John’s Well-Educated Guesses: Week 8 – The Recap

Every week I make predictions about how things will play out in the game.  I’m a man of integrity and I always answer for my predictions.  It’s time to pay the piper. 

Prediction:  Melvin Gordon is gonna go off – I’m really hoping the Patriots Defense is back and better than ever.  Don’t hold your breath though.  I think they will rest Malcolm Brown and will have some problems with the run.  Especially look for quick passes to get Gordon into space.  Lets say he has to go over 100 on the ground for me to be right.

Result:  14 carries for 132 yards and a tuddy.  Really wish I wasn’t right about this one.  That being said, he didn’t do much beyond the 87 yard gallop which made me puke.  The Pats defense kept him mostly bottled up, and they are still peeling Gordon off the turf after David Harris ran through him for that 20 yard sack/fumble.  At the end of the day, you gotta count everything, and Gordon delivered.  That Home Run speed is really a weapon.

Prediction:  Dion Lewis leads the team in carries and has himself a day.   Lewis seemed like an afterthought at the beginning of the season.  The Pats had too many new toys and he was too prone to injury right? WRONG.  Even though Burkhead is back and Gillislee seems to be getting out of the doghouse, Dion ‘Squirty’ Lewis is gonna get 15+ carries.

Result:  15 carries and 2 receptions.  He is the undisputed lead back at this point and continues to defy logic.  Competing for the passing back roll a few years ago, he looked as electric as possible.  After returning from injury, he is now the #1 guy to go between the tackles.  Unreal.  Rex Burkhead got mixed in and showed some good stuff.  James “Sweet Feet” White was solid as ever.  Mike Gillislee has been relegated to just short yardage work, and he gets stuffed half the time anyway…Really tired of seeing that.

Prediction:  No big plays for Patriots D:  This is the one trend I really want to see continue.  If the defense is bend, but don’t break…Im ok with that.  I just can’t have 75 yard plays go for a tuddy.  Make them earn it and run the clock.  I think it’s stupid to have a metric for what is a big play and what is not.  I’ll know it when I see it.

Result:  Does an 87 yard run for a tuddy count??  Yea I guess it does.  I want to say that the defense continued their upward trend beyond this one little play….but it’s not one little play.  Giving up a free TD to a good team is going to end this season.  The real issue is, we are getting too far into the season to keep excusing these lapses.  Can they get together on the bye week and keep improving?  Yes, of course, but I won’t get my hopes up for this team this year because they let up the big play waay too frequently.

Prediction: 27-20 Patriots win – Let’s get out of here and get healthy for our road stretch

Result:  21-13.  I was about right the differential.  Hopefully Chris Hogan is ok.  It looked like a dislocated shoulder to me.  Either way, looks like the bye is coming at a good time.  Need to get healthy because the next stretch is 5 out 6 games on the road.  Ouch.