VITO'S VIEWS

For years, the New England Patriots’ regular season has been a rather ho-hum affair.

The Patriots started the season knowing they were a lock for the playoffs unless Tom Brady got hurt.

The other three teams in the division haven’t had a franchise quarterback to match Brady since he arrived on the scene in 2000.

But things are different this year. For the second time in three games, the Patriots are playing a regular-season game with a lot on the line.

First, Miami came to Foxboro on Sept. 30 at 3-0. The Patriots were 1-2. A loss to Miami would have dropped them three games behind the Dolphins

Continue reading “Chiefs-Patriots already looks pivotal for both teams”

Five quick takes on Week 5 in the NFL:

1. The NFL gets credit for scheduling the New Orleans Saints on Monday night in the fifth weekend of the season. The odds were that it would be the week Drew Brees broke the passing yards record and he did, making it a primetime celebration.  It also made an otherwise rout of the hapless Washington Redskins worth watching. He even got the record with a 62-yard touchdown pass instead of a five-yard dumpoff. That was a nice touch. Brees isn’t just putting up numbers, though. He has the Saints at 4-1, and they have to be considered a Super Bowl contender. Still, his career must be kept in context. Brees played in a passing era and is not another Johnny Unitas or Otto Graham. He’s arguably not even on the list of the 10 best passers in NFL history.

Continue reading “Looking back at NFL Week 5”

Five things to watch for in Week 5 of the NFL:

1. Drew Brees needs 201 passing yards Monday night against the Washington Redskins to surpass Brett Favre and Peyton Manning as the league’s all-time leader in passing yardage. Brees is at 71,740, while Favre is at 71,838 and Manning is at 71,940. This says more about today’s pass-oriented NFL than it does about Brees. He probably wouldn’t make many top-10 lists of the greatest quarterbacks, but he’s been durable and consistent.

Continue reading “What to look for in NFL Week 5”

The most hyped matchup of the young season will happen in Kansas City on Sunday, when the Kansas City Chiefs’ top-scoring offense will take on Jacksonville’s No. 1 scoring defense.

With Patrick Mahomes already playing like a wunderkind quarterback, the Chiefs are averaging 36.2 points a game and the Jaguars are giving just 14 points a game.

It will be the biggest test yet for Mahomes and the Chiefs’ high-flying offense.

Ditto for a Jaguars defense that has yet to face an offense as potent as that of the Chiefs.

Still, despite all the hype, this matchup may not decide the game.

Continue reading “Chiefs-Jaguars might not be decided by what you suspect”

Five quick takes on Week 4 in the NFL:

1. At the quarter pole, there are just two unbeaten 4-0 teams left — the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC. The teams are scheduled to meet Nov. 19 on ESPN in Mexico City. It could be the game of the year, but the Chiefs can’t look ahead with the next three games against the Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots and Cincinnati Bengals. The Rams, meanwhile, have to play three road games against the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos to get to 8-0 at the halfway pole.

Continue reading “Looking back at NFL Week 4”

Players to watch in Week 4 in the NFL:

Patrick Mahomes

Mahomes is on a pace to throw more than 65 touchdown passes this year after setting a record with 13 in his first three games,. Obviously, he’s not going to throw 65. But when is he going to cool off or have an off game? He plays his first division game Monday night in Denver. The Denver defense gets a crack at slowing him down.

Khalil Mack and Mitch Trubisky

Mack has helped turn the Bears defense into one of the best in the league and enabled Trubisky to get credit for a 3-0 start. But Trubisky has been overshadowed by Patrick Mahomes. And he keeps getting reminded the Bears traded up to get him and passed on Mahomes. Will he play better against Tampa Bay, or will the defense continue to carry the team?

Clay Matthews

Mathews has been a focal point of the controversy over the roughing-the-passer penalties because he’s been called for one each week, even though his hits have seemed to be textbook to anyone not employed in the NFL officiating department. This week he gets a shot at Buffalo rookie Josh Allen, and it will be no surprise if he sacks him. But will he be penalized again?

Baker Mayfield

The first pick in the draft had a storybook night against the New York Jets last Thursday night as he came off the bench and ended Cleveland’s string of 635 days without a victory. Now he goes to Oakland, and things will become more difficult. Sam Darnold struggled after having a big game in the opener for the Jets. The spotlight will be on Mayfield when he makes his first start.

Blake Bortles

Bortles may be the most inconsistent quarterback in the league. He was mediocre in the opener against the New York Giants, but the defense helped carry the Jacksonville Jaguars to the victory. Then he was lights out against New England, only to stumble against the Tennessee Titans and put up just two field goals on the board. The Jaguars are heavily favored against the Jets, and Bortles is due for another good game. But the Jaguars never know which Bortles will show up.

For years, the regular season has simply been a tuneup for the New England Patriots.

Since 2002, there was little question they were going to make the playoffs if Tom Brady was healthy, which they have done every year except 2008 when Brady was lost for the season in the opener.

The Patriots have dominated the AFC East, mainly because the other three teams haven’t had a franchise quarterback since Jim Kelly and Dan Marino retired after the 1996 and 1999 seasons. The New York Jets haven’t had one since Joe Namath departed for the Los Angeles Rams in 1977.

In the last 15 years, the Patriots have made the playoffs 14 times and gone to the Super Bowl seven times, winning four and losing three.

But suddenly, the Patriots are poised to play their biggest regular-season game in years when they host Miami on Sunday.

Continue reading “Surprisingly early pivotal game for Patriots on Sunday”

Five quick takes on Week 3 in the NFL:

1. Time for the NFL to polish off its “Any Given Sunday“ line. The NFL loves to sell the idea that any team can win on any given Sunday, even though it tends to be divided into the haves and have-nots. But eight underdogs had their day last weekend. The Buffalo Bills, supposed the worst team in the league, stunned the Minnesota Vikings, 27-6, in the largest point-spread upset in 23 years. And the Jacksonville Jaguars defense allowed only three field goals but still lost to a Tennessee team that had Blaine Gabbert and an injured Marcus Mariota playing quarterback. And the New England Patriots lost by 10 points or more in successive weeks for only the third time in the Bill Belichick regime and the first time since 2002. And the Cleveland Browns won a game for the first time in 635 days, although it wasn’t an upset. Overall, six underdogs won and two others covered. It is the kind of week the NFL loves.

Continue reading “Looking back at NFL Week 3”

Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien got a pass last year when they lost their last six games of the year to finish 4-12 because the team was ravaged by injuries.

But with quarterback Deshaun Watson and defensive standouts J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus back, the Texans were expected to do big things this year.

Instead, they’re 0-2 after a 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans that veteran Houston football writer John McClain called one of the most embarrassing losses in Texans history. Their eight-game losing streak is the longest current one in the NFL.

That prompted speculation that O’Brien is on the hot seat and viewers peppered McClain with questions on his video stream if O’Brien was in danger of being fired.

He said there was zero chance of that happening and said if they beat the New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts in their next two games to get to 2-2, the firing chatter will stop.

Continue reading “Underachieving Texans’ myriad problems start with O’Brien”

The Washington Redskins had a clever season-ticket selling scheme in recent years.

They would sell premium — or “Tailgate Club’’ — seats at premium prices, telling fans that those tickets enabled them to jump the team’s long season-ticket waiting list.

They conveniently ignored the fact there was no waiting list. It had evaporated.

As Deadspin pointed out last June, there hasn’t been a waiting list for years, much less the 200,000 names the Redskins claimed were on it.

The Redskins finally fessed up this year, admitting there is no longer a waiting list.

Continue reading “Fake waiting list just the latest Redskins debacle under the hapless Snyder”