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Felger & Mazz On: Pats' Unpredictable Season

As the Patriots' preseason concludes, Felger & Mazz continued to express praise for the offense, but extreme concerns about the defense. Entering this season, this Patriots team is as unpredictable as it's ever been in the Belichick era.

Felger: "I have no idea what this teams gonna do. It is as unpredictable as it's been in a long time. There's as many question marks as we've had in a long time. 9 wins wouldn't surprise me, 12 wins wouldn't surprise me. Five years ago I would've said this team has no shot, but this league has morphed into an arena-ball sort of league. It wouldn't surprise me if they just miss the playoffs, it wouldn't surprise me if they were a bye team. I've never felt that range...Last night was another bad one. If you're not gonna put the defense in a position to succeed, why are you playing them? The defense looked like crap...There's a ton of pressure on this offense, a ton- to give them either early leads, or go up and down the field like a basketball game, or convert every late-game situation. The good news? The offense is capable of it. You can do that in today's NFL. But if you're gonna set up the defense to fail like that- when they're struggling to begin with- don't even play them!"

Mazz: "I'm actually coming out of the preseason feeling better about their offense than I did coming in. [Tight end Rob] Gronkowski looks like the real deal. It looks like they are going to have a balanced, diverse offense, with a lot of people to stop. Brady could have a big year. But the injuries...Warren and Bodden are huge losses, huge! The Warren one more so than Bodden. That guy was one of the anchors of your defense! I don't think we've spent nearly enough time talking about that...When you factor in the additional injuries they've had, to say it's going to be a roller coaster going forward is a gross understatement."

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