His pick totals have been outstanding in the regular season. He's percentage of picks has gone up in the playoffs. I believe when the Pats won the SB's he had 1 pick in 11 playoff games some sick number like that. It could have been they knew the defensive signals?
Brady wont have anywhere near as good of a year he did last year. Just for that the Pats should lose a few more games. They'll go 10-6.
Yeah .. I think you got something here .. so teams would switch up the signals in the playoffs, then they didn't have the signals during the playoffs .. I can dig it ..
Not to bring in another subject/sort of rivalry (meaning sort of since I am not into the rivalry, unlike some here, and unlike my feelings about the Pats)... But the loss to the Giants in the SB imo is one the Pats have not really seemed to recover from. Just like that year, they can go great in the regular season. But in the back of their minds, they know if they come up against a team that can beat Brady up some, and not allow the running game to get on track, the Pats can and will be beaten. It really seems to have been some kind of break in their tradition. The Giants made what formerly looked like one of the best OL's in the game very human and if not mediocre certainly not great. Their OL has played great at times since, and I personally have a lot of respect for some of their starters. But it's just not been the same consistency we saw before the loss to the Giants. I'm not saying it's all on the OL, either. for two reasons - one is I agree they don't have game changers like Harrison on D, or how their LB's played so locked in to each other back then. And also that the loss of confidence they experienced in the playoffs ever since the Giant loss goes through the whole team, even Brady. Not to minimize the Jets' win last year, but don't forget how the Pats got creamed by the Ravens, too. Something happens when they get to the playoffs. I think it goes back to the Giants game.
I agree with some of your points, but I don't know if it's that simple .. Yes, the Giants Defense did give them fits, but when it was money time .. He threw the go ahead TD with a lil over a minute remaining .. I won't get into how many times the Patriots "D" could of closed that game out at the end, because it is what it is .. but the Defense lost that game .. 2008 .. We all know what happened with the injury .. Remember, they lost McGinest, Vrabel, Seymour, Bruschi, Colvin, (very underrated) .. That's allot of experience and leadership to lose in a small window after the Giants game ... We'll see this year though ..
I think they are over/recovered from the Giants game. the 2009 playoff loss to the Ravens began on the first play by Ray Rice. But don't forget Moss shouldnt even of been playing that game. He was basically a decoy, and Brady didn't have Welker. But if Brady is as good as he is supposed to be, he should of been able to make clown WR's worth something. Flacco passed for 34 yards, and a interception lol. Actually the more I think of that game...that was an embarrassment. The Patriots next playoff performance, obviously the Jets. It's simple. The Patriots were out coached, and made dumb fuck mistakes. Now have Sanchez make some big throws to Edwards/Holmes/LT and let Rex rush 3, and send everybody into coverage..Brady cant even do anything to stop that. What I'm trying to say is, I dont think the brutal 18-1 thing is haunting them. They just got beat by teams who were better, or better on that day.
The bolded sentence is the best thing said in this entire thread. They got beat by teams that were the best on the field that day.
We are talking about the'consistency' of a quarterback coming into his third year as a starter. Coming off his second conference championship game. We are talking about a certain few games, 'nailbiter' games as you call them, in which the play of the quarterback in question may not have been stellar, but games in which that quarterback made plays to steal the victory in the end, with the ability a player who knows how to perform when it matters. I provided an example that you should be familiar with in order to help you back to the path of rational thought. You use arguments about consistency to criticize Mark Sanchez. Now I tell you: look for consistency in the corner of Phillip Rivers, Matt Schaub, Matt Hasselback. Sanchez may someday attain that level of consistency, but if he falls short, I will settle for killer instinct. Pedestrian level intellect? Such a thing may be above and beyond your reach.
i dont think many people here on this board think the jets are better than the patriots. i say this in a sense of overall through the entire season. we cannot stack up wins, with our young QB as well as the Patriots can. Are the Jets better than the Patriots one on one? Probably not, but they have a scheme(to stop the offense) that has proven to beat the patriots over the past 2 years under ryan. edit: you guys werent better than the ravens in 09 though. patriots were better than the jets in 2010 though in my opinion.
The Ravens were better than the Pats in 2009 I totally agree. The Jets defense just seem to matchup well with the Patriots. Aggressive, blitzing-style defense with great cover corners and linebackers that can drop well into zone coverage. In recent years, the Pats defense can't stop the run well and the Jets do that well. We'll see what happens this year. I'm very excited for the two matchups.
Our defense matches up well against everyone. It looks like we're even more stacked than the last two years. My biggest concern is really Schotty. He needs to call a more balanced (read: aggressive) game this year, especially on 3rd down (but I think 1st down to a lesser extent as well). If he does that and Sanchez delivers we're going to put up way more points this year. Especially early in games to put even more pressure on opposing O's, who will have to fall way short playing from behind against us. Our offense has just been hobbling along with all this talent but this year should be fundamentally different. I just hope Schotty has it in him to do the right things. I can't fault him/Rex for putting it on the defense's shoulders up til now, but we have to grow now. We have to impose our will. We can.
1.This just isn't the case. NO team has a better record than the Pats since 07 2. In the 07 superbowl the Pats lost their starting RG (Neal) in the very first series. Hockstein, was a capable replacement against most teams, but he was EATEN up by the Giants, who would have been a challenge under the best of circumstances, since THAT year they had one of the best pass rushing DLs in the league. IMHO that injury has gone under reported and didn't help to say the least 3. For all the defensive hype the Giants were STILL losing the game with just over 2 minutes to go. And (from a Pats fan's perspective) if it weren't for a blown "in the grasp" call, the greatest miracle catch in superbowl histor, a dropped pick, and and muffed fumble recover.....ALL in the last drive, all this playoff analysis would be moot. 4. Clearly that last drive was God's gift to Giants. A lesson in humility for Pats fans, and God's compassion to Jet fans, allowing them some small measure of solace, since they have so little to show for over the last 42 years BB as to the so called blue print of pressuring Brady. Get a clue. Its the freakin' blueprint to beat ANY team, and if it were that simple the Pats wouldn't have had the best overall record in the league AFTER their loss in 07. It wasn't so much the OL was crushed by the Jets DL. Most of the sacks were coverage sacks. The biggest issues were the inability for the Pats WRs to create space, and the lack of commitment to the running game, and the INABILITY of the Pats to generate a pass rush of their own, The Pats have made added several FAs and draft picks with the hope of addressing thiose issues. They look good so far, but lets see were we are in January to see if they worked out Pats moves 1. They add 2 big CBs in Boddin and Dowling 2. The bring in OCHO into the WR mix and hope Welker is healthier, and Edleman and Price improve 3. They add Carter, Hayneworth, Ellis etc to improve the DL rotation and address the pass rush 4 They draft 2 RBs to improve the RB rotation In 2 meaningless preseason games, without a lot of the starters even playing....so far so good.
Good luck to Brady's WR's creating space this year better than last year. When you have a duo like Revis/Cro you simply cannot do anything with your 1's and 2's. Brady is a great quarterback, one of the best ever. I would've liked to see him try to fill Vick's shoes last year with that O-line, he'd probably be in early retirement. He benefits a lot from the system and his weapons. If his regular advantages get neutralized (and they will) he's going to have a tough task doing it all with Welker and an extra TE. Doesn't mean he can't do it, but I like our chances.
The Patriots defense was not good enough to win in the playoffs. The warning signs were there all year long. FO had the numbers predicting it, and while there was some improvement towards the end of the year it wasn't enough. Very few teams are successful in the post season with that sort of imbalance in the team. Giving up 28 or 33 points to defense oriented teams like the Jets or Ravens equals an L. Scoring 21 should be enough to beat teams with mediocre offenses if your defense is doing it's job. I think the rivalry between NE and the Jets will boil down to who can improve on the that side of the equation most quickly.
defense was bad, sure... but there offense has been poor, and turnover prone in those losses as well. vs. the jets: 21 points, 1 int, 3 fumbles, loss of downs on the fake punt(and 7 of those points were off a garbage td at the end) vs. ravens: 14 points, 3 interceptions, 1 fumble vs. the giants: 14 points, 1 fumble, and dominated on the oline all game. so basically 14 points per game and some iffy ball control. the real issue i think is, they cant consistently run it between the tackles vs good teams, and if brady is shut down, even for a few stretches, the offense cant move the ball at all.
exactly... the pats might be the better, team, but head to head, and in the playoffs, the jets just match up well with the pats. and now, i think we are in their heads to boot. i think the jets dominate NE in both(all three?) matchups this year
I don't think anyone on this board is afraid of the Patriots in a head to head match up against the Jets; what people are afraid of on this board is the Jets splitting with the Pats, and the Pats going 15-1, while the Jets go something like 12-4 and still have to take the long road to the SB whereas if they were in a separate division they could potentially have a bye week and home playoff game at least. It's like Rex said, our problem isn't that we cannot beat the pats, our problem is that no one else can seem to beat the pats. But even if we remain a wildcard, I am not that worried because the prospect of heading to houston/indy or sd/kc for a wildcard game is not something to be terrified of in the least. From the way I see it, Indy is on their way out and may miss the playoffs all together this year, Caldwell is in over his head, Peyton is hurt and not getting any younger. And even though the Patriots are retooling, they are on their way out as well, as much as pats fans do not want to admit it, this is belichick's last stand. Belichick is resorting to methods he has never regularly used to acquire players he never used to acquire. trading picks from future drafts for questionable character guys in Ochocinco and Haynesworth rather than acquiring picks for future drafts (Yes I know he traded for Moss, but that too was done at an "all in" point for the patriots much like what they are doing now). I think belichick sees these picks as expendable since he does not plan on being there much longer. Belichick signed an extension after 07 that will take him through 2013, Brady signed an extension to take him through 2014, Ochocinco extended to take him through 2013, so I think these next few years will be the last of THIS patriot era. 2013 will be Belichick last year as Patriots head coach; mark it down. I don't see an old Chad Johnson remaining on the team, and Brady will be 38 by the time he begins playing under a new contract. Belichick is making a huge push to win in these next three years and then I presume he will go on hiatus from the coaching world for a while, and I am sure he has already planned to leave a polished Ryan Mallet as a parting gift to the franchise.
