The Official Post game thread

[BradyFTW!]

I thought Lloyd and the entire offensive line collectively both stood out as having excellent games. They really do deserve a commendation.

Welker was all over the place - put up a great stat line, but his drops were too costly for me to call it a good game, on the whole. Like it or not, that has become the trend with him. To his credit, it was probably because he's far more banged up than we'll ever know, but he is what he is, and what he is is a guy who will drop important passes that swing the momentum of playoff games.

As odd as it sounds to say, Talib hurt his FA stock today. If I'm the Pats, I'm not paying long-term money to a guy with character issues who, at 26, already had this much trouble staying on the field. For the money he'll be looking for, I'd rather have someone who can play 2 consecutive games without getting injured.

We can't rush the passer, we don't have any linebackers who can cover, and we can't cover very well. Realistically, the Patriots are 2 pass rushers and 2 solid corners away from having a defense that we can reasonably classify as "good". Yes, I realize that Jones and Talib were hurt, but that's the issue. If one player leaving can impact a whole phase of the defense that much, then it's a testament to how bad your depth is. The Patriots need better football players on defense. They need something on offense, too, but I don't even know what.

Hopefully the Pats will field a better team next year, because as good as the 2012 version was, they simply weren't good enough.

[Bella*chick]

We shot ourselves in the foot over and over again the first half. I don't even want to think about how many points we left out there.

Once Talib was out, the D tried its best but just couldn't do jack.

Tired of the injuries.

[deters]

belichick needs to get his **** together and fix this crap defense and get us some decent recievers.

horrible corners who are nothing more than glorified special teamers
horrible dl that can't pressure. everyone but wilfork and jones are poor
lb'ers that can't cover
poor safeties

we will never win another title with brady unless we get better at WR and improve this **** defense. belichick has had years to fix this problem but hasn't. wake the f up BB!

[Block "O"]

Yeah as much as it sucks, you have to do that interview.

[Fencer]

Originally Posted by letekro

It annoys me how fans and commentators alike ignore this critical fact or use the inane "no excuses" mantra. Our defense sucked last year. We added two major difference makers--Talib and Jones. Jones allows Francis to kick inside and be disruptive on 3d down. Talib allows Dennard to play the other team's WR2 and allows ARrington to play the slot, where he excels.

Take those two guys away because of injury, and guess what? we have generally the same defense as last year. No surprise that they couldn't get it done.

On offense, Gronk and Edelman are explosive players. Replacing them with statues like Hooman and Branch is going to hamstring the offense. Big shock.

This team was good this year, just had some bad injuries to key, key players toward the end of the year.

Every team has injuries. In the Patriots' case:

QB -- healthy
RB -- pretty healthy
OL -- healthy
Receivers -- losing Gronk and Edelman was bad
DL -- losing Jones was unfortunate
LB -- pretty healthy, Fletcher notwithstanding
DBs -- losing Talib was bad; I won't mention Dowling as his absence factored into the Talib trade
STs -- pretty healthy

Anyhow, getting clobbered in the AFCC game with some bad injuries isn't the worst performance in the world. Indeed, there are only four teams with any claim to have had a better season than the Pats, and not all the claims are valid.

[Bella*chick]

Oh, who gives a damn? Who really gives a damn what Terrell Suggs or CBS or anyone of these jackholes think.

[zoostation]

Originally Posted by blackglass3

This opinion will not be liked at all, but I am tired of watching these games KNOWING they are going to blow it. Its the same damn thing year after year.

Its time to start over. I appreciate everything Belichick and Brady have done for the franchise. But it just seems like this is the end point. We will never get back over that hump because there is no way to fix a broken philosophy. Belichick has bought into a finesse offense and a bend don't break D. These things don't get it done anymore. If you don't believe me look at the teams playing for the Lombardi in 2 weeks (which I refuse to watch BTW). Monster defense, high quality run games, tough receivers, ballsy coaches who go for the jugular. We have NONE of that here in NE. Call me "spoiled" if you like. But this will be the same result every year until our team philosophy changes.

Oh, and remember when Brady was just a "game manager"? I miss that Brady, he wasn't all hung up on being a superstar.

Not scoring a td before the half was horrendous, however saying BB is not a good coach is ridiculous. Patriots were 1 Gronk away from winning it all.

[BadMoFo]

Every coach does it. No one wants to do it, but it's part of being the leader of the team. I can see if we lost in the last seconds, or on some insane last-second play that no one saw coming, and he is still shell-shocked.

But we kinda knew this was over at the start of the fourth quarter, Bill should have had enough time to get his speech ready.

[Fencer]

Originally Posted by deters

belichick needs to get his **** together and fix this crap defense and get us some decent recievers.

horrible corners who are nothing more than glorified special teamers
horrible dl that can't pressure. everyone but wilfork and jones are poor
lb'ers that can't cover
poor safeties

we will never win another title with brady unless we get better at WR and improve this **** defense. belichick has had years to fix this problem but hasn't. wake the f up BB!

Gronk/Welker/Hernandez/Lloyd/Edelman is the best set of receivers in the league, or else close to it. Durability, however, is an issue.

[zipster9]

Originally Posted by Froob

Pats don't win the game even if Ridley's fumble is taken back but, only explanation I have is maybe they didn't consider him down by contact? Because he kinda cept going there.

Ridley did not lose the ball until he was 1/2 way on the ground. It should have been down-by-contact, a blown call, IMO.

Yes, single play did not lose the game. Not his fault that he got clocked.

Have to give the Ravens credit on a good game plan. Don't give Brady the middle-of-the-field. Force him to throw deeper (which our WRs are not fast or deep threats).

We did not blitz Flacco much, which was a mistake in game plan. Flacco had all day to throw deep.