Nov 2, 2016

1. The Team That Can Beat the Patriots
Here we are again. Another year. Another dominant Patriots team. Another Tom Brady Revenge Tour. What number revenge tour is this, anyway? Two? Five? I lost count.

Anyhoo, here we are again, New England possessing the best team in football because, once again, it has the best player in football in Brady. Right now, barring an injury to Brady, or something deflated, or videotaped, the Patriots are the team to beat.

And for the moment, it's not even close.

Sure, any team can be beat. The Patriots were beat twice by the underdog Giants in two Super Bowls. So none of this is to say the Patriots can never lose. Of course they can.

But there are only a handful of teams that can beat the Pats, and of that small group, one in particular matches up with them in almost every way (except for Brady).

The Dallas Cowboys.

If you're a Patriots fan, they are the team you don't want to see in the Super Bowl. If you're a Patriots hater, they may be your only hope.

After covering the Cowboys on Sunday night, I saw a team building toward greatness, one physical and confident enough to compete with any team. Even the mighty Patriots.

Go ahead and laugh. Go ahead and flame those message boards. But the Cowboys are the biggest threat to the Patriots.

This Cowboys team is reminiscent of some of the outstanding NFC East teams from the 1980s and early 1990s. The defense (ranked among the top 10 in the league in yards allowed and points surrendered per game) is more physical and faster than people know. It has a strong running game (leading the NFL with 164.9 rushing yards per game), and rookie quarterback Dak Prescott continues to grow exponentially.

The other threats to the Patriots aren't as complete as the Cowboys. The Broncos are a nasty defensive team but don't have the quarterback play. The Steelers have the quarterback play but not the defense. The Packers have Aaron Rodgers and, well, Aaron Rodgers. Not much else. As great as he is, that's not enough.

Long article, read the rest here. Can't believe we're overrating the Cowboys this much lol.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...dium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-league