It’s that time of year once again to stop looking back and begin looking forward, to assess where we’re going and how we will get there. I refer, of course, to the beginning of football season. In that light, I offer here my predictions for the 2004 season of the NFL Super Bowl champion New England Patriots:
Colts - W
@ Cardinals - W
@ Bills - W
Dolphins - W
Seahawks - L
Jets - W
@ Steelers - W
@ Rams - L
Bills - W
@ Chiefs - L
Ravens - W
@ Browns - W
Bengals - W
@ Dolphins - W
@ Jets - W
49ers - L
That leaves them with a 12-4 record and a likely playoff berth. You’ll notice I expect them to sweep all their division opponents. The Bills are still the Bills of last year. They may have some small improvement in the running game, although Travis Henry was good to begin with, but Willis McGahee is still a question mark. Mostly, though, Bill Belichick has always had Drew Bledsoe’s number, and I don’t think that’s going to change. The Jets, meanwhile, have also not only failed to improve, they lost several more key players in the offseason. Chad Pennington’s talent will be wasted this year in New York. And I’d have given more credit to the Dolphins if they hadn’t lost Ricky Williams which should be a big disruption to the team. (While Ricky put up big numbers against the Pats last year, they hardly let him into the end zone.) And the quarterback situation is a big fat question mark, as it has been in Miami since Dan Marino left. Those are big shoes to fill.
