Are the Patriots turning into the Celtics of last year?

[mahonedog88]

You can't help but think it.  The Pats get blown out by the Browns then come back and rip the Steelers, a supposed superbowl contender, a new one.  They come back with a decent win against the Colts but are now getting clearly overmatched by a 2-8 Lions team.

It just really seems lately that this Patriots team, especially the defense, isn't getting up for the bad teams.  They don't have the fire that they had at Pittsburgh and against Indy.  They look more like they did against the Browns.  It's a very scary trend.

The Pats HAVE to win this game to keep pace with the Jets, cause lets face it, they're going to crush the Bengals.

[Q_FBE]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=301107008

Detroit had the Jests beat in this game (same weekend that we got blown out in Cleveland). And then they got 6 days rest vs 3 days rest after playing in Pitts home to Indy.

Detriot aint no joke anymore.

[dpaps]

You can't help but think it.  The Pats get blown out by the Browns then come back and rip the Steelers, a supposed superbowl contender, a new one.  They come back with a decent win against the Colts but are now getting clearly overmatched by a 2-8 Lions team.

It just really seems lately that this Patriots team, especially the defense, isn't getting up for the bad teams.  They don't have the fire that they had at Pittsburgh and against Indy.  They look more like they did against the Browns.  It's a very scary trend.

The Pats HAVE to win this game to keep pace with the Jets, cause lets face it, they're going to crush the Bengals.

I think you're underrating the Lions offense a little. The patriots are 2nd to last in the league in pass defense (I think), so it really shouldnt be a surprise that the Lions are having success moving the ball.

Even if the Pats do have a similar mindset to the Celtics last year, great, that means they'll be in the superbowl and assuming someone doesn't tear an ACL like Perk did, they'll be all set.

I don't think we need to face that the Jets are going to crush the Bengals. I mean they should win, but its the NFL, crazy stuff happens. And the jets have been BARELY beating less than average teams the past few weeks. They're no juggernaut.

[jambr380]

I just hope they can beat out the Jets, so they don't end up in the wildcard position going into the playoffs. They have the best record in the NFL and they may not even get a home playoff game...they could also use the bye week to work on better ways to get pressure on the qb.

[rondo987]

lol, I can see your concern in the first half of this game.. But they ended up winning by 3 tds, so I guess you were off with this assesment. Now 10 days of rest before they play the Jets on Monday Night Football. Unless the Jets lose tonight, the winner of that game should end up winning the division.

You can't help but think it.  The Pats get blown out by the Browns then come back and rip the Steelers, a supposed superbowl contender, a new one.  They come back with a decent win against the Colts but are now getting clearly overmatched by a 2-8 Lions team.

It just really seems lately that this Patriots team, especially the defense, isn't getting up for the bad teams.  They don't have the fire that they had at Pittsburgh and against Indy.  They look more like they did against the Browns.  It's a very scary trend.

The Pats HAVE to win this game to keep pace with the Jets, cause lets face it, they're going to crush the Bengals.

[pearljammer10]

45 - 24 isnt considered being overmatched in my book.

[Bahku]

I think this was posted early in the game ... the Pats are not remotely out-matched by the Lions, on the contrary, Detroit got slammed in the second half.