This was going to be the year. Nearing the end of the second quarter, the Jacksonville Jaguars, playing a nearly perfect game, led the patriots 14-3, and yet, everyone knew that Jaguars were not going to win. That the Patriots were somehow going to crawl back. And that Bill Belichick and company would be going to an 8th super bowl
In a sport limited by a salary cap, injuries and aging players, the New England Patriots have once again found themselves in yet another Super Bowl. Like the past decade and a half, the Patriots have faced almost no competition within their division. With the exception of rare glimmers of hope, all three franchise have been some of the most poorly run in the entire league. The only year in recent memory in which they were not able to win the division was when Tom Brady blew out his leg and the Dolphins resurrected offensive playbook from the 1920's. But even then, they only won the division on a tie breaker. Its almost 6 free wins each year.
Still, one could rest easy if it were only the incompetence of the Jets, Bill, and Dolphins that was to blame for having to watch the patriots for another Sunday in February. Yet, this year the AFC was remarkably weak this year. All of which amount to a bye, yet again, the Titans, and the Jaguars. First, as to the Titans, here is an organization that has underachieved so much that they fired there coach after winning a playoff game for the first in over decade. And to follow what basically amounted to a second bye week, the Patriots were challenged with the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team in which essentially ran your high school offense. To the greatest coach of all time, it is not hard to imagine how Belichick was able make second half adjustments to stop the unpredictable play calling of Leonard Fournette left or Leonard Fournette right.
Now the Patriots go on to the Super Bowl . And despite being a number 1 seed, the Patriots will play the Eagles who will have an Nick Foles at quarterback. The same Nick Foles who was benched for Case Kenum not long ago.
In time, no one will remember how they won it, just that they did, but it sure feels like this may have been the easiest one.