PATRIOT64

Many of the guys on here say that not having Chad Jackson on board or Gabriel starting in ther WR rotation earlier cost us the game - Instead of blaming it all on McDaniels (even though I still don't like him as OC)..I think the biggest loss was Corey going out with the injury....I thought we had played very toe to toe with the Broncos till Corey got hurt..Lawrence was not ready to take over full reigns and showed he needs to split time with Corey or Heath or Kevin (whoever is healthy) until he grows a bit more in tune and feeling more comfortable as the season progresses...When the running game stopped producing,the Broncos put on the calvary charge into our O-Line and loaded up the box the rest of the night knowing it was going to be the Brady show for the last 2+ quarters and knowing our WRs were not ready for Prime Time,or facing Champ Bailey... Had Corey stayed and split duties with Lawrence I think we might have been talking a 3-0 record or at least a game to the wire - To say that Denver was better prepared or played better than us is hogwash..The only thing we were not prepared for as well as Denver was losing a cog in our super rushing game and until Tom gets better aquainted with the WRs we are gonna need all the best of rushing attack we can muster.. Those who think we are gonna get wiped out this sunday may be more of a premature guess.. If Corey and Lawrence team up healthy again and if our DB can keep those gargantuan receivers somewhat in check this will be a dogfight despite our below average passing game and maybe not as high scoring as one might think- I think it will be close and we will have a chance to win late in this game,If Corey plays you can Bank On a nailbiter to the wire.....

SoonerPatriot

The more I think about it, I keep coming back to the fact we just don't beat Denver. It doesn't happen.

THe last time it did was on a Monday night in Denver. Here's what had to happen first:

1-The Broncos were down to the 3rd string QB, Danny Kannell, who started.

2-We had to take an intentional safety.

3-Brady hit David Givens for a TD with about 18 or so seconds left in the game to win it.

I realize Seymour was out that game but if we had this much trouble beating a Danny Kannell led team with one of the best, if not the best Patriot team we've fielded, then it stands to reason we're not going to beat them with this team or last year's team. It's just one of those things. Sorta like when we used to own the Colts. We could play Denver 10 times on home and home or neutral sites and they'd win at least 8 out of 10.

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kptmorgan04

I stated that this was a big reason we lost in my "Perspective from Sea" post directly following the game last week when the universe was falling on the rest of patriots nation.
I am not going to say that we would have won the game, because who knows, but I do think that this was a HUGE reason whey it was able to get away from us like it did. For all those people doubting corey this offseason (including thomase, who I emailed right before the season, questioning what he had against the guy when he looked great in training camp etc... he never did get back to me), I think it has been seen that in order for us to be successful this year he must be a major contributer.

so in short I do agree that him being out was the main problem that the pats had that night, but cant go out and say they would have won, becuase they were playing pretty bad all around

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PATRIOT64

I believe way back in the early Patriot years we beat Denver like 6-7 times in a row...Boy have times changed!...Maybe we might have to wait and hope that Peyton Manning becomes a Bronco years down the road in order to beat them and end the futility

PATRIOT64

Until Tom and the WRs get in synch (hopefully they will) the only way we will win games is either turnovers (which have become so rare around here that they should be on eBay when they occur ) or better yet a simple factor in games for at least the meanwhile is that we MUST own possession of the ball at LEAST 35-40 minutes of every game for awhile,if we can do that we will win..no matter how pathetic the passing game is during this early stretch of the season - check the stats on the games we win and lose in the upcoming weeks and I bet that will be something that shows as a factor.

PATRIOT64

To sum it all up IF Corey is out there from the start on sunday we have a shot....If he is not,you may be turning off the game early,it could get ugly..I think that he indeed is a MAJOR reason why we have a shot here in this game with Cincy - TIME OF POSSESSION FACTOR.

richpats

After thinking about Sunday's game and what Denver did to win, and thinking about the games we've lost over the Belichick era, I finally realized what dooms us (especially against Denver):

AGGRESSIVE PLAYCALLING!

Shanahan is known for making aggressive playcalls and Denver never tries to do a long sustained drive against us - see the 3rd and 1 bomb to Walker - who ever does that?

Also see the playoff game where he called a bomb from the 40 on TWO consecuitve drives under 2 minutes remaining without any regard for eating up most of the clock.

Most teams don't have the playmakers to pull it off against us but Denver always seems to be able to. From what I've heard/seen/read about Belichick he plays the percentages for the most part - that's what Shanahan is able to take advantage of- in some situations he disregards the percentages.

Kdo5

Our offense sucked when we lost Dillon. Its as simple as that.

Isaac

Good thread. They stopped the run, we didn't. Few teams in the NFL, including the Patriots, are going to win in that situation.

Brownfan80

For all the different factors that went into the loss, I knew the game was over when: We lined up to go for it on 4th down in a run package. I could feel that the play was not going to work, and as soon as it was snapped, I uttered 'game over'. And it was.