we well face some playoffs contenders next season, and great teams...very good to prepare for the tough playoff games.

Last year people thought we had the easiest schedule...turns out the NFC West was better than most thought.

Who knows what next season will bring.

I think Baltimore will still be formidable, but maybe not as much as last year.

Steelers will probably need to purge some contracts. So maybe another down year for them.

Browns will still be the Browns, so another Browns year for them (They did beat us in '10 though)

Don't really know what to expect from the NFC South

Wouldn't surprise me if Carolina becomes a playoff team, also wouldn't surprise me if they draft in the top 10 next season

I feel the same way about the Bucs.

 

Can't be too concerned about the schedule in Feb

we'll face Broncos and Texans too

In response to PATSchampsSB's comment:

now you'll finally know how the Giants felt the past couple of seasons

You cant never know... it does not look that bad to me... we will play some good teams, as always.

Until the Pats really fix the D, very good QBs with playoff experience concern me. 

New Orleans, Baltimore, Denver, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh

Then there are those teams whose QBs could have a breakthrough season.

Carolina, Miami

 

That said, I don't see any of those teams have a D that would keep the Pats problems fro scoring a lot. Not even BAL (particularly in the reg season).

 

In response to seattlepat70's comment:

Yeah that`s true, but we can`t expect the offense scoring 40 points every week

Will still win at least 12 games

In response to 42AND46's comment:

 

In response to PATSchampsSB's comment:

 

we well face some playoffs contenders next season, and great teams...very good to prepare for the tough playoff games.

 

now you'll finally know how the Giants felt the past couple of seasons

 

 

be honest the jints shat their pants all season long. they could've won more games. it wasn't a tough schedule that caused them to Eli-minated.

 

In response to kansaspatriot's comment:

yeah but we apparently will have to play in the wild card week because Denver and Houston have weak schedules... but let`s see what happen in the season it`s too early to talk about it

This post has been removed.

In response to kansaspatriot's comment:

that schedule wasnt tough??? what?

Well . . .  it's pretty clear that bopping through the regular season on cruise control and securing those (cough . . .   cough) coveted home playoff games is not doing much to prepare the Pats for the handful of elite teams they actually need to beat . . .  so maybe a line-up of legitimate contenders -- and a few healthy beatdowns along the way -- might get this team in the proper frame of mind to  . . .

yes . . .  I'm going to say it

come through in the clutch.

PLEASE!!!!!

How tough can it be when they have an assured 10 wins (6 in division, plus the last place teams in the conferences they play, plus the 3rd place teams in same conferences). Now, unless you're actually going to insist that these other "touches" are really tough tests for the Pats, their roster SHOULD make them favotires. It's the other 6 games they play that concern me. This recent going .500 against playoff caliber teams has translated to non-productive post seasons.

Or does it really matter any more, as long as the Pats just make make the post season?   Have we sunk to the old Manning Colts: just rack up the wins and stats, and we'll be satisfied?

12-14 wins, making the playoffs, usual 1st round bye....... seems to be pretty much automatic. Do I expect them to go undefeated? Hardly. Would I want to see them go undefeated ALL THE FREAKIN' WAY, most assuredly. But, playign .500 against playoff caliber teams isn't good. It's hidden and covered up by the 10 automatic wins.

This weekend, NFL Network had the top 10 SB teams. While watching them, it was interesting to see how each team's season was presented. Casual mention was givent to division wins if the teams were "softies" (for the Pats in '03 and '04, this was the Jests!, Bills, and Fins). Wins against last place teams didn't even garnish honorable mention. Highlighted games were against  the tougher opponents, you know, those teams that show your actual mettle. There's a message in this.

The same can be said for every first place team. No team in the NFL wins consistently against teams with winning records. Let me repeat. No team in the NFL wins consistently against teams with winning records.

By the way, what was the Ravens record against winning teams last year?

In response to digger0862's comment:

The 2003 and 2004 squads went a combined 14-1 against teams with winning records in the regular season and including posteason 20-1.  Pretty insane in retrospect.

In response to pcmIV's comment:

Those were amazing teams, the likes of which we may never see again. The Patriots have come back to earth since then.

That being said the 2007 squad went 7-0 and the 2010 squad went 7-1 against teams with winning records and they didn't bring home the big one even though their combined records against winning teams 14-1 was identical to 2003 and 2004 combined.

In the 2011 season, heading into the Ravens game, the Patriots were 0-2 against teams with winning records. The Ravens were 6-0, including playoffs. How did that work out?

In response to digger0862's comment:

we won,even with the negative record against winning records team...so what`s the veredict?

In response to PATSchampsSB's comment:

The verdict is: the team that executes the best and is healthy and prepared will most likely win the Super Bowl. It doesn't matter how you get to the playoffs. It only matters that you get there.

In response to digger0862's comment:

That`s true

 

In response to ClarkGriswold's comment:

if they don't fix it we will see the same thing that we've seen for 7  years or so. they will put up points against very bad defenses and struggle badly against better and physixal defenses. that  would lead to about 12 wins and a loss in the divisional round, maybe the afc championship. the offense can be fixed easily though. spread it out, don't make welker the first option every time, run the ball. they have the talent to beat anyone when gronk is healthy. IMO the defense will continue to improve as we saw down the stretch. if they can sign talib or another solid corner, upgrade at safety and defensive tackle to go with vince , then the defense could well be elite.