It’s natural to overreact in the NFL. That’s what happens when you get one game a week. There’s an instant reaction whether your team won …
It’s natural to overreact in the NFL. That’s what happens when you get one game a week. There’s an instant reaction whether your team won or lost. The sky is falling one week. The Super Bowl is in sight the next. The season is a rollercoaster of emotions and that’s why we love it. On Saturday night, the Patriots went into Indianapolis and d ropped a lump of coal into the stockings of Patriots nation. When the team fell behind 20-0 in the third quarter, the Pats looked a lot like that squad that started 2021 with a 2-4 record. There were bad penalties, costly turnovers and rare special teams mistakes. It didn’t look like your typical Bill Belichick-coached football team. Then, as the Patriots scored 17-straight points in the fourth quarter, there was hope. They looked like that squad that just won seven straight games. But like most rollercoaster rides, there was another steep drop and the Patriots’ hopes came crashing down as Indianapolis handed them a 27-17 loss. “This was a very meaningful game in December and we just didn’t come out ready to play,” said Patriots tight end Hunter Henry. The Patriots came into this contest as the AFC’s No.1 seed. The loss drops them to No.3 in the conference with a huge matchup with the Buffalo Bills next week at Gillette Stadium. There’s no denying that their performance on Saturday was a gut-punch. They came out of the bye week looking worse, not better, after some rest. That begs the question – are the Patriots for real? Was this performance a sign of the Pats coming down to earth? Or was this game an exception to the Patriots recent standard? In the world of the NFL, a game like this will elicit plenty of emotions. Here’s two ways to look at Saturday’s loss — the Patriots could be in trouble, or this loss might not matter. The Patriots received a ton of good luck during their seven-game win streak. Think for a moment about the players they didn’t have to face and the injuries others were facing during that run. Against Carolina, they saw a limited Christian McCaffrey and an injured Sam Darnold. Against Cleveland, the Browns were without backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
