Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are gearing up for the 2018 NFL playoffs and there are quite a few question marks surrounding them for the first time in years. Usually, the Patriots are talked about as a favorite entering the playoffs. Now, they will be asked to prove themselves once again.

Pro Football Focus is going through and grading teams for their performance during the regular season. Today, they graded the Patriots' offense, defense, and special teams and released the grades on Twitter.

New England has had an interesting season, as can be seen from those grades. Normally, the Patriots are thought of as an offensive first team. This season, however, their offense has been a bit inconsistent and has had a few very rough performances.

Article Continues Below

When everything was said and done, the Patriots finished the 2018 season with the Patriots did finish with the No. 5 offense in the NFL from a yards perspective. They finished fourth in scoring offensively at 27.3 points per game.

Defensively, however, New England was the No. 21 ranked team in the NFL. They did finish No. 11 in the NFL against the run, which could come into play in the playoffs.

Regardless of how fans and the media feels about Bill Belichick's football team, they are still a force to be reckoned with. New England may not win another Super Bowl this season, but it isn't going to be easy to knock them off.

Expect to see the Patriots give teams like the Kansas City Chiefs a run for their money. Fans may be naming the Chiefs the winner of the conference already, but they will still have to play the game.