This is all accurate. Can't argue much of it. As a fan, losing the 18-1 SB was as bad as it gets... the second one sucked too, but wasn't quite as much of a shot to the gut. One of the ironic parts of Spygate is that most people (correctly) credit the Patriots' defense as the strength of the team from 2001-2004. The offense did enough, but it wasn't their identity. But it would have been the offense, not the defense, that gained anything from the taping. Outside of a couple of notable clutch drives and the second half of SB 38 (Pats/Panthers), their D carried them for the most part.
When you look back at past Super Bowl winners, it rarely is a high powered offense cruising to the SB. It's a defense that steps up and an offense/special teams that makes a handful of lucky/good plays. I can't think of a team in the last 15 years that didn't get huge plays or games from ST or their defense that won the SB. I wonder if it's just the competition getting better, so the high powered offenses slow down or it's more just the nature of football. Low possession game, 16 games only, higher chance of randomness happening.
Good observation, I agree. I think the high-powered offenses fizzle out for a couple of reasons. One, most playoff teams can play at least some defense, and two, I think the refs tend to let more things go in the playoffs. The last team to win it all with a crazy offense was probably the '99 Rams. The '04 Colts fell short, '07 Pats, last year it was the Broncos, etc-etc.
Playoff Prediction: Belicheat either stomps off the field, without shaking hands, after another playoff defeat; or Belicheat and his fellow Cheatriots are birthed another playoff championship game; from another brutal gift of a call.
The interesting part about it, belichick and brady have not been back in Arizona since they blew it in the super bowl.
Now this is the way you respect Myra: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...ges-patriots-doctor-put-team-ahead-of-player-
The other reason, and this is more of a hunch that logic, you can't consistently hide a piece of your team during the playoffs. Teams that are centered around high powered offenses centered around the QBs are hiding part of the team whether it be the run game, defense, OL, etc. You don't need excellence at every unit/position, you just need to be able to lean on them at some point without them faltering.
This D is better than '07. That team had a lot of aging vets and the offense made it easy for them for the most part (as playing with a 30-point lead by halftime will usually do for you). They've only allowed six points in the second half of the last four games (combined... 3 against Detroit and Green Bay, shut out SD and Miami). That's been the difference... if the offense struggles, the D is good enough to keep them in it. So now let's watch them make Geno look like an All-Pro again on Sunday, right? LOL...
This is a real Super Bowl team. Last three years the Patriots were not that good, the AFC just sucked, beating Tebow to get to the championship game......beating Schaub to get to the Championship game, what a joke. This year the Patriots are legit but the AFC is better than it was the last three years. I think the Ravens are good, I think the Steelers are dangerous, and I believe the Chargers are still a small threat if they ever can get their offense going which has been pretty bad over the last two games. I don't want the Bengals in the playoffs.... At the end of the day though I think the Pats get back to the Super Bowl, I picked them to make it, I think they lose in the Super Bowl to Seattle, but its not mission impossible like it was in the preseason. I said the Pats would lose 27-17 but New England defense would probably tighten that score up. (But thats enough with that, lets get their first).
Oh and this Denver team as we know it, is the most softest, pathetic front running team I have seen. Their defense is still overrated, its the same defense that got thrashed in New England with Tebow. Having Peyton helps, but its been exposed multiple times over the year, particularly the Super Bowl. The only reason they got to the Super Bowl last season was because the AFC fucking sucked, if they had been in the NFC, I can make a strong case the wildcard Niners would have KO'd them, or even the Saints..... Its alright though, they have no title to show for and their team peaked, it will be hard for them to improve it over Mannings final seasons. (interestingly enough though, one of Mannings weaker Colts teams ended up winning the whole thing because their defense put it together, but they were only a 3 seed, while they blew multiple 1 seeds....)
2011 was a real Pats SB team, if we judge them on their whole year. 2012 and 2013 were more weak. 2010 was probably a legitimate SB team also, but not in the same area as 07 or 2011. 2009 was pretender not a contender year which they rarely hae.
2012 and 2013 they were done in by injury to Talib in the AFCCG (especially 2012). Nothing would have stopped SEA in 2013, not sure about 2012. Would not have counted them out either year, but that's why you play the games.
2012-2013 was the Ravens game where they were shut out after the half right? I guess that's all I really remember about them. In 2011 they seemed a bit better to me. Last year, they didn't seem that great to me and I think the Broncos game proved it. The Broncos defense shut them down and the Broncos D is nothing to write home about last year
Definitely agree on Denver. They're lucking into wins facing teams that are less prepared for adversity than they are. Denver hasn't looked good since before they played New England outside of that Raiders game, which, well, was against the Raiders.. Their defense is overrated and they seem to be running the ball a LOT more than passing recently to protect Peyton, who has been slightly above average at best, while that might be what most teams want, its not what Denver is built for, and slightly above average is a shell of what Peyton Manning teams are used to seeing from their QB. It's not good enough. New England basically has a free pass to the SB in my eyes, but the NFC looks better by at least a factor of 10 than they did a few weeks ago. That conference has appeared to undergo a significant midseason stregnthening. GB, SEA, and even DAL appear to be legit. Though, I'm not ready to crown Seattles defense as being 2013-level like the media has after they beat some of the leagues most pathetic offenses in consecutive weeks. Much more impressed by New England's defensive performance against DEN, SD, GB, DET and IND in the period of a few weeks, holding them to 17.7ppg than I am with Seattle playing SF twice, KC, Az, and PHI led by Mark Sanchez and holding them a a TD less per game. One stretch features Manning, Rodgers, Rivers, Stafford and Luck while the other is A. Smith, Kaepernick, Sanchez, and ...whoever played QB for AZ in that game.
Honestly, 2011 wasn't a real SB team, they had a historically good offense (top 3 at the time I believe?) and historically bad defense. One of the most one dimensional Patriots teams i've watched. 2012 was probably a better team overall, 2013 had a lot of potential completely negated by injuries and we're seeing the matured and healthier team in 2014. The 2010 team was easily the best team NE has had between 2007 and 2014 (The Jets were just on a mission that day and NE wasn't prepared for it). One of the most efficient and mistake free offenses in NFL history paired with a major turnover creating defense that kept opposing teams from scoring TDs and IMO Brady was better in 2010 than he was in 2007.
