5 Reasons the Patriots Still Make the NFL Playoffs

The loss of Tom Brady, perhaps for the season, looks absolutely devastating at first glance, but I am here to tell you that the New England Patriots will still handily make the playoffs. Brady left the first game of the current NFL season with a knee injury after being hit by a Kansas City Chiefs' safety. The prognosis is not good, but the Patriots are far removed from being on life support. While their fans may be hanging their heads now, there are plenty of reasons to remain optimistic. Here are five reasons why the Patriots will still make the NFL Playoffs, whether Matt Cassel is the quarterback or someone is brought in from the outside to run the offense..

1.
The Patriots are loaded with veterans that will not panic. Players like Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Kevin Faulk, Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Rodney Harrison, Richard Seymour, and Ty Warren make up the heart of the Patriots. Brady of course will be missed, but these players will not allow his injury to be front and center every day.

2.
The Patriots are in football's worst division! The AFC East is not exactly chock full of juggernauts. The Jets have upgraded at quarterback with Brett Favre but they still lack playmakers on offense and they lost 12 games in 2007. The Dolphins won just once last year and remain in a state of flux, despite Chad Pennington's presence at quarterback. Buffalo should present the biggest challenge to New England, but they are an up and down squad at best.

3.
The schedule is a breeze! New England would have been heavily favored in every single game this year, most by double digits, if Brady hadn't gone down. Only contests at San Diego and Indianapolis loomed as challenges, and those clubs have their own set of problems. No matter who quarterbacks the Pats now, they still will be picked to beat the likes of Oakland, St. Louis, Arizona, San Francisco, and Seattle. New England plays the Steelers, but that's a home game. Perhaps the Jets and Bills could knock them off once, but this is still a double-digit win team, more than enough to win their division.

4.
They had to be planning to run the ball more anyways! There was no way that the Pats were going to duplicate the air circus of last year, especially after the offensive line problems they had in the Super Bowl. This team is going to concentrate on ball control, which means pounding the ball with the likes of Laurence Maroney, Sammy Morris, and LaMont Jordan. Faulk will still excel in third down situations, as anyone can make those throws. Brady's foot injury that kept him out of the preseason games had them changing their ways to begin with.

5.
Bill Belichick is still the coach last time I looked! He would never admit it, but he probably relishes this situation now that it has occurred. He will circle the wagons and use Brady's injury and the fact that many are writing New England off as a Super Bowl contender to fire up this group. His defensive game planning is far superior still and he will not let this team use Brady's absence as an excuse.