On New Years Day the Patriots played their final game of the regular season against the Buffalo Bills a team who pulled off an upset win against a Pats defense that was still trying to find itself. This Sunday in week 17 it looked as if history was to repeat itself when the Bills opened up with a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. from the second quarter on this was Brady’s game though and the Pats scored 49 unanswered points to win the game. We here at your Acton Nissan Dealer love to see Brady on this kind of hot streak heading into the playoffs.
For the third week in a row the Pats had a weak opening to the game a trend that I hope doesn’t carry into the playoffs for the sake of my mental health. The difference between this weeks win and the week three loss against the Bills is clear now however. Although the defense looked just as weak in the opening 15 minutes as they did in the beginning of the year they locked it down for the rest of the game and held the Bills scoreless for three quarters. If our defense is going to let a team score 21 points in one quarter and shut them out for the rest of the game I’d much rather it be the first quarter than the 4th.
For much of this season it has been the perception that the Patriots defense and especially their secondary has been terrible, and as the team that is in last place for yards allowed it’s hard to argue the point. I myself have been criticizing the Pats defense all year, but there is something in the numbers that gives me hope for the playoffs. Although the Pats have been getting off to a slow start recently, in their last 4 games opponents have only scored 21 points in the second half against them. That’s only 1 touchdown for each of the three previous teams and none for the Bills. It seems that although our secondary does look like they’re a mile away from the receivers at all times they actually have been making second half adjustments and making them work. I think that as long as a team in the playoffs doesn’t open up too big of a lead on us the defense has the ability to adapt and shut them down however they can in the second half to allow Brady and the offense an opportunity to win the game.
On sunday they were helped by 4 interceptions thrown by Fitzpatrick
something they probably won’t get anywhere in the playoffs, but as long as Brady and the offense can put up 30 plus points we’ve got a chance at least of making it to the Super Bowl. Once we get there whether it’s against the Packers or the Saints it’s going to be a challenge to win against either offense both of which can score many points even against a solid defense. With a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs I’m confident they can make it to the Super Bowl but what happens at that point is anyones guess.
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