The Rocket

Issue date: 1/18/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: MCT Campus [Click to enlarge]

The New England Patriots will not go 19-0. Is this statement the carefully calculated deliberations of an NFL expert, or the ramblings of a delusional half-wit?

Let time and the beholder be the judge, but that said, there are several reasons why the Patriots may not go 19-0.

No one will ever accuse Patriots coach Bill Belichick of being unable to teach old dogs new tricks, but between Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Junior Seau and Rodney Harrison, this is a defense long on experience but short on speed in the middle.

In particular, this is a defense that has shown a weakness in the middle of the field, a weakness the Philadelphia Eagles nearly parleyed into a victory on Nov. 25.

The last few offenses the Patriots will face have the firepower to exploit this weakness, something the Jaguars themselves tried but were unable to maintain due to poor wide receiver play.

With all due respect to David Garrard, who played a nearly flawless game in the Jaguars' playoff loss to the Patriots, the Chargers' Philip Rivers, the Packers' Brett Favre and the Giants' Eli Manning are all quarterbacks who boast more playoff experience and better receivers.

The Eagles and Baltimore Ravens have proven you don't need to get into a shootout to have a prayer of beating the Patriots, but all three remaining playoff teams have the firepower to compete if it does come to that.

Of those three, the Chargers and Packers also have deeply talented secondaries capable of giving the Patriots' receivers a run for their money.

Regarding past games as a barometer for the Patriots' success, with six opponents that made the playoffs on the schedule, one would have to be crazy to say the Pats' schedule has been soft, but it is true that they caught a lot of teams at the right time this year.

They drew a San Diego team that was clearly not in tune with new coach Norv Turner in Week Two, an Indianapolis Colts team that was suffering from several injuries in Week Nine and two teams in Philadelphia and Baltimore that put together the defensive efforts of their lives before their shoddy QB play (to say nothing of the referees) doomed them.

In fact, when one considers the general health and wellbeing of the teams the Patriots did defeat in the regular season, the only quality teams that could be considered at full-strength or close to it were the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

Finally, it's worth pointing out that the Patriots' next opponent, the San Diego Chargers, are the second-hottest team in the league right now, having run off seven straight wins.

This team appears to have a drastically different mindset from the team that was trounced by New England in September.

Having shaken off his early-season woes, Rivers has proven that even if you take away one of his weapons, he can beat you with another, a trait he shares with the quarterback he'll be dueling, Tom Brady.

And in their win over the Colts, the Chargers displayed an almost Patriot-like ability to shrug off key injuries.

There's also still the revenge factor to consider, as the Chargers would like nothing more than to do as the Patriots did last year, derailing their Super Bowl hopes.

The Chargers are in the classic underdog scenario, with nothing to lose and everything to gain.


Rocco Cremonese is an English graduate student and a regular contributor to The Rocket.

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