How good are the Patriots?

[Avash]

[Q]Red Man Wrote:

 Teams from the NFC that made the playoffs were 11-13 against the AFC.

Yes you're right.....this is irrelevent.  Hello?[/q]

Come on, stop it. You're making Patriots fans look bad and overconfident when really we're not.

That stat IS irrelevant because it turns out that the NFC team that's in the Superbowl had a 0-0 record this year against the AFC team that's in the Superbowl (not counting the preseason!). That's all that matters.

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]Nate 04 Wrote:
The guys on the radio (mind you this is Boston Sports Radio 1510, not the best morning sports radio) had a hard time figuring out what the Packers were.  They kept going on about how they must be meat packers (and making the obligatory jokes that would go along with that), since "that area" is known for its meat.  Now, I may be naive, but isn't Wisconsin known for its cheese and wouldn't those funny shaped hats Packer fans wear be "Cheeseheads", thus wouldn't you sort of deduce that the Packers are called Packers because they are Cheese Packers?  [/q]

Given that they were once the Acme Packers, I'm guessing they pack anvils, strap-on rockets, and exploding birdseed. :-D

[jtwcornell91]

[Q]Nate 04 Wrote:

 Everyone knows Dan Marino couldn't win a superbowl.  Of course neither have the eagles.  I say it must have ended in a tie.   That or the credits rolled first, since they didn't want to get the hopes of either of the teams' fans.[/q]

All I know is Ace kicked the Eagle mascot's ass!

[cornelldavy]

Swoop's been lifting. He told me he wants to throw down with Ace again.

[jeh25]

[Q]Red Man Wrote:

 Teams from the NFC that made the playoffs were 11-13 against the AFC.

Yes you're right.....this is irrelevent.  Hello?[/q]

Let's try a little experiment.

The ECAC is 14-25-3 against HEA.

By your logic, Merrimack will clearly destroy Cornell in the NCAA's.  

Hello?

[Red Man]

By your logic Merrimack is to the hockey east what the Patriots are to the AFC.  That is what you are saying.... Please.

My point is that when you play better competition week in and week out....your a better battle tested team and you are therefore in a better position to survive these 1 andf done tournaments.  

The hockey east/ECAC comparison is a good one.  How many ECAC teams have made it to the frozen 4 and the finals in the last 5 years.  How many Hockey east teams made it.  I don't have to look up the answer to tell you which one has had better representation.

Not sure what your problem is with this logic.

Are you guys just Patriots haters....seems like we are seeing a lot of these now.

[RichH]

[Q]Red Man Wrote:

 By your logic Merrimack is to the hockey east what the Patriots are to the AFC.[/q]
No, actually, that's your flawed logic that Hayes was spelling out.  In a sense, you just disagreed with yourself.

[Nate 04]

Patriot fans aren't overconfident?  Let's take a look at the Sports Guy Bill Simmons and what he says in his daily blog from the Superbowl.  This is a guy who claimed he wouldn't get overconfident.  These are captions from under pictures (that he admitted to writing)

1.  The Eagles line up for their team photo, which I'll be hanging over my fireplace -- along with photos of the 2002 Rams and the 2004 Panthers. Thanks for coming, guys. (Whoops, I sound like a Yankees fan again. Sorry.) By the way, the Eagles were extremely loose during Media Day. As Paul said, "They are the QUINTESSENTIAL happy-to-be-there team." Don't blame me, I'm just the messenger.  http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/mediaday/3

2. A birds-eye look of the field for Super Bowl XXXIX: Where the Patriots will officially become a dynasty in five days.  (Whoops, I sound like a Yankee fan again. Sorry.)  http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/mediaday/8

From the Boston Herald (the slime of Boston news papers) headline:  â€˜See you at the victory parade’  http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=66067

Not overconfident.  One of my good friends just turned from rooting for the Pats to rooting for the Eagles.  5 years ago, Pats fans would have killed for a championship, now they are turning into cocky brats.  See I can say this and if you win the Superbowl, you'll come back saying "see, I told you we would win."  But remember we're not talking about who's going to win, just who's becoming overconfident.

Btw, I think both teams are keeping level heads about themselves.  It's just the media/Bill Simmons/and a few/some/all of the Patriots fans that are overconfident.

[Red Man]

[Jerseygirl]

Alex, you know I am terrified of mascots. Did you have to?

[cornelldavy]

Sorry...there was never going to be a better time to use that picture.

[Red Man]

More data to support my thesis from si.com:

The Patriots love it when an NFC team comes calling. New England has won seven consecutive games against NFC teams, with only Carolina making a game of it (32-29). The Patriots' other six wins during that streak all have been by 10 points or more.

New England was 4-0 against the NFC this season, averaging a fat 28.5 points per game. The Patriots last loss to an NFC team was in Week 4 of 2003 at Washington, the game before New England started its league-record 21-game winning streak.

On the flip side, Philly hasn't fared so well against AFC foes since 2002. The Eagles are 6-6 against the AFC in that span, compared to 31-5 (.861) against teams in their own conference. This season, Philadelphia was outscored 106-62 by its AFC opponents, splitting the four games.

[Davy]

One final piece supporting Red Man's thesis from ESPN.com.  I agree with Red Man...People really don't undersatnd how good this team is:

Cruise through past Super Bowls and you won't find too many seasons where the Weaker Conference Team prevailed against the Stronger Conference Team. This season was more skewed than most -- week after week, AFC teams were kicking the crap out of NFC teams. Here was the NFC's final record against the AFC ...


(Drumroll please ... )


20-44.


That's not a misprint.


Twenty-four games under .500! Just for kicks, the record of the six AFC playoff teams against the NFC was 21-3, and the record of the three 9-7 teams in the AFC (Buffalo, Jacksonville and Baltimore) against the NFC was 10-2. So you had nine teams with winning records in the AFC, and they finished a combined 31-5 against the NFC. Those aren't just stats, those are cries for help. Philly didn't just play in a weaker conference, it was a significantly weaker conference.


Compare their schedule against the Pats. Philly played one good team on the road -- Pittsburgh -- and got smoked. They beat four decent teams at home (Minnesota twice, Baltimore once, Green Bay once), and handled one good team (Atlanta) at home in the title game. And that was it. In nearly five months of football, they were only tested six times, five of those at home, and only twice by a team that could even be considered "good."


Now look at the Pats. In eighteen games, they beat one decent team (Baltimore) at home and two more (St. Louis and KC) on the road. They swept the home-and-homes with one good team (Buffalo) and one very good team (the Jets). They beat an excellent team (Indy) twice at home. They lost to the first 15-1 team in AFC history (Pittsburgh) on the road, then exacted revenge on them in the AFC Championship game. In nearly five months of football, they were tested a whopping 11 times, against some of the better teams in the league. Eight of those 11 games weren't even close. Only two of them came down to the final minute.


Just looking at those numbers, wouldn't you conclude that the Patriots are significantly more battle-prepared for this game than the Eagles? And before you make the "It's not Philly's fault that they played in the NFC" argument, that's not the point. They DID play in the NFC.

[cornelldavy]

Well, what more can I say? I guess you're all right; why even play the game? The Patriots are clearly the better team and the Eagles should just get on a plane back to Philly now. ::rolleyes::  ::yark::

Give me a break. How about we look at the teams' records this season in games that mattered? The Eagles only lost one, to the Steelers (as you mentioned, the first 15-1 team in AFC history), a game in which Brian Westbrook barely played because he was hurt. The Patriots lost two, to the Steelers (ok, that's a push with the Eagles' loss), and to the Dolphins.

If the Dolphins can beat a team in a game in which the other team is trying, then any team can. Something about "any given Sunday."

Games aren't played on paper.

[Greg Berge]

[Q]cornelldavy Wrote:Games aren't played on paper.[/q]It would tear.