Because
@Ralphwiggum is a good poster and deserves better than game thread sniping back-and-forth, I'm going to continue this conversation here:
You said:
(1) last years team doesn’t make the top 10 Pats teams of the Bb/Tb era.
What's your top-10 list that excludes the 2018 team? The playoff games count when evaluating a team, even if they shouldn't be the only consideration. I'll spot you 2004, 2007, 2010, 2014 and 2016. But if you're going to ignore that there's an argument the 2018 team was better than two other SB-winning teams, or somehow then come up with a top 10 that excludes half of the title-winning teams... I'm not sure we're going to agree on much. Like the direction the sun will rise tomorrow.
(2) the run really should have been over after the Philly SB loss.
This is obviously subjective, but this is kinda contradicted by the fact that our OL was nails the later the 2018 season got, the D had a player turn into a DPOY candidate, and the entire team (including two underpaid players who would become market-setting FAs after the season, Trent Brown and Trey Flowers) continued clicking on all cylinders, including turning in one of the all-time great defensive performances in the super bowl. None of that was an accident, unless you want to call their relative health an accident. Much less suggestive of rot at the core that was concealing an end to title contention.
And then this year, we were probably a few non-football misfortunes from being a top contender this year. Andrews blood clot, Wynn turf toe, Antonio Brown being borderline psychotic, Gostkowski hip, Develin neck injury (and likewise to his replacement), Jason McCourty groin injury. You could argue adding "Gronk retiring while still being an impact player" to the list, too. With last year's health, I bet we get a bye and probably make the AFCCG. And despite what did happen, the team still came away with the 4th-best point differential in team history, even if they were a paper tiger to some degree.
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My position going into the offseason is that there's tons of reason for optimism. Brady and Belichick clearly still have their fastballs. The defense is good, and could be great. And if enough of the injurees return to productivity, our OL and talent level across the board could suddenly see many holes plugged. There are reasons for pessimism too, the cap situation and McDaniels / Scarnecchia situation chief among them, but we're a good draft from being right back in this thing.