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An Independent Patriots Blog

Best/Worst in Weekly Patriots Links-12/24

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“Just ’cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.”

Bye Bye Denver. See you next year. (Roughly) Same time, same place. Mile High demons are officially exorcised. Between last season’s regular season collapse, and the thorough beatdown (see above) at the hands of that Bronco defense in Denver for the AFC title, this “monkey” was real and needed to be conquered. That being said, the job is not done. Far from it. The road to the Super Bowl must run through route 1 and the Pats are in control of their own destiny. Before we move along that road, let’s talk about last Sunday afternoon.

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Patriots Gameplan: Week 16 vs. New York Jets

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The 12-2 New England Patriots look to take another step toward securing homefield advantage as they welcome the 3-8 New York Jets. The Jets beat the Pats in Week 16 of 2015, helping to knock them from the first overall seed. This time the Pats are at home and against Bryce Petty they’ll look to dispense with the recent spat of close games with the green and white.

Just four weeks ago in the Meadowlands, the Pats overcame a 17-13 hole with nine straight points to win 22-17. But now the Jets are already focusing on the offseason and the Pats are looking to prevent a repeat of last year’s collapse that allowed the AFC Championship to be played in Denver instead of New England.

Here’s the gameplan for a Christmas Eve edition of Patriots-Jets…

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Coffin Corner: Only choice for COY. Sorry, guys.

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Congratulations to the Patriots. The AFC East is done. Again. Forget the Masters, Jim Nantz: this is the tradition unlike any other. The New England Patriots sew up the AFC East before week 17. Below are the weeks the Patriots clinched the AFC since 2009:

Week 15: December 18, 2016 (also 1st round bye)

Week 14: December 14, 2015 (Week 15: 1st round bye)

Week 15: December 18, 2014 (Week 16: 1st round bye)

Week 16: December 22, 2013 (week 17: 1st round bye)

Week 13: December 12, 2012 (week 17 1st round bye)

Week 15: December 18, 2011 (Week 16 1st round bye)

Week 16: December 26, 2010 (Week 16 1st round bye)

Week 16: December 28, 2009 (No 1st round bye)

That’s 8 straight years of division dominance, 7 years of conference dominance and Super Bowl contention. It’s amazing, hard to fathom, and even harder to write about evidently. I’ve seen nary an article citing the Coach of the Year as Bill Belichick. National columnists have run out of angles to demonize this team’s historical greatness, so now they churn out “Baltimore – Pittsburgh week”, like this hailed historical rivalry wasn’t for the 3 seed or focus on circling the wagons for owners of teams who defend domestic abusers or hypocritically accuse teams of malfeasance. Or focus on Jeff Fisher’s pathetic resume. Or his successor (someone got page views pitching Pete Carroll to leave Russel Wilson and the Seahawks, WTF?!). All because the best of NFL writers struggle to write about historical greatness.

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Let’s Go Get a GD Snack: Week 16 Scouting Report vs. New York Jets

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What a satisfying win. Everyone keeps talking about how this win feels old fashioned, behind a stout defense and a balanced and effective offensive attack. The Broncos are also a team every Pats fan wanted to see squished by the big foot of TB12/BB. Now with a first round bye (holla) and the fate of their seeding in their own hands, I don’t expect to see them to take their foot off the gas. That’s not Belichick’s style. Plus, better to only rest guys who are hurting in Week 17, you don’t want them to get too rusty sitting on their couches in January for too long. The Jets games are always an intense battle but the Patriots are riding high and could seriously feast here.

Here’s everything you need to know about the NY Jets, aka, “The Slaves of Ryan Fitzpatrick.”

Week 16 vs. New York Jets

Saturday December 24

1:00 pm, CBS

Low 40’s/High 30’s, minimal chance of precipitation, 12 mph winds

[table id=17 /]

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Patriots vs. Broncos Film Review: Defense Edition

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It was one of the most dominant defensive performances of the last decade and one that I couldn’t wait to jump into. The Patriots defense had a slow start to 2016, but with each passing week they’ve gotten better and better. In the last three games they have the second-best third down defense in the NFL, and have risen all the way from 28th early in the season to 7th overall on third down.

The emergence of Trey Flowers as veterans Rob Ninkovich, Jabaal Sheard and Chris Long got their games going now has the entire defensive front clicking. And don’t just take my word for it, here’s what Belichick had to say on Tuesday:

“I think in our case what I’ve seen from this team, especially defensively but really in all three phases of the game, is a commitment to work hard and get better. You take small steps every day. Those pile up after days, weeks and months together. I think that’s really what’s happening with our team is they’ve worked hard. They’ve improved, improved a little bit each day. They maybe improve a little bit each week in certain areas. I think we do things better now than we did a few weeks ago. We did them better a few weeks ago than we did them a couple of months ago, which is the way it should be.”

Let’s take a closer look at the All-22.

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Patriots Tuesday 10 Pack

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Plenty to kick around this week as the hardest part of the Patriots’ schedule is over and we have a near-complete picture of who the 2016 team is. Once again they’re playing their best football in December and must survive two games before turning all their attention to the playoffs.

Do the Patriots have a fatal flaw? Only if the early season defense returns and they stop getting takeaways, red zone and third down stops. Offensively, it’s no longer all Gronk and Edelman. You have to stop the run, and while they will stay dedicated to pounding it up the middle, their stable of backs are just as capable in the passing game.

And as I mentioned in the Posits, all their receivers can play each receiver position. Then there’s Bennett, who might not be as dominant as Gronk, but is close to being as dangerous, especially when teams get caught up figuring out where the receivers and backs are lining up.

The fact that their special teams are playing dominant football is only the icing on the unstoppability cake.

Put them all together and there’s no question it’s Super Bowl or bust once again.

Here’s a 10 pack of thoughts…

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Pats Posits: Primed, Again

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2016 AFC East Champs!

The Patriots locked up the AFC East championship and a first round playoff bye with their 16-3 win over the Broncos, moving to 12-2 on the season, and putting to rest some of their Denver demons.

Yup, if you didn’t love the 2016 Patriots before impressive wins over Baltimore and Denver, you sure do now!

The victory was perhaps the most complete of the season, with the defense completely neutralizing Denver’s offense in the second half and becoming the top scoring defense in the NFL; the offense capitalizing in key spots while maintaining excellent balance; and the special teams generally dominating every hidden yard there was.

With just two games to go, the Patriots look as primed as ever to make a run at another Super Bowl. But they might need to win both to secure homefield.

More on the Pats’ playoff aspirations and a feel-great win over the Broncos…

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