I see the end of a dynasty

[Tenshot13]

I'm going to rant a bit here....

I really do not see the Pats being a dominant team anymore.  I see it being their turn to be in the basement in the division.  Their best player is broken, and not to mention he's 31 now...I'm sure he'll get back to form, but when?  He'll be rusty as hell next year, so in two years then?  He'll be a 33 year old QB with a surgically rebuilt knee, and IMO he will not be the same QB he was.  Throw in an aging defense and next thing you know the Pats are the ones rebuilding.  The Dolphins are young and upcoming...realistically being a contender next year or the next, the Jets have young talent and old alike, and the Bills, I hate to say, looked awesome today.  The Pats had a very hard time putting away a very crappy KC team.  I honestly don't even think they are better than Miami without Mr. Stetson to lead them.  So, I said it before the season, and I really mean it now that Brady is hurt, the Pats aren't going to win the division this year and I think they will be lucky to be around .500 this season...and with all this losing I predict, how do you think Moss is going to behave?  He was just signed to a nice three year deal, and Pat fan is going to have to deal with a whinny, spoiled WR crying and disrupting the locker room...ouch

ok I'm done ranting

[Dave Gray]

I think you're probably right.   They'll be competitive, but the next three years were probably their window to really pour it on.  By the time Brady gets back in to form, if he ever does, the whole team will be a little older.

[landlocked]

One thing is for sure,we will now get to see how much of the Patriots winning was Tom Brady and how much of it was the team around him.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

They'll still be competitive.  But no Super Bowl. 

Sorta reminds me of the 1993 Dolphins.  They lose Marino after four games, plug in Scott Mitchell and Steve DeBerg, and everything keeps chugging along.  They go 9-2, beat Dallas in Dallas on Thanksgiving, and everyone's talking Super Bowl.  They then proceed to lose their last 5 games and miss the playoffs.  I would've fired Shula right there if I was the owner. 

[Sunstroke]

I'm not so sure the dynasty is going to die at all, because I feel the two primary pieces to the dynasty have been Scott Pioli and Bill Belichick. Both are at full health, last time I checked. I think you'll see a 3-4 game dropoff this season, simply because of the timing of the injury, but think they'll reload and continue to be the team that Miami needs to deal with in the East, and the rest of the league needs to deal with in the playoffs.

It hurt to say that...but that's how I see things in Patsyland.

[Frimp]

They'll still be competitive.  But no Super Bowl. 

Sorta reminds me of the 1993 Dolphins.  They lose Marino after four games, plug in Scott Mitchell and Steve DeBerg, and everything keeps chugging along.  They go 9-2, beat Dallas in Dallas on Thanksgiving, and everyone's talking Super Bowl.  They then proceed to lose their last 5 games and miss the playoffs.  I would've fired Shula right there if I was the owner. 

Damn, dude...

[Tenshot13]

I would've fired Shula right there if I was the owner. 

Blasphemy!!!

....and I have to disagree with the rest of you...my formula why they are going to be at the bottom of the division...

WR corps - Donte Stallworth = one less deep threat
2nd CB > Wes Welker
Tom Brady - ACL/MCL + Matt Cassel = 1000000 INTS
*Tedy Brusci + Rodney Harrison + Mike Vrabel = Retirement home

Divide all of that by pi and you get....

5-11 for the season

*Keep in mind that these players will probably be retired or close to it by the time Brady comes back...I truly believe he means that much to the Pats. 

Oh and I forgot to add...can anyone whose not a Pats fan name a single person in the secondary not named Harrison?  I see a collapse that would Rival Rome here.

[Defense54]

The truly great teams find a way. I think the Pats have definitely lost a step and probably won't ever be in the form that they were in last year.  That said , I don't think a 12-4, 13-3 season is that far fetched . They spent alot on free agents though last year so that fire sale isn't to far off as well. The Pats have been blessed with some good luck over the past few seasons as well as just talent. Its about time they took one in the Twig and berries and lets see how they handle it.

[Tenshot13]

Sorry...had to give this thread a bump since the Pats game...

[StL FinFan]

I thought they would still do ok, even without Brady.  They are still 2-1, so time will tell.

[Tenshot13]

^ Yes, maybe they will do "ok" this year...but last year they were supposedly "the greatest team ever", then this year they were "a great team", now they are just "ok"...its a slippery slope to "bottom of the barrel".  The dolphins weren't just shitty one day...they progressively got worse until that horrible season last year....I see the same for the Pats....who am I kidding...I'm sticking with my prediction of them going 5-11 this year.

[StL FinFan]

I guess we will see what they are made of next game.  They will either bounce back or let this embarrassing loss drag them down.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

They will not lose this Sunday.  I guarantee it!














But they won't win either.

[stinkfish]

As long as they don't win I'll be happy.

[fyo]

One thing is for sure,we will now get to see how much of the Patriots winning was Tom Brady and how much of it was the team around him.

And how are we going to find that out? The Patriots were always going to be MUCH worse this year than last. They've lost players on both sides of the ball and their best players are all one year older.

For some reason, SB losers very often collapse, especially when its not a young up-and-coming team. The Patriots were due for a significant setback even before Brady went down.

How many games do you think they would've won this year WITH Brady? My guess would've been anywhere from 10-14 (considering the week division). Without Brady, I'm guessing they land at the lower range of that, i.e. 10 wins.