Ho hum, another year, another AFC East title for the New England Patriots and a high seed in the playoffs.
You can count on it every year.
But this year was a bit different for New England — there were a few more undulations in the ride to the top seed in the AFC playoffs.
Four games without Tom Brady brought into question the Pats’ ability to win without the future Hall of Fame quarterback and then a shocking midseason trade of Jamie Collins and a season-ending injury to Rob Gronkowski took away the team’s two best players from last season.
And yet New England won 14 games.
It’s hardly a bold prediction (we’re doing them for every team, and some are going to get extremely bold), but here are the three reasons the Patriots are going to cruise through the AFC Playoffs and win Super Bowl LI.
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