Here are my picks for the NFL’s Week 9 slate (excluding Thursday Night Football).
Last week: 6-7
Patriots at Jets: Patriots
Broncos at Falcons: Falcons
Seahawks at Bills: Seahawks
Bears at Titans: Titans
Ravens at Colts: Ravens
Panthers at Chiefs: Chiefs
Lions at Vikings: Lions
Giants at Washington: Giants
Texans at Jaguars: Texans
Raiders at Chargers: Raiders
Steelers at Cowboys: Steelers
Dolphins at Cardinals: Cardinals
Saints at Buccaneers: Buccaneers
Here are my picks for the NFL’s Week 8 slate (excluding Thursday Night Football).
Last week: 10-3
Patriots at Bills: Bills
Vikings at Packers: Packers
Titans at Bengals: Titans
Jets at Chiefs: Chiefs
Colts at Lions: Colts
Steelers at Ravens: Steelers
Rams at Dolphins: Rams
Raiders at Browns: Browns
Chargers at Broncos: Chargers
Saints at Bears: Bears
49ers at Seahawks: 49ers
Cowboys at Eagles: Eagles
Buccaneers at Giants: Buccaneers
Due to the delay for the Patriots-Broncos game, here are my picks for the NFL’s Week 5 games (excluding Thursday Night Football).
Last week: 9-4
Jaguars at Texans: Texans
Bengals at Ravens: Ravens
Panthers at Falcons: Falcons
Raiders at Chiefs: Chiefs
Cardinals at Jets: Cardinals
Eagles at Steelers: Steelers
Rams at Washington: Rams
Dolphins at 49ers: 49ers
Giants at Cowboys: Cowboys
Colts at Browns: Browns
Vikings at Seahawks: Seahawks
Chargers at Saints: Chargers
Bills at Titans: Bills
Tomorrow, the Patriots will take on the newly-minted Las Vegas Raiders (2-0) for the first time in 3 seasons, in a matchup that will make or break New England’s season due to the mounting difficulty of their season.
Here are some things to consider entering this Week 3 contest.
1. Can Cam & the offense maintain their momentum?
During last week’s loss in Seattle, the Patriots’ offense came alive, with Cam Newton passing for almost 400 yards, along with Julian Edelman, N’Keal Harry, and Damiere Byrd having big performances as well. However, as the team has stated all week, you can’t take moral victories from a defeat, which means that the offense will have to show up once again to prove that Week 2 wasn’t an aberration. They may have a golden opportunity against a Raiders’ defense that ranks amongst the NFL’s worst. They have young players throughout their defense, such as Maxx Crosby & Johnathan Abram, to go along with veterans such as Lamarcus Joyner & Cory Littleton. Due to the Raiders’ relatively weak defensive line, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Josh McDaniels decide to emphasize running the football, with either Newton or the team’s running backs. As always, having success on the ground could open up the run-pass option or play action, which could help keep the defense off guard.
Either way, the Patriots will have to adjust to the absence of David Andrews, who broke his thumb against the Seahawks, and will miss at least three games. Andrews has been crucial blocker for both aspects of the offense, which will put a lot of pressure on his replacement. When it comes to the passing game, I’d expect New England to have a similar game plan to last week, with a greater deal of short to intermediate passes, along with deep passes when the opportunity presents itself. If N’Keal Harry & Damiere Byrd can deliver once again and complement the ever-reliable Julian Edelman, it may be hard to stop Cam Newton & the Patriots’ offense this week.
2. Will the defense rebound?
Last week, the Patriots’ defense got dissected by Russell Wilson, who had 5 passing touchdowns, which was more than they gave up during all of the 2019 season. They will face a much more conservative quarterback in Derek Carr, who is definitely more effective when he throws shorter throws. Regardless of his supposed shortcomings, Carr was efficient against the Saints last week, as he found his top weapon Darren Waller 12 times for 105 yards and a touchdown. Waller is best described as a big receiver even though he’s listed as a tight end, as his speed cannot be understated. As Las Vegas’ top speedster in Henry Ruggs is missing this game with an injury, I’d expect Bill Belichick’s defense to double Waller with Stephon Gilmore or Joejuan Williams, along with a safety. This would leave the rest of the team’s secondary with the task of covering Hunter Renfrow, Bryan Edwards, & Nelson Agholor.
On the other hand, the Raiders are much more deadly running the football, due to the ever-brilliant play of Josh Jacobs. Despite some injuries, Jacobs had a strong game against the Saints, as he totaled nearly 90 yards on the ground, and helped to put the game away. If Jacobs is at full health, it may be a long day for the Patriots’ defense, as they have struggled stopping the run lately (with the game against Seattle being a prime example). It wouldn’t be surprising if Jon Gruden & Las Vegas coaching staff decide to primarily focus on their rushing attack, which could tire down the defense, and keep Cam Newton off the field.
If the Patriots want to avoid a tough game, they will need their defense to bounce back with a vengeance, and shut down a potentially potent Raiders offense. More than anything else, the defensive line & linebacking corps will need to step up & stop the run.
Injury Report:
Patriots
Raiders
What’re they wearing?:
Prediction: Patriots 28, Raiders 20
Here are my picks for the rest of the NFL’s Week 3 games.
Last week: 12-3
49ers at Giants: 49ers
Washington at Browns: Browns
Bengals at Eagles: Eagles
Bears at Falcons: Falcons
Rams at Bills: Rams
Texans at Steelers: Steelers
Titans at Vikings: Titans
Panthers at Chargers: Chargers
Jets at Colts: Colts
Cowboys at Seahawks: Seahawks
Lions at Cardinals: Cardinals
Buccaneers at Broncos: Buccaneers
Packers at Saints: Packers
Chiefs at Ravens: Ravens
For the first time in 20 years, the Patriots will have a quarterback not named Tom Brady under center. However, that’s not the only big change for the team in 2020, as they recently debuted their “new” uniforms for the upcoming season. Other than the addition of alternate/throwback uniforms in the mid-2000’s and 2010’s, this is the first major tweak for the team since the turn of the millennium.
What’s different?
These uniforms are based on the Pats’ popular Color Rush alternates, which were introduced in 2016, as part of a league-wide initiative for Thursday Night Football. The Color Rush program was ultimately mothballed prior to the 2018 season, but teams such as the Patriots have continued to wear them as an additional alternative uniform. New England essentially took the monochromatic blue uniform, with thick red and white stripes on the shoulders (a nod to their popular Pat Patriot uniforms) and pants, and only changed the numeric font. In order to match their new home uniform, the team created a white counterpart (similar to their AFL away uniform), which features an inverted stripe pattern (with red and blue) and paired it with the same blue pants. Both jerseys feature slight silver accents on the numbers, and are paired with the team’s traditional silver helmet with a red facemask. The Pats also introduced new socks, which feature a color-blocked scheme of red, white, and blue.
Although there are people who think that the team came up with the idea of new uniforms as soon as Tom Brady announced his decision to leave, this change has been in the works since 2018, in cooperation with the NFL’s rules on uniform changes (which requires at least 2 years advance notice from teams to the league office). This means that Tom Brady would have worn these uniforms if he had chosen to stay in New England.
How have Patriots fans reacted?
As most NFL teams (other than the Chargers) have realized this year, it is impossible to please your fans when it comes to changing your uniforms. Even though ESPN’s Mike Reiss mentioned in March that these changes would be “subtle”, most Pats fans imagined unrealistic possibilities ranging from re-adopting the Pat Patriot uniforms to making a modernized version of the polarizing 1990’s uniforms. Hence, fan reaction to this change has been mixed at best, as evidenced by several heated reactions on the team’s Twitter feed.
The negative reactions on social media can also be attributed to several blunders on the team’s part. For instance, the uniforms looked clunky on the models they chose, and they even advertised the wrong pants. The studio models were wearing last season’s Color Rush pants, with thick white stripes, while the uniforms sent to player such as Stephon Gilmore and James White featured pants with thick red stripes, which matches up with the stripes on the blue jersey.
What do I think?
Personally, I love the changes the team instituted, as I have been a big fan of the Color Rush alternates from the day they were introduced. Compared to the “Brady era” uniforms, these uniforms are much less cluttered, without unnecessary piping and side panels. There’s no doubt that the team’s previous uniforms are iconic and synonymous with success, due to the team’s unprecedented six Super Bowl victories while wearing that set, but it’s hard to ignore how dated the uniform got as time went on. This became evident when the league switched from Reebok to Nike for their uniforms, as Nike’s materials made the home silver pants look drab and boring, as compared to Reebok’s materials, which had made them look shiny and appealing.
In addition, as Nike’s uniform templates got more advanced, the Pats’ early 2000’s design looked more out of place, as form-fitting uniforms made the team’s piping and side panels look increasingly unappealing.
Going back to the new uniforms, I love the red and white stripes on the home jersey, as they really give a pop of color against the blue base. The white jersey looks sleek, although I do agree with the people on Twitter who feel as though the team would be better off switching the red and blue in the striping pattern, as it is more pleasant to look at. My main gripe with the uniform set is that the team opted not to include white pants (for now), which would have perfectly complemented the current rotation. The all-blue home uniform is attractive, but pairing it with white pants could take it to another level.
At the same time, having white pants would enable the team to also wear all-white on the road, which would be a heavily appealing option. The Pats wore all-white in 2017 against the Buccaneers in their old uniforms, which showed how sleek the combination could be. Hopefully the team chooses to bring them back!
A sign for the future?
Many fans wanted the Pats to bring back white helmets, which would have simplified the team’s color scheme, and enabled them to bring back the popular Pat Patriot throwbacks, which they have not worn since 2012 (due to the NFL’s controversial one-shell rule, which prevents teams from using more than one helmet). Fortunately, comments from the Patriots indicate that there may be changes in the works for the 2021 season, as the press release for these uniforms specifically mentioned the possibility of bringing back the red throwbacks if the league’s rule on helmets is nixed.
Ranking the other new NFL uniforms
The Patriots were one of seven teams to announce uniform changes, with the Rams being the only team to not introduce their new uniforms as of yet.
Here’s a ranking of the uniforms introduced so far (excluding the Patriots)
1. Chargers
2. Browns
3. Buccaneers
4. Colts
5. Falcons
Last week: 11-5
Dolphins at Patriots: Patriots
Packers at Lions: Packers
Jets at Bills: Bills
Bears at Vikings: Vikings
Chargers at Chiefs: Chiefs
Browns at Bengals: Browns
Saints at Panthers: Saints
Falcons at Buccaneers: Falcons
Colts at Jaguars: Colts
Eagles at Giants: Eagles
Cardinals at Rams: Rams
Steelers at Ravens: Ravens
Titans at Texans: Titans
Raiders at Broncos: Raiders
Redskins at Cowboys: Cowboys
49ers at Seahawks: 49ers
Here are my picks for the NFL’s Week 16 slate of games.
Last week: 8-7
Bills at Patriots: Patriots
Texans at Buccaneers: Texans
Rams at 49ers: 49ers
Steelers at Jets: Steelers
Saints at Titans: Saints
Panthers at Colts: Colts
Bengals at Dolphins: Dolphins
Ravens at Browns: Ravens
Jaguars at Falcons: Falcons
Giants at Redskins: Redskins
Lions at Broncos: Broncos
Raiders at Chargers: Raiders
Cardinals at Seahawks: Seahawks
Cowboys at Eagles: Cowboys
Chiefs at Bears: Chiefs
Packers at Vikings: Vikings
Here are my picks for the NFL’s Week 15 slate (excluding Thursday Night Football).
Last week: 10-5
Patriots at Bengals: Patriots
Bears at Packers: Packers
Seahawks at Panthers: Seahawks
Texans at Titans: Titans
Dolphins at Giants: Dolphins
Eagles at Redskins: Eagles
Broncos at Chiefs: Chiefs
Buccaneers at Lions: Buccaneers
Browns at Cardinals: Browns
Jaguars at Raiders: Raiders
Vikings at Chargers: Vikings
Rams at Cowboys: Rams
Falcons at 49ers: 49ers
Bills at Steelers: Steelers
Colts at Saints: Saints
Here are my picks for the NFL’s Week 14 slate (excluding Thursday Night Football).
Last week: 6-7
Chiefs at Patriots: Patriots
Colts at Buccaneers: Colts
Ravens at Bills: Ravens
Lions at Vikings: Vikings
Redskins at Packers: Packers
Broncos at Texans: Texans
49ers at Saints: 49ers
Bengals at Browns: Browns
Panthers at Falcons: Falcons
Dolphins at Jets: Dolphins
Chargers at Jaguars: Jaguars
Titans at Raiders: Titans
Steelers at Cardinals: Steelers
Seahawks at Rams: Rams
Giants at Eagles: Eagles
With the Patriots on their much-needed bye week, here are my picks for the NFL’s Week 10 slate (excluding Thursday Night Football).
Last week: 6-7
Lions at Bears: Lions
Ravens at Bengals: Ravens
Bills at Browns: Bills
Chiefs at Titans: Chiefs
Falcons at Saints: Saints
Giants at Jets: Giants
Cardinals at Buccaneers: Buccaneers
Dolphins at Colts: Colts
Panthers at Packers: Packers
Rams at Steelers: Rams
Vikings at Cowboys: Vikings
Seahawks at 49ers: 49ers
The Beantown Briefing 