The Patriots stink, but they will still win on Sunday because the Colts stink more.
That's The CHB's take today.
The Colts are 22-10 over the past two years. It's tough to call them patsies. (The Pats have won 24 over that same time.) It is not, as The CHB says, "just like two years ago." Andrew Luck is not Tim Tebow.
But here's where Shank goes off the ledge: "The abject mediocrity of the AFC is now the Patriots’ best friend. And
so we can only ask: In a season in which no team has distinguished
itself, why can’t a depleted Patriots team go all the way to the Super
Bowl?"
Well, why doesn't he answer that himself, like he did on Dec. 16:, when he asserted that "these Patriots simply are not that good. [T]he notion that they were the AFC’s top seed is
laughable."
To sum up Shank's argument: the Pats will make it to the Super Bowl, but it's because no team in the AFC, Patriots included, are any good.
But they have all the ingredients Bill Belichick loves in a playoff chump.
ReplyDeleteIt's a familiar subject for Shank...
That "mediocre" AFC saw its playoff teams go 19-5 against the NFC while NFC playoff teams were 14-10 in interconference games. The Patriots went 3-1 against the NFC South.
ReplyDelete"Andrew Luck is not Tim Tebow," except when the Patriots actually played him (2012) and Luck threw three interceptions, two of them run back for touchdowns. As spectacular as Luck's comeback win over the Chiefs was, it was Same Old Chiefs as far as matchups - the Colts are now 13-2 against the Chiefs since 1990 (6-1 since 2004), and the Patriots have won three straight and four of their last six meetings with the Colts.
Just how are the Patriots not that good? Shank was on Andy Gresh's show today repeating that same line and never really provided anything of substance behind it. It merely shows how little Shank understands football.