8/31/12

Season 5, Weeks 11, 12, 13, 14 - Patriots Barely Beat Lowly Jags, 21-17, but then lose to Dolphins, Eagles, Texans; stand at 8-5

Week 11 - While Jacksonville made a game of it, tied with NE going into the fourth, 14-14, and then taking a lead 17-14 early in the fourth, the Patriots rallied from behind once again to win narrowly, 17-21. Jax falls to 3-8.

Weeks 12 & 13 - After losing to Miami in a close game (simmed), the Patriots lost again on the road in Philadelphia. After coming back again from behind in the 4th 3-10 to tie the score at 10 all, the Eagles rallied on the arm of 3rd year QB BJ Hackett, who usurped Michael Vick for the starting role. An excellent TD pass to WR Jeremy Maclin with less than a minute to go in the fourth, and even better YAC from Maclin, gave Philly the win, 17-10. The Patriots fall to 8-4, and play host to Houston in their Week 14 match coming up.

Week 15 - Making it three losses in a row, the Patriots fall to the 5-8 Texans 14-17 after Houston kicked the game winning field goal with virtually no time left on the clock to break the 14-14 tie and secure the win in regulation.

Week 16 - New England ends their 3-game losing streak and rises to 9 and 5, blowing out the lowly 2-11 Tennessee Titans, 24 to 7.

Season 5, Week 10 - Patriots come back in 4th quarter to defeat Giants

Going from one Manning to the next, the Patriots next game after the Chiefs was against their multiple Super Bowls' opponent, the New York Giants (4-4). The game didn't disappoint fans, an exciting nail-biter that went down to the wire, with the Patriots staging a 4th quarter comeback after being down virtually the entire game at 10-3, to win late in the fourth 17-10. New England moves to 7-2 while the Giants fall to 4-5.

Season 5, Week 9 - Undefeated KC tastes first loss at the hands of the Patriots

The last domino falls here! The team with the best record in the NFL is undefeated Kansas City with big free agent acquisition QB Peyton Manning at the helm. With their 6-0 record, they looked to take out a Patriots squad who, before their Week 5 BYE, suffered a blowout at the hands of Peyton's former team, the then 3-3 Indianapolis Colts. But NE used the BYE week to revamp, and with several clutch catches by free agent veteran TE Heath Miller, New England managed to give the Chiefs their first loss of the season, and only added further to the epic Brady vs. Manning rivalry.

8/30/12

Season 5, Weeks 1-7 Recap (@BYE during Week 8)


Recapping season five thus far, New England (record of 5-2, tied for 3rd best in NFL; the Chiefs lead by QB Peyton Manning have the NFL's best record at 6-0) has:

Lost against the following teams:

Blowout by the QB Chase Anderson (3rd year veteran)-led Colts, who were 3-3 going into the game, and they win by shocking margin of 28-7 final, which many view as a wake-up call to the Pats going into their BYE week 8.
On a controversial closing minutes 2-point conversion play, with a successful pass by Patriots QB Tom Brady to 5th-string WR Jermaine Cunningham, but the receiver (disputedly) did not break the plane of the endzone on his short out route before stepping   out of bounds, whereby rendering the final score of 18-20, giving QB Colin Knapernick's squad a much needed win after being 0-3 heading into the game facing a then 3-0 NE squad.



Won against the following teams:
At 5-1, the Jets are the current AFC East Division leader in Week 8 after the Patriots' stunning loss to the Colts. However, the Jets' only loss thus far this season was to New England.

The big questions that remain unanswered:
  • With key Offensive Playmaker/Go To Guy TE Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski out for the season after the injury in the Colts game during Week 7, just how screwed is New England?
  • Is New England's defense, even with the addition of good but oft-injured 1st round draft pick CB Kendrick Ferguson, good enough to hold the line?
  • With their new return man/speed demon KR/PR Leonard Massey be enough to make the Pats' Special Teams a regular x-factor?