The cards fell the Patriots’ way in Week 16, as New England beat the Buffalo Bills to win the AFC East and the Houston Texans lost, which allowed Bill Belichick’s team to jump into pole position for the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs.
A lot of doubt has swirled around the Patriots of late. From their two-game December losing streak to Josh Gordon’s suspension and Tom Brady’s maybe/maybe not injured knee, those ready to dance on New England’s grave have sprung up and started to claim the Patriots don’t have what it takes to make it to a third consecutive Super Bowl.
While Hall of Fame wide receiver and NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin isn’t about to go that far, he does think only one thing can assure the Patriots a trip to Atlanta for Super Bowl LIII, and it isn’t the guy who wears No. 12.
“This certainly affects the team,” Irvin said of Gordon’s suspension on WEEI’s “Dale and Keefe,” “you know there’s no doubt about that. You went out and you signed Josh and you needed the help at wide receiver when you signed Josh, and I thought it was a perfect fit, and I know everybody in New England did the right things and I think the world of (Robert) Kraft and (Bill) Belichick, so I know they did the right things and they tried to help, but this does hurt on the football field. Now, I think in order to get to Atlanta, we’re going to have to see, at least through the playoffs, we’re going to have to see the best Gronk we’ve ever seen. We’ll have to see some semblance of the Gronk we know that dominated the NFL in order for this team to end up in Atlanta in February, that’s just the only way I see it happening.”
Rob Gronkowski has been a shell of himself during the 2018 season. After contemplating retirement during the offseason, Gronkowski’s season once again has been plagued with injuries and the tight end appears to have lost some of the speed that gave him the ability to separate.
In the first game without Gordon, Gronkowski did not catch a pass and was targeted just three times. If Gronkowski is unable to find his Pro-Bowl form, it will be hard for New England to find its way back to the Super Bowl.
