PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Mike Dussault

Pats Posits: We’re Not in 28-3 Land Anymore

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The electric celebratory atmosphere inside Gillette Stadium was slowly strangled to death before our very eyes on Thursday Night as the Chiefs poured in on late to blow out New England 42-27. The Patriots asked fans to get there early for the celebration, and well they left early too and even I, someone who yelled at people for walking out of the 2009 opener, hit the exits early.

I’m not sure what’s worse, that the Patriots laid a total team turd or that two critical players who couldn’t get hurt, got hurt. The injuries make the second blowout loss in four seasons to the Chiefs taste even worse than the original in 2014.

This one was historically bad with the most points the defense has given up under Belichick. Yes, it’s still only week one and my golden rule is to never overreact to a game in September, but there were certainly some cold hard truths revealed on Thursday Night — they miss Edelman, and without Hightower the defense was lacked both rudder and tooth.

The two players that had to go the distance this year were Danny Amendola and Hightower. The game was competitive when they were upright. When both were lost, the offense and defense were lost.

What’s clear is this team has no identity yet, and they’ve lost much of what’s made the tick the last few seasons. New players must emerge but it’s going to take time.

After a season where the team really didn’t face much adversity until 28-3, the 2017 Pats got an instant dose of drama at the outset.

Thoughts on how it’s all going to turn out in the Posits.

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Belichick Hoodie Report: Will the Hot Jacket surpass the Hoodie in 2017?

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If you saw the Hoodie Report on Patshow #104 you’d know this could be a pretty monumental year for Bill Belichick and his hoodie!

The Hot Jacket, introduced in 2013, is just nine games behind the cut-off gray hoodie that Belichick is famous for. You know the one.

The Gray hoodie’s win percentage is an impressive 76.2 percent, while the Hot Jacket stands at 71.4. But if the Patriots start 8-0 under the Hot Jacket, it will take over both wins and win percentage. Is it time to rename the Belichick HOODIE database!?

 

Patshow Episode #104!

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In case you missed it live yesterday, here’s our latest episode of Patshow! In it we discuss the “final” 53-man roster, the trades from last weekend, all the best Pats social media from the last week and a preview of tonight’s season kickoff against the Chiefs. Seriously it’s going to be a long day waiting for kickoff and there’s no better way to kill 45 minutes of it than hanging with me and Nick as we talk Pats!

10 Posits on America’s Game 2016 Patriots

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwZo1Qh7h9g

America’s Game: 2016 New England Patriots premiered last night (embedded above until the NFL kills it), marking the final bit of Pats porn that comes as a bonus to winning the Super Bowl. Previously we’ve gotten Three Games to Glory 5 along with Do Your Job II, which were both excellent, revealing so much from behind the scenes about the magical journey that the 2016 Pats had.

America’s Game has turned into the fluff piece of them all. Of course I enjoyed it, but nowhere near as much as I did Do Your Job II. The America’s Games used to have every bit as much unseen behind the scenes stuff as DYJ II, but it was far more down the middle, focused more on the players talking about the team than the team itself. We didn’t learn a lot of new information, but of course it was fun to hear the perspectives of Julian Edelman, LeGarrette Blount and Dont’a Hightower.

Here are 10 Posits on what I liked and what I missed.

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Patriots Gameplan: Week 1 vs. Kansas City Chiefs

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And just like that another season is upon us! On Thursday night the Patriots will raise their fifth banner (and I’ll be there to see it) as the incredible run continues. I think we’re long past the “just happy to be here” phase and firmly in the “squeeze every last record out of TB and BB before it’s over” mode. It’s amazing how fast it’s all going by yet seems impossibly long ago when the duo won their first together.

Now we’re off on the 2017 season, which will have its own set of challenges, and the first opponent is one who has always scared me a bit. I know that might sound silly — being afraid of Alex Smith!? But in a conference where there really aren’t many contenders to the Pats’ dominance, the Kansas City Chiefs are just the kind of team who can steal a game from New England.

In an oft-fluky first game of the season, the low mistake Chiefs have the playing style and pieces to make this a close game. Let’s face it, no matter who the opponent, the Patriots’ September clashes always seem to be more interesting than expected. And that’s even when they’re playing shitty AFC East teams! Imagine what could happen when they’re playing a well-coached, well-prepared team that play clean football.

It should be a good, competitive game. Yes, the fifth banner will be revealed, but also to be revealed is the Patriots true plans for a dynamic new offense that is dripping with speed, even without Julian Edelman.

Here’s the gameplan for knocking off the Chiefs on opening night.

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Brady and Cooks Primed to Shine

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After completing the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, it wasn’t a surprise that the New England Patriots were heavily favored the win the Super Bowl for a second consecutive season. With most of the team, including future Hall of Famers Tom Brady and Bill Belichick coming back, it’s hard to bet against the Pats.

Check out the Patriots odds offered by major sportsbooks if you want to put your money where the expectations are.

But those hopes took a hit during the preseason, when wide receiver Julian Edelman tore his ACL and was lost for the season.  Edelman came through time and time again in the most biggest moments and replacing that kind of production won’t be easy.

With the game on the line Tom Brady knew he could trust Edelman to be right where he expected him to be, and that made the Patriots’ offense almost impossible to stop.

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A Preview of the Real 2017 Patriots

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After an entire offseason spent analyzing who the 2017 Patriots would be, we now have just a short window between actually finding out who made it through training camp and the official start of the campaign. This is why injuries are such a huge part of the game. No one could’ve predicted the early defining characteristic of the 2017 Patriots would be replacing an injured Julian Edelman but here we are.

So it’s a good time to take a quick breath and analyze this edition of the Patriots before the proverbial train leaves the station. You’ve read plenty of season previews by this point, but it’s really only the one that happens right now that truly matters.

Now we know who we’re taking to battle and what the strengths and weaknesses could potentially be. As always it’s important to remember that September really is just an extension of the preseason. The schemes, especially on defense, really start out slowly. Random guys will still get long looks in significant roles. The team will probably have a flat game where an inferior team on paper plays them tough. They’ll fight through it and ignore any noise.

This is September. Don’t overreact. Let things play out and let the coaching staff figure out exactly what they have and how to best use everyone. Then it’s pedal to the metal.

Let’s dive in.

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