aluminum seats

Jeez. That first quarter was the Denver playoff game of a few years ago times twenty million. What an absolute fiasco.

--The loss of Welker hurt as much as the worst-case predictions said. Just an irreplaceable guy. Edelman definitely has a future, though—how about that 4th and 7 that was called back? Guy would Not. Be. Denied. Awesome.

--Brady is hurt, and if he isn’t, he oughta be. Just looked lost out there. Is it the lack of receivers? A lot of this is hard to tell on TV. He was pressured a lot, but other times he had all day. And I feel I have to say this, if only because his leadership has been praised for so long by so many. Where is the passionate leader of years past? I know he’s not a kid anymore, but the guy did not exactly look inspiring on the sidelines.

--It’s been said everywhere, but it’s true. The offensive play calling is so painful, I still wonder if changing coordinators alone could have made a difference. Just no coherence whatsoever.

--It didn’t help that the offensive line didn’t play well. I was confident that would be an absolute strength of this team through the playoffs. Guess not.

--And I thought the Pats could stop the run? You tell me before the game the Ravens pass for 34 yards I’d assume we’d be planning for the Chargers.

--The flat, abysmal, pathetic display at the start certainly called out for Kevin Faulk. The guy’s just a pro. You wonder how much longer he can perform at this level. Still, having him be the top back the whole game? To me, the game effectively ended with the first series of the second half, when they ran that little delay to him again. And again. I mean, enough already.

--I’m sorry Maroney fumbled a couple of times, but one carry? Did he murder someone? Taylor had 2?

--Tough to miss his only FG of the playoffs. Bad ending to a good year.

--Get a punter already.

--I hate to think it, but I can’t shake the feeling that the Bill Belichick of 2001 could have gotten a lot more out of this team.

--I don’t know, sure there’s a lot more. There’s a lot of specific offseason stuff to discuss, which I’ll leave to other threads—I suppose some of this could be a jumping off point. Good to vent anyway.

--BTW, maybe I'm a homer. Never thought I was, but this game surprised me.

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cmasspatsfan

Once they fell behind by as much as they did you knew they'd have to abandon the running game.
Edleman looked good, thank god because WW isnt comeing back next sept so JE will be out slot reciever.
I think its simple though, they just dont have enough good players yet, they have a lot to build on so thats a plus but we have to get some more good players in to make a run next year.

Brarrell

STOP TRADING DOWN AND TRY TO PICK PLAYMAKERS VALUE DOESN'T WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS! Try spending some money to keep your top players and trading down for value in other words start spending money.

Fencer

They spend to the cap.

I wish people would stop saying the Pats should spend more money unless they say "The Pats should spend more on X at the cost of spending less on Y."

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Canada's #1 Pats Fan

Yeah, you are probably right, but having Weis and RAC certainly helped back then as well.

Canada's #1 Pats Fan

I certainly hope that the reason RAC hasn't signed anywhere yet is because he is coming back. Having a pass rush sure helps Earthwind and Poole look like all pro's but it just seems that Pees' defense is too predictable.

upstater1

Trading down is what landed them Butler, Vollmer and Edelman and a 2nd rounder for 2010.

Would you trade those four for, let's say, Clay Matthews and Brace?

BrownNServe

This was just as bizarre as the play-calling. I was figuring we'd see a lot of both of those guys to keep the game balanced. Faulk still had a great game picking up the slack, but we need something more than a draw-play run game.

fester

You do know that the Pats basically spend to within a few million of the adjusted cap every year ( they need to keep a small reserve for injuries and replacements during the season, which if they go underbudget on, they'll roll forward to cover earned NLTBE incentives from the previous year).

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PromisedLand

Excellent post.

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