New England is 0-2 Against Teams with Winning Records, and Baltimore is 6-1, But It Does Not Matter | The Big Lead
The teams that were the worst against winning teams compared to their record actually performed the best. They were expected to win only 0.84 playoff games on average (there is of course a tendency for these teams to be worse seeds), but averaged 1.00 wins. Based on this, I would say there is no evidence to suggest you should favor Baltimore in the playoffs based solely on the fact that they did well against winning teams while the Patriots have no wins.
In the Patriots’ eight home games, they led just once at the end of the first quarter. Overall, they’ve trailed in the first quarter in half of their games. In six of those, New England trailed at the end of the first quarter. Yet, New England proved adept at coming back from early deficits. In those six games in which they trailed going into the second quarter, the Patriots went 5-1. To put that in perspective, the rest of the NFL was just 58-146. Record When Trailing at End of 1st Quarter
Those five wins when trailing after the first quarter are the most in a single season in Patriots history. The last team with more wins when trailing after the first quarter? The 2009 Saints, who won six on their way to a Super Bowl title.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/in-the-patriots-eight-home-games-they-led-just/
Wes Welkers mustache has its own twitter page.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/massholesports-wes-welkers-mustache-has-its-own/
New England Patriots: What Would Moving to Safety Mean for Devin McCourty? | Bleacher Report
And now a brief word on Andre Carter and torn quads…
I don’t think we ever got official word on what exactly Andre Carter’s quad injury was, but I think the general assumption is that it was a torn quad.
Carter was only on a one year deal, and not a great fit for Belichick’s preferred 3-4 defense, so his future was already a little murky with the Patriots. Still, he was one of the biggest bright spots of the 2011 regular season, both on the field and off it, with Bill Belichick laying praise on him that he rarely lays on anyone.
But just how big of a hurdle would recovery from a torn quad be? Here’s what I found, and again, this is all speculative, assuming he did in fact suffer a torn quad:
A quadriceps tear often occurs when there is a heavy load on the leg with the foot planted and the knee partially bent. Think of an awkward landing from a jump while playing basketball. The force of the landing is too much for the tendon and it tears.
Most people with complete tears will require urgent surgery to repair the torn tendon.
Surgical repair reattaches the torn tendon to the top of the kneecap. People who require surgery do better if the repair is performed early after the injury. Early repair may prevent the tendon from scarring and tightening in a shortened position.
Complete recovery takes at least 4 months. Most repairs are nearly healed in 6 months. Many patients have reported that they required 12 months before they reached all their goals.
This would theoretically put Carter’s recovery out into April or May at the earliest. Given his physical condition and work ethic I’d expect he could be ready by September, though starting on PUP could definitely be a possibility, especially given his age. Sitting out the first six weeks of the season would give his quad nearly 10 months to recover.
The big question will be if the Patriots are able to get enough of an evaluation of his recovery by March to feel comfortable offering him a contract. It should be one of the most interesting storylines of the off-season.
