Skip to main content

Three Things to Watch This Week - Week 1

The New England Patriots play Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles at Gillette Stadium on Sunday September 10th at 4:25 PM.

With the Dolphins, Bills and even the (gulp) Jets all trending upward, and the Patriots shopping for offensive linemen at the TJ Maxx close out rack, this could be a very long season. In five short years, we've gone from "Can we just skip ahead to the AFC Championship Game already?" to "Boy, it sure would be swell to win a playoff game again someday!" Based on what I saw in the preseason, I think we're looking at an above average defense and a below average offense. This is maybe a 6 and 11 team.  I have no idea how I'm going to get through this year. I knew the post-Brady transition was going to be hard... But I just didn't think it would be managed this poorly. As such, we'll be slowly transitioning this little weekly fan newsletter into a support group. 

Just a quick reminder of what last season looked like.

Gene power rankings:

1) Wilder
2) Rayburn
3) Hackman
4) Belcher
5) Gene the Dancing Machine
6) Roddenberry
7) Siskel
8) -eration X
9) Tierney
10) -eneral Hospital 

Three things I'm talking myself into getting excited about this season:

1) Maybe the offense will be slightly better under Billy O than Matty P! Can't be worse, right?

2) Kendrick Bourne - I expect more out of Bourne this season, especially now he's not openly feuding with the offensive coordinator.

3) New kickers! We'll be watching both a new punter (Bryce Baringer - not a member of The National) AND a new place kicker (Chad Ryland) this season.  This feels like an awful lot of trust to be placing in young players - possibly the biggest hint that Belichick thinks this is not a playoff year.


2010s Jam of the Week

The War On Drugs - Holding On


My prediction: Eagles 37, Patriots 17

*****

This week we have Fake Morrissey giving us his 2023 Patriots season preview.


The rain falls hard on a humdrum team

This team has dragged me down

Oh, the rain falls hard on a humdrum team

History has dragged us down

Oh no, and everybody's got to live their life

And God knows I've got to live mine

God knows I've got to live mine

William, William, last year's team was... really nothing

William, William Stephen Belichick, it was really not something I enjoyed watching

William, William, ooooh-oh-oooooooooh


(to the tune of "William, It Was Really Nothing", with apologies to The Smiths)

*****

Now accepting mailbag questions.

Additional ebooks by P. Canole available here:

https://pcanole.blogspot.com/

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three Things to Watch This Week - Week 15

The New England Patriots play The Ben and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field on Sunday December 16th at 4:25 PM. Plenty of positive takeaways from last week... well, until the last play (Gronk didn’t want to get in the way of a 69 yard touchdown). Gronk shouldn't have been out there on the last play.  There's no way a gimpy Tannehill was going to chuck one 70 yards.  Harrumph. Powers Power Rankings: 1) Boothe 2) Austin 3) Stephanie 4) Vested in me 5) Bleeding  6) (Irish whiskey) Here are three things I'm feeling good about this week: 1) Josh Gordon - Gordon has been better than expected so far.  Can you imagine the numbers Gordon could have put up if he had been here his whole career (and, well, sober)?  Guh. 2) James White - James White rules. 3) Jacob Hollister - I thought this was going to be Hollister's breakout year...  So far, he has 4 catches for the season.  There's still time! Did Rob Gronkowski play last week...
Post a Comment
Read more

Five Things to Watch This Week.

By Patty O'Tool The Patriots play their fourth preseason game at home against the New York Giants on Thursday, September 3rd at 7:30 PM Oh man, do I hate the Giants. I still wake up thinking about how close we were to 19 and 0. I don't think I'll ever get over that. Here's five things I'll be watching for on Thursday: 1) Tom Brady. How well does he hold the clipboard on the sideline? Does he hold it with his left hand or his right hand? Will he be in uniform or street clothes? These are the big questions for #12 tonight. 2) Laurence Maroney . OK, kid. I've been apologizing for you for three years now. Show me something. 3) Joey Galloway. I have no emotional attachment to this guy. I could care less if makes the team. He looks like crap out there so far. 4) Linebackers. Bruschi's gone. We're young and fast now. But are we any good ? 5) BenJarvus Green-Ellis. This might be the last time we see him a Patriots uniform. If he gets cut, som...
Post a Comment
Read more

Three Things to Watch This Week - Week 3

The New England Patriots play Matthew Stafford and the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on Sunday September 23rd at 8:20 PM. Gordon Power Rankings 1) Cole 2) Flash 3) Kim 4) Levitt 5) Sumner 6) (Sesame Street) 7) Lightfoot 8) Shumway 9) Emily v 10) Hayword 11) the Big Engine 12) Jump 13) Josh (Who knew there were so many Gordons!) Here's three things I'm worried about for Sunday evening: 1) The secondary - Eric Rowe isn't making me forget about Malcolm Butler any time soon.  Assuming the Lions have changed their signals by now . Stafford might be able to throw all over the place on them.  Concerns.  I have them.  2) Tom Brady - TB12 got beat up pretty good last week, didn't he?  There was no rhythm (Did I spell that right?  "Rhythm"?  That doesn't look right.) .  I'd like to see some long sustained drives. 3) Sony Michel - With Jeremy Hill out on injured reserve, the Patriots started to work first round pick Sony...
Post a Comment
Read more