New England Patriots Need a Healthy Team for Christmas
By Peter Rogers
@petahrahgas
Getty Images
There isn’t too much that the New England Patriots need to write in their letter to Santa sitting at 11-3 and currently the top seed in the AFC. They could ask for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, but they’re already close to that and even if they don’t lock that up, it’s not the end of the world. They could have just asked straight up for the Lombardi Trophy, but there’s no fun in just being given the trophy; the fun comes from winning it.
What the Patriots need for Christmas is the gift of health. Give them some of that healing potion that Aslan gave Lucy in Narnia.
Despite already losing Jerod Mayo and Stevan Ridley for the year and Chandler Jones for a long stretch of the season (thank goodness he’s back), the Patriots are playing awesome team football right now heading into the postseason months. For their success to continue and for the greatest chance at another Super Bowl win, the Patriots need to stay healthy and not lose anyone for an extended period of time.
We all saw last year what happened when then Patriot Aqib Talib got injured against the Denver Broncos back in the AFC Championship game. The Patriot’s secondary was unable to contain Peyton Manning and the Broncos’ highflying passing attack. The Patriots can’t afford to have something similar happen to them this year in the playoff stretch.
Obviously, Tom Brady would be the worst to lose, followed quickly by Rob Gronkowski and Darrelle Revis. The Patriots’ offense is just a whole other beast with Gronk playing and the Patriots’ defense has been so good this season because of what having Revis on the field allows you to do with your coverage and blitz packages. Losing either of those two (and three if you include Brady in that) would be catastrophic to the Patriots’ Super Bowl aspirations.
So Santa, baby, when you hurry down the chimney, make sure you’ve got a health potion for the Patriots in your bag.
Peter Rogers is a New England Patriots writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @petahrahgas, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google
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