The 300s Breaks Down Game of Thrones S8E2

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Obvious Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t caught up on Season 8 of Thrones yet come back later.

With only four episodes remaining in Game of Thrones I’m already starting to feel a twinge of sadness. This is my favorite show of all time, which I’ve invested hundreds of hours of my life into and in a month it’ll all be over. After that I don’t think TV will ever be the same. So with that being said, enjoy the final month of Westeros because when it’s over you’ll miss it. Now I’ll get into full on fanboy mode in a minute, but just so I don’t get accused of being a blindly loyal fan I want to touch on a couple of negatives. The biggest complaint I’ve heard about Game of Thrones’ final season thus far is that the first two episodes have been dull set up and full of fan service that rely on scenes of characters learning info that viewers already knew in some cases for years.

I’ve enjoyed the first two episodes, but I am a bit uneasy with 1/3 of the final season being devoted to setting the table and catching up with friends. I’m sure we’ll all look back and miss these moments when the final 4 episodes are just pure carnage leaving me an emotional wreck.

The one complaint I’ve had since the showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss diverged from George R.R. Martin’s books (because he can’t finish the damn things) is that the writing has become a bit more predictable. Maybe it’s because I’ve watched the entire show through 7 or 8 times, but I feel like I am hyper aware of the foreshadowing the writers drop in dialogue. Rarely does a line slip by in conversation like it would have in earlier seasons. After the Red Wedding we were all shocked, but rewatching the episodes prior to that you see little bread crumbs that Martin was dropping the entire time and you can’t believe you missed it. In seasons 7 and 8 when anything major happens I find myself immediately thinking well yea that makes sense because so and so directly alluded to that a couple of episodes ago.

Khaleesi is bordering on annoying in season 8 and I feel like its been so blatant that the showrunners are doing it intentionally. Similar to what I just wrote in the paragraph above, it sticks out to me a bit more when a character is really leaning into a plot line heavier than usual because it usually means the writers are trying to throw you off the scent (redemption, betrayal, upcoming death). Khaleesi has acted like an uninformed power hungry ruler at best and a catty new girlfriend bickering with her boyfriend’s sister at worse. Its completely understandable for a normal  person to be irritated with how things have played out for Dany with the North giving her whole team the cold shoulder. But that would be for a normal person, Dany is not normal. She has been bought and sold, raped, imprisoned, abused and underestimated at every turn. She’s one of the most cunning, ruthless, yet caring characters in the entire show. So for the showrunners to have her fuming because Jon’s sister didn’t initially like her, the North didn’t initially thank her, and to blame Tyrion for trusting Cersei (as did she) comes off hollow. Khaleesi would have expected all of these things so to have her lashing out at Tyrion and Sansa and Jon just seems odd, which is why I expect a total 180 out of her in the next 4 episodes. Just smoking wights with her dragon, saving lives, and being the leader that she’s been built up as for the last 7 seasons.

Now lets break down some of the biggest plot lines from S8E2. LETS GO

  • Jaime returns to Winterfell
    • It’s the first time he’s been back since he kicked Bran out of a window in the pilot all those years ago starting this whole series of events. Another one liner from Bran reminds us that nobody in that room knows how Bran fell except for him and Jaime: “The things I do for love.” Thats what Jaime said right before he tossed Bran from the empty tower. Catlyn and  Robb Stark knew, or at least suspected, but nobody else in that room was there for those conversations. Theon might actually know as well from his time on King Robb’s war council in Season 2, but he doesn’t arrive until later.
    • Again Khaleesi acts out of character seeming like she cannot wait to behead the man that killed her father, despite knowing the horrible things her father had done and planned to do to the thousands of innocent lives at Kings Landing. She shuts down Tyrion’s defense because of a clear conflict of interest, so it takes some serious character witness testimony from Brienne of Tarth to convince Sansa and save Jaime’s life.  Moral of the story is we’ve all done some shit, but we need to band together if we’re to survive the night.
  • Jon reveals his true identity to Khaleesi
    • This probablyyyy could have been handled with a little more tact, but as the showrunners said in the Ep 1 Inside the Episode, Jon’s not the fastest on the uptake. Never one to really play politics Jon just basically blurts out the biggest secret in the history of Westeros and Khaleesi is understandably a little skeptical. The past couple of seasons have also given us a bit more humor as well, or maybe it’s just my dry sense of humor, but Khaleesi’s response to the bombshell news made me laugh out loud: “Oh your brother and your best friend told you that you’re the real king? Thats convenient.”
  • Bran finally provides some sort of motivation for the Night King
    • It’s  been 7+ seasons and we still hadn’t received any real motivation for the Night King or the White Walkers. We know how the White Walkers were created, we know why they were created, but aside from the war with the First Men and the Children of the Forest thousands of years ago we don’t really know why the Night King is coming back or what he wants. Faceless and motivation-less villains are fine to a certain extent, but when you’re this close to the end and we still don’t know what the big baddy wants? Not ideal. Well Bran finally provided a glimmer of info in between  his fragment sentences and hints of clues like he’s the goddamn Riddler. The Night King is coming for Bran because he is the Three Eye Raven. If he can kill Bran then he can erase all of mankind’s memories and history and create a Long Night. As Sam opines, without memories to look back on, mankind never really existed at all did they?
  • Bran also threw some cold water on the Dragons>Night King expectations
    • It may have just been a throwaway line, but Thrones so rarely wastes words that this stuck out to me. Someone says “well won’t a dragon kill the Night King?” Bran aka the Three Eyed Raven says “I don’t know. No one’s ever tried.”
  • Lyanna Mormont still takes no shit
    • Sneaky one of my favorite characters in the show as a girl who might be all of 12 just spitting venom in the faces of the most powerful and well respected leaders in all the world. Also when Jorah tells her to hang out in the crypt away from the upcoming battle, the little lady from House Mormont basically tells Jorah to go piss up a rope. As Lyanna once said, every man or woman on Bear Island is worth 10 men from the mainland when it comes to fighting. We’re about to see.
  • The drinking circle and the knighting of Brienne
    • A very emotional and potentially foreboding scene. We see some of our favorite characters all together for the first time. As the showrunners said on the Ep 1 Inside the Episode, it’s easy to forget how much these scenes really mean because we as fans have been with these characters all the time for years, but these characters haven’t seen each other since season 1 in some cases. A fair criticism has been that his is all pure fan service and does nothing to further the plot. While I understand the criticism, I thought it was a great episode and was probably a goodbye for a lot of characters.
  • Sansa and Theon reunion
    • Not gonna lie, this one got me. It was a bit dusty in The 300s HQ watching Theon ask to fight for Winterfell and Sansa running over to hug him. Theon has done some terrible shit and he has paid some horrific consequences so to see him climbing up the redemption ranks was pretty emotional.
  • The Arya-Gendry sex scene
    • Look, I know its on everyone’s minds so lets just get on with it. This was probably the one moment that set twitter on fire more than anything else that happened in Episode 2. I get it, it’s weird because we basically watched this girl grow up over the past 7+ seasons. But we’re going to be cool with incest and slavery and whore houses, but we draw the line at this? Grow up Count Chocula.
    • Also, Arya is going to WRECK some wights with that dragonglass spear.
  • Tormund remains the MVP of GoT
    • Last week he stole the episode when he ran into the Night’s Watch in Last Hearth and Edd shouts out “Look out he’s got blue eyes” to which Tormund hilariously replies “I’ve always had blue eyes!” Well he remained the MVP of the show with another A+ quip about the love of his life, Brienne.
      As I sit here writing this though I start to worry about Tormund’s longevity. Despite the lack of returned affection from Brienne I could see Tormund sacrificing himself to try and save the big woman’s life. I might cry next Sunday.
  • Episode 3 is going to wreck me I can just feel it.
    • We spend most of Episode 2 preparing for the Battle of Winterfell as everyone is training, setting up defenses and traps, drinking, and even singing. It is the calm before the storm in the most literal sense. I wouldn’t be shocked to see Brienne, Grey Worm, and Jorah all bite the bullet next week. Brienne has finally become a knight, the thing she has wanted more than anything, so it would not be unlike Thrones to now axe her. Grey Worm’s talk of a future life with Messandei all but guarantees that will never come to fruition. Before the episode Jorah was my pick to be the emotional first killing, but then Sam gives him a vaunted Valyrian Steel sword and I figured that may buy him some more time. However, looking back on that conversation with his cousin Lyana about the future of their house, I feel a heroic sacrifice coming from Jorah to save the fiery young lady’s life.
    • I can feel a real sense of dread in the air with Thrones fans. We’ve all been yelling for more action and more Dragon on Ice Dragon crime, but we’re going to lose some beloved characters next Sunday and I don’t know if I’m emotionally equipped to deal with that. We’re in the homestretch now as Episode 3 will be “the biggest battle in the history of TV and film.”

Got any ale?

Red Sox Won Last Night On the Old Walk Off Pick Off Play

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Jerry Remy nearly had a heart attack on air out of excitement after this. I can’t say I’ve ever seen the walk off pick off. Not super common. The Sox nearly blew this game after surrendering a 5-0 lead. It took a grand salami from Andrew Benintendi (and 5 RBI), an absolutely smoked double from Michael Chavis making his major league debut, and of course Vazquez’ heads up throw in the bottom of the 9th to win the game. What a night.

Lil Dicky and Half the Music Industry Just Dropped an Absurdly Awesome Video About Climate Change

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OK. Very rarely will you see me writing a piece about the music industry; that’s typically Red or Joey Ballgame territory. But if you haven’t seen the new video that Lil Dicky (in conjunction with a ton of other big-name artists) dropped last night, you need to. Like right now. Even if you have no idea who Lil Dicky is (and to be honest, I barely do myself), I promise you will not be disappointed.

The song is called “Earth,” and it’s all about how awful and dangerous climate change is. Now, the message itself is nothing profound. And to be honest, if you disagree with any of what they’re saying at this point then I doubt you even possess the ability to be reading this article anyway.

But to see this many big names get together to create a song with such an important purpose is really refreshing. Not only that, but the theme of the video (where basically each artist is represented as an animal or small non-human being in animated form) is also really fun – and outright hysterical at certain moments (e.g. Snoop as a giant pot plant or hearing Lil Jon’s voice screaming “WHAT THE FUCK? I’M A CLAM??!!”).

Again, I doubt that this will be the cure-all for the worldwide epidemic that is climate change. But there are people out there who might actually be influenced by some of their favorite celebrities voicing their support for the cause. And if that gets at least some out there to pay even a little more attention, then well done, David Andrew Burd (that’s Lil Dicky’s real name apparently). Either way, I can think of worse ways to spend seven minutes of my time.

Without further ado, here it is for your Friday afternoon viewing pleasure:

Red Sox Are Calling Up Top Prospect Michael Chavis

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The Red Sox are reeling, currently sitting in last place in the AL East, and Dustin Pedroia has once again been placed back on the Injured List with knee issues. This team is in a bad spot right now so it was definitely in need of some changes. One of those will be the promotion of their No. 1 prospect in Michael Chavis to the major league roster. The Sox took Chavis with the 26th overall pick in 2014 so it’s time to see what the kid’s got.

Visual evidence that I watched Michael Chavis play in AA Portland.

As the Eagle Tribune points out, with the lack of production from Pedroia, Eduardo Nunez and with Brock Holt on the shelf,”Red Sox second basemen have combined for a .337 OPS, by far the worst in the majors.”

Chavis is only hitting .250 but he’s got an OPS of .954 with 4 home runs in 12 games. He did blast 31 dingers in 2017 between Single-A Salem and Double-A at Portland. This was of course before he was popped for PEDs last April and suspended for 80 games though. I worried that may be the end of Michael Chavis the Power Hitting Prospect, but he seems to still be whacking the ball around the yard. He actually had a higher OPS in 2018 as well as in 2019 (granted its a small sample size) than he did in 2017 so thats encouraging as well.

Now I’ve learned from the failed careers of super hyped prospects like Craig Hansen and Cla Meradith to temper my expectations when top prospects get called up, but its hard to not be excited to watch the kid play. He’s traditionally been a corner infielder,  but has been working at second base too so we could see him split time there with Tzu-Wei Lin, who was also called up today.

They’ll have to pry that second baseman’s mitt (I don’t think this is actually a thing) out of the cold dead hands of Christian Vazquez first though.

#RushHourRap – Logic – Supermarket

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Switching things up a bit today and rather than picking just one song for #RushHourRap I’m giving you a full album because its that good. Logic released the experimental Supermarket recently, but it isn’t just an album, its a soundtrack to a NOVEL he wrote and dropped from the clouds. My guy Bobby Tarantino is a five tool player it would seem.

Supermarket is yet again another departure from what you would expect from Logic. He’s made lyrically stunning rap albums, trap albums, conscious social issue albums, and now he’s created something that I can only describe as a mid 2000s alt rock album, but in the best way. A lot of crooning, piano and acoustic guitar make this sound like something you could just as easily hear in a swanky lounge as you would on HotNewHipHop.

Although it got crushed by outlets like Rolling Stone, I dig it. I’m partial to the titular track “Supermarket” but this entire album is excellent. Check out a few that I picked out below.

Bruins Avoid a Late Game Meltdown to Tie Maple Leafs Series at 2-2

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Before this series started I refused to look past the Maple Leafs and play what if matchups with Tampa Bay (who just got swept) because Toronto is no joke. I had Bruins in 7 before the series and I’m sticking to that now. It seems like the Bruins only want to play hard every other game though. In Game 1 they looked lifeless and got run out of the rink by a quicker and younger Maple Leafs team. In Game 2 the Bruins looked like they were shot out of a cannon led by the soon to be 35-year-old enforcer David Backes laying the wood on guys. Hell even David Pastrnak was teeing off on guys.

Then Game 3 came and the Bruins got their dicks stomped once again with fans starting to openly wonder what the hell had happened to the alleged best line in hockey. Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak had barely contributed through 3 games and if that line ain’t carrying the team then the Bruins are dead on arrival. Welp, since the B’s are only playing hard in even number games apparently, they once again looked like the team we saw all year long in Game 4.

Pastrnak even got back to his old ways netting 2 goals while Marchand added 3 points and was all over the puck all night long.

The definition of first world problems last night though was having the Bruins and Celtics playing important playoff games at the same exact time. Since picture in picture is a bullshit idea that is more distracting than helpful and since I’m not about to drag another TV out to my living room, I had to live with switching back and forth all night. It worked out relatively well with the hockey intermissions and the NBA halftime providing solid chunks of time to watch the other with undivided attention. So the Bruins are up 5-2 and I go to watch the last five minutes of the Celtics game, which naturally took about 25 minutes. I flip back to the Bruins and its 5-4.

The Tuukka haters were served some humble pie, at least in the first two periods, when Tuukka saved the B’s bacon with some seriously clutch saves on a barrage of shots from Toronto. He finished the night with 38 saves and was one of the reasons the B’s were so dominant in the first 2 periods. He did give up 3 in the third though so there’s that. So was Tuukka dominant or was Tuukka giving the game away? Depends who you ask.

“So with the Bruins on the verge of returning to Boston down three games to one, the point was hammered home once again: Rask needed to steal the Bruins a game before it was too late.

…Am I crazy for thinking that Rask finally did exactly that in a 38-save, 6-4 victory in Game 4 at Scotiabank Arena?” – Ty Anderson of 98.5 after Game 4.

Either way, the B’s pulled it out despite some serious hand wringing in the final minutes. I know it wasn’t a “must win” game, but you absolutely cannot go back home down 3-1 and expect to rip off 3 in a row. A 2-2 split is much more manageable and it would have been a goddamn shame to waste great games from Pasta and Tuukka.

All this came just minutes after the C’s pulled out a close one in the playoffs too. Victory Dip for all!

See you Friday boys.

Jayson Tatum Looks Ready to Dominate Postseason Once Again

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After rallying back with a ferocious 31-point fourth quarter on Wednesday night, helping to secure a 99-91 victory, the Celtics are now up 2-0 on the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Game 1 was a dog fight, with both teams playing below their typical standards. And while last night’s contest was prone to some of the same dull play for certain stretches, a few key guys finally woke up for the Celtics at just the right time – most notably Jayson Christopher Tatum.

For those who have followed The 300s for a while, you know that, for the most part, we’ve shown the young fella nothing but immense love and support ever since he broke onto the scene last year. Especially after last year’s postseason run, during which he averaged 18.5 points per contest as a 20-year-old rookie, I think all of us were expecting him to soar in 2018-19.

But, to be honest, things didn’t go quite as well as anticipated. He still put up points, averaging almost two full points more per game this season (15.7) than he did as a rookie (13.9). However, both his field-goal percentage and three-point percentage dropped off, with the latter falling significantly (he shot over 43% from deep last year compared to just 37% this season). His win shares also fell by two, and he just didn’t seem to be playing with the same fire he displayed last spring.

Yet on Wednesday night, he hit another level. In almost 39 minutes of play, Tatum put up 26 points on 55% shooting, including 50% from three-point land. He also finished +8 and turned the ball over just twice. While Kyrie was the team’s high-scorer with 37 and is arguably just as responsible for last night’s win as Tatum, it was really Tatum’s performance at the end of the game that sealed the deal.

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Kyrie had a pretty monster performance on Wednesday night, too.

After heading into the final frame down by 11, the Pacers looked like they had the Celts dead to rights. Two quick buckets from Al Horford got the team going again at the start of the fourth, but then it was Tatum (and, yes, Kyrie too) who lead the charge the rest of the way, putting the team on their back to take a hold of the series.

In all, Tatum scored 10 points in the fourth quarter (including six in the final minute), which was 40% of his total for the game. And while Kyrie also hit some big shots, including two HUGE threes – the second of which finally gave the Celtics the lead with 5.5 minutes left to play – I was still happier with what I saw from Tatum in the final moments.

While he missed more shots than he made over the final 15 minutes, the simple fact that he took nine shots in the quarter (10 if you include the free throw on the and-1 dunk at the very end) is what really stood out to me. FINALLY, he once again displayed the aggressiveness and confidence he was playing with last April/May, which was vital in helping to bring the C’s all the way to Game 7 of the conference finals.

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Tatum treated the Garden crowd with a little rim-rocker to cap off the win.

Maybe the rush of postseason play simply ignites a fire within Tatum, as he put up almost five points more per game in the playoffs last season than he did during the regular season. He also played pretty well in Game 1 on Sunday, putting up 15 points, again on 55% shooting (including 100% from deep), and finished +11. Especially when it mattered most last night, Tatum was not going to sit back and let the game slip away. I guess he does have some ice in those veins after all.

Look, we need to be careful not to get too excited from such a tiny two-game sample size, but it’s a good start for the Green and, most importantly, the kid looks ready to take off once again. Whether Kyrie comes back next year or not, Tatum made sure Celts Nation knew who the true future of the team was last night. Let’s hope he keeps it up.

Game 3 of the series will tip off on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. in Indianapolis.

Gronk Dented the Lombardi Trophy After BUNTING With It Before the Red Sox Ring Ceremony

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I knew I spotted a dent in this thing during the Red Sox ring ceremony! I was snapping screenshots left and right while secretly watching and live tweeting the World Series celebration from work so I completely forgot to tweet out the above pic. Like how the hell could this have happened already? Well the story has literally just come out courtesy of the Patriots Twitter feed. Apparently Gronk dented the Lombardi Trophy by BUNTING with it.

Legit can’t make this up. If you wrote a screenplay about the 2018 Patriots and ended it with Rob Gronkowski denting the Lombardi Trophy at Fenway by bunting with it they’d say it sounded too fake.

Oh that? That was already there.

Goddamn I’m gonna miss this guy.

Former Chargers GM Says Trading Eli Manning Was the Highlight of His Career. Respect the Spite

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Yahoo – In 2004, the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Chargers made a trade that would forever change the course of both franchises. Moments after the Chargers selected Eli Manning with the first pick in the NFL draft, the team traded him to the Giants for Philip Rivers…

“[The trade] was the most satisfying moment for me in my career and I really mean that. I would say that if I was ever fortunate to win a Super Bowl, I’m sure it would’ve trumped that, but I don’t know that. I gotta tell you there was a lot of highs and lows in the business, but that moment was the greatest high for me as an executive for an organization.”

As Smith explains, the deal netted the Chargers with enough draft picks to select Shawne Merriman and kicker Nate Kaeding. Both guys played big roles in the team’s success from 2004 to 2009. More importantly, though, Smith was happy he took some of the power away from Manning and his agent, Tom Condon.

“When I heard emphatically from Tom Condon and Archie Manning ‘don’t take us,’ that hit me — call me a traditionalist — it hit me the wrong way,” Smith said. “I decided I was not going to play this game with them and I flipped it, in my view, to an unknown where they didn’t know what I’m going to do or how this is going to unfold — they really didn’t.”

I hated the Chargers growing up. Hated them. Shawne Merriman was an arrogant dickhead who could dish it but couldn’t take it when the Pats did his Lights Out dance in San Diego after an upset. LaDanian Tomlinson was the greatest runningback I’ve ever seen, but all he did was complain about how “classy” the Patriots were. All while sitting on the sidelines in his Darth Vader outfit while Philip Rivers played on a torn ACL. So aside from the Peyton Manning Colts and the Rex Ryan Jets the mid 2000s Chargers were my most hated football team.

BUT, I now LOVE AJ Smith. The architect of one of the most hated teams of my youth is an A+ grudge holder and I have to respect the spite. Oh whats that Eli, you don’t want me to draft you No. 1 overall in the NFL? In fact you won’t even play for my team if I do draft you? Well fuck you because now I’m doing it.

AJ Smith wasn’t going to let some rich kid and the Manning Mafia tell him how to do his job. I bet he would have ate the draft pick and let Manning sit the year out if he didn’t get the trade offer he wanted. Just spite that whole family because you ain’t John Elway, kid.

Now obviously this trade was the rare trade that worked out swimmingly for both sides. The Chargers got Philip Rivers and a boatload of picks that turned into franchise cornerstones and the Giants got Eli and 2 Super Bowls (kill me) out of it. Big Z made the point that the Giants might actually have won more Super Bowls with Rivers under center because aside from two month long hot streaks by Eli Manning, Rivers is clearly the better player. Rivers has a better career Completion %, more TDs, 60+ less INTs, and a better QB Rating.

I’d still rather have two SB rings, but I respect the shit out of AJ Smith for deriving so much pleasure out of something so small. An early candidate for The 300s 2019 Hater of the Year.

Rapid Reaction to the Patriots 2019 Regular Season Schedule

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Even though the 2019 NFL regular-season schedule wasn’t supposed to be “officially” released until Wednesday night at 8 p.m., The Athletic was already able to get the skinny on the Pats’ upcoming slate of games earlier this morning.

And, of course, in today’s world of “I SAID IT FIRST” journalism, you know they wasted no time in leaking it to the masses:

Rapid reaction:

For starters, the beginning of the season should be an absolute cakewalk. Sure, the Steelers are a tough(ish) team to start off with. But losing Antonio Brown definitely doesn’t make them better than they were last year, and so far they haven’t really made waves with any noteworthy offseason moves. Plus, the game will be in Foxborough; Brady & Co. ain’t losing at home in a season-opener coming off a Super Bowl victory. So, that’s 1-0 so far.

Then there’s three straight against the dregs of the AFC East, immediately followed up by meetings with Washington, the Giants, and then the Jets. Honestly, a 7-0 start is entirely possible and should not come as a surprise to anyone. (*He said while knocking heavily on his desk.*)

However, after that, shit gets REAL.

Starting with a bout at home against Cleveland in Week 8 (yeah, if you haven’t heard, the Browns are going to be legit this season), the Pats are going to get hit with an absolutely brutal mid-season test. Even though they get a bye in Week 10, starting in Week 9 they have to square off against five-straight playoff squads from last season, with three of those contests being on the road. And to make matters worse, each of those squads look even better than they did last year (with the exception of Houston, who has done zilch to improve themselves so far this offseason). Seriously, Weeks 8-14 are going to a slogggg.

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Baker will make his Foxborough debut just a few days before Halloween this year. CANNOT wait for that one.

But then the season ends with three cupcakes, starting with Cincy in Week 15 and then finishing against Buffalo and Miami, respectively. (Also, I LOVE mid-season bye weeks. The Pats always seem to get them, and they’re usually a much-needed reprieve midway through the year. I was very happy to see that.)

So, in all, only about a third of the teams on this year’s schedule give me cause for concern, meaning that an 11- or 12-win season – at the absolute minimum – is a more than safe assumption to make.

Does that make me sound like a cocky, arrogant, spoiled Patriots toadie? Maybe. Do I understand why the rest of the nation hates us so? Absolutely. Can a lot still happen this offseason in terms of roster moves, or could a significant injury occur which changes my whole outlook? Potentially.

But am I still 100% percent confident in my prediction? WITHOUT…A…DOUBT. Mark the Pats down for another trip the playoffs and a run at title No. 7. You heard it here first.