New England Patriots are in the best position possible
Life couldn’t be better for a New England Patriots fan right now. The team is in the best position possible as they enter a much-deserved break weekend.
No one, absolutely no one saw this coming. Including this writer, of course. Very few expected the Patriots to navigate past an NFC powerhouse, a divisional rival that always gives the Patriots headaches and an AFC contender. No one expected a tag team quarterback effort of Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett to pilot the ship.
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Furthermore, no one expected the Patriots to be sitting pretty at 3-0 with double-digits in days off until their next game with Rob Gronkowski and Dont’a Hightower both missing multiple games. Even with Gronk back in the lineup on Thursday night, he was seldom used as more than a decoy.
What’s even more exciting is the Patriots will soon have Rob Ninkovich and Dion Lewis back in the fold, players who will bolster the already potent defensive end rotation and backfield, respectively.
Oh, and the Patriots will also get back their actual starting quarterback, Tom Brady. Wow.
To sum it all up, Brady is going to take the reins of a team that will be no worse than 3-1 in Week 5 against a terrible Cleveland Browns team, and will have a slew of contributors making their 2016 debuts.
By that time, Gronkowski should be back in full Gronk-spiking mode, and Hightower should be joining Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner Jamie Collins at linebacker. A few weeks later, Lewis should be teaming-up with James White and LeGarrette Blount to form perhaps the most diverse and all-around threatening backfield in the NFL.
To make it all better, the Patriots are atop what could easily be the worst division in the NFL. The New York Jets are a respectable opponent, but both the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills are complete messes at this point.
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So yeah, it’s a pretty great time to be a Patriots fan. Go ahead and put up your feet this weekend and watch as the rest of the NFL scrambles to match the Patriots’ depth, coaching and execution.