Silly season is over
For Bill, Pats playoffs all that matters
OK, the ruse is up. The fake Patriots have pulled it off: a successful, 16-game preseason to the playoffs. Time for the real Patriots to emerge was the message heard out of Foxboro this week as Bill Belichick believes he has done the impossible — convincing the NFL his Pats are no longer those invincible and sickening Patriots. It’s the playoffs, and the game plan has been setup to perfection. The regular season was a masterful deception. Those gaping holes in the defensive line? No, worry. Bill removed the real defensive attacks from his vault. No one has seen this front line that’s a-coming, and Danny Shelton is well rested, too! Worried about the receiving corps? Lol! Julian Edelman dropped a few on purpose, as requested. Chris Hogan and Philip Dorsett, MIA most of the season, are soaking up the Amendola Method, as Josh McDaniels now has full back- ingforarealgameplan.Asfor Gronk, well, those aches and pains are a figment of our imaginations, as planned by Bill’s unprecedented seasonlong approach. Gronk will be Gronk. Yes, the playoffs are all that matters. Lulling the league into a “Pats are dead” mindset is working beyond Bill’s expectations. And when he told Robert Kraft this week about the Belichick ploy, Kraftie did a little two-step while blurting out to No. 1 son Jonathan, “We are all Patriots again!” All the frustrations of a 11-5 season are gone. All distractions of coaches leaving, of players not playing, of fans griping, gone, gone, gone. And the greatest fake faux pas, that Tom Brady is losing it, is set to bring Tommy Boy a ring for his other hand. Bill’s greatest coaching performance is about to be revealed. The fake Patriots are gone! Now about these Chargers: LA Chargers at Patriots (-4): As with this year’s Pats, last year’s Chargers are in the past. Philip Rivers’ team is so formidable on the road for one reason: they hate playing at their rinky-dink home field. Now whether continuing that road magic works in the cold and wind and maybe precipitation of The Stadium At The Mall, we shall see. Pats, 27-20. Indianapolis at Kansas City (-5): If thinking straight, you favor the Colts’ 11-1 record leading to this point against the Chiefs’ 3-3 six-game stretch. Yet no one thinks straight with visions of another offensive debacle on tap. Admire the Colts, anoint the Chiefs. Chiefs, 39-27. Dallas at LA Rams (-7): One playoff win is enough for the ’Boys, except these Rams aren’t exactly looking like a bye team and quarterback Jared Goff is playing like Jared Coff (it up). High-powered has gone to a medium setting, which will be enough for LA to rid the tournament of everything Texas. Rams, 30-26. Philadelphia at New Orleans (-8): How much good fortune can one team have? The Eagles are proof of a lot. Winning field goals off uprights and crossbars, replays and calls in their favor, backup QB possessed by the devil. That all must end, Philly. But that good fortune and 8 points is too good for one’s pocketbook.