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Pats Posits

Pats Posits: 10 Days To Go

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We are just 10 days away from the start of training camp. This never gets old, especially when you’re coming off a sixth Super Bowl. I jumped in with a bunch of content last week about the things I’m most excited to look for when things get going.

The PUP list, left tackle, tight end and new receivers headline things.

If you have never had a chance to make it to a training camp practice I can’t recommend it enough. Entry is free, you’re up close to the players and surrounded by fellow crazed fans. There’s games, arts and crafts and some pockets of shade if you know where to find them.

And if you happen to be there on August 3rd for Tom Brady’s birthday there will be free cake.

Teeing everything else up in some Monday Posits!

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Pats Posits: Here Comes Free Agency and the Draft

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I’ve gotta admit, I’ve been just taking it slow these last couple weeks as far as the Patriots blogdom goes. As soon as the Robert Kraft thing turned the page from Super Bowl 53 back to the never-stopping cycle of crazy Patriots news I decided it was time to sit the latest controversy out.

As much as we want there to be a ton of football to talk about this is really the one time there isn’t much more than coaching departures and speculation. I’ve returned to my roots a bit, diving into the draft immediately and fully.

With six picks in the first three rounds, the Patriots are poised to re-energize their roster. After going to four Super Bowls in five seasons and winning three of them, you wouldn’t immediately think the roster needs re-energizing, but things are constantly turning over in the NFL and this has the chance to be a draft that sets the Patriots up for the next decade.

As we wait for real news, the easiest thing to do is to bang out some random Posits on all the little tidbits that have been dripping out.

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Pats Posits: How The 2nd Dynasty Defense Was Made

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5llGT42P8Mg&app=desktop

I took the last few days off from blogging Pats to just let the sixth Super Bowl win sink in and enjoy some of the various delights like the above episode of NFL Turning Point, my favorite of them all…so far.

Of course, Three Games to Glory VI will be on its way later this spring and as the proud owner of I-V, I’m excited to add to my collection.

As I’ve meditated on the win I’ve found myself more and more impressed with the defense. The turnover from the original dynasty defense is what got me started on this blog. Could Belichick replace Milloy, Law, McGinest, Samuel, Harrison, Vrabel, and Seymour with a second dynasty defense that could get Tom Brady another Super Bowl (or more)? I blogged and blogged wondering.

Well it’s clear now — Belichick did in fact build a second dynasty defense that matched the trio of the original core.

How did he do it? There isn’t a better topic to jump into in the Posits!

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Pats Posits: Ramblings From a Sixth Super Bowl Afterglow

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Today for us is what NFL fans all hope to one day live. That one Monday where you just won the Super Bowl, exhausted and emotionally spent but for just a moment all is right in our football universe.

As Patriots fans we’ve gotten more than our fair share and every single one is just as delightful as the first.

There’s no more “we’ll see” or “yeah, but”, all the criticism that we’ve heard over the past year has been silenced. Sony Michel was worth a first round pick. Julian Edelman is still clutch and uncoverable. The defense was one of the best they’ve ever had. Gronk fought through injuries and came through when it counted most. Tom Brady was still Tom Brady.

But most importantly, the Patriots are still the Patriots. Oh yes they are.

Now they’ve got six rings, enough to answer any lame attempt aimed at minimizing how impressive this dynasty has been, the whip cream and cherries just keep getting piled on top of each other of this dynastic sundae.

The losses to the Giants and last year’s to the Eagles? Distant memories that barely move the needle. All are now chapters in a rollercoaster tale of NFL domination that has lasted almost two decades. And what a rollercoaster it has been.

Slowly I’m wrapping my head around what this sixth Super Bowl means on so many levels. All I can do is bang out a bunch of Posits as my mind skips around all things Patriots dynasty.

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Pats Posits: Super Bowl Week LFG

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After eight Super Bowl trips the New England Patriots have had their fair share of all kinds of Super Bowl bye week intrigue. The first time around against the Rams they were the scrappy backup QB underdogs, facing a mighty passing attack that was looking for a second Super Bowl.

It was supposed to be the birth of the Rams dynasty, instead it was the birth of the Patriots’. And here we are, 18 years later, after Spygate, Deflategate, TB12gate and every other little gate in between, once again in the only game that truly counts when you’re a dynasty.

Now we’re debating how good the AFC East has been over the last two decades and whether or not Julian Edelman is a hall of famer. I’ll take that over Super Bowls 42 or 49 bye week intrigue any time.

I always try to look at each year in and of itself. That’s what Bill Belichick does. With the benefit of hindsight it’s easy to look back and connect common threads between these individual teams.

The 2018 Patriots have some of the very best of them — a tough, resilient football team that plays hard together. They’ve made the clutch plays. And they’re another in a long list of fully functional football machines.

Did they suck on the road this year? Yup. But were they also one of the most balanced and fundamentally sound teams of the Belichick era at home? Definitely.

That home team has showed up twice in the playoffs against two very good teams. Hate them all you want, but the Patriots proved their doubters wrong by following the path of the 2001 and 2004 teams, teams that won the AFC Championship on the road against a favored opponent, redeeming their in-season stumbles.

Because they sucked so badly on the road this year made it doubly satisfying, especially against such a talented team who had haunted them a couple times in recent history.

Let’s hop into a bunch of Posits on some of the key storylines.

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Pats Posits: It Just Keeps Going

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Another year, another heart-thumping playoff game that came down to the last play. The 2018 AFC Championship will go down in Patriots lore as one of the most impressive games of the Belichick-Brady reign.

The Chiefs made their plays, but the Patriots weathered the storm, executed their gameplan save a few breakdowns, and never blinked as the score went back and forth in the fourth quarter like we’ve seen so many times in the past 18 seasons.

This was the game Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman showed that when the chips were down they could do what no Patriots team had done since 2006 — win a playoff game on the road. And winning an AFC Championship on the road puts them in special company with just the 2001 and 2004 teams (and 1985 if we’re getting technical).

It’s even more remarkable considering how bad the Patriots were on the road all year. But when it’s counted, the rock-solid and balanced team that we saw plenty of times at home has shown up twice in the postseason.

The defense gave up a few close plays, but all things considered, they reigned in the Chiefs offense just enough, with Trey Flowers and Kyle Van Noy leading the way and solid coverage behind them all night. Pressure and coverage worked as one and it got them off the field on five of nine third downs.

And the special teams did just what they had to. No mistakes (though it sure looked like Edelman might’ve made a fatal one for a second there). No missed XPs.

They were so dominant that they overcame being -2 in turnovers!! Add in the fourth-down stop and the Pats left a number of points on the board. Those should’ve been the difference, but somehow they weren’t. Because they just imposed their offensive will like few Patriots playoff teams have consistently done.

So much to unpack from this one, let’s Posit it.

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Pats Posits: Back in the AFCCG!

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The Patriots are back in the AFC Championship game for the eighth-straight time after walloping the Chargers 41-28 in the Divisional Round. This was a game against an early-dynasty rival and it felt like the kind of head-turning wins that those Patriots had to deliver.

This 2018 win over the Chargers is probably as close to a perfect game as you could ask for. In that regard, it’s like the 2007 AFCDG against the Jaguars. But these kinds of occasional explosions of football perfection have not often popped up in the playoffs, especially in games that many were questioning if the Patriots were done.

So now the question looms – can the 2018 Patriots win on the road to get to the Super Bowl?

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