Are the 2012 Patriots the new 2011 Red Sox?

Being a Boston professional sports fan is not an easy thing. For years, franchises from Boston have paraded out teams that “should” be the best in their respective leagues only to have them be disappointments and fail to live up to expectations. The most recent and vivid example of this would have to be the 2011 Boston Red Sox. In the past we have seen the Patriots (ex: 2007, 2010, 2011), Red Sox (2003 and countless years before that) who have had successful seasons only to disappoint us fans in the postseason.

Now the question I’m trying to answer here is: Are the 2012 Patriots the equivalent of the 2011 Red Sox? Both were/are teams that were built to win world championships. Both teams were predicted to steamroll the competition during the regular season and compete but succeed ultimately in the playoffs. Both rosters were chock-full of all-pros and all-stars. The Red Sox had players like David Ortiz, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buccholz, Jonathon Papelbon and a great manager in Tito Francona. This seasons Patriots team has players like Tom Brady, Aaron Hernandez, Rob Gronkowski, Brandon Lloyd, Wes Welker, Vince Wilfork, Jerrod Mayo and a legendary coach in Bill Belichick.

Based on just personnel both teams were sure bets to win it all. But as we saw with the 2011 Red Sox, personnel isn’t everything. The team needs to gel together because even if you have 20 all-stars, if they don’t come together and become a team, they won’t produce and won't win. The 2011 Red Sox were baseballs best team from May-August and on September 3 had a 99.6% chance of making the playoffs. They then proceeded to go 7-20 the rest of the way and lost both the division and wild card leads and missed the playoffs in the biggest regular season collapse in baseball history.

This year the Patriots had statistically the easiest schedule in the NFL. After coming up 4 points shy in the Super Bowl vs. the Giants (again) the team went out and added Brandon Lloyd at wide receiver, Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower on defense and Josh McDaniels at offensive coordinator. The team had improved itself in several areas and was predicted to be much better than last year. Well, the only improvement the Patriots could possibly make from last year would be to win the Super Bowl this year so the stakes were definitely set high.

After watching yesterday’s game vs. the Jets, I’m starting to think this team may end up resembling the 2011 Red Sox by the end of the year instead of NFL Champions. First off, there is no doubt that Tom Brady is aging and it is showing in his production on the field. Now to set this straight, I’m not saying this team’s poor performance thus far is all Brady’s fault cause it’s not. He’s still elite and one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the NFL. That being said, he has definitely shown signs of aging this season. He used to be unstoppable in the 4^th quarter of games and was always able to lead the Patriots to victory when he was given a lead, especially a double digit lead. But the last 2 weeks the Patriots have blown double digit leads in the 4^th quarter for the first time in team history. And both of those games were against teams with sub-par offenses. Brady has been inaccurate on passes that in previous years he would have completed with ease. He along with the rest of the offense has been invisible in the 4^th quarter recently as in the past 2 games they have been outscored 36-6 in the 4^th.  

The defense however is on a completely different level. Never again will I say an opposing quarterback, even QBs that completely suck, will struggle against the Pats defense because it’s just not true. It doesn’t matter if it’s Peyton Manning or Mark Sanchez, all this defense does is give up 20+ yard pass plays for days and 300+ passing yards every week. Mark Sanchez, who had a completion percentage of 49% coming into this week, completed 28 of 41 passes for 328 yards and a completion percentage of 68%. It’s just sickening watching this secondary every week. Once again this week they were called for multiple defensive holding and pass interference penalties. They actually got lucky on the 1 interception Sanchez threw as Jeremy Kerley had completely blown past Alfonzo Dennard and was wide open in the end zone when Sanchez badly underthrew him. In the 4^th quarter when Devin McCourty fumbled the kickoff (and almost made me go into instant cardiac arrest) the Jets recovered the ball deep in Patriots territory with a chance to take the lead. That’s when once again the defense caught a huge break when rookie wide receiver Stephen Hill dropped a pass that would have given the Jets a first down, and a chance to run the clock all the down and kick a game winning field goal. 

One small note about that play and all the defensive play calls in general especially in the 4^th quarter: I understand the bend but not break approach, especially when you don’t have the personnel to match up with opposing wide receivers, but their defense on Sunday looked like the prevent defense a team plays on a last second Hail-Mary.  They had their safeties playing 20 yards behind every receiver and since the corners were playing a zone defense, every Jets receiver was open by 10+ yards on what seemed like every play. It’s obvious they’re playing zone to prevent the deep balls that have constantly hurt them but I don’t think these corners are smart or capable enough to play this zone defense. Just have them play man-to-man defense so at least you force Sanchez to make an accurate pass. Have the safeties play zone still to prevent the deep balls but seriously I cannot deal with this any longer. The middle of the field was so fucking wide open yesterday it looked like they were playing with no cornerbacks and only 2 safeties back there. It was embarrassing and as long as they continue to suck, it will create more pressure on the offense to score on every drive since no lead is safe with this team. The one positive note that I can say about this defense is that they continue to come up with turnovers at important times. Rob Ninkovich, who played a really solid game, made a great play on the Jets first play of overtime when he tackled Shonn Greene for a loss and then on 3^rd down was able to sack Sanchez, strip the ball from him, and recover the ball to end the game.

I hate even thinking that this Patriots team could possibly resemble the 2011 Red Sox when we look back on the 2012 season but if the team continues to play terribly against sub-par opponents and just ok against good teams, we will not be celebrating our 4^th Super Bowl Championship in February. Instead we’ll be at home watching some other team represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. This team has the talent, there’s no doubt about that, but they need to start playing as a team on offense and especially on defense. The offense will continue to put this team in contention to win every week, but the defense needs to figure out what the fuck is wrong and they need to figure it out quick.

Did I mention the Patriots won yesterday? Maybe Brady was right when he said in an interview today that we have been spoiled by the Patriots recent success. Winning isn’t easy in this league and a 45-3 victory counts just as much as a 29-26 OT victory does. There is still no better feeling than beating the Jets and watching Rex Ryan eat his words. As many issues as the Patriots have (and the list is getting pretty long), the Jets have more issues and yesterday proved it.  

PS – I have a 9-2 week 7 record going into the Monday Night game. I am available for hire for anyone who’s looking for professional analysis before they make their weekend picks. Just kidding, but not really.