I was watching ESPN the other day and Michael Irvin was asked if he thought the Patriots have lost their aura, and he said he thinks they had. After watching the Jets game this past weekend, I am inclined to agree…but that doesn’t have to be a terrible thing.
You see, the Patriots could easily be undefeated this season. All 3 losses are at home, a place where they could do no wrong at one point for 22 straight games. All 3 losses were games that could have been won. They lost to Denver on a couple blown coverages and just couldn’t seem to get much going but they weren’t blown out.
Against the Colts, Adam Vinatieri missed a game winning field goal, giving the Patriots one more shot at upsetting the mighty undefeated Colts and ruining their game. It never happened, as Brady over threw a short Kevin Faulk who tipped the ball up just like when you practice tip drills and Cato June sealed the deal with a untimely and highly costly interception.
Just this past weekend against the Jets, it looked like the Pats were out of it, and they scored a TD in 31 seconds. They held the Jets to a punt, and got the ball back, only to have a 3 man pass rushing unit somehow force Brady to fumble, ending the game.
These were all winnable games that the Pats previously would
have relished as they walked off the field victorious. So what is the
difference this year?
As Michael Irvin would say, they lost their aura.
But they can get it back. They need to scratch and crawl back and take control of teams they should beat, and beat teams they shouldn’t be beating. They need to do it with all 53 players and coaches, playing and competing as one cohesive unit. When they do that, they will win those games again and get their aura back.
If you don’t believe me, just look at the Bears and Colts right now. Look at their games, and you’ll see plenty both teams should have lost, but right now, they have the aura, and that is the most powerful thing to have.
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