Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I’m incredibly thankful to the New England sports fans who read and support MassLive’s outstanding sports department every day. We are pushed to deliver smarter analysis, deeper reporting and timely news to match the intensity of the region’s sports following.
Now, what should Patriots fans be thankful for this year? Here are four thoughts:
*Thank you to the Ryan Poles and Bears for (reportedly) laughing at Drake Maye’s film during prep for the 2024 NFL Draft and picking Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick, allowing Jayden Daniels to go No. 2 to Washington and, of course, Drake Maye to go to New England at No. 3.
We’ll see where all three QBs’ careers end up, but Patriots fans are pretty sure they got the best guy here with the No. 3 pick. Where have we heard that before?
*Thank you to the Tennessee Titans, who had one of the NFL’s best coaches in the league in Mike Vrabel and let him end up on the wrong side of a power struggle with GM Ran Carthon. So they fired Vrabel only to eventually fire both Carthon and Vrabel’s replacement, Brian Callahan.
Now Vrabel and the Patriots are 10-2 and currently the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoff picture while the Titans are 1-10 and have a great chance of “winning” the No. 1 draft pick for the second year in a row.
Great job, Titans! Patriots fans thank you for moving on from the current heavy favorite for NFL Coach of the Year!
Follow along with our picks for every pro football all season long inMassLive’s “Pro Football U Pick ‘Em Challenge” sponsored by MGM Springfield. You can test your football knowledge against our experts and win weekly and season-long prizes. You can still sign up and join the fun.
*Thank you to the Ann Michael Maye for the baking tips and her binge-worthy TikTok account. The comments (i.e. Make sure Drake doesn’t eat too much but also let him eat as much as he wants) are too good.
*Thank you to fate/the NFL schedule for having the Giants (2-10) on the Patriots’ calendar the week Vrabel and Company must reconfigure their offensive line following key injuries to rookies Will Campbell and Jared Wilson. This would be a dangerous game for the 10-2 Patriots against a team that hadn’t recently fired both its head coach and defensive coordinator.
Final score prediction: Patriots 30, Giants 24*
*A quick word of warning - I’m almost always wrong picking Patriots games (sorry if I jinxed the winning streak - that would be something NOT to be thankful for.)