For whatever reason karma waited until December to hit the New England Patriots, but when it did it was with a cobra kick right to the pie hole. The Patriots (10-2) have lost back-to-back games for the first time since Obama’s been president and they haven’t been able to field a healthy team since Halloween.
Of course, you can point to special teams problems in their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, but you also can’t argue that this is a team on the downswing. If the Eagles had been a legitimate good team, the Patriots wouldn’t have even been in this game and found themselves down 21 points in the fourth quarter.
The mystery surrounding Rob Gronkowski’s knee injury continues and now even team president Jonathan Kraft has felt the need to weigh in, feeling the need to explain further the weird press release sent out jointly by the Gronkowksi family and the Patriots.
“…We thought our fans should know that (the injury) and also hopefully for media members that didn’t want to chase rumor or other stuff, innuendo for weeks,” Kraft said. “That was the thing… everyone in the organization was on board with doing it.”
Now, here’s the thing about that statement. “For weeks” he said. So Gronkowski isn’t really “week-to-week” as his mom and aunt and cousins (the Gronkowski family, you see) told us a week ago. He’s going to miss some time. The whole release was bizarre and this just makes it crazier. There’s pretty much no question to me at this point that the Pats are trying to hide a pretty serious Gronk injury in hopes that he can still play on it in the postseason.
The Patriots have still locked up a playoff spot and are probably one more win away from an AFC East title, but these two straight losses have cost them homefield advantage and, as of right now and my math (which should never be trusted), they look like the No. 3 seed which means they won’t even get a bye. Another loss at this point would probably cinch that for good and they’ve got real tests coming up against the Houston Texans and the New York Jets.
Speaking of trouble, it’s brewing for the Broncos
They’ve won three straight games and control their own destiny for at least a No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs, so why is everyone so concerned?
Because the Denver Broncos (10-2) have a real decision to make and it will be second-guessed all offseason unless this team wins the Super Bowl. That decision, of course, is if they should go back to Peyton Manning at quarterback when he’s healthy.
Here’s what we do know. Brock Osweiler is 3-0 as a starter, with the key win of the season two weeks ago over the Patriots in a game that gets more important by the day. Osweiler is effective and in control of head coach Gary Kubiak’s offense and seems to be the prototype of the quarterback he wants to run it. Osweiler is, unquestionably, the quarterback of the future for the Broncos and will likely start next season, even if Manning wants to continue playing football.
Manning, of course, is one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history that’s already taken the Broncos to one Super Bowl. He had them 7-2, even playing hurt, and they were heading for the playoffs regardless of how well he was playing on paper. In clutch times of the game, even when he’d played poorly to that point, Manning was able to deliver until his body betrayed him.
Manning will be healthy again, probably before the playoffs even start. What will the Broncos do?
As of today, everyone has an opinion, but no one knows. If they go either way, Osweiler or Manning, only a Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season will settle it. Add to that Manning’s historic meltdowns in the playoffs, are Gary Kubiak and John Elway really going to give a Hall of Famer the hook in the second half of a 14-point game because he’s playing bad?
The real truth is, the best thing for this team right now is for Manning to stay hurt. His foot is their best ally and the longer it keeps Manning sidelined, the easier that decision will be.
