With the Patriots working their way back into the top of the nation in terms of their offense, we have to keep a close eye on all the games that they are playing. This weekend against the Falcons they had to push themselves hard to stay in the game. More importantly, they wanted to show that they were still a good team and working hard to get into the right mindset. Their passing game was on, though not as perfect as it had been in previous years. The running game was also in good shape, having pushed the other team and forced them to back off the pass-rush. It’s been a tough year for the team so far, but it’s getting more exciting as time moves forwards and as the team settles into a good groove again. Hopefully they can get some big momentum into the next few weeks!

This is going to be a bigger competition than anyone had anticipated. Atlanta is 2-0 in the first couple weeks of play. Meanwhile, New England is 1-1 and was close to being 0-2, if not for a good strong comeback at the end of their Week 1 game. It’s not going to be a big problem for either of these teams to push forwards this year, although they play in tough divisions. It was a bit of a surprise for the Atlanta Falcons to be as good as they are at this point. But hopefully Brady et al will finally hit their stride soon enough and start bashing those other teams down again. Perhaps their timing isn’t quite on point yet. Sometimes that takes a little. Others are concerned that the Pats will never be what they used to be. It’s too early to say, but I think we just haven’t seen them at their best quite yet.

The Patriots had a rough afternoon on Sunday against the New York Jets. We would have liked to see this team move into the win column again. The Jets have been talking tough about the Patriots for the entire offseason. If there was any team that Mark Sanchez and the others would have liked to take down, it’s ours. And they did an impressive job. They used a lot of tough defense to do it, with blitzes, and a lot of unorthodox defensive play. The Pats thought they had seen everything, but they weren’t able to get much of anything going on offense. They got three field goals over the course of the game, and no touchdowns. 16-9 is kind of an embarassment for this team that wants to get deep into the playoffs. They’ll have to work harder on it.

The New York Jets are next up in the New England’s set of opponents this year. After an offseason of very tough talk from the New York people, the Patriots are going to do their best to get into their heads. The Jets seem like they have the bullseye on their backs now. And with this Patriots’ team, that can be very dangerous. New York is talented team, but they haven’t been as able as New England for several years. Even with Favre in the pilot seat last season, they weren’t able to get things done the way they needed to. In more divisional action, it’s going to be very exciting, with this tough division and the fun that it’s going to be. Get ready for a big game this weekend, but don’t expect New England to lose!

Now we have finally seen the Patriots back in regular season action for the first time in awhile, and at more or less full strength for the first time in awhile. This team is working hard to get back to their normal rhythm. They didn’t show it so well in their first game of the year last night against division rivals Buffalo Bills. They played decently, but not outstandingly for much of the game. But with about 6 minutes left, Buffalo led by 11, looking to cruise to a victory. Then Brady brought his game in! It was a great evening for the team and Brady finally showed that he was back to full strength. The two touchdowns in the last few minutes as well as a big two point conversion to assure the 25-24 win was great. This team will be able to make it far, it seems and then we’ll have to see if they can make it deep into the playoffs again or not.

The Bleacher Report has declared the New England vs. Buffalo game as the Game of the Week. It’s going to be very interesting to see these two teams take each other on here in the first week. We’ll see them battle again in a few weeks as well. In addition, we will be looking at these two teams to potentially make an exciting race in the AFC East this year. Now that Buffalo has Terrell Owens, they might be especially strong again for the first time since the early 90s. But the Patriots are a dangerous team that, while their defense has changed a lot, they will be headed back into the playoffs, barring anything big and bad happening. Anyway, it’s too early for that. Let’s just enjoy the first game of the season and see what we’ve got!

Tedy Bruschi will have a new job this year. He retired last week after many years in the NFL and quite a few here in New England. He had a great career and is liked and respected by players and coaches alike. He has announced that he will be joining the ESPN broadcasting crew for NFL games and football shows this year. We don’t have to worry about having a lack of information, because he’s good. He will also get to interact with some other players, which is always a lot of fun. The only sad thing is that he wont be helping the Patriots anymore this year. No more tackles, besides maybe a cameraman or two, but I think he’s in better control of himself than that!

When the Patriots are on the field this coming year, it’s going to be an interesting time for us. Tom Brady is back and it looks like he’s in his old form, or very close to it. Sometimes, a little time away from the game will really help a player, and to a lot of people, this looks like the way that Brady has gone. He was able to watch some more football, and work on his game a little bit in a way that he might otherwise not have had a chance to do. Also, during the no-loss season, he began to look like he was transforming into some kind of hypnotized player. He got a little bit nervous during the last few games of that season. It will be interesting to see how he ends up doing by the end of this season, especially since the expectations are pretty high this year.