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Is talk of a 19-0 season for the Patriots realistic?

Ian Glendon
patriots
patriots

10 years ago, the 2007 Patriots embarked on a mission to run through the league and go undefeated. They failed in dramatic fashion, watching a late lead in Super Bowl XLII slip away in the final seconds.

A decade later, coming off their fifth Super Bowl championship, the Patriots have loaded up on both sides of the ball. They have added Brandin Cooks, Mike Gillislee, and Dwayne Allen on offense. On defense, the Patriots brought in Stephon Gilmore, David Harris, and Kony Ealy. These additions add to a team, pretty much intact from a year ago.

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The construction of the team has many people thinking about another run at a perfect season. Current Patriots’ receiver Julian Edelman says the talk of a 19-0 season is “stupid”.

“You can’t worry about what other people say, honestly,” Edelman said via the Boston Herald. “I mean, there’s no script to this thing. There’s no camera. This isn’t Hollywood. This is real life. When you go out and play in the National Football League, it’s one of those things where it’s even stupid to think about that. It’s never been done. You don’t really want to talk about it.”

In a way, Edelman is right. He gave the perfect answer when asked a question of that nature. And there is truth to what Edelman said. Only one team, the 1972 Miami Dolphins, finished the season undefeated. Although at the time, the regular season consisted of only 14 games, thus they finished the season 17-0.

However, the Patriots were 18-0 before falling to the Giants in 2007 against a much tougher strength of schedule than the ’72 Dolphins. Just two years ago, the Panthers went 15-1 in the regular season with a team not nearly as talented as this Patriots team is presently constituted. So it is certainly possible they could make the run again.

Take the offense for instance. When Brady returned in the fifth game, the offense was one of the best the rest of the season. In fact, when the Patriots had all five of their skill position starters on the field at the same time, they were the most explosive team in the NFL with an impressive 8.16 YPP according to Pro Football Focus. The second team on the list was the Steelers with a 7.38 YPP average.

Now add the explosive, Brandin Cooks to the mix and you have an offense that should threaten every single season record on the books. On defense, the loss of Logan Ryan would usually sting, however, the Patriots replaced him with the lengthy Stephon Gilmore to play opposite of Malcolm Butler. Kony Ealy adds another dimension to the Patriots pass rush and the addition of David Harris solidifies the linebacking group.

For a team that just won 14 games, adding two more doesn’t seem far-fetched. Especially considering the additions made to the team. Despite what Edelman says, the pursuit of 19-0 is not stupid. It’s necessary.

The one blemish, if any, on the Patriots run is that they failed to close the deal on the perfect season 10 years ago. The victory was firmly within their grasp but the football gods had other plans. This time around, having won two of the last three Super Bowls, the Patriots are more prepared and equipped to run the table and complete the perfect season.

– Ian Glendon is a National Co-Editor for cover32 and the Managing Editor for cover32/Patriots. He covers the NFL and New England Patriots. Like and follow on and Facebook.

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