Imperial March: New England Patriots Season Preview

2011 Record: 13-3
AFC East Champions, Lost Super Bowl to New York Giants


2011 Ranks
Total Offense: 2
Rush Offense: 20
Pass Offense: 2
Scoring Offense: 3
Total Defense: 31
Run Defense: 17
Pass Defense: 31
Scoring Defense: 15

Offense

Tom Brady did it again last year, engineering a ruthlessly efficient offense that put up a ton of points then got to the playoffs and struggled to do much of anything. Gronk World Order emerged as one of the best tight ends in the league and the Patriots have gone to a two Tight End offense with Gronk and Aaron Hernandez seeing a lot of targets in the passing game. This is an offense without much of a deep threat, and the addition of Brandon Lloyd shouldn't change that much. Lloyd can get deep, but he relies more on speed than size down the field. The running game is non-existent and the offensive line is like a block of swiss cheese.

Defense

For a unit that was statistically pretty bad, especially against the pass, they made it to the Super Bowl (with some help from Lee Evans' hands and Billy Cundiff's foot). The Patriots lost their two sack leaders from last season, who accounted for half of the team's total sacks. They need first round picks Chandler Jones (DE-Syracuse) and Donta' Hightower (ILB-Alabama) to step up this season as both should be starters and contributors.

Intangibles

Any team with Tom Brady always has a chance.

Prediction

In a weak division, this flock of douchebags will run the table. 14-2.