A lot of people on PatsFans turn from chicken littles to the biggest homers from week to week....but a lot of the people on PatsFans know what they are talking about. Btw, I'm the 2nd or 3rd post on that thread, you'll notice mine was a complete joke, hence ending with a missed extra point.
Perhaps I judged you too quickly; if you are a Pats fan that doesn't think that the Pats are gonna win EVERY game (no matter the situation) by more then 10 points, then I can at least respect you. (I did notice your post and thought it may have been a jets fan trolling) I do have many friends and coworkers who know something about football and are Pats fans and they do not annoy me. What I can't stand is WEEI (worse sportstalk in the world but thats all I get in western MA) and the casual Pats fans who think that Tom Brady/Bill Belicheck are literally some sort of deity that can NEVER do any wrong. If you think that the game will be 37-20 Pats I can at least respect you, even if I disagree. But if you are like those posters on patsfans and WEEI (Mikey from planet Mikey literally predicted a 49-7 game and stated that there is no possible way for the Jets to win) then I can't validate anything you say.
WEEI is a joke....but so is almost all Boston sports media. I think Pats will win it 35-27. There's a slight chance for a blowout but I doubt it.
I saw that thread, I was going to say first drive interception but I didn't feel like taking a bunch of shit from other posters..
Breach Brother. What is the audience that WEEI is going for? Is it like a giant life coach telling Patriots fans that they are gonna be GREAT today. I have listened to sports radio at length in cleveland, new york, and boston, and boston seems to be the biggest "We'll tell you the home team is FANTASTIC" amongst all of them. 27-35 is a respectable prediction, but i think the game will be on the lower end. 20-14, and I am still split on who i think will take it. I obviously hope the Jets but I have to realistic. +9 I think is too high though ....
I think what you fail to understand is that about 85% of the current Boston print media absolutely hate Bill Belichick. He doesn't make their jobs easy and they resent it. Consequently fans seek a happy place on talk radio as opposed to the newspaper columns of Borges, Shaughnessy and Tomase.
They are pretty big homers, although whenever the Pats are underdogs they jump all over it and act like they did a lot of film study to come to that conclusion. That's why I only read Mike Reiss' articles on ESPN Boston. He always looks at it from both sides and isn't afraid to say the Pats won't win by 35, he's a breath of fresh air in Boston sports media.
Well man I apologize then. You seem to be the minority of pats fans that have a brain. I work at UMass and literally about 75% of our students come from within the 495 corridor and take WEEI as fact so perhaps i am jaded about all Pats fans. You seem actually have an opinion based on watching games which makes you better then most pats fans I encounter. You have to agree though: Pats fans are more optimistic on the whole, whether its because recent success or whatever other reason. I read a story about bookmakers in vegas who know that certain teams lines will move because the action will always be heavy on one end by fans. They said cowboys, steelers, and patriot lines will always be artificially inflated because of fans blind betting, and I agree and feel this is true.
What's not to understand? Cromartie has an established history of shying away from contact back through his days in San Diego.
A lot of Pats fans are very spoiled, especially the post 2001 fans. Whenever things aren't going good they lose it and say BB is terrible or bench Brady...sadly that's what happens to some people after they experience success.
Wouldn't it be much easier to answer what went right, then focus on everything except those few things?
There's a new radio channel in Boston that is giving the WEEI a good challenge. 98.5 FM, the Sports Hub is pretty good. And not all radio shows are blindly Patriots although it's hard not to be very excited this year. Felger (2-6 on 98.5) has continually questioned Belichick and the Patriots although this year he also think they are going to the Superbowl. It depends on the announcers. Michael Holly and Dale Arnold are alos good from 10-2 on WEEI for both football and basketball although Arnold is really into hockey which I personally have never gotten into.
The offense kept giving it back to the Pats, and our defense wasn't prepared. That's a recipe for disaster. The Packers game would also have been a blowout had our defense not stepped up.
Which station has that quirky morning show where it's just a bunch of guys talking sports or Patriots? Was listening to them during a business trip up there a few months back. They were actually pretty funny.
There's Toucher and Rich on 98.5. They aren't sports heavyweights but they try and try to be funny. Dennis and Callahan on Weei (850 am). They touch on politics a lot too, Callahan is pretty right wing and will either get you pumped up or drive you absolutely nuts depending on your views. There's a third which might be the ones you are talking about that are pretty good but I just can't remember their name,
I remember it was right after the Ravens game and they were poking fun at Woodhead. It was hilarious.
Back to the OP, I thought a critical play was when E Smith committed PI in the end zone. He didn't turn his head to the ball and ran through the receiver. If you look closely the receiver did not have a good chance on the ball as Smith was between him and the ball. If Smith had merely turned to the ball, it would have been no catch, perhaps even an interception. Instead the Pats got the ball on the 1. That is directly related to Leonhard being out, in addition to the effect of Jim not calling the defensive sets. I also think the Jets erred in going pass from the shotgun and on the coach's challenge. The latter smacked of desperation, as if it was too risky turning the ball back even after a punt. I think that made the players feel Ryan's own confidence was challenged. The first is the more telling problem. I myself prior to the game noted that the NE pass D was very average in the ypa stat, and somewhat stronger in the rush D ypc stat. But when you add in their leading the league in interceptions, their pass D looks stronger than their run D. In short going away from the Jets' strength at running the ball was a big mistake. Another factor is mental and very hard to gauge. Games against division opponents have a subtle subtext, which you see referenced when you hear Jet players refer to having the thought, or even Ryan saying to Belichik, that "we will see you again." Or we'll look forward to the rubber game. I dunno, does this explain the way the Jets seemed as the game progressed to not so much give up as not play with verve and excitement? We'll get them next time. I wonder. Well, the bottom line about that is when an opponent runs up the score in a blowout, how does the loser respond? It is true that the next game, this game, begins with both teams at 0-0. Is there any other hangover effect?
