Ron Burgundy

The fact that the now Brady-less Patriots have started 2-0, how much will their "easiest" schedule help them? They play the Dolphins, have a bye, play the lowly 49ers, and then the weakened Chargers. Denver will be a challenge if they keep playing like they have been, but at least it is a home game. St. Louis has no defense, or so is the perception, and the game is at home as well. At Indy will be tough, but if they are still without Bob Sanders I like our chances. Buffalo and New York will be a touch stretch, but both games are at home and we already beat New York in their house. We go to Miami, barring an upset, a win. Pittsburgh at home is a challenge, and Seattle on the road might be. We stay on the west coast against Oakland, then come back home to play Arizona. The Cardinals are a fast team, so a tired Patriots defense may come into play here. We end with a tough game on the road against Buffalo.

So, barring any further injuries, is 13-3 or 12-4 still possible?

Irish

Doubt it, Pitt will beat them, Seattle at home is always hard, Buffalo is a tank, and there are a few teams that will take advantage of this Brady thing. Nate Clements in SF is a hard corner to crack, and Cassel isn't too good

__________________

Ron Burgundy

One corner in San Francisco won't slow this offense at all. Clements will be occupied with Moss all day, probably with a safety, and that'll leave Welker, Gaffney, Watson, Maroney, etc.

Irish

And an incompetant QB that will more than likely throw a pick to Patrick Willis.....Cassel can't win a game, that's bottom line. The D is winning them thus far, and they can't do it forever

__________________

Ron Burgundy

2001-2002? "Bend don't break!" defense and a mistake-free offense can win a championship. The defense is more talented than it was that year and so is the offense.

Irish

Offense is not. Without Brady, the aren't the same. Both games should have been blow outs, and it didn't work like that. Wes Welker can bail them out, on good throws. Cassel isn't ready to carry a team

__________________

Ron Burgundy

He doesn't have to carry the team, he just has to stay as mistake-free as possible. He has been in the system for four years, longer than Brady was when he took over the reigns. The offensive line is much better, the wide receivers are much better, and also, the special teams are much better, thus giving them better field position.

Irish

I still don't see them cracking 8-8

__________________

Ron Burgundy

You could very well be right, as who knows what will come, but 8-8 seems like the opposite extreme. I say that's the worst they could go with 13-3 probably the best.

Canadian Speed

Well as you know I'm a huge conspiracy nut and here's my take on things... How the hell did they end up with such a powder puff schedule? More importantly why? My take is this, Brady takes a dive to save his name, no ones gonna come back and accuse himn for anything in the Spygate busyness now that he's "seriously" injured. Right, assuming that's right, if the team simply faltered this year and self destructed, people would know that things were a muck in NE and the Spygate thing would live for ever... So give em a puff schedule, Tom takes a fall, they replace him with a powder puff and when the Pats win with a decent record this year, with a guy that's basically unprooven, people in five yeas from now won't see that they have a cake walk season, only the overall number they put up, pretty much taking the wind out of anyone stating that the Pats did anything wrong... That being said, no one can say that the Commish played this whole thing out properley and effectively and his whole "clean up the league" campaigne would be shot to **** if his poster team/boy were to remain permanently tarnished as a result... He has a lot invested in keeping the Pats scott free...

At any rate, I wonder how they got such a cake walk of a season when compared with lesser teams that did much worse then them last season... The loss of Brady won't do too much so I'm sure that even the Rams could pull of ten wins on this season they've got going for them...

__________________
I'm Canadian, but even I can't endorse a sport that allows fighting as a way to resolve disputes or lists an unrelated behaviour such as fighting as an asset. That's why I don't watch hockey!

Canadian Speed

/\/\ All that being said, I'm enjoying the Pats fans leaving durring the 3rd today... It's odd that such a bad team playing an entirely new system with brand new plays had such an easy time taking out the Pats...

__________________
I'm Canadian, but even I can't endorse a sport that allows fighting as a way to resolve disputes or lists an unrelated behaviour such as fighting as an asset. That's why I don't watch hockey!

The Legend Killer

It's not odd...

They got the beatdown..cassel sucks, the defense is old, and they don't have the superstar QB to bail them out.

True the won the 1st 2 games, but..the sun shines somedays.

I'm not giving up on my team, but today was not a patriot like performance.

__________________
For those who love the NHL...www.hockeyfanzone.com
I am "The Legend Killer "

Canadian Speed

Come on now! They looked fine in the past two games, futhermore it's only one season ago that they were the brick wall of D's in the division. They lost nearly no one save for Samuel, it's a big deal, but they got blown up on the ground and not the air in that last game... They faced a band new offence they had no idea about and a deffence they had idea about and as a result they actuely had to play honnest football and the result was, well to say the least, eye opening...

I'll give it that Cassel is less then perfect, but Moss got shut down, Welker was shut down and the D's box set spent more time in the backfeild then the Pats RBs... One can only imagine were all teams to overhaul their systems what the results would be...

__________________
I'm Canadian, but even I can't endorse a sport that allows fighting as a way to resolve disputes or lists an unrelated behaviour such as fighting as an asset. That's why I don't watch hockey!

FOOTBALL MAN

With their schedule being some what easy, I think the Patriots can win 10 or 11 games.
Winning 10 or 11 should get them into the playoffs.