different coach.

Both the Giants and Cowboys made huge mistakes drafting generational talent RBs over a potential QB or defensive player that could've turned the corner for them. Don't matter how many yards Zeke and Barkley rush for if you aren't making the playoffs and winning playoff games.

jeanpierre