Pats Pulpit
A short week for the New England Patriots concludes Thursday night as the New York Jets come to Foxborough. Despite the Jets selling off their two top defenders ahead of the trade deadline, New York responded with a 27-20 win over the Browns — their second straight victory — and will look to carry that momentum into New England.
So, a short week brings an early edition of this week’s #PostPulpit Mailbag.
With the Jets coming in after trading Sauce, would you consider trading Gonzo for that same package if the new regime doesn’t want to pay him for some reason? – Mike w.
If they make the decision to not pay Gonzalez for whatever reason, then they should absolutely look for a similar package — two first-round picks plus a player — via trade. You simply cannot lose a player of that caliber for essentially free.
Of course, they should not lose that player at all and instead do whatever they can to try to extend Gonzalez this coming offseason.
Now that the Patriots beat a good team on the road, do you feel any differently about their status (or not) as a contender. Do you have any trade deadline regrets you maybe didn’t before? – Sportzballer
The Patriots are contenders. They’ve beaten down bad teams (part of the reason we did not participate in much schedule talk) and have taken care of the two toughest teams on their schedule on the road. They also have a quarterback who is currently the betting favorite for league MVP.
Outside of maybe the Chiefs, who still deserve the respect with Patrick Mahomes leading an offense that looks better each week, it’s tough to find a team you’d rank above the Patriots in the AFC currently. I’d like New England’s chances against Bo Nix and Daniel Jones atop the conference, although Lamar Jackson and the surging Ravens could be heard from again as well. We also won’t rule out Josh Allen figuring things out by playoff time.
As for the trade deadline, the belief here was that they were a good team before Tampa Bay, so that does not change much about the deadline from this point of view. I think not overextending with future assets and keeping the current locker room dynamic was a perfectly fine decision.
Do you think we’ve gone from will the Pats have a playoff game to will they have home playoff game(s)? – wrw921
100%. With a tough remaining schedule for a Bills team that has hit a bump in the road offensively, the Patriots chances of winning the AFC East look better each week. That locks in a home playoff game, something they could theoretically be playing for when Buffalo visits in December.
***Do you think the Pats running game can improve in its consistency with the existing personnel? Or is that more of a wait till next season kind of thing? I mean I love a Henderson Home Run – even...
