SquaresWanted.com is giving you an exclusive NFL Preview of every single NFL team for this upcoming season. ENTIRE AFC EAST IS AVAILABLE NOW, including Dolphins in PDF or Podcast Form! New England Patriots Team Wins Over - Under 12 Wins Biggest Story for the Pats: The Patriots have the rings, the experience, the legacy, and even the players, so they are destined for another great year, right? The Patriots are still lead by Bill Belichick, but much of his coaching staff has changed teams, again. After the 2004 Super Bowl win for the Patriots, many of the coaches bolted to cash in on the success. This off season, 2 years since the best regular season of all time, key parts of the patriots coaching staff has left again. First, it was Scott Pioli, Bill Belichick’s follower since the 1992 Season, and has pushed Belichick’s agenda in the front office. This will be a long term loss for the Patriots and Belichick. But the biggest off season loss may have been Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. McDaniels did a terrific fill in job after Charlie Weis left for the prominent Norte Dame job. He improved the Patriots offense by putting in the spread offense. McDaniels looks to employ the same scheme with his new Head Coach position in Denver. As good as Belichick is, this will affect his team. In 2005, the season following the last wave of assistant coaches leaving, the Pats won 4 fewer games than the previous year. This may be overlooked by the hype of the return of super star Tom Brady. The Patriots were plagued by injuries in 08, which meant starting 45 different players for Belichick. He shouldn’t expect that kind of plague this year, but wins may be harder to come by than most think. Off Season Moves: This is where we give you an analysis of the teams offseason moves. A majority of this information is restricted to free agents and trades. We will rarely cover the draft. It is not our job to “grade” the draft classes. However, it will be included if the player drafted is expected to play a vital role for the team. For a complete list of the teams acquisitions and departures, sign up at SquaresWanted dot com and get the electric copy of the entire NFL Preview, including AFC East and the Dolphins Acquisitions: Fred Taylor, RB; Chris Baker, TE; Joey Galloway, WR; Al Johnson, OL; Greg Lewis, WR; Alex Smith, TE; Shawn Springs, CB; Tully Banta-Cain, LB; Leigh Bodden, CB; Damane Dockett, DT; Nathan Hodel, LS; Departures: Matt Cassel, QB; Jabar Gaffney, WR; Lamont Jordan, RB; Rodney Harrison, S; Ellis Hobbs, CB; Mike Vrabel, LB The Patriots have made many, many moves this offseason, including a huge draft class. Rookies will have to make an impact because quantity doesn’t improve the quality in the Patriots case. The biggest loss is easily Matt Cassel but it was obvious for financial reasons that New England could not keep both QBs. Shawn Springs is the only upgrade for this team. He is a bigger name than ability at this point in his career, and will be tested in this aggressive 3-4 defensive scheme that the Patriots run. Linebackers must bring the heat on the QB meaning that Cornerbacks and Safeties have to stay close to their man long enough for the heat to affect the play. Overall this offseason, the Patriots neither improved nor hurt their team. Buy or Sell: Against the Spread For each team this season we are comparing the teams 2008 Against the Spread record against our prediction of the teams 2009 ATS Record. If we think the team will IMPROVE against the speard, we will BUY. If we think they will have a worse record against the spread in 09 over 2008 we will SELL. Sell: After Matt Cassel surprised the public and line makers, the Patriots went 9-7 ATS in 2008-2009 Season. With Tom Brady back under center, the Patriots will be surprising nobody. They have high expectations and I would not expect them to have a winning season against the spread this year. They are -1000 favorites to win the AFC East; this is a signal that they will be large favorites against all their division rivals, and a majority of all their games. With a defense aging quickly, it will be hard for the Patriots to keep winning 11+ games a year. The One bright spot on the Defense is the Jared Mayo, but otherwise the D may struggle. All the pressure will be on the offense, and that is too much.
