New England Patriots - NESN.com
Thank God for the New England Patriots.
October’s been a rough month for Boston sports fans. It started with the Boston Red Sox getting eliminated from the playoffs by the New York Yankees, becoming the first team under the modern postseason format to blow a 1-0 series lead in the Wild Card Round. For the fourth straight year, there was no playoff baseball played at Fenway Park.
Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics have both gotten off to disappointing starts. The Bruins are last in the Atlantic Division at 4-6 and recently endured a six-game losing streak, picking up where they left off last year despite changing coaches during the offseason.
The Celtics have yet to win a game, starting the season 0-3. There hasn’t been much to celebrate at TD Garden lately.
Fortunately, the Patriots have picked up the slack. After several down years, they’ve returned to their winning ways under new head coach Mike Vrabel.
New England won its fifth game in a row on Sunday — the longest active winning streak in the NFL — with its 32-13 rout of the Cleveland Browns at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots went 4-0 with a plus-46 point differential in October, winning three road games in consecutive weeks for the first time in franchise history.
At 6-2, New England leads the AFC East and is off to its best start since Tom Brady’s final season in Foxborough six years ago. Drake Maye is playing like an MVP candidate, the defense has been dominant, and Vrabel’s completely turned things around in his first season at the helm.
For the first time in years, Patriots fans have something to look forward to on Sundays again. They’re fun, exciting and worth watching, which is more than some of the other teams in town can say.
