Ex-Patriots receiver Troy Brown said this year’s edition is quite possibly the best of all the Patriots teams he has seen or played on.
“They’re definitely tougher than the ’07 team and they never put the ball on the ground,’’ said Brown.
The best NFL teams play their best football at the end of the year and that’s what these guys are doing. Some of the numbers are simply staggering.
From the middle of the third quarter against the Lions, into the early part of the third quarter against the Bears, the Patriots outscored three opponents by a margin of 109-3. That’s 109-3. If you break it down to eight quarters against the 9-2 Jets and the 9-3 Bears, the Patriots won, 81-10. Over the last 10 quarters the Patriots have scored 116 points.
Tom Brady has thrown 268 consecutive passes without an interception (the NFL record is 286 by Bernie Kosar). In his last eight games Brady has 19 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. He is 32-4 in games in which the temperature dips below 40 degrees. The MVP discussion should be over.
The Patriots have not committed a turnover in their last five games. They have only nine turnovers all season. The NFL record for fewest turnovers is 13.
Zero turnovers in the cold and snow of Chicago is particularly impressive. Absence of turnovers is the ultimate formula for success in the NFL.
In the last two games the Patriots have demoralized good teams early. It was 33-0 at halftime at Soldier Field. The Bears hadn’t trailed at home by 30 at halftime since 1964. The Jets were sent into shock and wound up with a staff member tripping a Dolphin Sunday.
Watching the Patriots at this hour reminds me of something Bill Russell wrote in his biography, “Second Wind’’ in 1979:
