I think we pretty much know what the Pats have now and what they’re capable of – which is a lot. Offensively I don’t think we’re going to see Tyms’ role expanded much beyond what it is now – a guy that they’ll try to take a shot to once per game.
Let’s face it, the deep ball is not one of the strengths of this offense but that really doesn’t matter much. LaFell can challenge the perimeter in a way that they haven’t been able to in the past. And with Gronk healthy and stretching the seam, they can challenge just about every area of a defense. But it’s not a law that a team must hit a 60-yard bomb every game to be good.
Defensively, we got a taste of how things will look in the playoffs last weekend with Chandler back. They have a number of guys who can rush or drop and the secondary is capable of locking any one down.
The concerns I have for this team, and neither are major, are the short-yardage situations on both sides of the ball. They’ll have to prove they can get/stop the “gotta have it” yards in January.