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The Miami Dolphins will have a three-game lead in the AFC East for a Week 8 game at New England
The Dolphins have a really easy early-season schedule. The Patriots at least have Tom Brady back, but their early schedule is pretty tough. Wouldn't it be fun for a 6-0 Dolphins team to be coming into New England for an Oct. 29 Thursday night game against the 3-3 Patriots?
New England Patriots will miss the playoffs
Most years, a team that's a consensus pick to walk into the playoffs has the wheels fall off and misses out on the postseason. It seems crazy to think that a team like the Patriots, who are so well coached with an all-time great quarterback, could just miss the playoffs, but ask Sean Payton and Drew Brees about that. I didn't pick the Patriots to miss the playoffs (though I didn't pick them to win the division), but you can talk yourself into a scenario in which it happens.
The Patriots are a Rob Gronkowski injury from having a pretty unimpressive group of skill-position players around 38-year-old Tom Brady. Their cornerbacks have taken a big drop, from the great Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner to a lot of unproven commodities. The AFC East is the toughest division in football, and every team is gunning for the Patriots. And there's a reason last season's Seahawks were the first defending Super Bowl champ to win a playoff game since the 2005 season. It's hard to keep that championship focus after winning it all. If another AFC East team takes a big step forward and wins the division, maybe this is the year the Patriots aren't in the playoffs, no matter how strange that seems.
I'd love to see both of these predictions come to fruition.
The Dolphins have a really easy early-season schedule. The Patriots at least have Tom Brady back, but their early schedule is pretty tough. Wouldn't it be fun for a 6-0 Dolphins team to be coming into New England for an Oct. 29 Thursday night game against the 3-3 Patriots?
New England Patriots will miss the playoffs
Most years, a team that's a consensus pick to walk into the playoffs has the wheels fall off and misses out on the postseason. It seems crazy to think that a team like the Patriots, who are so well coached with an all-time great quarterback, could just miss the playoffs, but ask Sean Payton and Drew Brees about that. I didn't pick the Patriots to miss the playoffs (though I didn't pick them to win the division), but you can talk yourself into a scenario in which it happens.
The Patriots are a Rob Gronkowski injury from having a pretty unimpressive group of skill-position players around 38-year-old Tom Brady. Their cornerbacks have taken a big drop, from the great Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner to a lot of unproven commodities. The AFC East is the toughest division in football, and every team is gunning for the Patriots. And there's a reason last season's Seahawks were the first defending Super Bowl champ to win a playoff game since the 2005 season. It's hard to keep that championship focus after winning it all. If another AFC East team takes a big step forward and wins the division, maybe this is the year the Patriots aren't in the playoffs, no matter how strange that seems.
I'd love to see both of these predictions come to fruition.
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