PatsFanInVa

I'm pretty certain I've heard coaches and players (definitely players) for the Pats saying anything less than a super bowl win is a disappointment.

I know for a fact I've seen fans post the equivalent here.

There's no reason to disagree with this. But I think it's worth thinking about what that means, and the limit of what that means.

For a coach or a player it's obvious. They're the ones going for the ultimate glory... and being number 2, or number 2 in one conference, or whatever, is just not the goal. Shooting for "a playoff berth" and thinking you're fine if you get that far is just shooting yourself in the foot, and congratulating yourself for a halfway measure. Whether it's true or not, thinking that way will just be shooting yourself in the foot.

Same thing for a fan, at least the first part. After all, it doesn't directly affect the team if we're happy with 9-7... although I could see that fan attitudes could contribute to a "loser mentality."

But here's where it goes too far, IMHO - we're convinced that in our dissatisfaction, we can call for the heads of any and all personnel and not look like clueless buttholes.

Dwelling on the negatives of what was a very close, back-and-forth game might not even be that productive from the start, but I guess it's inevitable. But we need to get over this idea that we "lost the big game" because of ________'s poor play (seen this one said about the LBs, Caldwell, and Maroney,) the OC's worthlessness (we know there's a campaign afoot regarding McDaniels,) and (usually from the newbies,) the cheapness of the front office.

It's pretty clear to me we lost a game. That's it. The Dynasty isn't dead, we aren't suddenly the cellar dwellers of the AFC, and the Pats aren't coming home with their tails between their legs. They played their asses off and came up short.

Am I disappointed? Yeah. Can I say "Anything less than a Super Bowl is not good enough and therefore this guy and that guy need to hang up the cleats, we need a new OC, yadda yadda yadda?" Well yeah, but only if I'm either really smart or really dumb.

If I'm really smart, I'm outguessing the best organization in football on a consistent basis. If I'm really dumb, I'm just spouting this crap without considering the possibility that some measure of accountability is, in fact, functioning in the Pats organization already.

I doubt much of the finger-pointing here is based on people being really really smart.

This was the culminating game of a season. You need to look at this season as a good one, but not a great one.

Sure, anything less than a SB victory is a disappointment. But it's not an automatic invitation to finger-pointing over-reaction. It's a pretty special situation where a SB victory is the only bar we can even take seriously anymore... The guys who got us there are pretty good, and I doubt their finger-pointing will match the mutually contradictory threads I've seen on here trying to pass out blame.

PFnV

jczxohn1

Good post. A lot could be said about the improvement of our team and our expectations this year, but IMO, we made a little farther than expectations could warrant. Indy on the other hand improved more. Many thought us lucky to get Maroney and not having to settle for Addai. IIRC, Clark is a rookie or soph this year. That said, we have many young players who have not reached their capacity as pros. Can our expectations be higher next year? Maybe, maybe not, but our hopes can certainly be.

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Felger started his question, "Correct me if I'm wrong," BB quickly interjected, "I can't wait--"


``The officials now are evaluating the players and their performance, I mean, that's great,'' Belichick deadpanned. ``I can't say how much that means to me, really.''

pats1

This is Dallas Clark's 4th season. He was drafted by he Colts in 2003.