A Few Things Patriots Fans Might…..

As the start of the New England Patriots moves game closer to the opening kick-off.  Here’s a few things Patriots fans might want to be watching for this afternoon.

On New England’s Side: 

Tom Brady & The Offense:

• After last week’s performance when Brady threw for 378 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 almost costly interception.  It’s time to see if he’s removed the rustiness that plagued him for pretty much the entire Buffalo game.  You could see that he just wasn’t himself early on, especially with all the dropped passes the Patriots had.  At first I was thinking it was the receiving core (Randy Moss & Wes Welker) for New England who was to be blamed.  But after re-watching certain parts of the game, you could clearly see if Brady’s fault.  He wasn’t fully stepping into his throws and getting the proper mechanics in his throwing motion.  Was it his nerves?  Don’t forget it was a year to the day that he originally was injured.  Was it just the rust?  Going a full year without real live game time action definitely will do that to a person.  Plus not having Welker available for the pre-season, will most certainly make things harder for both of them.  As they were out of sync and hopefully just needed last week’s game to get in the groove of things!

The Defense:

• With the loss over the off-season to a few key players, and the recent loss of Jerod Mayo (injury).  The two big question for the Pats is how will they be able to stop the running tandem of Thomas Jones and Leon Washington?  And also will they be able to apply enough pressure on Jets QB Mark Sanchez?  Sorry folks if I had that answer I’d be on their sideline with a headset on my head.  My best guess is that Adalius Thomas, Gary Guyton and Tully Banta-Cain will have to roam freely in the middle of the defense and play the best game of their lives.  Plus the forces know as Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren on the line will have to beat down their defenders and establish the pass rush up the middle.  Plus let’s watch out and try and cut down on those stupid penalties this week!

Special Teams:

• These guys played a HUGE part in last week’s come from behind victory over the Bills.  Everyone from Kevin Faulk, Laurence Maroney all the way to Pierre Woods (strip) and the recovery on the part of Stephen Gostkowski.  We’ll need it again this week, all though let’s hope it’s Gostkowski’s leg and not his recovery skills that we are relying on.  They’ll need to give Brady and the offense plenty of breathing room, by having some big return during this game. 

The Game’s Final Prediction:

New England 27 – New York 24