Remember about a month ago, when the Redskins beat the Eagles and I was only "somewhat intrigued" by them? Well, sadly, I'm still only "somewhat intrigued." And honestly, it's been that way ever since. They lost 2 games they should have won (Giants and Packers) and almost lost a third game "they should have won" last week against the Cardinals. So here I am, only somewhat intrigued, and they're going into a away game against the Best Team Ever In Any Sport (BTEIAS).
Every one is hyping the Patriots as essentially the best team ever because they seem impossible to stop on offense. And you'ld be a fool to not agree that they have been impressive. However, doesn't anyone care that they're doing it against terrible teams? The Pats have only beaten one team with a winning record, the Dallas Cowboys. And that's not saying much considering the Cowboys have only beaten one team with a winning record themselves (The Cowboys beat the then hapless New Giants in Week 1). The other 6 teams the Pats have beaten have 11 wins between them... not exactly stellar competition.
The Pats have beaten the 28th, 16th, 31st, 29th, 32nd, 7th and 15th ranked defenses. And before you say "Well what about 7th, 15th and 16th?!" I say "Cowboys, 0-7 and Norval Eugene Turner." The Cowboys (7th) are even more suspect than the Pats since they give up a bunch of points (21st in points allowed) and (like I said earlier) they haven't beaten anyone of note. The 0-7 Dolphins (15th) are, well, 0-7! Finally, the Chargers are crippled by their head coach who is the master of beating bad teams and losing to pretty much everyone else.
I could go on and on, even bringing up how the Colts are much better rounded AND they're not running up the score on teams, but we'll leave that discussion for next week. Although, I'm sure that will be discussed to death in the lead up to Week 9's Pats vs Colts game.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the Redskins are going to win on Sunday or even that they are as good as either the Pats or Cowboys. But are the Pats really 16 points better? The Pats have been running up the score on teams so, of course, you should expect them to try and score a bunch of points, but they have yet to play a defense anywhere near as good as the Redskins.
All I'm saying is if the Pat's end up not looking like the BTEIAS, please don't pull the "they were looking ahead to the Colts" excuses. Frankly, in almost every case (not just the Pats this year), that is a horrible excuse. So let's all agree that whatever happens we won't make up dumb excuses; We'll agree to take it for what it's worth. And maybe, just maybe, I'll finish this weekend at something a little more than "somewhat intrigued."
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