Thought last week was the "bounce back week" coming off a crappy loss to SEA, playing against the Jets who they have faired well against recently to say the least. Laying a big number, and Vegas raked in. All along they have been saying this is a "business trip" and they actually left a day after the Rams did, as they had "experience" from a couple years back.
2ndary sucks right now, and now Chung and Gregory are both out. Look for Devin McCourty to shift back to safety again this week, and Tavon Wilson and Alfonso Dennard to get the bulk of the playing time as well. Dennard is inexperienced but has a pretty high skill set. Wilson has been invisible at points, but has looked very good at times as well. It comes down to coaching in the secondary, but that's another story. We really don't know if they are being told to let WRs go in their zone scheme, or it's just miscommunication.
That said.
What will the Patriots do?
1. Eliminate Steven Jackson. The Patriots success has been built on making their opponent play left handed. They do a very good job against marquee backs. Aditionally, they have one of the better unsung run stuffing line backers in Brandon Spikes.
2. Get up early. They should be aggressive and take some shots at the end zone and try to get an early lead, and not look back. Brady has been a little off this year, but he's still sharp enough to make the throws when it counts, and he likes the big stage.
3. Don't allow Bradford to hurt you. We can make all the jokes about how bad he is, etc. If Amendola plays, they will be dangerous considering the Patriots lack of depth/experience/skill/we've gone over this already in the secondary.
4. Coach better. BB is still a damn good coach. I won't get started in the idea that they were basically a combined 10 mins away from 6 championships, because then I will start crying hysterically....but the hoodie can still, game plan with the rest of them.
On paper, I'd say this is a no brainer....you know how that works though. The Joes are a fickle group in one sense, as many have jumped off the Patriots bandwagon. That said, the Pros and the books still respect the hell out of them. Any given team, this'd be a 3.5 pt spread, IMO.
Still, I don't know if the Rams have the horses to win this game...but we thought that of the Jets last week, and they could have won that won.
I'm on the Pats laying what I deem to be a soft number, and see a lot of value.
I'm also a homer, but tend not to wager on this team. This one sticks out to me...
Good luck.
