BradyFTW!

You can check it out here: PatsCast Episode 20 (with Jay Shields)

Basically, we explore the reasons why the Pats lost, what we can take away from it, and a little bit about how our expectations for the team have been influenced. Just be forewarned that this one might not go over well with the homers; we're both worried about the competence of the offensive coaching staff, and that's a tough problem to solve in-season. They had an offseason to fix last year's problems, and it's starting to look like all of the same problems are still there. Not time to push the panic button, but having real concerns is pretty reasonable.

Note: Jay is jays52 on this forum, for anyone who didn't already know that.

JackBauer

Nice job as usual, guys. Seems like you all are pretty down on O'Brien, between the zone-blocking on running plays and the crappy lack of adjustments.

After listening to that podcast, I am now 25-50% more sour on O'Brien. Pretty sobering stuff.

BradyFTW!

Thanks! That was pretty much my reaction too: I had a feeling that something must be systemically wrong for these traditionally uncharacteristic problems to keep resurfacing, but Jay's explanation was even more discouraging than I would have thought. I had no problem writing off the second half woes in week 1, since stepping off the gas with a 31-3 lead is pretty understandable.

This past week has no such explanation, though, and points to the Pats just being soundly outcoached. Over the past year-plus, that's happened far too often, to the point that I don't trust the Pats to be the best-prepared team on the field anymore. Considering that that was their M.O. when they went and won three Super Bowls, it's more than a little disappointing.

JackBauer

Soundly outcoached on both sides of the ball in the second half. Understandable to see that on offense, but it seems like this is becoming an endemic issue on the defensive side as well. I'd hate to peg it to something as circumstantial and speculative as BB being spread too thin (brain drain), but at this point I'm pretty stumped as to what else it could be.

I'm also baffled as to what's going on with Meriweather, but they need to get him back on the field. Now.

BradyFTW!

Yeah, as noted in the podcast. it's not so much excusing the defense's performance as noting that a) we have a lot of young guys making young mistakes over there, and b) Patricia's calling players for the first time. We expected these issues from the D, and there's still a lot of reason to expect major improvement, even between now and week 17.

On the offense, though, we've run out of reasons for this stuff. With the personnel that the Pats have, there is no excuse for getting shut out in the second half. Bill O'Brien is not only a second-year guy, but worse, he's given no indication at all that he's matured as a coach since last year.

Definitely agree re: Meriweather. His postgame comments worry me; on one hand he owned up to what got him in the doghouse, but otoh... what the hell? If he thought that ignoring the coaches in practice was anything other than a terrible idea, then either he's dumb, way more frustrated than anyone should be in week 2, he isn't taking his job seriously, or he doesn't respect his coaches. None of those is a good thing.

Patspsycho

Is there any way you can have a transcript of this podcast?

BradyFTW!

I'll definitely look into it

MoLewisrocks

Yeah, makes you wonder why Bill can't get a guy like Jay on his staff...

That's the problem with this kind of amatuer, snap analysis. Jay doesn't know a lot of the variables. Moss practices like a warrior and beats our secondary like a rented mule. Sadly he doesn't face them on game day. The observation was made that the adjustment was correct but the player they went to isn't 27 anymore and he doesn't warrant the level of trust that the OC and QB place in him. Sadly, in the real world OC's have to deal with a lot more than theory, they have to live with it's practical application. Execution on both sides of the ball was spotty in the first half or we'd have been up substantially at the half. After the half it morphed into abyssmal. Not an unfathomable phenomenon league wide when you let another team hang around. We used to have the capacity to weather those games enough to prevail more often than not. We haven't had that capacity for a long time. We didn't have it in 2000 or 2002 when Charlie was here. He had it in 2005 at ND but it was pretty short lived... Ditto RAC whose defenses wore down down the stretch here but the offense found a way. Had they remained here in 2005-06 that wouldn't have been the case for either of them. Scheme and system matter in football, and will trump talent PROVIDED everyone on the field consistently executes. It's just tough to predict if or when they will. And it only takes a couple of guys no matter how talented to fail to execute and it impacts everyone from the elite on field talent to the grinders to the geniuses on the sidelines. Just ask Rex what happened last week... When this team was moving the ball almost at will in the first quarter and the JETS couldn't make a play and we missed even the FG and the score was 0-0 as the quarter ran out...the team had the same sinking feeling it's fanbase had and the broadcast team articulated. That was actually a win for the JETS. Then we score, but so do they. Then we score again, but so do they. 14-10 at the half when they hadn't played well was an emotional/momentum win for the JETS. We stop them on their first possession of the half. Then we turn the ball over and they drive the length of the field to score. Momentum and emotion were all on their side. They were executing consistently now, we were incapable of executing at all. All the strategy in the world won't win you those games. Guys were in position to make plays, they simply didn't make 'em.

JackBauer

Uh huh. And when the same thing keeps happening -- over, and over, and over -- that's a coincidence. Nevermind the Jets players coming out and saying we got outcoached. Nevermind the same formulaic outcomes for more than a year now. So why is it that, all of a sudden, in the second half of games this squad has developed a chronic inability to execute? At what point does this cease becoming a coincidence and start becoming a trend?

I mean, how many good offensive coordinators are there in the league? It's hardly beyond the realm of speculation that we may have ourselves a lemon here in B.O.B.

Oswlek

Re: Coaching

A big reason not to hire well known coordinators is that most of the guys available want to get into head coaching as soon as possible. Most likely they are failed head coaches because who is dumping successful coordinators?

For better or for worse, BB values consistency and bringing in a guy on a resurgency tour isn't exactly the best way to cultivate that. I do wonder about RAC and Charlie. They seemed to be guys who would be content just to fill their old shoes but perhaps they wanted to rebuild somewhere else. We don't know for certain that NE didn't try to nab either of them. And lifers like Monte Kiffin and Scarnechia aren't looking for work all that often.

I agree and disagree with MoLewis. I spent much of last year pointing to 2002 as an example of how a BB/RAC/Charlie coached team could get outcoached repeatedly, then the team improves the DL and secondary and suddenly the coaches are geniuses against in 2003. The obvious issues with TE and WR personnel last year were also easy whipping boys.

But this year's offense suffers from no such problems. The receivers are better and deeper, the TEs are dramatically improved and the OL pass blocked wonderfully. Yet NE still couldn't mount anything in the 2nd half after moving at will in the first.

I'm ever the optimist, so I'm willing to give BoB a couple more weeks to get acclimated to his new toys. But the trend isn't exactly promising.

__________________
"They have one objective," said Washington cornerback Shawn Springs. "They whoop people's [backsides]. If you understand that, it answers all your questions. They might not lose [this year]."