Sunday's Patriots Practice Was More Of The Same.

So the Patriots returned after their first day off of practice. I wouldn't call it significant yet. And before I get into what was said today, let me remind everyone of what was said about the first three days of camp.

Here's my summary from last week:

Mac is the starter. Montgomery and Douglass appear to be all three quarterbacks favorite targets. Seperation is still an issue for the pass catchers. And the guys that are supposed to be good at catching the ball while covered (contested catch guys) are struggling to do so. The right tackle is inflating defensive stats and the secondary looks elite against this group of pass catchers. Special teams hasn't been the focus yet and the team needs to start hitting asap.

Okay, now on to camp for Sunday July 30th.

The offense looks as good as a McDaniels offense. The offense looks good when not practicing in the red zone. Pass catcher seperation was an issue again, along with pass blocking.

The quarterbacks looked better. Zappe finally looked like he was at least an nfl backup quarterback for the first time in camp.

Running backs were heavily checked down to against the pass rush. Harris and Hurd had a good day with Montgomery out.

JuJu had a good day. Bourne had another bad day. Damaris Douglas continues to look like a starter. Thorton finally had a good day. 

Gesicki had a good day. Sokol and Lumpkin are in a competition for TE three. Frisker got a lot of red zone work. 

The offensive line is still bad. Murray and McDermott still starting. Onwenu is still out and Reiff was with the second string.

Front seven dominanted the offensive line. Mapu moved back to linebacker and was solid. Tavaii is looking like a star.

Jack Jones finally got to start and had a good day. Mills made plays at free safety. And the secondary continues to shine, however the second unit was a little closer matched to the pass catchers without Jack Jones.

Berringer won the first punting competition.

Ryland is winning on kickoffs, kicker competition still too close to call but Ryland has the stronger leg. Bryant got more work as a returner.

Quick notes: former Patriot superbowl hero Sony Michel retired. And N'Keal Harry met with the Buffalo Bills. Harry could be an emergency signing if the Patriots get an injury.

Summary:

After four days of camp the sports media could basically say or write the following: "Patriots defense looks elite against their offense, which like their special teams, is still a work in progress." However, if that's all they wrote, nobody would tune in and they need clicks and views to make money.

What They Said About The First Week Of Patriots Camp.

After three days in camp, here are various take aways I got from various sources. Hopefully there is a pattern. I am not listing source names because people are bias against particular sources and I would rather people keep an open mind. If you pay attention to Patriots media, you should know basically what source said what. 

Source One:

A few injured players missing including Anderson, Onwenu, Davis all being out. Mitchell and Guy returned. All three days were soft red zone practice.

Quarterbacks looking poor the in red zone, with Mac looking the best of the three. The plays were looking scripted, the quarterbacks were holding on to the ball too long and throwing into coverage.

Stevenson had a good day on day one, was limited on day two and returned to full go on day three. Strong and Harris got extra reps the first two days but Strong appeared on day three to be the number two back. Montgomery is a receiver and was having a good camp the first two days before getting injured and was not present day three.

Thorton and Bourne have had zero production during the three days and appear to be slipping at the moment. Boutte was okay and Douglass has had a good camp and appears early to be rising up the depth chart. Parker and JuJu are the clear one and two.

Henry has had a good camp, Gesicki has been okay, Lumpkin and Sokol have made plays and Sokol appears to be climbing the depth chart as he's getting extra reps. Murray still starting and having a good camp. Reiff has been struggling and was demoted for McDermott on day three. The rookies are all third stringers and not getting used.

Mapu has been limited and Hall was limited on day three after getting injured on day two. Judon returned from the injury field and is disgruntled about his contract situation. White, Jennings, Tavaii, Uche, Munson, Wise, Barmore, and Wilson have all had a good couple of days in the front seven.

Bolden, Gonzalez, Miles, Peppers, Jon, Jack and Marcus Jones especially had a good couple of days but the secondary it self has shined. Jack Jones was demoted. Marcus and Jon Jones got extra reps. No change in kicker battle and limited action in the returner duty for both punts and kicks.

Source Two:

Red zone practice which gives the defensive the advantage. No contact, designed for offensive players to show their seperation skills. The offense was primarily 12 personnel. Offense was inconsistent and scripted. Drops, timing and communication were the biggest issues. Offense got better when they backed away from the goal line. 

There is no quarterback competition. Jones had looked good, Zappe has looked conservative and McSorely is a practice squad guy.

Montgomery was the star of camp before getting hurt and is a slot back. Stevenson was limited day two and it appeared to be to give Strong and Harris an extra look. Taylor looked better than both sophomores.

JuJu and Parker had a good couple of days. Douglas is working a lot with Mac. Douglas is climbing the depth chart and Thorton appears to be falling, him and Bourne are getting reps but not prodction. Boutte has had a bad camp and is not finishing plays. Henry's had a good camp and Gesicki's not being targeted.

Brown looks good. Murray has had a good camp and right tackle is a cause for concern. Reiff got demoted for McDermott, remember Reiff is a run blocker and needs contact.

Judon was a full go on Friday. Dugger, Bolden and Gonzalez have been good. Jack Jones has been dominant against the number twos. The secondary as a whole, has been dominant in the shorter area where the offense cannot separate.

Source Three:

Red zone and short yardage practices, which favors defense. Offensive timing is an issue. Limited number of running plays. Patriots been using almost exclusively 12 personnel. The offense looks better ran that last year already.

Mac has been practicing and taking shots, Zappe has been extremely conservative and dumping it off. There is no quarterback competition.

Stevenson was limited day two. Montgomery shined and got injured again. The other backs need to step up. Parker and JuJu are the starters. JuJu looks out of shape. Thorton and Bourne have had a bad camp so far. Mac is throwing to Henry and not Gesicki. Brown is back and looking good. Right tackle is looking like a cause for concern.

Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, Bryant and Marcus Jones have been the starting corners. Jack Jones was demoted but is playing well. Safety was a rotation. Judon did a hold in, which led to White getting extra reps. Tavaii and Peppers had a good couple days.

Nothing much of anything significant at the moment to really make a story of.

Source Four:

Practice has been a walk through. Offense looks already better than last year.  Mac was acting like a leader and appears to be giving maximum effort. Mac was the clear starter, played decent thus far. Zappe was nothing special and not getting the same level of competition as Mac, which he should be dominating if he was on Mac's level or better.

Montgomery looked good is a receiver that lines up occasionally in the backfield and looked like the third down back. Strong looked good as a pass catcher out of the backfield. Strong and Harris looked good and got extra reps when Stevenson limited. 

Douglass was with the starters and looks like he's moving up the depth chart. Reiff started okay before struggling and Stueber has had a bad camp but remember there's no contact.

Gonzalez is corner one. Bryant started as the slot corner but the Patriots have been rotating the entire secondary outside of Gonzo. Dugger has been the star of the first three days. Mapu has looked good, both him and Gonzalez have been the best rookies. Berringer appears to have won the punting job, and although the rookie kicker has a stronger leg, it looks too close to call yet.

Source Five:

Patriots ran 12 personnel and practiced primarily in the red zone. Ordinary camp, except Judin is doing a hold in. Tight and soft red zone practice. No quarterback competition. Offensive timing and communication issues present. Offense was scripted and struggled to pass in the red zone.

Quarterback play was bad, partially due to pass catchers. The offensive play calling needs to be more intelligent. Mac struggled to throw on the move. Mac showed leadership and putting in extra effort. Mac was finally able to throw on the move on day three but struggled prior to that.

Montgomery is the third down back and looked good until getting hurt on day two and missing day three. Stevenson was limited day two.

JuJu and Parker had good days, Bourne and Thorton not so much. Henry has looked good. Gesicki has had an unproductive camp.

Murray is starting. Trent Brown looked good. Reiff was consistently beat and inflated defensive production. McDermott promoted to starting right tackle.

Guy and Judon are disgruntled over contracts and Judon did a two day hold in and then was limited day three. Tavaii, Dugger, Uche, Barmore and Marcus Jones all had good days. The defense overall was good. Jon Jones was promoted over Jack Jones. Gonzalez has proven to be corner one.

Kicking competition is too close to call

Patriots need some depth but seem to be worried about a locker room mutiny and team moral.

Source Six:

Contactless red zone practice to start camp. Davis, Onwenu, and Anderson kept the team from having perfect attendance. Practice was uneventful and about execution. Team ran extra conditioning drills. Exclusive red zone practice. Heavy 12 personnel offense in the red zone practice. Offense was scripted and is working on communication.

Quarterbacks were bad, Mac was the best of the bunch and the only one that looked like an NFL quarterback. Mac struggles to throw on the move. Too much change in mechanics from the backups. A lot of coverage sacks. The team is trying to spread the ball.

Receiver and third down back Ty Montgomery was the star of the offense, Jalen Hurd is his backup. Montgomery was looking good until he got hurt on day two. He missed day three.

Sokol, Lumpkin and Henry have had a good camp. Gesicki's been okay, he's not being targeted.

The top four receivers got a lot of time. Parker, JuJu, and Douglas had a good day. Douglas is moving up the depth chart and is the best separater. He is looking like an Edelman clone in development. Thorton, Bourne and Boutte have looked bad. Boutte cannot finish. Tyquan looks like his rookie development was wasted. Receivers are struggling to get seperation. Pass catchers are not winning jump balls and are dropping passes. 

Trent Brown has secured left tackle but right tackle is a liability. Bill Murray was starting and Reiff was benched for McDermott. Reiff is not a no contact pass blocker.

Defense dominanted all three days, with several players had good plays and looking good. Barmore was limited early. Judon was limited and Mapu wore a no contact jersey. Hall got injured on day two and was limited day three.

Tavaii looks like a better overall player. Dugger looks like an all pro. Jack Jones looked good against the number twos but isn't starting. Gonzalez had a good day and is CB one.

Gonzalez, Bryant, Marcus and Jon Jones were the starters at corner. The Patriots are rotating corner two, the slot, and free safety. The secondary has looked one step ahead of the pass catchers so far.

Coaches divided up the special teams players. No change in kicker competition. And nothing to report in the punt game.

Overall:

Mac is the starter. Montgomery and Douglass appear to be all three quarterbacks favorite targets. Seperation is still an issue for the pass catchers. And the guys that are supposed to be good at catching the ball while covered (contested catch guys) are struggling to do so. The right tackle is inflating defensive stats and the secondary looks elite against this group of pass catchers. Special teams hasn't been the focus yet and the team needs to start hitting asap.

Three Summaries Of Patriots Camp After Day 2.

The offense wasn't so great on day one of camp and most of the media agrees that this is just OTAs until the pads come on. The general consensus is the offense looks like an NFL offense again and is still being installed. Right Tackle, Running Back behind Stevenson, and Free Safety seem to be the questions that the media is concerned with at the moment. Here's three summaries coming out of Patriots camp.

Summary one:

Nothing special with how camp is being ran so far. Focus has been all red zone. Offense is looking poor, lots to clean up. No quarterback competition. Quarterbacks making poor decisions and playing inconsistently. Quarterbacks need to play within their abilities, as they're struggling to go outside them. Offense ran the same play repeatedly. JuJu is being heavily targeted and should be ranked between 30 to 40 in receivers.

Reiff is inflating the defensive production. Montgomery dealing with injuries already. Injuries are the reason for meeting with Cook. Patriots are trying to avoid a mutiny with contracts. Guy's still having contact issues, although he reported. Uche's having a good camp. Kicking competition is too close at the moment.

Summary two:

The offense is practicing the basics in the red zone which is why they're getting beat. O'Brien's not being flashy. Offensive strategy has been about improving execution. O'Brien is running RPOs and play actions. A lot of scripted plays. The Patriots we're also throwing into coverage. To be successful, they need to play in more space.

Patriots are catering offense more to Mac, letting him use his abilities. Mac continues to show he needs a more intelligence based offense. Mac showed he's not a mobile passer. 

JuJu and Parker are the only qualified red zone receivers. Pass catchers still not getting seperation. Douglas looks like a candidate to make the 53 and is moving up the depth chart. Thorton is useless in the red zone. Douglas has been the quick seperation guy.

Strong is getting the number two back reps. Montgomery should be the third down back. Hurd is most likely Montgomery's backup. Trent Brown looks ready. Right tackle is a position to watch and has a lot of questions.

Gonzalez is working against Parker and JuJu and holding his own for the most part. Tavai looked good and is showing signs of improvement. Jack Jones demoted. Lots of Patriots with contract concerns. No one pulling ahead on kicker battle.

Summary three:

Stevenson is injured and  J.J. Taylor has been the better of three between Strong, Harris, and Taylor. However, Strong is getting more reps. Offensive timing is not there. Zappe has been playing extreme conservative, to explain his production and the quarterbacks have been holding on to the ball too long. Juju's out of shape but him and Parker been making plays. And Lumpkin and Sokol have each had their moments the first two days.

Offensive's poor play is due to lack of contact but looks better than last season. Trent Brown is back and Reiff is not playing well without contact. Right tackle is a liability at the moment. Bill Murray is getting a high volume of reps. Secondary is rotating personnel outside of Gonzalez. The safeties are getting a heavy work load. Tavai is looking good. Judon is disgruntled over contract. Limited number of players returning kickoffs, for a team with so many special teamers capable of doing the job.

Overall, I'd say the offense isn't trying to look good. Mac is trying to be a more aggressive mobile passer. The tight ends, Parker and JuJu are the red zone offense. And the third down back at the moment isn't a true running back. Thorton's rookie year looks like it was wasted and the only classic "Edelman type" slot appears to be Douglas. The team has no answers behind Stevenson and probably should've brought Wynn back. Defensively, by demoting Jack Jones, they've added a second question to answer, when all they needed to figure out was free safety. 

Sources:

Tom Curran, Phil Perry, Alex Barth, Greg Bedard, Evan Lazar, CLNS, NESN, NBC Boston, and the BSJ.

The Patriots Had More Incentives Than Tennessee, It Wasn't A Bad Contract.

Reggie Wayne, Ochocinco, Eric Decker, Antonio Brown and I'll even mention Mohamed Sanu are five big name receivers the Patriots brought that burned them. So I don't fault Bill Belichick for not over paying DeAndre Hopkins. The Patriots didn't go cheap with their offer though.

According to Albert Breer, The Patriots basically offered Hopkins the same contract as the Titans in 2023.

Breer said, "My understanding is, the max of (the Patriots') offer was $15 million for this year -- so they matched what the Titans did for this year -- but a much higher percentage of it was in incentives."

Hopkins is a guy that had some serious leg injuries in 2021, missed some time in 2022. Is 31 and doesn't like to practice. So the Patriots offered him a more incentives filled contract. It makes sense for them to cover themselves.

People just wanna rip on Belichick because he's won six superbowls as a head coach. There are Patriots fans that even say it's boring with him on the sideline because he's been there so long. It's just people look for someone to hate. Leave Bill alone.

Should a team sign an elite pass catcher before knowing what they have at quarterback or not?

The sports media did it again. So we have people like Alex Barth implying that it doesn't matter how bad the passer is if a team has an elite pass catcher. And the on the Rich Eisen show, people are criticizing D-Hop for going to the Titans because Tannehill is their passer.

A good receiver can hide the flaws of and inflate the career of a bad quarterback, leaving them to get exposed if the pass catcher is not on the field. "Well that's why you always have a good pass catcher on the team." Whether it's due to injury, financial issues, or just not available in the draft or market, it's not always possible to have a star pass catcher.

Further more it leads to a false sense of confidence and a team being complacent because they cannot get a proper evaluation of their passer. No need to shop for a quarterback if you have an average top 16 passer but good surrounding talent can make a passer look better than that. And can leave a team in a boat load of trouble.

Before his injury, Tannehill was showing that he was a middle of the pact average NFL passer. Why would Hopkins wanna go there? The answer is because if Hopkins is as good as he thinks he is, Tannehill who according to several including Eisen, "had nobody," that much better.

If it's true that Tannehill "had nobody" and was still on pace for 18 touchdowns, 9 interceptions and 3,700 yards and 3+ rushing TDs. Imagine how much better Tannehill could be with a top 10 pass catcher. He'll, Imagine how much fresher at the end of the year King Derrick Henry could be with a top 10 pass catcher.

The media needs to stop making the arguement that good receivers show their value by elevating average quarterbacks and then bitch when an elite pass catcher chooses an average passer. Either one believes a good passer can turn an average quarterback into a contender or they don't.

Now I laid out the case for Hopkins to choose Tannehill. I also on twitter laid out the case for why I don't believe should sign an elite pass catcher until they're sure on their passer. If you think one can win in Tennessee having Cam Newton, Nathan Peterman, Russel Wilson, or 2015 Tim Tebow over Tannehill, if they put them with D-Hop, I think you'd be crazy.

An average passer is still needed. There were questions about how good a passer 2015 Tebow was and there are questions to how good a passer Wilson is now. Teaming with Hopkins isn't going to help with that evaluation and assuming they're guaranteed to be average because they have Hopkins is a fallacy.

Teams and free agents when signing need to be certain of what they have before making decisions around a player or themselves if it's a free agent. I believe Hopkins did that. Now can he elevate an average quarterback in the way theory says he should be able to?

There's No Longer A Real Reason To Criticize Mac Jones

Mac Jones has a weak arm. That was the complaint about Mac Jones entering the 2021 NFL draft. Basically he was accused of not being able to throw hard or over 40 yards. And Mac heard people.

Mac Jones began working with Tom House immediately. Tom House worked with many famous pitchers and quarterbacks to teach them to gain arm strength. Mac Jones forced the ball deep to appease both Matt Patricia and fans in 2022 and paid for it.

Recently a video came out of Mac Jones throwing the ball 70 yards indoors. Mac isn't going to be making that throw often in the NFL. However, throwing it 20 yards less, he should now be able to put a lot more zip on the ball.

Here's the clip of Mac throwing 70 yards. No more talk about his arms from fans or the media. https://youtube.com/shorts/p7ejmIHab8o?feature=share3

People have looked for every reason to bash Mac Jones since coming to New England. It has become clear that the only thing that matters to his critics is, how good of a running back is he. They honestly don't care if he's a good passer, so they made up the excuse of his arm strength because they're still bitching about him.

It basically sounds like most fans and members of the media want to eliminate passing although and just revert to running and laterals. That maybe fun for a week or two but that's not football. And that's why I am not in agreement with the typical fan. Just like when they wanted to sign Cam Newton after two weeks and I didn't.

Sometimes one just can't with fans and the media. And this is one of those periods where it's almost best to cut everyone off. And to enjoy the team by one's self.

I'm Not Mad At Samuel For Reminding Belichick Who's Under Center.

Going back to Danny Etling in 2018, both fans and media alike have been saying "stop comparing people to Tom Brady." Some of them recanted and even during the week 17 season of the 2020, we're calling Cam Newton "better than Tom" because he could run but for the most part, it has been said repeatedly. "Stop comparing people to Brady."

The Patriots drafted Mac Jones in 2021. June Jones and Charlie Weiss called him the best passer in the 2021 draft. There were comparisons to Kurt Cousins, Chad Pennington, Matt Ryan, Joe Montana, and Tom Brady. While most said the last two were too high, people agreed upon the other three.

Mac went on to win the starting job as a rookie, make the playoffs, and pro bowl. His sophomore season, he had a rookie and I do mean rookie offensive coordinator and Mac got injured but he was still on pace to be the top 10 quarterback in statistics if he hadn't. Some criticized his ability to throw a catchable pass but player profiler said he threw the 80% of the time.

So people in 2023 are questioning Mac's ability to be a starter in 2023. Some calling him a bum. A former Patriots player came to his defense and tweeted on twitter June 6th.

"Let’s go Mac! He can actually do good if Bill stop doing stupid shit thinking he got Tom." Asante Samuel

Samuel accused Bill of treating Mac Jones like Tom Brady and everyone lost it. Fans are on social media like, "How dare you tell anyone not to compare the Patriots starting quarterback to Tom Brady, especially Bill Belichick." That's a summary of what's being said.

Unless Bill Belichick truly thinks Mac Jones is on Tom Brady's level, why would anyone get upset at a former player that knows Belichick, reminding Bill that his quarterback isn't on Brady's level? Seems kinda hypocritical but that's our fan base. We're a bunch of entitled hypocrites because we appeared in 9 superbowls since the start of the millennium.

Now, if Bill does think that, which is possible. Then Mac is playing below his level or Bill made an error. And while I respect Belichick, he has made scouting evolution mistakes in the past. Mac is statistically a better regular season quarterback than Brady was after the 02 season but he's nowhere near as clutch.

If Samuel didn't cost the Patriots a ring in many a fan's eyes, I don't think he would be getting any criticism for his comments. From listening to the people talk, they're just upset that he costed the Patriots a ring. And Samuel speaking out gives them an opportunity to attack him. 

Now Samuel made some comments about another corner in the league. That's another subject that has nothing to do with the Patriots, even if Revis is the one going at Samuel over his comments. Revis is a Jet, even if he helped the Patriots win a ring.

The Patriots Made Mistakes According To Fans And Media, While These Two Groups Themselves Are Both Normally Heavily Error Prone.

Fans and media often make bad general managers that are quick to criticize general managers poor decisions but never take accountability for their own bad takes. Here are some of the latest critiques going around about Bill Belichick the GM of the Patriots.

The Patriots should've drafted Lamar Jackson and should've made sure Brady never left. Cannot call it a mistake to let Tom Brady who retired after the 2022 season walk in 2019 and call it a mistake not to draft Lamar Jackson in 2018. If Brady had stayed. Lamar wouldn't of even played on his fifth year option. And Lamar would've been a waste of a first round draft pick.

People criticized the Patriots for not taking Deebo Sanders or A.J. Brown, players who many projected to be slot receivers. The Patriots in 2019 needed an X receiver and even had Demaryius Thomas. It was known that Arizona wanted Harry. The receiver that they could've considered was Metcalf of the Seahawks, but he had red flags. The Patriots would end up signing A.B. and trading for Sanu and surprisingly both were shit with Tom Brady in New England and A.B. was a mental and P.R. nightmare.

People criticized the Patriots for not trading up in 2020 for Tee Higgins. In 2020, it was believed that the Patriots needed tight ends on offense. The Patriots drafted two. Instead of getting an X receiver because the team had just invested previously on the X with N'Keal Harry. Fans would be just in criticizing the tight ends selected or the Patriots inability to know how to use the H-Back tight end position. As we saw in 2 seasons with Jonnu Smith, they don't know how to use that tight end position. The team was right at the time however for not trading up for Higgins while having so many needs.

Then people criticize the Patriots for not taking Metchie. In 2022, the Patriots had a slot, a Z, and an X receiver in Meyers, Bourne, and Agholor. They would later end up trading for Devante Parker. John Metchie was a slot receiver with acl problems and ran a 4.48. The team needed speed. And drafted Tyquan Thorton who ran a 4.28. Thorton has 22 catches over his career. Metchie hasn't recorded a stat. While I think Thorton is a deep slot being misused and fans could bitch that he's a deep slot, not an outside guy, he was a better selection then John Metchie.

The Patriots have been criticized for years for not signing or trading for Dez Bryant, Julio Jones and OBJ. Three guys who didn't do shit since the Patriots fan base started demanding their acquisition by Belichick. And when we look at OBJ, he choose the Rams and Ravens over the Patriots and admitted at one point that he chose the Rams because the Patriots didn't have Brady. 

The Point is, we as fans and even those in the media have the luxury of not having concerquences for our decisions or statements. People aren't coming at us asking how our decision turned out. Nobody asked Patriots fans about wanting Dez when his ankle broke in New Orleans. Nobody asked Patriots fans about Julio Jones when got injured for the titans,  Nobody asked fans when OBJ chose the Rams over the Pats, and nobody said a word to fans about John Metchie not recording a stat. That's a luxury we need to recognize, we have no accountability.

Patriots Record Prediction Before The Preseason.

Heading into the  2023 season, a lot of people have the Patriots with nine losses or more. I believe weeks two, three, four, six, thirteen, and eighteen are coin flip games. I have to go with my gut. The Patriots have the potential to finish anywhere from six to a fourteen win team.

Week 1: Loss vs Phi. It's a running quarterback in week one. The Patriots won't be ready for Hurts until Week five.

Week 2: Win vs Mia. It's Miami in the north. The Patriots should be improved enough to win at home.

Week 3: Win at NYJ. Rodgers is the wildcard but I do not believe the Jets have improved enough on paper.

Week 4: Win at Dal. I think the Dak era is coming to an end in Dallas. The Cowboys will find a way to lose this game.

Week 5: Win vs NO. Another team I don't think improved enough.

Week 6: Win at LV. JMD is on the hotseat. And might be rolling out Hoyer to start the season.

Week 7: Loss vs Buf. If the Patriots are going to upset the Bills this is the game but don't hold your breath.

Week 8: Loss at Mia. It's Miami in Miami. Unless Tua goes down. The Patriots aren't winning in Miami but being that it's in Miami, that still might not be enough.

Week 9: Win vs Was. Howell is not besting Bill Belichick in 2023.

Week 10: Win vs Ind. I expect the rookie to be starting by now but regardless, they don't have the quarterback to beat the Patriots in 2023.

Week 11 bye

Week 12: Win at NYG. The Giants over paid Jones and it's going to bite them, especially if Barkley sits out.

Week 13: Win vs LAC. December in New England, I think this favors the Patriots, who should have improved cornerback play thanks to Gonzalez.

Week 14: Win at Pit. I don't think the Steelers have the quarterbacks to beat the Patriots. I have no faith in Pickett.

Week 15: Loss at KC. I think the media is going to make this game personal for Belichick but I don't think the Patriots can hang on long enough to win.

Week 16: Win at Den. Sean Peyton is not going to be enough to save Denver. I expect Stidham to be seeing playing time by then.

Week 17: Loss at Buf. Unless Buffalo has the one seed locked, this is an L for the Patriots.

Week 18: Win vs NYJ. Again, Rodgers is a wildcard but the Patriots are at home. If this game is a win and in for both teams, like it think it might be. I expect Belichick to treat it like a playoff game. And I think it will be too much pressure for the Jets.

By my count, I have the Patriots now going 12-5. If I'm correct, I'm up a Win from the last time I did this. The only thing signing Hopkins will do is secure the coin flip games I have them winning. Maybe I'm disrespecting some of the quarterbacks the Patriots will face but if I am, let them prove it.