Patriotic

Just about every season my dad recants his story of watching the Patriots while holding me on the day I was born. Since that day I have followed my team religiously, through the roller-coaster '90's with Drew Bledsoe, the Golden Years of the early 2000's, to the so called "rebuilding" present. I watched Tom Brady at Michigan get drafted the Patriots, watched him evolve from a fragile young quarterback to a confident superstar. Aside from an injury season, Brady has been the constant factor on this team, as long as he was under center you knew you had at least a chance of winning.

After a disappointing 2009 the Patriots are exceeding expectations and are currently the best team in Football. Who would have thought that without Randy Moss this offense would become exponentially better. It actually makes sense when you think about it. Moss is too good to take off the field and he deserves 10-12 targets per game. Opponents know all of this and will compensate by defending tougher, jamming him at the line and keeping a safety over top. They can also dial up the pass rush because getting the ball to Moss will require a 5 step drop. Without Moss, the Patriots are able to take his reps and spread them out between a cacophony of young and talented players. They can utilize two TE sets with Gronkowski and Hernendez as well as target Branch and Tate who are wildly underrated, not to mention the man Wes Welker. Woodhead is another weapon who's production increases without a guy like Moss, he is an excellent receiver out of the backfield who can make a lot happen with the ball in his hands. I heard Jon Gruden once say that it's hard to evaluate a RB without putting him in a game situation. While playing for the Jets its easy to understand how Woodhead could be overlooked behind both Shonn Green and Ladanian Tomlinson without getting any game experience. Green-Ellis is a guy who deserves some recognition for being the workhorse, carrying the running game single handedly and doing so with a 4.3 yard per carry average. Going forward I don't see teams being able to stop this offense with so many weapons and scoring spread so evenly. Teams no longer have to focus on stopping one man, Moss, but now have to stop a scheme in which you have no idea where the ball is going on any given play.

With all that was said above, the onus must then fall on the defense. Last year things fell apart after the departure of four veteran leaders, Bruschi and Harrison by retirement and Seymour and Vrabel by trade. If you have ever played football at a high level you will know that offense and defense are almost separate teams and thus require their own leadership. The defense was left without an outspoken veteran leader, which leads to lack of motivation and poor practice habits. This year there seems to be an even spread of veterans and rookies. Wilfork and Mayo have stepped into leadership roles and have significant contributions from four rookie starters in Deadrick, Cunningham, Spikes and McCourty. The greatest surprise aside from the rookies would have to be the emergence of Patrick Chung who has become one of the top safeties in the NFL. He plays the ball as well as Meriweather but tackles better and has a pop akin to Rodney Harrison.

This defense has the potential to be the best in the league a couple years down the road but for playoffs is still the only question mark. They are at the bottom of the league in yards and points allowed however lead in turnovers. There is also no telling how the rookies will react to playing meaningful games in the playoffs against great quarterbacks. In my mind Belichick will get the defense ready and the offense will carry through the playoffs and into the Superbowl. This is the beginning of a new dynasty boys, and it will take Brady all the way to retirement and send him off Elway style. To all you sports fans out there, if you don't agree with my opinions, than your just not being Patriotic........

Drewg