NFL Power Rankings Week 2: Can Anyone Stop the New England Patriots in 2011?

John RozumJun 7, 2018

After watching Tom Brady completely bombard the Miami Dolphins' defense on Monday night as if there wasn't even a defense on the field, will anyone be able to stop the New England Patriots in 2011?

Well before we get ahead of ourselves, let's break it down first, shall we?

It was a given that Brady was going to dominate, as he always does, and honestly, how often does he not?

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In any event, New England's offense is once again going to be amazing, and after the way in which they dominated a solid Miami defense, there's no stopping them.

That being said, the Patriots defense still has a lot of concerning questions to answer because when you allow Chad Henne to throw for over 400 yards, something is wrong.

Now, I'm not trying to take away anything from Henne (I know I'm a hypocrite), but until he starts winning games he's going to be criticized in South Florida, especially for his red zone mishaps in critical situations.

But I digress, because it's still not for certain that Bill Belichick's defense is by any means a juggernaut.

The Dolphins' have some playmakers, most notably Reggie Bush and Brandon Marshall, so how will the Pats' D perform against San Diego this week?

Chargers' QB Philip Rivers is a part of that elite class of NFL QBs, and his receiving targets (WRs Vincent Jackson, Malcolm Floyd, TE Antonio Gates) and RBs (Ryan Matthews, Mike Tolbert) are some of the best in the league.

Not to mention San Diego has a better defense than Miami, so it's fair to assume that Tom Brady won't hit 400 yards, let alone 500.

Then, after San Diego, there's still the New York Jets (always tough), the Buffalo Bills (appearing to be on the rise), and this year's "Super Bowl or bust" franchise, the Philadelphia Eagles.

So the schedule doesn't really get any easier. And you must also add the Pittsburgh Steelers (who Brady has always dominated) because you know they are going to get better despite their Week 1 performance.

So to answer the question more straight-forwardly, can anyone stop the New England Patriots in 2011?

No, because as long as Tom Brady is under center, there's nothing that the Pats can't accomplish offensively as a team.

Even when Brady went down and Matt Cassel took over, New England still finished 11-5.

Now although no one may be able to stop Brady and co. the next question should be, can Bill Belichick's defense stop anyone?

Because in order to keep pace with the Pats', opposing offenses will need to dominate as well. But when New England goes against better teams with better offenses and defenses, the Patriots may become humbled after all.

But until that actually happens, since the 2011 season is so young, as of now the Patriots are unstoppable.

2011 NFL Week 2 Power Rankings

1. Green Bay Packers

2. New England Patriots

3. Philadelphia Eagles

4. Baltimore Ravens

5. New York Jets

6. New Orleans Saints

7. Houston Texans

8. San Diego Chargers

9. Chicago Bears

10. Pittsburgh Steelers