Wow. And here I thought we’d be getting a nice, relaxing bye week. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions. Morale couldn’t have been much higher coming out of Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Sure, the defense wasn’t great (more on this later), but the offense looked flat out unstoppable with Brady continuing to light the world on fire every 7 days. Plus, save for a handful of teams, the quality of play in the league is down (Exhibit A: AFC East). As nit-picky as we can be, and as flawed as we perceive them, the reality is the Pats are the most well rounded team with the greatest top to bottom talent in the game. Locally, Chris Price (WEEI) summarized the Patriots first half of the regular season in his “What We Learned Sunday” piece:
“It’s still pretty early, still,” cautioned Tom Brady when asked about reaching the midway point with a 7-1 mark. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
Yes, but with apologies to Yogi Berra, when it comes to the AFC East, it’s getting late early. The Bills are starting to fade. The Dolphins are wildly inconsistent and the Jets are just lucky to be 3-5.
In other words, rinse and repeat. Don’t be the guy that picks against the Pats in the AFC East before the season starts. Until proven otherwise, the division goes through New England, no matter what the circumstance.
For a national perspective, let’s look at Michael Silver’s (NFL.com) column this week. Not a big Silver guy, but I enjoyed this piece and I think you’ll know why once you read it. It seemed like Silver got quotes from half the Bills’ defense and front office in this one. I’ll snag my favorite, from big Marcell Dareus, but I recommend the read to get a more wide ranging perspective:
“I love playing against him,” the defeated defensive tackle said. “I like his leadership, and I like the way he goes about it. For a while, you hate him, and then you meet him — and he’s like, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ and you realize he’s a good dude, and you wish you hadn’t met him.
That’s the very best part about TB12. Off the field, he’s as classy as they come. A complete gentleman. On the field, he wants to rip your f’ing heart out in front of your friends, family, and most importantly, die-hard fans. He’s a cold, calculated surgeon. Oh, he can’t throw deep? Tosses bombs all over the field with a Gronk/Chris Hogan led engineered vertical attack… But he’s cripplingly immobile, right? His pocket presence has never been better, and he’s picked up critical chunks of yardage on the ground to demoralize the opposing defense on 3rd down in every game thus far. What I would do to watch a Pats game with Goodell, or Hubbach, or Marshall Faulk, or any one of the desperate anti-Patriot media stooges. Every time the ball leaves 12’s fingertips they’d be convulsing. Brunell may need a Kleenex box refresher after the half. I’m going to cut myself off there because if I continue I’ll forget to address the biggest story of the week.
Remember that aforementioned talent level? Well, it shockingly took a hit at the beginning of the week, with Pro Bowl linebacker Jamie Collins banished to Cleveland for a conditional 3rd round draft pick.
Crazy. As you’d expect, opinions were all over the place without any real consistency of note. Here are the heavy hitting local media reaction pieces: Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston, Jeff Howe/Karen Guregian (Boston Herald), Tom Curran (CSN), and Chris Gasper (Boston Globe). Plus, a “national” opinion, with a little local flair from frequent Felger and Mazz guest and Sports Illustrated columnist Greg Bedard.
Curran wasn’t crazy about it but understood it, Reiss played out both sides, Howe kept it mostly general but voiced his concern verbally, and Bedard went the “now this is Super Bowl or bust” route, which, quite frankly rang true before the deal and has for the last 15 years.
I put the “home” in homer, but it’s tough to feel very good about this trade. I understand Jamie’s play has been inconsistent at times, and I have no idea whether or not he was a problem in the locker room or on the practice field (although his teammates certainly seemed to have no issues), but the timing is really indefensible. This just isn’t the same as prior blockbusters. Milloy, sent away in the offseason. Chandler Jones, offseason. There was time to prepare and soften the blow of these losses. The replacing of Collins needs to be done on the fly and players need to adjust to new roles (Roberts, Mingo), or an entire new system (Van Noy). God forbid (knock on wood) Hightower misses any time. Then what? If Collins’ run stopping was really that bad, why can’t he be used as a situational pass rusher at the very least? We know he can do that well. At the end of the day this was BB’s call and BB’s call only, and for that, you need to respect it. Whether it was a message to his defense and coaching staff, a culture change, or an ego move, what’s done is done. All that being said, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if Seattle only musters up 35 yards on the ground next Sunday in a statement defensive game.
Gasper sums it up best in this paragraph:
In this season of exercising democratic will, Patriots coach Bill Belichick reminded his players with the Jamie Collins trade that their votes for what is best for the team and who is best on the team don’t count. There is no will of the people with the Patriots; only Belichick’s ballot matters. He voted no on Question 91.
In Bill we Trust. Let’s see how this thing shakes out.
Lastly, how about Jamie Collins’ opinion on the deal?
“It’s more of a family feel (in Cleveland). It’s different.”
Yeah, it’s different all right. Real different. Good luck, Jamie.
We’re onto Seattle.