Fans of the New England Patriots have plenty to feel good about these days, not just because their team won its record-tying sixth Super Bowl in February. Heading into their second preseason game, the Patriots are also looking like one of the best teams in football yet again: they have considerable depth and talent in all three phases of the game, and appear to have replaced their offseason departures on and off the field well.
Add the return of starting left tackle Isaiah Wynn, the emergence of rookies like Jakobi Meyers and Chase Winovich, and strong training camp performances by some the team’s free agency additions and you understand why 96% of all Patriots fans are currently confident in the overall direction the team is headed towards — that is the result of SB Nation’s latest FanPulse survey (please click here if you also want to participate).
The confidence score of 96% ranks New England fifth in the league:
t-1. Kansas City Chiefs: 99%
t-1. Philadelphia Eagles: 99%
3. Cleveland Browns: 98%
4. Chicago Bears: 97%
5. New England Patriots: 96%
Despite other fanbases having more confidence in their team — in part because of the hype created by the clubs’ young quarterbacks and the national narrative surrounding them — the Patriots’ score is still noteworthy. After all, the team sat at ‘only’ 78% after the early portions of free agency had come to an end. The world champions’ fans grew more confident the longer the offseason went, however, reaching a new high-point this week:
Free agency: 78%
Pre-draft: 82%
Post-draft: 91%
Preseason week one: 96%
Yesterday’s news of wide receiver Josh Gordon’s reinstatement might add one or two percentage points to the overall score, but the gist remains no matter the ultimate score: New England’s followers are feeling pretty good about the team at this point in time. Of course, the next two weeks worth of preseason action will show whether or not those positive feelings are still around when the regular season gets kicked off on September 8.
If you are interested in participating in our FanPulse survey, please click here!