The New England Patriots are taking care of business, winning six straight games to open the 2019 NFL season.
Apparently, that’s not enough.
Some pundits still aren’t sold on this year’s team, largely because the Patriots have faced mostly awful competition to begin the campaign and New England’s offense has been rather inconsistent. Rob Parker, one of the most notorious New England haters around, even believes the Patriots might be the worst 6-0 team in NFL history, and as such, he’s not backing down from his preseason prediction that New England won’t reach the AFC Championship Game.
“I’m sticking to it. Yes, I am. Because they haven’t beaten anybody,” Parker said Friday on FS1’s “Undisputed” while taking stock of the Patriots after their 35-14 win over the New York Giants on Thursday night. “This is the worst 6-0 team I’ve ever seen, and I’m talking about from the competition and degree of difficulty part. Look at the combined record of the six teams they’ve played: 7-22. They’ve played three winless teams — when you talk about the (Miami) Dolphins, the (New York) Jets and the (Washington) Redskins — and look at Tom Brady of late, the last three games. Three touchdowns in the last three games, they all came against Washington. Didn’t get a touchdown against Buffalo. Didn’t get one against the Giants (on Thursday night).”
"The Patriots haven't beaten anybody, this is the worst 6-0 team I've ever seen. As confident as I was before the season to now… they will not, I repeat N-O-T, make it to the AFC Championship Game." — @RobParkerFS1 pic.twitter.com/U2uuePnvm8
— The Facility (@TheFacilityFS1) October 11, 2019
Brady wasn’t his best Thursday night against the Giants, as the 42-year-old quarterback coughed up a fumble that New York returned for a touchdown and threw an interception. Fortunately for the Patriots, their defense and special teams once again stepped up, accounting for two TDs and masking New England’s offensive struggles.
That said, the Patriots are the reigning Super Bowl champions. They’ve been to the big game in three straight seasons (and four of the last five). You’d think folks would have a little more faith in Bill Belichick’s squad despite its shortcomings.
“So when I start to look at it, remember: It takes Tom Brady and the Patriots to lose that one game in the second round — they get a bye because of course they play in the AFC Least, which is a cakewalk every year. That’s why it’s so easy to make the Super Bowl, because all you have to do is win two games in order to get to the Super Bowl when you win the division,” Parker said, explaining his prediction. “So yes, they still could lose, because when they played Buffalo — by far the best team that they’ve played — they struggled. They won 16-10. They struggled. They can be beat by a good team. They just haven’t played any. When you look at the points per game, three of their six wins have come against three of the worst teams in the NFL. I just can’t buy any stock into this team. This isn’t the team that lost in the Super Bowl when they were 18-0. This isn’t even close. And Tom Brady’s looked like the tin man in a lot of situations. You’ve gotta admit, he’s aged. He’s 42 and he looks like it.
“It does matter who you beat, and I’m as confident as I was before the season to now that when they play a good team, Tom Brady will struggle and the Patriots will lose,” he added. “They will not — I repeat, N-O-T — make it to the AFC Championship Game.”
Looks like the Patriots will need to prove some doubters wrong.
