Before this NFL season began, I was brimming with optimism. The Patriots has addressed their biggest needs in the NFL draft, and I predicted they’d go 13-3 and make the Super Bowl. And after watching the Patriots all season, I’m convinced that they had the personnel this year to win it all. That’s what makes this past Sunday’s loss to the Ravens so difficult to swallow.

First off, let’s give the Ravens some credit – they played a hell of a game. If there are two players I’ve been ridiculed for hyping, it’s been Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco. I’d say that with their respective performances in this year’s playoffs they’ve addressed their critics. But at the end of the day, all the Bud Light in the world can’t wash away the deflating feeling of what could have been for the Pats this year. As I awoke in the wee hours of the morning following Sunday’s game, the reality of the loss quickly washed over me. Left to the confines of my own mind, the following thoughts came to me and seem to have since gained staying power.

1) Wes Welker’s drops have become a problem – I have long been, and will continue to be, one of Wes Welker’s biggest proponents. This is a guy who had led the NFL in receptions 3 of the last 6 seasons, while racking up 1000+ receiving yards in 5 of his last 6 seasons. Any way you cut it, he’s one of the most productive players in the NFL.

The elephant in the room is obvious – despite Welker’s value, he likely cost the Patriots a Super Bowl last year. I for one did not blame him – not nearly to the extent that I blame Asante Samuel for his drop the first go ’round against the Giants. Drops happen, and that’s that. But Tom Brady did exactly what you’d want your quarterback to do in support of a player who has made a big drop – he went right back to him in a crucial situation, and any analyst worth their mettle will tell you that Welker’s drop on 3rd and 7 against the Ravens was the turning point in the game. The Pats had a chance to step on the Ravens neck, Tom threw a perfect ball, and we all know what happened from there. Oh yea, and then he dropped another crucial pass.

Do I think the drops are in Welker’s head at this point? No, I don’t (although I admit that they may be). As Tom Brady said, this guy is the heart and soul of the Patriots. Few players, if any, play as hard every single down as Welker does. To think that this guy hasn’t won a Super Bowl in his years with the Patriots is absurd – he surely deserves one, but unfortunately he’s got himself as much as anybody to blame. Do I want him back? Hell yes I do. But if he doesn’t return to New England there’s no way around it – his drops will have sealed him fate as much as anything.

2) The injuries to Rob Gronkowski and Aqib Talib were too much to overcome - Over the last two seasons, Rob Gronkowski has been the best red zone player in the NFL – fact. When Aqib Talib joined the Patriots secondary this season, there was immediate improvement – fact. My point is not that the Patriots couldn’t win without these two guys – it’s that their odds of winning went down drastically. We saw field goals instead of touchdowns, where we could have used Gronk (not to mention his blocking). If last year’s Super Bowl taught us anything it’s that we aren’t the same team without him. And perhaps even more ironically, Aqib Talib was injured on a play that he successfully broke up. Joe Flacco looked lost up until that point in the game, and looked like Joe Montana once Talib left the game. I realize everyone is going to jump on this as me making excuses. To those people let me ask you this – can you name one team in the NFL that could win without their second best offensive and defensive players? Take Ray Lewis and Torrey Smith off the Ravens… how much of a shot would they have ?

3) Game balls to Brandon Lloyd and Aaron Hernandez - In this game, it wasn’t all negative. I was very impressed with the play of Aaron Hernandez (9 catches, 83 yards) and Brandon Lloyd (7 catches, 70 yards). Both guys brought their A-games, executed, and made some crucial and very difficult plays for the Pats. They should continue to be weapons at Tom Brady’s disposal in future years. Was Brandon Lloyd the missing deep threat, the replacement Randy Moss that we all thought he might be? No. But he’s sticky as hell and fantastic along the sidelines.

4) Season game ball goes to the O-line – Going into this season everyone knew that the Patriots defense would be improved, and it was (although there’s still a long way to go). The real weakness that had me most worried entering the season was the Patriots offensive line. This crew was viewed with extreme skepticism throughout New England, especially early in the year. All in all, the O-line was not a problem for the Patriots this year. They kept Tom Brady healthy, and usually gave him a decent amount of time in the pocket. We did not lose to the Ravens because Tom Brady was under severe pressure, as we’ve seen in most of the Patriots’ recent losses. We lost to the Ravens because they beat us in all facets of the game.

5) Looking into the future – Looking into the future, I can honestly say that I think Tom Brady has 3 productive seasons left in him – he’s 35 now. But realistically, especially given his age, he may have 1 or 2 seasons of those three where he’s not derailed by injury. Not to jinx the guy, but he’s been pretty lucky in his career thus far.

I’m firmly in the “Tom Brady needs to win a 4th Super Bowl” camp, and one or two shots at another title is not a whole lot. The good news is that the Patriots are young, have their primary weapons locked up, and should be an even better team next season. If there is a football God (aside from Roger Goodell), Tom Brady will lob a game winning touchdown pass to Wes Welker to win his fourth Super Bowl, and Welker’s first, in the next few seasons. Once again we’ll have to wait and see.

So who do I want to win the Super Bowl, the Ravens or the 49ers? Who cares.

The Patriots proved yesterday that their initial regular season beat-down of the Houston Texans was no fluke, outlasting a gritty effort by the Texans en-route to a 41-28 victory. With countless storylines swirling in the NFL at the moment, what Tom Brady is doing has been under-hyped – a direct result of Tom Brady’s consistent success. Yesterday Brady became the most winning playoff quarterback in NFL history, the day after his only true peer over the last decade, Peyton Manning, became tied for the most losing playoff quarterback of all-time. Brady will suit up next Sunday in his 7th AFC Championship game.

Next week’s AFC Championship should be a douzy – Ray Lewis, motivator extraordinaire, is retiring after this season (if you didn’t get the memo). You know that entire team, and much of the NFL, wants Lewis’ last game to be the Super Bowl. Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan, both of whom have long found an ally in this site, finally performed when it counted most. If Flacco is able to complete a few bombs against the Patriots secondary, we’re in trouble. This should be a rematch of epic proportions.

If the Pats are able to get past the Ravens, we’ll either have to deal with Atlanta or the 49ers. Matt Ryan’s accuracy and weapons should allow him to pick the Patriots secondary apart – the 49ers have looked perhaps more impressive than any team, and are a pretty good mock-up of the blueprint that the Giants have shown to be the recipe for beating the Pats. In other words, it’s going to be a battle from here on out if Tom Brady is going to win his 4th ring.

There were three other storylines in yesterday’s game that also stood out to me, the first of which is Shane Vereen. This guy was the hero yesterday, scoring 3 touchdowns for the Pats. It’s so Belichick to rely on a player in your biggest game of the season who didn’t even play in 5 games this year and is a back-up running back. Vereen had only 8 receptions in his career going into yesterday’s game, where he caught 5 balls including two touchdowns. Kudos to Bill for identifying a mismatch, and kudos to Brady for recognizing and continuing to feed the hot hand.

Secondarily (pun intended), I wanted to give a shout out to Aqib Talib. This guy has come in and truly changed the Patriots on the defensive side of the ball – that’s a lot to say for any one player. This guy is the real deal.

Last but not least, we have to talk about Gronk. It seems ridiculous to me that Gronk played yesterday, seeing as he was so easily injured by landing on his arm a single time. I don’t know who cleared him to play, but shame on them. If we learned anything from last year’s Super Bowl it should have been that we can’t win without Gronk. We don’t need him out there as a decoy, we need him out there flying around and Gronk-spiking all over. That won’t happen now. In all honestly, if Gronk was 100% I’d be calling the Patriots my flat out favorites to win it all. Without Gronk, that’s simply not the case. It’s going to take some seriously elevated play from the Patriots’ defense if they are going win next week, let alone in a Super Bowl.

After watching the Atlanta Falcons dismantle the Giants, 34-0, I splashed some cold water on my face and gave myself a hard look in the mirror. “This can only mean that something bad will happen to the Patriots tonight,” I thought. “The football God’s would never shine on me this bright.”

As expected, the Patriots were then handed their fourth loss of the season. What a day in my NFL life – as I explained to a friend, I’ve recently come to realize that I don’t have anything resembling a second favorite NFL team. I like watching the Patriots, my favorite team, and the Giants, my least favorite team, infinitely more than any of the other games on TV. And as the dust settled after what was a crazy game for the Pats, realizations about the impact of both games began to creep in – the Giants are now only “in the hunt” for the playoffs, and the Patriots’ road to the Super Bowl will be played away from Foxboro.

While this certainly hurts the Patriots more than it helps it them, I definitely see a significant silver lining in the outcome of yesterday’s game. Everything that possibly could go wrong did for the Pats, who found themselves down 31-3 before they knew it. I was ready to pack it in at that point, but as my roommate pointed out, the Pats had a good test in front of them. They’ve shown the NFL that they can blowout the best teams when they are firing on all cylinders. But they haven’t had to show that they can fight back when they’re pinned with their backs on the mat.

The Patriots showed yesterday that they have that fight, which undoubtedly will be needed come playoff time. 28 unanswered points got them right back in the mix and answered that question pretty quickly. But in ultimately losing the game the Patriots also received a gut check. Sure, they can crush the #1 team in the NFL, but they can also surely be beaten.

Many, including myself, believe that the Patriots ultimately hurt themselves in not losing a game the year they went 16-0. They needed that gut check to understand that they needed to bring their absolute best, week in and week out. I think they got the memo yesterday, and they saw first hand what Tom Brady is capable of if needed.

Sure, there will likely be no bye week for the Patriots, and they’ll have to deal with the beds at the Ramada. But for a team that’s playing so well, keeping their momentum rolling (despite the loss) isn’t such a bad thing. And knowing that you only lost to the best defense in the league by a single score when all hell broke loose has to give you some additional degree of confidence.

Last but not least, let’s give Colin Kaepernick his due – the guy was absolutely as electric as advertised, very much living up to the hype. Let’s just hope we get another crack at the Niners come February.

After something of a shaky start (only by their own high standards), the Patriots have managed to scrape together a 9-3 record en route to yet another AFC East title. Many of the trends we’ve gotten used to over the past few seasons have come to fruition once again – Tom Brady is in the midst of another MVP caliber season, the Patriots offense has been far and away the best in the NFL, and the Patriots pass defense has been pretty damned terrible. After a series of promising seasons ending without the Pats hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, how are we to know if this year’s Patriots team has what it takes to win it all?

In short, I think that we don’t know yet – but the next two weeks will be telling.

Tonight the Patriots play the NFL’s top team, the Houston Texans, on Monday Night Football. This game will not only have playoff implications, but will undoubtedly be played by both sides as if it were a playoff game. To the winner goes a major sense of validation, and certainly a jolt of confidence. After several weeks of blow out wins over weaker teams, the Patriots need a true test.

Whether the Pats win tonight or not (I think they will), they’ll get another test next week when they face the San Francisco 49ers. Even in the playoffs the Pats are unlikely to face a two-week test as harsh as the Texans followed by 49ers. Both are defense first teams that very much play the type of football blueprinted by the Giants as the recipe for taking down the Pats.

With the Ravens losing this week, the path to a first round by is open for the Patriots taking. We need Rob Gronkowski back, sure, but that seems likely in time for the playoffs. The next two weeks will tell us what the Patriots are made of – and it all starts tonight on Monday Night Football.

One of the beauties of Thanksgiving football is that you know you’ve got an entire nation of turked-up fans and semi-fans at least gazing in the general vicinity of the TV. For the Patriots, this proved to be very fortunate – it was an opportunity to instill a bit more fear in their opponents and their fans across the league. For the Jets, well, they probably feel like the guy who got pantsed immediately after taking the Thanksgiving Day Plunge.

Obviously this game got out of control in a big way, fast. After a scoreless first quarter, the Patriots reeled off 35 points in the second quarter en route to a 49-19 victory. Rex Ryan, who referred to Tom Brady as a “machine” early this week, seemed more obsessed than ever with stopping the man who has single-handedly ruined his professional life as of late. In 65 plays from scrimmage the Jets would match up with 5 or more defensive backs an amazing 56 times. But get this – the Patriots lined up 3 or more wide receivers on less than a quarter of those snaps. Despite almost every receiver being double teamed, Tom Brady averaged 11.5 yards per attempt and passed for 3 touchdowns (while running one in himself). For the Brady haters out there, chew on that for a bit.

But beyond all the crazy statistics that came out of this game, it also served as a perfect opportunity to stop and reflect on the men that lead both teams. “I’ll put it to you this way,” said Rex Ryan. “We’re about as wounded as you possibly can be, but we’re not dead.” Belichick, on the other hand, won the 200th game of his career. Perhaps more impressively, his Patriots improved to 19-0 in the second half of the season since 2010 (an NFL record). Given that Belichick has had very young teams, nothing could speak more to the coach’s ability to take in a young group in the preseason and turn them into contenders through a system of  week to week improvement.

While I’m sure Belichick washed down this win with a celebratory glass of eggnog, this was undoubtedly one of the toughest losses of Rex Ryan’s career. Despite being a Patriots fan, I’ve long voiced mostly positive opinions of Rex. Sure, he’s a clown and he talks way too much, but I’ve always gotten his schtick. I maintain that if I was a player, I’d be happy to play for Rex. But after years of guarantees gone wrong, of soundbites about being happy Gronk is out against the Jets, of locker room chemistry issues and most importantly, of shotty on-field coaching, Rex now has nowhere to hide. No one feels bad for him, and he has only himself to blame. If he doesn’t turn things around real quick, I suspect it’s just a matter of time before he’s shown the door.

Oh yea, and remember Julian Edelman? That hockey player trapped in the midst of one of the best football teams in the NFL? Yes, he’s still seeing sideways.

The Patriots defeated the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, 37-31, continuing a streak of home wins against the Bills that dates back to 2000. As I said after the game, 6-3 sounds a hell of a lot better than 5-4 – no doubt there was a feeling of relief when the Patriots luckily eeked this one out. But despite the victory I couldn’t help but be frustrated after watching this game. The Patriots seemed to do everything in their power to give the opponent a chance to score and beat them by a single point at the end of the game; yet again. Which begs me to ask the question – are the Patriots really that good?

Hear me out. Last year the Patriots went 13-3, made the Super Bowl, and easily could have won it. They managed to do all of that with one of the worst defenses in terms of yards allowed in NFL history. This year the running game has improved significantly, the defense was bolstered via the draft, and the Patriots primary areas of concern were seemingly addressed. Yet they’ve already lost as much as they did last year, and they’re finding themselves almost losing to the Bills at home despite  putting up 37 points – that ladies and gentlemen, is a problem.

So who is the culprit? I’ll tell you who is not to blame – the offense. Tom Brady is once again quietly putting together a remarkable season that few will truly appreciate. Brady’s prodding along with a 100+ QB rating, 18 touchdowns, and only 3 interceptions. Better yet, New England’s running game has finally blossomed into the multi-pronged attacked Bill Belichick has wanted for so long.

Which brings us, naturally, to the defense. The Patriots pass defense continues to be horrendous – they are currently 29th in the NFL, and they turn the Ryan Fitzpatrick’s of the league into the second-coming of Peyton Manning. The acquisition of Aqib Talib could certainly help – it’s going to have to if the Patriots are to be considered a true contender. If we can’t stop the Bills’ passing attack, what’s going to happen when we play the Peyton Manning led Broncos? Any team with a top-tier passing attack will literally rip the Patriots secondary to shreds – at the moment.

The bigger issue to me may actually be the Patriots’ defensive line. While the Pats are in the top 10 in the league in run defense, the Bills showed that against a formidable running attack they aren’t that good. CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson tore up the Patriots for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns - simply unacceptable when you can’t stop the pass, either. But I think the real issue may be the defensive line’s ability to pressure the passer. Without a formidable blitzing scheme any good QB will continue to pick them apart, and the lack of pressure on the QB makes turnovers even more difficult to come by for an already struggling secondary.

Make no mistake about it – Devin McCourty’s interception that sealed this victory for the Patriots was not an example of “playmaking” – it was Ryan Fitzpatrick pressing and making a goofy mistake that cost his team the game. For a team that has lost two Super Bowls as of late to a team with probably the best pass rush in the NFL, the Patriots need to open their eyes. Without making the opposing quarterback uncomfortable, their will be no chance of the Patriots capturing another Lombardi trophy.

Stephen Gostkowski shanked a 42-yard field goal that would have beaten the Arizona Cardinals – frankly it wasn’t even close – and just like that the Patriots were handed their first loss of the season. Gostkowski, who had already made field goals of 34, 46, 51, and 53 yards in the game, will undoubtedly go down as the scapegoat for this loss – but he shouldn’t. While it’s undeniable that Gostkowski missed at a pivotal moment, it was a plethora of uncharacteristic mistakes and solid play by the Cardinals that led to the loss.

 First off, the late fumble that gave the Patriots life (and Gostkowski a chance at winning it) was an absolute gift. Second of all, the Patriots produced 142 yards more offense than the Cardinals did, yet lost. The last time they out-gained an opponent by such a margin in a loss was 1989. Third of all, Rob Gronkowski was called for a holding penalty that offset what would have been the game winning touchdown. Finally, the Cardinals got the breaks they needed – an interception and a blocked punt. Collectively, these mishaps should result in a loss, as they did.

This game also gave Pats fans a reason to be weary – the Cardinals are just the most recent team to verify the blueprint for beating the Pats – attacking the quarterback relentlessly. Tom Brady was sacked 4 times and hit 6 times, generally keeping him off-balance and out of the end zone. But if anyone had any doubts about his ability to lead a down-field charge late in the game, Brady was able to surgically pick the Arizona defense apart to force the issue and make a game of it. Brady needs to continue to improve his ability to make something happen when under duress, and the front office should be looking at all options for offensive line reinforcements.

While the loss was certainly tough to swallow, the injury to tight end Aaron Hernandez adds to the sting. Hernandez is on the field on a vast majority of offensive plays, and his versatility will certainly be missed. On a brighter note, kudos to Wes Welker for breaking Troy Brown’s all-time Patriots receptions record – the man, like Brown, has been nothing but a pleasure to watch year in and year out. And despite the loss there’s no need to panic – this might just be the spark the Patriots need to really get rolling.

For every time a twenty-something girl dives on the Facebook to share a photo of the most recent fried meal they had or their most recent engagement, there’s a twenty-something guy out there posting the latest cliche Facebook update about how pumped they are that football is back! IS IT REALLY? I didn’t notice. Most people like ice cream!

My apologies – I’m a bit feisty at the moment. Please just proceed to insert your favorite cliche “Football is back!” quote here. Moving on…

The Patriots. I got to watch them last night in their first pre-season game. They actually drafted players that seemed like logical choices this year, and goddamnnnnn does that make me happy. I maintain, unabashedly, that the Patriots should be considered the favorite to win the Super Bowl this year. If Tom Brady doesn’t go down, I for one expect them to win it all. Put that on record.

Last night, I think every Patriots fan saw exactly what they wanted to see. First round pick Chandler Jones in particular was a beast putting pressure on the opposing quarterback. At 6’5 and 266 pounds, this guy has literally no upper body – he’s all arms and legs, which he used last night to get to the quarterback with what looked like relative ease. Comparisons to Jason Pierre Paul have already started flooding in, but A) That’s a heck of a comparison and B) Let’s wait till the guy has some real success first, shall we? Regardless it appears as though Jones will make the entire Patriots defense, and mainly the secondary, significantly better by actually putting some pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Better yet, Dont’a Hightower (6’4, 270 pounds) is probably the scariest man I’ve ever seen and Jake Bequette (6’5, 274 pounds) looked like an absolute stud as well. I’d look for all three of these guys to be immediate contributors, and the Patriots just got a hell of a lot bigger and scarier on the defensive end.

So how does the rest of the team look?

Short of a full season preview, the Patriots strengths will again be on the offensive side of the ball. They have the best quarterback in the league, the best tight ends in the league, and an incredibly deep receiving core. While I’ve always been a cheerleader for Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallet, actually watching them play last night was somewhat maddening. Everybody in New England has been spoiled for over a decade now, and trying to come to terms with having to watch a quarterback aside from Tom Brady someday is going to be even worse than I expected. Aside from Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and maybe Drew Brees, watching other quarterbacks is simply something of a reminder that playing the position isn’t nearly as easy as those guys make it look.

As for the weaknesses of the Patriots, the secondary immediately jumps out again. I’d say with some more experienced players in the secondary, I’m generally less concerned about the secondary than I was last year – but it will still be maddening watching the better quarterbacks in the league convert on third and long. I look at it like with the newfound ability to apply pressure to opposing QBs, the secondary will instantly be that much better – they’ll at least be able to cause more turnovers than they did last season. Definitely a plus.

The bigger question mark for me this year is the Patriots offensive line. They were missing some key pieces last night but one of the supposedly more reliable players, Nate Solder, looked flat-out terrible. If injuries hit the O-line, the Pats don’t have a ton of depth. Tom could find himself in big trouble, especially on his blind side, and obviously this only adds to the possibility of him going down with a serious injury. This is what makes me wake up with a start, hyperventilating at night.

Perhaps one of the most interesting question marks for the Patriots is at the running back position. At this point Stevan Ridley is option 1A, Shane Vereen is 1B, and Danny Woodhead continues to play the same role he has all along. I think it’ll be a running back by committee situation throughout the year, and while I don’t think the running game will be a strength, I do think it will be sufficient. All the Patriots running backs need to do is not fumble the ball and find someone who can punch the ball across the goal line in the red zone.

I’d look for the Pats to go 13-3, and I want a rematch with the Giants in the Super Bowl. Let’s see what Eli can manage if we actually manage to put some pressure on him.

When I think about the Patriots and the NFL draft, a line from Alanis Morisette’s song “Ironic”  immediately comes to mind, “It’s like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife.” I then typically cringe, begin to sweat a bit, then whimper myself to sleep. Sure, the Patriots are among the best teams when it comes to drafting, but Bill Belichick’s history of trading down picks and selecting players at our best positions is absolutely maddening. Maybe Belichick is softening in his old age, I’m not sure, but it sure as hell seems as though he threw me a life-preserver this year.

With the draft approaching, I had several meaningful conversations with Pats fans as of late – it’s been long enough, we’ve had our time to cope, and speaking about the Patriots is slowly moving away from being a taboo subject. The new sentiment I’m hearing, and one I subscribe to very much so, is that Tom Brady just needs to win one more Super Bowl. It’s not about the best ever argument or anything like that anymore – it’s simply the fact that Brady has become a much better quarterback than he was in his younger years and he deserves to win a championship in this part of his career. A fourth Super Bowl for Brady, and we can all die happy.

It’s been maddening that the Patriots have seemingly forgotten that they were a defense first team when Brady & Co were ringing off championships. Brady never had a single offensive Pro Bowl player in any championship season, but he had a roster filled with defensive stalwarts. Heck, the Patriots didn’t even know what they had in Brady in those years. Since they’ve come to realize Brady’s greatness, it’s as though they’ve thrown any importance attached to the defense out the window – and in doing so they’ve put up several of the best offensive season’s in the history of football, while winning a total of 0 championships. Earth to Bill, draft some defensive players for heaven’s sake.

Simply put, I’m ecstatic with this year’s draft class. The Patriots selected defensive players with their first six picks – frankly I don’t care if these guys were the linebackers on the Little Giants or defensive ends in the XFL, I’m just happy as could be that their needs were addressed. It seems as though the Patriots got a few definite studs, and they took their usual Belichick sleep picks as well that left everyone utterly confused. I love it – our defense in a couple of days changed from old, small, and slow to big, fast, and young. Here’s what we landed.

Chandler Jones, DE, Syracuse, Pick #21, 6’5 266 pounds
The Patriots obviously love this guy – he should contribute immediately at the position where we need to most help.

Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama, Pick #25, 6’2 265 pounds
Hightower has been touted as the Patriot that will have the most immediate impact. At their respective press conferences, Chandler Jones seemed giddy and talked about how excited he was to be a Patriot. Hightower instead talked about how he was ready to crush people, basically saying, “Every player on the other team is going to want to know where I am on the field… and I’ll get to them regardless, and when I do, it’s going to hurt.” We’ve got a savage in the making here – and Belichick is already comparing his football IQ to that of Jerrod Mayo.

Tavon Wilson, CB/FS, Illinois, Pick #48, 6’0 205 pounds
One of Belichick’s WTF picks, nobody expected this guy to get picked this high – or at all. It seems like a good “system” pick – who knows. He’ll either be great, or he’ll be working at Kohl’s by the end of camp.

Jake Bequette, DE, Arkansas, Pick #90, 6’5 274 pounds
Almost everybody in New England’s favorite pick – we got this guy late, and his production in college was absurd. He’s crazy fast for his size, and he beat out the majority of wide receivers and running backs in both the 3-cone and short shuttle drills at the combine. He’s also a team leader, an absolutely no problems off the field type of guy. Awesome.

Nate Ebner, SS, Ohio State, Pick #197, 6’1 205 pounds
Another of Belichick’s bizarre picks, who’s very similar in size to Tavon Wilson. Again, not sure of Belchick’s angle on this one.

Alfanzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska, Pick #224, 5’10 204 pounds
The other surprisingly awesome pick taken in the later rounds, this guy was projected as a late first or second round pick but fell dramatically because he was arrested last week. Almost everybody cites this guy’s talent, as he shut down many of the best receivers in college football this year – most of whom were selected much higher than he was. This is a personality flaw pick, but if anyone can control him it’s Belichick.

Jeremy Ebert, WR, Northwestern, Pick #235, 5’11 200 pounds
Wide receiver is not a position in need by any stretch of the imagination for the Pats, but this was a great pick as well. With his size and a 4.4 forty under his belt, he’s both bigger and faster than Wes Welker. He’ll compete primarily with Julian Edelman and Anthony Gonzalez, which is a nice problem to have at the back-up slot receiver position.

I have big expectations for these guys, and I think that Jones, Hightower, and Bequette in particular have a chance to transform this team defensively. So here it is, my prediction that you can trace back to May 1, 2012 at next year’s Super Bowl; if Tom Brady is healthy throughout the playoffs next season, the Patriots will be hoisting the Lombardi trophy.

Patriots Giants, Giants Patriots….what’s it going to be? Last time around everybody and their mother expected the Pats to win. This time around, the Giants seem to be the favorite. I for one think the Giants will win (don’t give me any jinx talk, I was right about this the past two weeks), although I desperately want to Pats to pull it out. As a Boston-based blog with a slew of New York readers, let’s see what our audience is thinking.

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