The Patriots enter their week 4 bye on a very LOW note, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. They’ve now got two weeks to think about what transpired at Gillette Stadium last Sunday where they were absolutely humiliated 35-13, by a team that won one game the entire 2007 season. The team, which was perfect last (regular) season, 16-0, and had begun this season 2-0, albeit without star QB Tom Brady, was bound to fall at some point… but to the Dolphins? To a team that was humiliated out in the desert the week before 31-10 and made the 38 -year-old Kurt Warner resemble the Super Bowl winning QB Kurt Warner of ’99-’01?

This brings up the question; just what can we expect from the New England Patriots, aka the NFL Evil Empire, in 2008? My answer: between 7 and 10 wins. And I only say 10 because on paper the Patriots had the easiest schedule coming into the season. But to get there, it will take Belichick’s best coaching job since 2001.

This team just doesn’t put fear into anyone like last season. In 2007, they buried people; Belickick and Co. were hell bent on proving all of the doubters wrong who said that “Spygate” was responsible for the organization’s three championships. Brady set the touchdown record with 50 TD passes; Moss set the touchdown record for a receiver with 23; the team set the record for most points ever with 589; the defense was ranked 4th in the league and they were widely recognized as the “Greatest Team of All-Time” up until 10 pm EST, on February 3rd. The team’s invincibility disappeared when Eli Manning’s fade pass sailed into Plaxico Burress’ hands in the corner of the end zone to give the New York Giants a 17-14 victory in Super Bowl 42.

All attempts at another run in 2008 were obliterated the minute Tom Brady went down with a season ending knee injury in week one. Coaching in football is huge; it plays a much larger role in the outcome of games/seasons than any of the other major professional sports, but even with all of Belichick’s brilliance, primarily on the defensive side of the ball, I don’t see him working any magic in ’08. I wouldn’t however take Miami’s performance Sunday, or should I say, Ronnie Brown’s (5 TDs), as a sign of things to come. Teams prepare all week based on game film, players’ tendencies, etc. and I think this was just a situation of seeing something for the first time in a game (Brown lining up at QB) and not making the necessary adjustments. That side of the ball will be fine.

As for the offense, I can’t say the same thing. Brady was Superman. If you blitzed him, 9 times out of 10 he’d make you pay; if you dropped guys into coverage, he’d find the open man. With him, you picked your poison, and more likely than not were on the receiving end of a loss. With Matt Cassel, who in week 2 vs. the Jets made his first official start since 1999, when he was in high school, it’s whole different story. Defenses can pretty much impose their will on him. I’m not implying that he can’t/won’t improve, but there’s so many things he hasn’t seen in live situations that it will take time to develop a comfort level within the offense and with his receivers. By not respecting the pass, defenses can focus on stopping the run, and New England surprisingly doesn’t have that strong of a running game even though their stable of backs consist of Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris and Lamont Jordan.

Back to my original question of what can we expect from the Patriots in 2008. I say you need to pop in your 2001 Patriots’ tape and hit the stop button after week 17; the days of 17-13 and 20-17 are back, although now they’re very likely to be on the shorter end of the stick, which is a place they haven’t been for a long, long time.

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