Stats on Pats Weekly Article by Joshua Bonneau, southcoast247.com correspondent
Week XV:Pats turn the page on Miami, rout Texans 40-7
Just a week has gone by since the demoralized New England Patriots boarded their franchise plane and got the hell out of South Florida. No doubt, it must have been a long, quiet flight back to New England, followed up presumably by the most grueling week of practice had all season. Yup, the Pats saw some added practice days last week, in full pads mind you. But I doubt this was so much a disciplinary reminder of the season’s worst loss as it was a way to get the team back on track- a way to right the ship so to speak. And let it be said that there’s a distinction between the two.
Knowing Belichick’s MO, at some point during the early week, after paying due diligence to all that went wrong in Miami, he probably stopped paying attention to it altogether. It’s like I said last week, to dwell upon a devastating loss like that would be counterproductive moving forward, and if there’s anything we can say for sure about the Patriot’s system under Bill Belichick, there is no future, no past- just the present.
“We’ll need to have a short memory on this one and move on to Jacksonville….A day later, I think we’re still at the same point that we were yesterday. But it was a big win. We went back through (the tape) on Houston, and we’ve closed the books on it. You know, we’ve got some guys that are banged up. We’ll give them a little extra time off today and tomorrow and come back on Wednesday ready to roll,” Belichick said in his Monday media address following the Pat’s domination of Houston. You see, just in the same way that big losses are recognized for what they are and then abandoned, big wins are given the same treatment. That is, namely big wins to teams who are five games under .500 coming into the match up.
So just how much stock can you put into the walk away victory against the less-than-mediocre Texans? It’s hard to say, exactly. What can be said is that the Patriots, who averaged 3.14 turnovers per game over the last six games coming into Sunday’s action showed a healthy regard for keeping the ball, well, in their possession. On the other hand the Patriots forced four turnovers on the day, including interceptions by Richard Seymour and cornerback Asante Samuel, who now leads the league in that category. What’s more is that the Pat’s managed to avoid being penalized like they have been; accumulating only four for sixty six yards on the day, which by recent comparison is a fucking marvel.
“It was the antithesis of last week,” said Tom Brady on the performance. “There was enthusiasm right from the start.” But just how enthused can we be about the Pats looking forward? Well, I would still say that now is the time when the Pats can really gain some momentum down the stretch, provided that is, some of the key position players get healthy. Rodney Harrison, Laurence Maroney, Junior Seau, Ben Watson, Vince Wilfork, and now maybe even Kevin Faulk, all sidelined in that order. True, the Pat’s can’t seem to stop the injuries from mounting, but the question is, can the Pats do it without them?
Well, it may have appeared that way this past week, but Jacksonville is a different, stronger animal. This week will be a true test as to the depth and the versatility of the Patriots- something we hear a lot about.
With a win in Jacksonville this week, the Patriot’s will clinch the AFC east. You see, unlike the Patriots, I have no problem getting ahead of things.