It usually take 4-6 games to really know what you have. At that point your strengths and weaknesses are pretty apparent, not only internally but to the rest of the NFL as well. Then it becomes about trying to fix those problems.
Ideally, I’d like to see how they respond to a lot of different game situations – being down late in the 4th quarter (like they were vs. the Bills), being up late in the 4th quarter and needing a stop to seal the win, going down or up early, etc. Adversity helps forge a team and prepare them for the playoffs, where all the teams are good, all the games are usually back and forth and come down to the very end.
So I’d say by the time the Pats see the Jets again on 10/20 they’ll have a pretty good idea of how good they are. Then they’ll have two big divisional games that could potentially really set them up to put a stranglehold on the AFCE crown.
I will say that this season, with all the rookie weapons, I’m not expecting consistency or dominance out of the offense until after the bye. Everyone just need to accept that this isn’t the well-oiled Welker/Gronk/Hernandez machine of the last few seasons.
There will be times where it does look like that machine and there will be others where it looks disjointed, like it did Sunday.
As for the defense, I have high expectations, and they really start this week against a rookie QB, when the offense needs them to really deliver a solid performance to help offset some injuries.
