The New England Patriots shocked the world by beating the Cincinnati Bengals in the season opener.
Now, looking at the way the Bengals have played, perhaps that win wasn’t that surprising at all.
More than that, Jerod Mayo clearly had his players hyped up and ready to play in the first game of the new era of Patriots football.
That emotion and excitement may have worn down a little bit after a couple of weeks.
The Patriots played well vs. the Seattle Seahawks and even took them to overtime, but fell back down to Earth in that loss to the New York Jets.
Granted, no team is as good as it looks at its best or as bad as it seems in its worst loss, so perhaps their reality is somewhere in between.
With that in mind, Tim McKone predicted that they could actually win seven games this season.
Talking on 98.5 The Sports Hub, he claimed that they would beat the Miami Dolphins if they still don’t have Tua Tagovailoa on the field.
“There’s a path to 7 Wins for the Patriots” – @Tim_McKone
“They might win nine” – @scottzolak @ZoandBertrand pic.com/LNGZ2LkwNZ
— 98.5 The Sports Hub (@985TheSportsHub) September 23, 2024
Then, he has them beating the Tennessee Titans, Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts, and Arizona Cardinals.
Truth be told, Coach Mayo could get a couple of ugly wins from his team’s defense, especially if other teams look down on them.
But from that, to consider them a lock to beat any other team could be a bit of a stretch.
As things stand now, it feels like even their games against bad teams should be a toss-up at the very least.
