A full eight weeks of the National Football League has come and gone. Here it is week nine and the New England Patriots have reached their bye week as the AFC East division leader and also the best record in the AFC and NFL so far at 7-1.
New England has always been top contender team for years so it’s not exactly surprising to see where they currently stand. You have a franchise owner and corporation who has the ability to enable it’s coaching staff to adjust to any circumstances that may arise whether it be suspensions or injuries.
What do I mean? Well, let us look back at how they got to where they are now. As the season began, there was no Tom Brady due to his four-game suspension for Deflategate. Jimmy Garoppolo started at quarterback but was injured in week two against a division rival, Miami Dolphins so in comes rookie Jacoby Brissett who led them through the second half and the win. Brissett even started in week three against the Texans and gained another win with the help of the Patriots defense, but he also gained a torn ligament in his right thumb. 
Now things began to cause a scare because with one quarterback suspended and the other two injured there wasn’t any certainty who would start against the Buffalo Bills in week four before Brady returned. It even got to the point where wide receiver Julian Edelman was taking snaps in practice. Edelman was a quarterback while in college at Kent State. Luckily, Brissett was able to play, but the Patriots suffered a shutout loss, their first loss of the season.
Brady returned in week five facing the winless Cleveland Browns and it’s been an uphill four-game win streak ever since. In his four games, he has thrown for 1,319 yards and 12 touchdowns with zero interceptions averaging 329.8 yards a game. It makes you wonder if Brady wasn’t suspended would they be undefeated. Definitely possible.
Brady hasn’t been alone in the offensive progress to get this far. He’s had help from wide receiver Chris Hogan, TE Rob Gronkowski and RB LeGarrette Blount. Hogan, one of the speedsters, has 391 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Gronkowski has been piling on yardage with 484 yards and three touchdowns. Blount is on his way to possibly have a 1,000-yard rushing season with 609 yards rushing and nine touchdowns. He hasn’t had a 1,000 yard rushing season since 2010 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 
Defensively I guess you can say they’re doing the best they can simply by just looking at their record. A shocking trade occurred recently with LB Jamie Collins being traded to the Cleveland Browns for a third round compensatory pick. The word was Collins wanted “Von Miller Money”. He was set to become a free agent after this season.
I believe so far it’s safe to say the Patriots will be in the playoffs, now whether they’ll have a first-round bye and home field is still up for grabs. Looking at their remaining scheduled opponents as a cocky fan I could say 15-1 before the playoff break, but I’ll be logical and say 13-3. The extra two losses I’m predicting are against the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos simply because those two teams’ defenses have been solid all season and haven’t let up despite their records and what the offense produces.
With both sides being healthy, anything is possible for New England this season. Although predictions this early can change dramatically, the Patriots shall finish 13-3 and make the Super Bowl. It’s just a matter of who in the AFC has the willpower and skill to dethrone the Patriots from within reach of victory.
