00:00Seattle and New England begin the season on a Wednesday, of course, in Seattle.
00:06I mean, yeah, it's a rematch.
00:07And again, we know where Seattle is.
00:10Still one of the top teams in the NFC and going to challenge potentially for an NFC championship because of
00:16the defense,
00:17because Sam Darnold has come into his own and led this team to a Super Bowl championship.
00:22They lose Kenneth Walker, but they still have JSN.
00:25And on the flip side, I think there's multiple question marks to the New England Patriots.
00:30The situation with their head coach, Mike Vrabel, still has to play out in the offseason.
00:34Who knows if he's still going to be on the sidelines.
00:37They're already four and a half, you know, point underdogs in this matchup.
00:41And again, you look at the win total of nine and a half.
00:44That looks all well and good, Kevin, because of their young and defensively, they added some nice pieces.
00:51But I'm still not so big picture.
00:53Again, you know, are they bottom of the AFC East this year?
00:58No, obviously they're much better than Miami and the New York Jets.
01:03But again, it wouldn't shock me if they maybe settle back in to eight or nine wins.
01:07I just don't see them as a 12 or a 13 win football team this year.
01:12Yeah, I think for the New England Patriots, it's a season that it could go off the rails quickly because
01:21the chatter around your head coach is not going to go away.
01:27And you don't have to like it, but that's what it is.
01:30I think right now, Joe, this team projects to be an underdog in three of their first four games with
01:38those three being road games at Seattle, at Jacksonville and at Buffalo.
01:42It does not mean that they will lose all of those games, but those are what the numbers are going
01:47to suggest for the New England Patriots.
01:50And if they did get off to a one and three start.
01:54There's going to be some really loud noise around Mike Vrabel.
01:59That is the situation that they have now found themselves in.
02:02And it is not irrelevant when you are handicapping this team, when you are attempting to pick your position on
02:09the Patriots.
02:10Plus, we have seen the Super Bowl hangover catch a lot of teams.
02:16Last year, Kansas City was the Super Bowl loser.
02:19They were not very good.
02:20The season before that, the Philadelphia Eagles looked like they were going to be great and fell apart in the
02:27middle of the year.
02:28So we see these things happen, Joe, for teams in this position.
02:34You look at the first 10 games.
02:36So we would mention the first four already.
02:38Home against Vegas, home against the Jets.
02:40Those feel like softer landing spots.
02:42It's a Thursday night in Chicago, a trip to Miami.
02:44They will then play Green Bay and an international game against the Lions over in Germany.
02:51Again, this NFL schedule is terrible.
02:53My goodness.
02:53We're doing Lions Patriots in Germany.
02:56Gosh almighty.
02:57I hate this thing.
02:58I really do, Joe.
03:00I really cannot stand what they've done here.
03:03You know, this is a spot for...
03:06If this team...
03:09I don't think Mike Vrabel will be fired.
03:12I think Mike Vrabel taking a breather, though, which he's already done, is on the board.
03:22And I think a lot of people who want to positively invest in the Patriots want to do so through
03:30the lens of Vrabel,
03:33the reigning NFL coach of the year, by the way.
03:35Yeah, I mean, I don't think he, potentially, Kevin, is maybe going to be fired, okay?
03:41But maybe the pressure is so much, depending upon, again, what comes out over the next few months leading up
03:48to training camp,
03:49where maybe he's forced to resign or step away.
03:52That's a different aspect.
03:53Or, if he does stay, is the pressure, you know, just from the home life,
03:58because obviously that affects coaching and mentality and emotion.
04:02How does that put pressure on him mentally as a head coach,
04:05where you're not thinking as clear, potentially, as you were maybe just a year ago?
04:10You know, with a new team, his old team, and obviously all that emotion surrounding the Patriots in year number
04:17one,
04:17they over-exceeded expectations.
04:20But again, when you look at the win total of nine and a half, you look at the schedule, right?
04:24I mean, even though it's in Germany, Detroit's trying to bounce back.
04:28They're still a very good football team.
04:30Green Bay and Chicago have aspirations of an NFC championship.
04:34So those are three games right there, Kevin, that are no gimmies.
04:38Then you've got the Chiefs, you've got the Bills, right?
04:41And Denver on the schedule.
04:43And the Chargers, oh, by the way.
04:45So, again, if I had a bet right now, I'm taking the under.
04:50Again, I think nine and eight isn't out of the realm of possibility.
04:54And, again, it can only go down, meaning here we are, right?
04:59Super Bowl runner-up.
05:01They lost the game, aspirations to be a 10 or 11-win football team.
05:05But all the uncertainty, it can only go down from here, Kevin.
05:10They can't go up.
05:11The expectation is right where it is based off of last year and a perfect scenario.
05:16So that's why I would sell the nine and a half.
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