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Patriots Set to Take on Jets on Thanksgiving Day
It could be argued that the best rivalries in the NFL are in the NFC East and the AFC North divisions, but one division in the AFC that gets overlooked at times is in the AFC East. Even though the New England Patriots has dominated the competition within the division during the Bill Belichick era, the gap has started to close in the East with the New York Jets emerging as a legitimate playoff team every single season over the past few years.
After a disappointing loss in the Super Bowl last season, the Patriots will be hoping to get back on track in the 2012 NFL regular season with Tom Brady still under center and Belichick patrolling the sidelines once more. Despite the fact that the Patriots are still an incredibly talented team, the window is closing on Brady in terms of competing at a high level in this league.
With that being said, this upcoming season should be intriguing to say the least for New England; especially after the Patriots’ schedule was released with New England taking on the arch division rival New York Jets on Thanksgiving Day.
As tradition goes in the NFL, the teams that usually if not always play on Thanksgiving Day are the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys. This time around, the Patriots and the Jets going head-to-head on turkey day might the matchup to watch with no love lost between these bitter rivals and a big crowd around the country really to see which AFC East team comes out on top.
Patriots’ Wes Welker Not at Voluntary Workouts
One of the biggest question marks heading into the 2012 NFL regular season for the defending AFC champion New England Patriots will be the future of perennial Pro Bowl wide receiver Wes Welker. With the team placing a franchise tag on Welker recently, the consensus has been that the veteran wideout might not be in New England very much longer.
At 30-years-old, Welker is no longer a young buck in the NFL with years and years ahead of him. Even though 30 is still relatively young for a wideout in the league considering others that have stuck around for a long time, the Patriots seem to be going with a cautious approach with their best option in the passing game.
There is no telling whether or not the Patriots are currently working on a long-term deal with Welker as nothing has yet to be reported, but chances are there is something in the works as Tom Brady’s options in the passing offense would be limited without Welker at his disposal.
Obviously, the Patriots saw a resurgence of the tight end position in New England last season with the emergence of Pro Bowl Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. The two-headed monster of Gronk and Hernandez was too much to handle for many opposing defenses in the NFL last year, but it wouldn’t have been half as potent without teams considering Welker a serious threat in the offense.
Recently, Welker missed voluntary workouts for the Patriots which was expected. With it being voluntary, there is obviously no requirement to attend, but this just might be the beginning of tension between the perennial Pro Bowler and the Patriots.
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