Expectations for the New England Patriots are of the charts this season, and it’s easy to understand why. Pass defense has been this team’s Achilles heel for so long, but they went out and acquired the shut down corner of all shut down corners this season. With Revis Island in tow, as well as the other upgrades to their secondary and pass rush, expect huge things out of the Patriots.
The NFL punditocracy agrees.
Tony Gonzalez of The NFL Today on CBS sized up the New England Patriots on media conference call this week:
“They are even better than they were last year, and they were a championship team last year…The AFC Championship game that happened last year could be the same game that will happen this year. But New England is going to be a much better football team this time. Obviously it’s a long way off and things have to go right as far as staying healthy. But right now on paper I think that they are the only team in the AFC that can match the Denver Broncos. They are balanced on both sides of the ball.”
And getting a healthy Rob Gronkowski back is a big part of why the New England Patriots are a Super Bowl favorite
“When you don’t have that centerpiece in the middle, the New England Patriots are a good team but they’re not that special. [Rob Gronkowski] makes them special. He’s the centerpiece to the offense.” – Warren Sapp on the impact of New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, on the NFL Network’s pregame show Thursday night.
Of course, there is the concern over the calf of Tom Brady:
Thirty-five ESPN NFL commentators offer their predictions for the 2014 NFL season below. Each expert was asked to give his/her pick for AFC and NFC Conference Champion, Super Bowl Champion and NFL MVP, and the 2013 winners of both conferences are again the favorites.
The Denver Broncos lead the way with 16 votes to win the AFC (followed by the Patriots, 13) and 10 votes to be crowned winners of Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona in February.
And the Pats better strike while the iron is hot. Tom Brady is aging, and as his skills decline, the Patriots window will close. When will that be? Check out NFL Network this week on NFL GameDay Morning: Andrea Kremer interviews Tom Brady.
Tom Terrific on when he’ll know when it’s time to walk away from football: “I think if I feel like I can’t play at the level that I expect [of] myself, then I’m not going to play anymore. I want to be a great asset to a team; I want to bring a lot of value to a team that I’m playing for.”
In other words, translating Bradyspeak (which is worthless, useless cliches 99.999% of the time) into actual English, it’s clear that his days with the New England Patriots, and in the NFL, are numbered.
Paul M. Banks owns and manages The Sports Bank.net, in partnership with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)