The Patriots have combined to win eight games over the last two seasons, and times have not exactly been happy in Foxborough. Even during a 4-13 disaster last season, there was a little bit of hope in the form of rookie quarterback Drake Maye, who performed well despite a roster with a lot of leaks.
Even more hope was fostered this offseason when the Patriots reconstructed their roster via free agency and the draft, spending millions of dollars to upgrade the defense and receiving core while utilizing the draft to give Maye a potential franchise left tackle, and home-run hitters at running back and wide receiver.
Despite all of that, many prognosticators feel the Patriots are still a year or two away from being a serious player in the AFC. Bleacher Report has Mike Vrabel and company finishing under their projected win total of 8.5. A "strong" AFC East was noted, although the heavyweights drop off significantly after Buffalo.
The Patriots will beat the "under" this season for multitudes of reasons
New England's not-so-tough schedule is a big reason I'm taking the over. The Patriots' schedule - especially early in the season - isn't exactly loaded with heavyweights. A 3-1 September is a strong possibility with home games against the underwhelming Raiders, Steelers, and Panthers.
While sophomore slumps aren't uncommon for young quarterbacks, there's nowhere to go but up for Maye, especially after New England invested a lot of money to upgrade its roster to set Maye up for success. The rest of the league knows what his strengths are and will try to exploit his flaws, but Vrabel and Josh McDaniels have the combination of coaching experience to coach around that.
If everything goes right in New England this season, this is a team that can win 10 games - or more - and make the postseason. Is it a Super Bowl team? That's a stretch. Staying healthy will be essential, and all of New England should be breathing a sigh of relief that Christian Gonzalez's injury isn't serious.
Think of this team as a similarity to the 1994 Patriots, which were a year or two away from being a Super Bowl contender. That team - Bill Parcells' second - won 10 games and made the playoffs, finishing the regular season on a seven-game win streak. There's no reason to believe this team can't do the same.
Everything just has to go right.