A Historically Easy Schedule Has Aided the Patriots 6-0 Start

[Villain The Foe]

New England's opponents thus far have a combined .217 win percentage, and that was before the Giants game yesterday night who entered the game under .500 at 2-3 and are currently sitting at 2-4. 

 

This .217 win percentage which is a shade lower now with the Giants loss makes their current schedule so far the lowest strength of schedule in NFL history. 

 

What's worse? Their next two games is against our Jets who sit at 0-4 and the Browns who are 2-3. This means that the Patriots are not scheduled to play a team with a winning record until week 9 which are the Ravens. 

 

The Patriots have scored a minimum of 30 points in every game except one, The Bills...who have arguably the best defense in the league. I say arguably because the Patriots ironically is statisically the best defense in the league, but they've played against the sh*ttiest offenses in the league thus far. A Steelers offense who lost Bell and AB, Miami, Jets, Redskins, Giants and Bills. The Steelers, Dolphins, Jets and Redskins are grouped as the worst offenses in the league, the Giants are in the low 20's and Miami is ranked 12th, but it's clear that their defense keeps them in every game given their utter dominance. 

The Patriots could actually go 16-0...again. This is a team that still have the Bengals, Jets, Dolphins and Browns on their schedule. And if they dont go 16-0, it's clearly the easiest schedule they've had when cruising to another playoff bye. 

And speaking of playoffs, The Patriots are the reigning SB champs, and yet 6 weeks into the regular season the Patriots HAVE NOT played a playoff team. Matter of fact, they dont play a playoff team from last year until....week 9 when they play the Ravens. Even if folks want to make the excuse and say that the NFL didnt know Darnold would have Mono, Roethlisberger would get hurt, Mayfield would turn into Nathan Peterman, how does the NFL consciously set a schedule for the Patriots where they do not see a last year playoff team until 2 1/2 months into the f'ing season? 

The Patriots have played 5 terrible offenses, 1 mediocre offense, 5 irrelevant defense with 1 great defense where the game went down to the wire with the Patriots hurting the Bills starting QB with a hit which IMO was just as brutal as that Burfict hit that got him suspended for the rest of the year. 

 

**** that team. 

[ASH1962]

Sorry but it is not their fault that nobody has the brains or skill to beat them. I too am sick to death of them but the facts are the facts. There are 31 other teams in the NFL none of which are good enough to solve the mystery.

[Villain The Foe]

1 minute ago, ASH1962 said:

Sorry but it is not their fault that nobody has the brains or skill to beat them. I too am sick to death of them but the facts are the facts. There are 31 other teams in the NFL none of which are good enough to solve the mystery.

And yet their playing against the worst of the 31, which is the point of the thread. When they played a team with a winning record in the Bills, the Patriots were actually given a run for their money, the game was decided in the final seconds and it was the only game where they didnt score 30 points in because they actually played a good team. 

It's not about not being able to solve this mystery, it's about watching teams who didnt even make the playoffs last year have brutal schedules meanwhile the champions of the league was provided a schedule where they dont even compete against a playoff team from the year prior until week 9. 

 

[Vudu]

Seems like every year they have a cake schedule


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[Villain The Foe]

The lack of competitive opponents is mind blowing. 

When I say that the Patriots have played the worst offenses in the league, this is what I mean. 

The Patriots recorded 13 INT's before allowing a TD this season. Their 14 total INT's on the season is twice as many as any other team in the entire league. 

Tom Brady has rushed for more TD's this season than their division rival Miami has total TD's. 

No wonder so many fans have complained about how sh*tty this season has been. 

 

 

[Barry McCockinner]

40 minutes ago, DLJ said:

Seems like every year they have a cake schedule


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Because they don't have to play the Pats.

[Dunnie]

Sorry but it is not their fault that nobody has the brains or skill to beat them. I too am sick to death of them but the facts are the facts. There are 31 other teams in the NFL none of which are good enough to solve the mystery.

If walks like a duck and talks like a duck .. Chances are. ...

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Ken Schroy]

Villain, I think you are actually making a larger point. For years we have been told, "Any Given Sunday". It started with Pete Rozelle and his push for "parity" in the NFL. But I think unfortunately that may be over. We are almost back to the old days. When players said that they could just "throw their helmet on the field" and win.  Way too many teams are out of it already. You are down to a small handful of teams that are even playing competitive football. I can't believe this is what the NFL wanted, but it's where we are. 

[southparkcpa]

30 minutes ago, Ken Shroy said:

Villain, I think you are actually making a larger point. For years we have been told, "Any Given Sunday". It started with Pete Rozelle and his push for "parity" in the NFL. But I think unfortunately that may be over. We are almost back to the old days. When players said that they could just "throw their helmet on the field" and win.  Way too many teams are out of it already. You are down to a small handful of teams that are even playing competitive football. I can't believe this is what the NFL wanted, but it's where we are. 

They all have the same advantage or disadvantage yet like the Jets they make poor decisions.  This game is the QB followed very closely by the GM.    Our GMs have sucked.   Look at the good teams. They draft and develop.  

[Ken Schroy]

10 minutes ago, southparkcpa said:

They all have the same advantage or disadvantage yet like the Jets they make poor decisions.  This game is the QB followed very closely by the GM.    Our GMs have sucked.   Look at the good teams. They draft and develop.  

I didn't say why it happened. But you still have teams that have had good drafts in the past and they are struggling.

[Blackout]

4 hours ago, ASH1962 said:

Sorry but it is not their fault that nobody has the brains or skill to beat them. I too am sick to death of them but the facts are the facts. There are 31 other teams in the NFL none of which are good enough to solve the mystery.

There's a way to beat them but nobody wants to hurt Brady sadly

[jgb]

The AFCE is a joke fest but their schedule is ridicudok

[Obrien2Toon]

These schedules aren’t random, or am I missing something

there’s a set formula for it

i like to call the Patsies cheaters too, but this is a stretch

[14 in Green]

When you look back at their 20 year run, it's as close to a perfect storm we will ever see in our "football" lifetimes.

On the one hand you have the GOAT HC and QB along with rosters that have won every way imaginable. High scoring offenses, dominant defenses, you name it. Players come and go, yet nothing changes. They might not win EVERY Super Bowl, but when are they not a threat to do so?

On the other, you have the incredibly inept trio of teams that make up the rest of the AFC East. How is it possible that not one of them has been able to mount a sustained challenge to a team in their division for two decades? One of them, understandable. Two, highly unlikely. That all three haven't is beyond belief.

So what do the three of their fan bases do? Complain about cheating, officials having bias, and now scheduling. Thanks to these 3 teams, the Pats start every year with a minimum of 4 wins, usually 5 in the bank, and need only to play slightly better then .500 ball outside the division to get a 1 or 2 seed. They are basically prepping for the playoffs on Labor Day every year.

It's disgraceful. The Jets, Bills and Dolphins organizations should be ashamed.

[Nixhead]

Heres the truth of it all - NE with the same head coach and same starting QB and basically the same system for what 18 years? There is NO WAY a team with a new head coach and new GM and new offensive and defensive systems can compete against 18 years of continuity. There is no way. It will take time 3-4 years minimum. The Chiefs have a few seasons going in their favor. The Ravens The Saints The Eagles The Cowboys The SeaHawks all have the same head coach and systems in place for several years - I think the Bills and Rams are on year 3 of their present systems. It takes time unless your the new coach of Green Bay and walk into a team with a hall of fame QB but I don't think they could be the Patriots right now. Not only does it take some time but you don't know how good your GM and new Head coach are for a year or 2 so it takes time and diligence and some luck. 

[1ManRaid]

9 hours ago, Villain The Foe said:

New England's opponents thus far have a combined .217 win percentage, and that was before the Giants game yesterday night who entered the game under .500 at 2-3 and are currently sitting at 2-4. 

 

This .217 win percentage which is a shade lower now with the Giants loss makes their current schedule so far the lowest strength of schedule in NFL history. 

Shaky start with your math there.  If you start with .217, beating the .400/.333 (before/after) Giants won't LOWER it from .217...

[LockeJET]

Look, it's pretty simple. It's a QB and coach league. And they have the best all time of both. Hence the monster they've created. 

[jeremy2020]

11 hours ago, DLJ said:

Seems like every year they have a cake schedule


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yea, they play the Bills, Dolphins and Jets twice each..

[bla bla bla]

10 hours ago, Ken Shroy said:

Villain, I think you are actually making a larger point. For years we have been told, "Any Given Sunday". It started with Pete Rozelle and his push for "parity" in the NFL. But I think unfortunately that may be over. We are almost back to the old days. When players said that they could just "throw their helmet on the field" and win.  Way too many teams are out of it already. You are down to a small handful of teams that are even playing competitive football. I can't believe this is what the NFL wanted, but it's where we are. 

This is one of the biggest issues and one @Villain The Foe I think was trying to touch on as well. This sport is so brutal, once a team goes 0-3 they have less than a 5% chance at the playoffs.

Now to fans that means teams are just hunting or thirsty for a win but the reality is that players begin to shut it down and go into self-preservation mode. Why risk a career injury when there is no incentive to give 100%?

This is why parity is so important, if you can have 32 teams at 4-4 that is what is best for the league because you will be receiving as close to 100% effort from players as possible.

Honestly I think the league should allot cap % of a QB based on an overall ranking. If Brady ranks as the top QB for a season then regardless what his contract is he counts the highest of the QBs against the cap.

[afjetsfan]

So when the Patriots win the Superbowl this year will it be because they had an easy schedule?  Eventually they have to play the best teams.  Just like they do every year.

[afjetsfan]

1 hour ago, bla bla bla said:

 

This is why parity is so important, if you can have 32 teams at 4-4 that is what is best for the league because you will be receiving as close to 100% effort from players as possible.

 

If the NFL truly wants parity, then it needs to change the entire makeup of the NFL.  Teams can no longer be owned by individual billionaires.  The NFL would have to centrally manage each team at the top level.  Coaches would have to be hand selected by the NFL to provide each team the best chance to win.  Losers like the Johnsons will never be able to create, let alone sustain, a winning team.

[Jet Nut]

14 hours ago, DLJ said:

Seems like every year they have a cake schedule


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Probably because every year they're better than most of the teams on their schedule

 

[JustInFudge]

I mean, they cant control who they play and how bad they are, it is what it is.  Ironically, we play the same schedule only difference being Oakland vs. the Chiefs and Jags vs. Houston - I say we got dealt the better hand there.  The issue is we suck donkey dick and the Patriots are great. 

As much as I want to hate on the Patriots, this speaks to what I've been telling you all for the past few years and why I have stopped watching the NFL if the Jets are not playing.  The NFL is absolute TRASH.  TRASH.  TRASH.  TRASH. 

The league sucks.  It's not just all the crap it's also, the games and teams suck.  It's just piss poor.  Has there been a good game this season?  A good primetime game?  I mean, is there any doubt the AFC Championship game is the Chiefs/Pats?  And the NFC is a little more open.  3 maybe 4 teams are contenders.  Otherwise, everyone else is sucking wind.

The league is garbage.  Bottom line.

[Jetster]

19 minutes ago, afjetsfan said:

So when the Patriots win the Superbowl this year will it be because they had an easy schedule?  Eventually they have to play the best teams.  Just like they do every year.

Actually, the Patriots have the highest HOME WINNING % in the league the last 20 years. You can count on 1 hand how many regular season losses & home playoff losses they have. The Ravens & Jets are the only teams to beat them AT GILLETTE. 

Now their road record is completely different. Yes of course the record is still great but relative to their home record it's a startling difference. By cruising through the regular season they usually get home field advantage. Last year Houston screwed up & had a bad loss I believe which allowed the Pats to get the 1st playoff game at home. So right there you put them in the AFCG game, so 2 wins & in. They were very fortunate last year (it's amazing the breaks this team seems to get), you had the Mahomes 1st playoff jitters & slow start, you had the ridiculous RTP call when the KC DE hand came down & grazed Bradys face mask (Huge call, Pats were in 2nd & Long), then you had the offsides on an interception that would have ended the game, not a jumping offsides, a lining UP OFFSIDES. 

Its just amazing to me how opposing teams make these dumb mistakes vs the Pats. Now you add the worst call in history that sends the young QB Goff to the Super Bowl instead of Drew Brees & the Saints, playing with a injured RB & 2 smurf WRs & there you have it, another Pats Super Bowl. It's like that team since 2001 win vs the Rams has had a horseshoe up their azz.

[Villain The Foe]

2 hours ago, afjetsfan said:

So when the Patriots win the Superbowl this year will it be because they had an easy schedule?  Eventually they have to play the best teams.  Just like they do every year.

The Patriots can get the top seed in the playoffs which will give them a week off as well as playing the lowest seed during that 2nd playoff week when the do play. So blowing out noncompetitive teams will only put the Pats in position to play the weakest competition in the playoffs as well as another bye.

[Villain The Foe]

2 hours ago, JiF said:

I mean, they cant control who they play and how bad they are, it is what it is.  Ironically, we play the same schedule only difference being Oakland vs. the Chiefs and Jags vs. Houston - I say we got dealt the better hand there.  The issue is we suck donkey dick and the Patriots are great. 

As much as I want to hate on the Patriots, this speaks to what I've been telling you all for the past few years and why I have stopped watching the NFL if the Jets are not playing.  The NFL is absolute TRASH.  TRASH.  TRASH.  TRASH. 

The league sucks.  It's not just all the crap it's also, the games and teams suck.  It's just piss poor.  Has there been a good game this season?  A good primetime game?  I mean, is there any doubt the AFC Championship game is the Chiefs/Pats?  And the NFC is a little more open.  3 maybe 4 teams are contenders.  Otherwise, everyone else is sucking wind.

The league is garbage.  Bottom line.

It's becoming the NBA.

[jetstream23]

I can still find 2 or 3 potential losses in their schedule. I don’t see anything like an undefeated season, but yeah, they’re going to win something like 13 or 14 games, particularly with that defense. 

[Apache 51]

AFC least simple as that, put them in the NFCe instead of Redskins, different outcome.

[jetstream23]

Buffalo is good. 

[JustInFudge]

29 minutes ago, Villain The Foe said:

It's becoming the NBA.

Worse.  At least when I watch the NBA, I understand what I'm watching and the rules arent up for interpretation.  Sure, fouls will always be a thing in the NBA and certain players get the calls similar to the NFL but I feel like the NBA also understand when to swallow the whistle and let them play.  

[Villain The Foe]

13 hours ago, Obrien2Toon said:

These schedules aren’t random, or am I missing something

there’s a set formula for it

i like to call the Patsies cheaters too, but this is a stretch

The schedules arent random, but designed to milk you for your attention. Let me explain. 

The primetime games in the beginning of the year is built around teams maybe with young rookies that have a following or a nice storyline. This is why we get Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Dwayne Haskins in the first month, along with teams like the Raiders (Hard Knocks) on the top half because you dont have to worry about interest fading too quickly for a team that may not be good but isnt going into a prime time games in November and December with terrible records. This is also one of the reasons why they started swapping out those SNF games in order to put on more favorable matchups in case a team that they didnt expect ended up having decent record and established that story line they can then throw them into the lineup. 

 

Because of this though we end up seeing the better teams in the league not playing one another early but instead the league pushing those games as far to the back half of the schedule as well in order to build up the "playoff run" which starts in November. 

Many teams however ended up pretty much securing their spot by that time if they've been playing 2 months worth of mediocre to poor competition and go into November with 6,7 or 8 wins before they begin playing these late season games. 

It's clear that the competition in the first half of the season is completely unbalanced as we've had 4 consecutive blowouts on Monday Night football...which is always the game of the week. 

Outside of the first Monday night game (week 1 which is always a Monday Night double header) which starred the Texans and the Saints, MNF has not had a game with any other playoff team from last year. 

The next time MNF stars a playoff team is on October 21st when the Patriots play the winless Jets with a young 2nd year QB. See what I mean?

 

The league has a division rotation that all teams play through, however, once they know the games, the league tries their best to stack those what they consider "competitive games" on the back end as much as possible and front load the games with whatever given that the win-loss records really haven't been fleshed out yet. 

But it's resulting in teams like the Pats running away with a division before Holloween, and so many prime time blowouts which supports what @JiF has been saying for the longest in terms of how terrible the NFL has been. 

 

No one wants to watch a bunch of blowouts or see teams run away with divisions because we're not in November for the "playoff hunt". 

 

Im not saying that this is the way the Patriots are cheating, im saying that this is yet another way that the league stacks sh*t in their favor on top of playing in the easiest division in football constantly. The Patriots winning less than 4 division games in a season would be considered a failure on their end. It rarely happens. So they're guaranteed 4-5 wins a season just based on their division, and the league stacks sh*t teams on the front end in order to have more prime time worthy games on the back end. By that time the Patriots are already the f'ing division champions and are only playing to determine which playoff bye they will get. 

Thats not exciting.  

 

[Apache 51]

16 minutes ago, jetstream23 said:

Buffalo is good. 

When they went 0-4, they were good.

[FlightBoyz]

Just a well run organization with the best HC n QB ever. They know how to put a game plan together n execute. That = Wins & Championships.

[Obrien2Toon]

54 minutes ago, Villain The Foe said:

The schedules arent random, but designed to milk you for your attention. Let me explain. 

The primetime games in the beginning of the year is built around teams maybe with young rookies that have a following or a nice storyline. This is why we get Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Dwayne Haskins in the first month, along with teams like the Raiders (Hard Knocks) on the top half because you dont have to worry about interest fading too quickly for a team that may not be good but isnt going into a prime time games in November and December with terrible records. This is also one of the reasons why they started swapping out those SNF games in order to put on more favorable matchups in case a team that they didnt expect ended up having decent record and established that story line they can then throw them into the lineup. 

 

Because of this though we end up seeing the better teams in the league not playing one another early but instead the league pushing those games as far to the back half of the schedule as well in order to build up the "playoff run" which starts in November. 

Many teams however ended up pretty much securing their spot by that time if they've been playing 2 months worth of mediocre to poor competition and go into November with 6,7 or 8 wins before they begin playing these late season games. 

It's clear that the competition in the first half of the season is completely unbalanced as we've had 4 consecutive blowouts on Monday Night football...which is always the game of the week. 

Outside of the first Monday night game (week 1 which is always a Monday Night double header) which starred the Texans and the Saints, MNF has not had a game with any other playoff team from last year. 

The next time MNF stars a playoff team is on October 21st when the Patriots play the winless Jets with a young 2nd year QB. See what I mean?

 

The league has a division rotation that all teams play through, however, once they know the games, the league tries their best to stack those what they consider "competitive games" on the back end as much as possible and front load the games with whatever given that the win-loss records really haven't been fleshed out yet. 

But it's resulting in teams like the Pats running away with a division before Holloween, and so many prime time blowouts which supports what @JiF has been saying for the longest in terms of how terrible the NFL has been. 

 

No one wants to watch a bunch of blowouts or see teams run away with divisions because we're not in November for the "playoff hunt". 

 

Im not saying that this is the way the Patriots are cheating, im saying that this is yet another way that the league stacks sh*t in their favor on top of playing in the easiest division in football constantly. The Patriots winning less than 4 division games in a season would be considered a failure on their end. It rarely happens. So they're guaranteed 4-5 wins a season just based on their division, and the league stacks sh*t teams on the front end in order to have more prime time worthy games on the back end. By that time the Patriots are already the f'ing division champions and are only playing to determine which playoff bye they will get. 

Thats not exciting.  

 

Ah so not who they are playing but when they are playing them 

[Thai Jet]

13 hours ago, Blackout said:

There's a way to beat them but nobody wants to hurt Brady sadly

The league won't allow it.