Once again, we’re on to Cincinnati! And yours truly is especially excited because it’s time for my annual pilgrimage home for a Pats game. I saw plenty of games as a kid when the Patriots stunk in the 80’s and 90’s, but in the summer of 2006 I still hadn’t seen a live Brady/Belichick and decided it was time that changed.
Since then I’ve been to 13 Patriots games, and the Pats are 10-3 overall. The only losses — ’08 at SD, ’11 vs NYG and ’12 at SEA. The best wins — ’06 AFCDG at SD and ’14 vs. DEN. Hopefully this game gets us to 11 wins! But really, the result of the game is always secondary to the good times with family and friends, and the excitement leading up to the game itself.
And if you’d like to join us, we’ve got a bus running out of Quincy Center to the game and will have a bunch of stuff to giveaway as well. So yes, it will be a wonderful day and we’ll have social media updates flying all over the place.
It seemed like the Pats and Bengals were on a collision course last season, but then Andy Dalton got hurt and Cinci later imploded against the Steelers in the playoffs and it never happened. Now, the 2-3 Bengals aren’t off to the same hot start they had last year, and let’s face it, usually the Pats have their way with Marvin Lewis‘ team, save that one rainy performance in 2013 on the road.
So maybe there’s a little less hype surrounding this one than we might’ve thought, but still, the Bengals have plenty of talent on both sides of the ball and this will be a good challenge for a Patriots team that is starting to round into form after the return of Tom Brady.
Here’s the gameplan to get a win and make my annual trip a success.
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