Colin Cowherd Explains Why Patriots Are So Underrated Heading Into Super Bowl
No matter how successful the New England Patriots have been this season, people keep finding ways to dismiss them.
The main critique has been the Patriots’ schedule, which was historically easy this season. Of their 17 regular-season games, only three were against teams that finished the year with a winning record. It was the easiest schedule in the league by far.
Skeptics have continued to dismiss New England’s playoff success as well. Although the Patriots became the first team in NFL history to beat three top-five defenses in the same postseason, their defense wasn’t truly challenged due to the Los Angeles Chargers’ porous offensive line, C.J. Stroud’s turnover issues and Bo Nix’s ankle injury.
But it doesn’t matter how they got here. They’re in the Super Bowl now as the last team standing in the AFC. If they beat the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, they’ll be champions.
Besides, it’s not uncommon for Super Bowl champs to benefit from soft schedules along the way.
“This is the easiest schedule I’ve ever seen,” Colin Cowherd acknowledged on Monday’s episode of “The Herd.” “But here’s the whammy: seven of the last 10 Super Bowl champs have had a top-10 easiest schedule. This is not college football.”
Cowherd noted that the last four Super Bowl champs all had a top-10 easy schedule that year, along with several of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s New England teams.
He also admitted that while the Patriots’ wins haven’t always been “pretty,” they’ve still won 16 of their last 17 games and had the second-best point differential in the league this year. New England is being treated like an underdog, but it deserves more respect.
Cowherd also thinks many people gave up on the Patriots after their 1-2 start and stopped watching them play, especially with all of their 1 p.m. ET start times and lackluster matchups. Their fans were paying attention, but they failed to garner much national attention.
That’s about to change. New England has one more chance to prove it’s for real, and this time, everyone will be watching.