Wiggins: 2013 Patriots Are Battle Tested
BOSTON (CBS) - Former Patriots tight end and Sports Hub host Jermaine Wiggins was a guest of the Felger & Massarotti program on Tuesday, as he does every week, and despite the injuries to key players he urges fans not to count this team out.
Wiggy did some math and formulated an opinion coming into today's show.
He went back to 2010 and looked at all the postseason games since that time, and what he found was of those 33 games 23 of them were decided in the last six or seven minutes when it was a one score game.
So, four wildcard games + four division games + two conference games + one Super Bowl = 11 games per postseason.
11 x 3 = 33 total postseason games since 2010.
So, in that three year period 70% of all postseason games were within one score in the final minutes.
In relating that to this 2013 Patriots team, what's the one thing you can say about them?
They are always in close games - whether in victory or defeat.
In the final five, six and seven minutes of the game they are always either playing with a small lead or within reach of gaining a lead. In the four games they've lost it's only been by a combined 18 points.
Michael Felger stopped the math class for a minute and countered to Jermaine Wiggins that the Patriots haven't had success in the postseason winning tight games.
Wiggy shot back, "We're looking at this 2013 team. The team they are this year. This year's football team."
"When you look at this team they are battle tested - that's what they are moving forward. They know if it gets down to the last three, four or five minutes they can win those football games. We've been there and done that before. It's not the old Patriots teams of the past."
For Wiggy, what it all boils down to is Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. To win in the NFL in this day and age more often than not it comes down to who has the better coach and quarterback?
And well, we know how the Patriots stack up in that category.
"It comes down to quarterback and coach. I like my quarterback and I like my coach. If you look at the other quarterbacks and coaches that they might see in the postseason I give the Patriots the edge," said Wiggins.
Tony Massarotti has a lack of confidence in the defense but refuses to rule them out because of how weak a conference it is.
All agreed (a true rarity) that the Baltimore Ravens scare them the most.
Listen below to hear their reasons why:
Wiggins: 2013 Patriots Are Battle Tested
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