Are there moral victories? Publicly most players and coaches will say no, but power rankers? They appear to not only believe in them, but think the Patriots had one in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks at Gillette Stadium.
New England actually moved up in one ranking and stayed the same in another.
Here’s where the Patriots were ranked in a handful of national power rankings and the rationale behind it:
Rank: 25 down from 24
In addition to ranking them, ESPN also listed each team’s most important backup/role player. For the Patriots, that was special teams ace Brenden Schooler.
“Schooler is listed on the depth chart as a safety, but his most important role is covering kicks and punts on special teams. In Week 1, he had three solo tackles and reached a career-high top speed of 22.4 mph, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. With the Patriots’ offense lacking high-end playmakers, game-changing plays on special teams add even more importance. Schooler leads the charge in that area.”
Rank: 21 down from 15
After launching the Patriots 17 spots for winning in Week 1, The Athletic wasn’t nearly as demonstrative in its reaction to the Week 2 loss.
They wrote:
“Antonio Gibson popped back up on the NFL’s radar with 96 yards on 11 carries. That’s the good news. The bad news is New England’s wide receivers combined for three catches for 19 yards (two catches and 12 yards for rookie Ja’Lynn Polk and one catch and 7 yards for K.J. Osborn). Until the Patriots find some pass catchers, maybe it’s best to leave rookie quarterback Drake Maye on the bench.”
Rank: 26 down from 24
By beating New England, the Seahawks jumped from No. 20 to No. 7 in Pete Prisco’s rankings, which appears to be the result of being one of the seven teams that are still 2-0. How many wins they have supercedes who they beat. The Patriots fell two spots, but were praised in the text.
He wrote:
“They are 1-1 with an overtime loss to the Seahawks this past week. They are far ahead of what many expected of them this season, which is a good look for Jerod Mayo.”
Rank: 28 up from 30
Ranking teams is a hard process. But Yahoo’s Frank Schwab moved the Patriots up and the Seahawks down after last week. That’s right Seattle dropped a spot to No. 13 after beating New England, who moved up from 30 to 28. He wrote:
“The Patriots had a good shot to win Sunday vs. the Seahawks, but fell short in overtime. Being that close to 2-0 is a great statement for new head coach Jerod Mayo. The Patriots are playing hard and well, and given the talent limitations that is a good sign.”
Rank: 27 Unchanged from last week.
NFL.com’s Eric Edholm thinks the Patriots blew it, but not enough to drop them from an already low spot in his rankings. He wrote:
“When Antonio Gibson ripped off a 45-yard run midway through the fourth quarter on Sunday, it pushed the Patriots’ chances of beating the Seahawks to 85 percent, per Next Gen Stats. From there, the Pats bashed the ball into stacked boxes, took a bad sack and had a go-ahead field-goal try blocked. Then things fell apart to an even greater degree, as Seattle dominated the end of regulation and overtime. New England was a few snaps away from being 2-0, with some winnable games up next on the schedule. Instead, Jerod Mayo and crew dropped to 1-1.”
