Patriots Not Even Considered Top-10 Team in League by NFL.com originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
While many questioned the New England Patriots last season because of their schedule, which was totally unfair because winning games in the NFL is one of the toughest things in professional sports to do week in and week out, they should never have been discredited for that; it was definitely a talking point.
As the Patriots get ready for this season, it's fair to suggest things might be a bit more difficult given the schedule.
That doesn't mean the Patriots won't be one of the 10 best teams in the NFL, however. For a team that just made the Super Bowl, it doesn't feel like they're getting as much respect as they should be.
That continued from one NFL.com writer this week. One writer recently suggested that the Patriots aren't even a top-10 team in the NFL, ranking them at No. 12.
"I know: It seems absurd to place the reigning AFC champions outside of the top 10. But this isn't your typical conference title winner. New England rode a dreamlike turnaround to a Super Bowl LX appearance on a vehicle that was all but guaranteed to swap out a few key parts once the journey ended.
“Stefon Diggs, Garrett Bradbury, K'Lavon Chaisson, Khyiris Tonga, Jahlani Tavai, Anfernee Jennings and Jaylinn Hawkins are all gone. Each of those individuals played a key role in the Patriots' run to the Super Bowl, and the fallout from that defeat — in which New England was clearly overmatched by Seattle — came with justifiable questions about whether their run was a fluke (and a product of a soft schedule)," Nick Shook wrote.
New England didn't look good against the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl, and there's no debating that.
However, the better point here is that the Patriots were a very young team with a second-year quarterback. Drake Maye is only going to get better; they added A.J. Brown and others throughout the offseason, and Maye should continue to take steps up.
For all those reasons and more, there's really no reason why New England should see this drastic of a drop.