As much of an improvement as it was year over year for this team, the Super Bowl certainly showed there's still a way to go if the Patriots want to win another title

You feel for guys like Christian Gonzalez, Milton Williams, and even Craig Woodson, who left it all out there for nothing.

This has all developed faster than anyone could've imagined, and even this close to game time, with opening night/media day well in the books, it hasn't even really registered with me that this is happening.

Not exactly in the archetype of Troy Polomalu or Talanoa Hufanga, Kamari Ramsey is still a very enticing defensive back prospect who had to play closer to the line of scrimmage this year, but is definitely well-suited to play deep.

"Speachless" is probably a stretch, but the fact that we're now here with this New England Patriots team after back-to-back seasons of 4-13 football, re-taking the AFC East and dispatching three of the five best defenses in the sport en route to the Super Bowl leaves you searching for the right words.

New England has suffered 21 losses in Denver, Colorado, by far the most against any non-division opponent (including the Indianapolis Colts), and features a stretch of 11 straight losses from 1969 to 1998.

In what felt like a continuation of Wild Card weekend, the Patriots, a team who largely won games on high offensive output in the regular season, have now won in the postseason thanks to some lights out defensive performances.

Offensively, Houston didn't exactly have a banner evening against the Pittsburgh Steelers, with multiple turnovers and a slew of penalties, but when you have a defense that features guys like Will Anderson, Danielle Hunter, Jalen Pitre, and Derek Stingley Jr., good things typically happen sooner or later, and boy did they ever last Monday.

In some ways, the Patriots' first playoff victory since their last Super Bowl went as expected, but certainly not in others.

This season has already exceeded nearly all expectations from spring/summer, but let's be real: this is still a Boston sports team, and this is when and where things will determine how this year will be remembered.

Sometimes, when things are quite literally falling apart around you, and it's winning time, it's going to be on you to come up and make plays. Drake Maye in the fourth quarter exemplified that to a T and then some. 12/14, 139 Yards, 1 TD, passer rating of 131.8, with a game-sealing first-down scramble to boot.

Baltimore has been... an interesting team this year, to keep it simple. They've won five of their last seven and most recently shut out the Cincinnati Bengals on the road. However, it's clear that even after returning, Jackson is still not at 100% physically...

Was the officiating super great? I wouldn't say so, but the bottom line is the Patriots had plenty of real chances to bury the Bills and couldn't get the job done.

What was once so commonplace that it was simply referred to as "Hat and T-Shirt Day", the Patriots are potentially set to have one of those by doing something they haven't done since 2019: Win the AFC East. They'd do so by defeating the team they did to clinch it that year, the Buffalo Bills, who've been just above water since beating the Kansas City Chiefs at 3-2 in their last five. Outside of their win in Pittsburgh, it hasn't exactly been the prettiest football ever for th

You could tell pretty early on Monday Night that the New England Patriots wanted this win badly. This team looked as fired up and locked in as they've been all year, and took nothing for granted in the opening half as they made big play after big play on offense and special teams, and physically set the tone defensively and took right to the Giants, and more speciffically, QB Jaxson Dart.

I also don't think I need to drive home the point that the Patriots have to be better down by the goalline and in the red zone offensively. The Giants rank 31st as a Red Zone defense on the year; there is ZERO reason why the Patriots, with the talent level they have at the skill spots, and especially at QB should be having situations like last week where they are getting stonewalled with less than a yard till paydirt.

Still no Joe Burrow, who's back practicing but not ready to return after a Week 2 turf toe injury. Additionally, in worse news is that they'll also be without Ja'Marr Chase, as he's been suspended for spitting on Steelers' corner Jalen Ramsey, and without last season's sack leader, Trey Hendrickson...

As far as the simple things in life go, beating the Jets is either right at or very close to the top of said things.

The Patriots haven't been super gung-ho with the PA game outside of the Buffalo and Pittsburgh game, but I think there could be some massive opportunities for Drake Maye on that front with the missing pieces on the other side of the ball.

Even still, this game was ultimately determined by big plays, and simply put, the Patriots had a ton of them. Both of TreVeyon Henderson's 50-plus yard touchdown runs, Kyle Williams 73 73-yard catch and run score, and even a fourth-and-goal Stefon Diggs touchdown with next to no time remaining in the first half.