Rest of the nation may think Patriots are done, but we know better

[Hammock Parties]

Cheesy?

****. You. Dan.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/p...sxO/story.html

By Dan Shaughnessy Globe Staff

STILL HOUSTON — What a field day for the hate.

Monday. Tuesday. Every day. And this is the way it’s going to be until the Patriots get a chance to prove everybody wrong at Gillette Stadium against the Chiefs Sunday.

It’s open season on Tom Brady and the Patriots across Football America. The Patriots are frauds. They are the worst 10-2 team in NFL history. They are a house of cards, upheld only by a soft schedule, the stupidity of others, and the genius of Bill Belichick.

Suddenly those Patriot wins against the Eagles and Cowboys don’t look so impressive anymore. In a cluster of 10-2 teams including the 49ers, Seahawks, Saints, and Ravens, the Patriots are the ones that don’t belong. They are the ones trending in the wrong direction as the playoffs near.

America is loving it. And you know why.

It started late Sunday night after the carnage in Houston. Rex Ryan went on ESPN and said this was the worst Patriots team he’s seen. A four-person panel on FS1 Tuesday morning dedicated a 10-minute segment to “Patriot Problems,” featuring an endless loop of Brady yelling at his teammates and doing the diva thing after botched routes by his receivers. The sports cover of Tuesday’s USA Today featured a photo of Brady sitting on his butt in the middle of NRG Stadium, accompanied by a headline reading, “Brady had better heed warning signs.’’ An ESPN pundit compared the quarterback with the Bears’ Mitchell Trubisky.

It’s on, folks. Brady is calcifying in front of our eyes, the Patriots are free-fallin’, and the tailgating universe is loving it. Bill Polian, Max Kellerman, Marshall Faulk, and Shannon Sharpe have been waiting 20 years for a week like this.

You can be sure that the Chiefs — despite their clock-management issues and cheesy defense, and the fact that they couldn’t beat New England while playing at home last January — will be repackaged this week as the greatest Chiefs team of all time, better than anything Hank Stram put together. Patrick Mahomes will be touted as the next young quarterback (joining Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson) to expose and outplay Old Man Brady. The Chiefs will be the hot pick.

And the hot take will be the inevitable crumbling of the Patriot dynasty.

We all know that there is a Never Patriots movement in the deep state of NFL America. These are the millions of angry fans who have seen their way of life uprooted by decades of Patriot dominance. Folks who had it so good for so long in places like Pittsburgh, Miami, Indianapolis, and Denver have seen their teams repeatedly humbled and humiliated by Belichick, Brady, and the Patriots. Stadiums as far away as San Diego, Miami, and Houston have been aggressively occupied by Patriot fans, turning road games into home games for the Brady crowd.

Let’s face it, having one team play in nine of the last 18 Super Bowls, and four of the last five, is too much for the rest of the country. The Patriots are hated the way the old New York Yankees were hated. Just too good for too long. And caught cheating while they were doing it.

As a result, any time there appears to be a crack in the New England machine, pundits and fans are quick to announce that this is the end (Trent Dilfer in 2014: “They’re not good anymore!”).

That’s what we’ll be getting for the rest of this week, and I don’t even want to think about what it will be like if the Chiefs win in Foxborough Sunday. The Patriots never lose home games in December. The last time they lost a game at the Lighthouse in December was in 2015 against the Eagles.

It’s weird now to look back a few months to a time when we were talking about the Patriots maybe running the table and going 19-0. They had the greatest defense of all time, they had Antonio Brown for a week and a half, and we were all pretty sure Gronk was coming back. The Patriots traded a second-round pick for an established receiver. Belichick was loading up for one last Super Bowl win with Brady.

(Aside: Can everybody stop with the AB nonsense? He is not coming back to the Patriots. He took yet another social media shot at Bob Kraft and Orchids of Asia Monday. It’s over, people.)

Now there is doubt about the Patriots everywhere, even on the airwaves of the SportsHub and WEEI. And the Never Patriots crowd has seized the day, reveling in the “demise” of a team that still has the greatest coach and quarterback of all time and still shares the best record in football.

As ever, New England’s game plan is to stay the course, wait for the Bills to beat the Ravens Sunday at 1, then topple the Chiefs and ascend to the No. 1 seed again.

Perfect. It will restore order to the universe.

After the Patriots victory Sunday night in Foxborough, Belichick gets to go to the podium, pretend nothing significant just happened, and say the words that will comfort every citizen of Patriot Nation.

“We’re on to Cincinnati.’’

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin

They are Not well quarterbacked. Brady throws to a spot 10 yards away from the receiver and then yells at them for not being there.

That's just ****ing dumb. Brady is about done. Bet this is his last year.

Everybody loves predicting that Brady is just about done, people have been doing it for 5 or 6 years now. Eventually they'll be right I suppose.

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

Not to argue, but that throw by Brady was more on the WR than Brady, IMO. The WR was supposed to take his route up-field, I think, but basically stopped at the sideline instead.

An aging QB is likely to make some inaccurate throws, but Brady doesn't make very many mental mistakes. It's not like his football IQ is in decline.

That wasn't an inaccurate throw, one of the two didn't execute the play correctly. My guess is that it was not Brady.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Eleazar

An aging QB is likely to make some inaccurate throws, but Brady doesn't make very many mental mistakes. It's not like his football IQ is in decline.

That wasn't an inaccurate throw, one of the two didn't execute the play correctly. My guess is that it was not Brady.

If we're talking about the same play, as I recall, Brady even pointed up-field just before throwing the ball, but the receiver never broke up-field.

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by BossChief

Our DL should dominate. Our secondary should get 3 picks. Our defense should keep NE under 20. If Fenton or Claiborne are able to play, make that 17. Max. Harassing Brady all day and into the night.

Our offense should be able to outscore them. If Mahomes struggles a little, we win by 1 score. If Mahomes has a good game we win by 10 or more. If the offense is in “make a statement” mode and Darwin gets 20 touches, we win by blowout.

If KC can generate turnovers the Patriots are DOA

[Yehoodi]

You gotta take Shaughnessy with a grain of salt. He likes be edgy and makes bold statements at times. That is kind of the stick.

As for the article there a few points.

Folks nationwide are looking for the Pats demise and will look to pounce on it when they get a chance and at times will try to pumped up the competition. Folks outside of NE are rooting for KC.


As for other teams falling down the stretch, it has happened a few times last few years, although KC last year held on for the #1 seed. We will see if Baltimore can beat Buff. Time will tell.

Should be a good game and we will see if the Pats O can get going this game or not.