Pats going to Super Bowl with newfound defense
Tom Brady has everything.
Five Lombardi Trophies. Most wins ever. Square jaw. Pristine white choppers. Supermodel wife.
Now, he has a defense again.
I’m going to be violently ill.
For all the jokes cracked about the putrid Patriots defense through the first six weeks of the season, here’s the new, annoying reality: Brady & Co. are going to the Super Bowl. Again. Ugh.
Matt Patricia evidently put that pencil behind his ear to good use by devising a brilliant defensive game plan to neuter Matt Ryan’s Falcons in a 23-7 beatdown Sunday night. Somehow the same Patriots defense that allowed 300-yard passers in each of the first six weeks turned the reigning NFL MVP into a Pop Warner signal-caller.
Somehow, this lost unit that was lit up for 41 points in the season opener and 33 in two other games finally came to life. Somehow, the atrocious New England defense that would surely doom Bill Belichick once and for all turned into an asset.
What in the name of the Purple People Eaters is going on around here? How could this be? It makes little sense. Check that. It makes no sense whatsoever.
The Patriots were dead last in total defense entering the Super Bowl LI rematch. Only the Colts and Cardinals were allowing more points per game than New England’s 26.5.
Tales of Belichick’s adjustment wizardry have taken on a life of their own through the years. To hear some people tell it, the Hoodie is football’s John Nash, a beautiful mind capable of solving the most vexing problems.
Although it has all sounded so romanticized, the results don’t lie. The Patriots have looked vulnerable early in seasons in the recent past only to find their way.
The only logical conclusion: The Evil Empire is, in fact, a machine.
“We just started communicating better,” cornerback Malcolm Butler said.
Ya think?!
There was something strange in the air. And it wasn’t just that weird fog.
The Patriots looked like champions all over again.
Sure, Brady did Brady things to get them atop the AFC East entering the prime-time showdown, but there had always been a sense that these Patriots were hardly Super Bowl LII contenders with that suspect defense.
The Falcons, losers of three in a row after starting off 3-0, piled up some garbage-time stats, but don’t be fooled: The Patriots, who occupy the AFC East throne at 5-2, thoroughly dominated.
New England scored the final 31 points in its epic Super Bowl win and the first 23 points on Sunday night. Haven’t the Falcons suffered enough, Sir Hoodie?
The Patriots are Minneapolis bound. If you laugh at the thought, consider the likely “contenders” in the AFC.
Would you bet your bottom dollar that the Chiefs would beat the Patriots twice in the same season?
Would you bet on the Steelers to topple Brady?
Who else in the conference would you get in a foxhole with come playoff time? The Broncos? Please.
Like it or not, The Evil Empire is going to Super Bowl LII.