New England Patriots
The Patriots defense gave up very little wiggle room in allowing its opposition to score in 2016. It ceded a mere 15.6 points on average per game.
Now that the NFL has released the 2017 schedule, look for more of the same to come. It is reported by ESPN’s Football Outsiders that the Patriots have the easiest schedule on tap come September. Sometimes life is just not fair.
This easily gives the Pats an advantage right out of the gate in potentially dominating their competition.
New England has also been steamrolling in free agency, landing coveted cornerback Stephon Gilmore, re-signing linebacker Dont’a Hightower and acquiring defensive end Kony Ealy. And for now, cornerback Malcolm Butler is still very much a Patriot.
All this, and New England was fortunate to land multi-faceted linebacker Derek Rivers out of Youngstown State in the draft. Our team actually had Rivers mocked to be selected in Round 1.
Talk about holiday gifts coming early.