Is Indy The Patriots' Biggest Threat? - Page 3 - New England Patriots Forums

pherein · 01-01-2011, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by convertedpatsfan

Note the Saints logo for avatar

But Atlanta did play an ultra conservative game against the Saints last week. Ryan didn't play well at all, and their offense contributed only 7 points at home.

Can't say a lot about just one game, but it was a bit of a disappointing performance from the Falcons.

Im not convinced yet. Payton/Brees have beaten the Falcons 8-2, 4-1 in the Georgia dome ( I think we were the only team in the NFL that never believed the Falcons were invincible at home). But they are a good team, and they did beat us once. Ryan has come a long way in a short time. I think the problem with the Falcons is with their depth.
If you can contain, turner,white,gonzo,and confuse Ryan a bit, they seem to struggle.
Sense most of the NFL saw this game, Im sure the Falcons are in for a hard road in the playoffs.

But their defense did a great job vs us. I don't believe they thought their secondary could contain all of our key players so they just desperately blitzed every play, hoping to stop Brees from picking them apart. It kind of worked

Now we are in the precarious position of every NFL team seeing that it worked. We will be blitzed heavily in the playoffs.

I think what we saw was 2 teams putting 100% effort on the field, except for the saints OL. The saints OL also had problems with the ravens. That needs to be fixed pretty fast. They are better than that.
.and with Breeses ability to turn over the ball, is keeping every team in the game. The way our defense played was not new, we have kept a lot of teams to 1 TD, so we should have distanced our selves, but we keep turing over the ball.

That said, I think your right, I dont believe the Falcons have the heart or coaching to go deep in the playoffs.

Green Bay does, they are a very good team, very similar to us in ability and depth. The only plus we have over GB , I believe, is at the QB position and RB core. But there defense is better than ours. Until the saints fix these problems, I consider GB your #1 threat in the NFC.

even so, Im worried about our ability to play at the Bears stadium. We truly suck in the cold. We might beat any NFC team in a dome, but out side in the cold/wind, a lot of teams can beat us.

AFC Threats
1.Raven= excellent Run/Pass game balance. elite defense. They are going to be a legitimate threat, and they don't care who they play.

2.Steelers = good Run/Pass game balance. elite defense. You seem to have their number tho.

3. KC = monster Run game/Pass is ok. Good defense but pass coverage is pretty suspect. Great coaching.

I just dont see the Colts going to Foxboro and having a chance, they are way to banged up.

just my uneducated opinion

Omega Supreme · 01-01-2011, 10:57 PM

pherein, I agree that GB is probably the Saints' worst matchup. I think you guys can beat Chicago in Chicago, but I think GB will give your team fits no matter where you play them. However, I wouldn't count out the Falcons just yet either. They had a bit of a down game against you guys. In all honesty, you guys were lucky to come away from that game with the W. Brees has been throwing too many stupid INTs this year, and needs to shore up protecting the ball and making smarter passes before you guys can be considered the premier team in the NFC. If the Saints play the Falcons in Atlanta again, I'm not so sure you guys will come away with the W.

As far as the Pats go, I have to agree that Baltimore is our worst matchup. I don't see Manning being able to carve up our D out in the cold, and the Ravens are much better built for inclement weather. The Steelers don't scare me at all, and I think KC's defense does not match up well with the Pats O. Having said that last bit, Cassel has been excellent with protecting the ball this year, and I think the Cheifs' O is capable of sustaining long drives against our D. I just don't think their D can stop the Pats.

pherein · 01-01-2011, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega Supreme

pherein, I agree that GB is probably the Saints' worst matchup. I think you guys can beat Chicago in Chicago, but I think GB will give your team fits no matter where you play them. However, I wouldn't count out the Falcons just yet either. They had a bit of a down game against you guys. In all honesty, you guys were lucky to come away from that game with the W. Brees has been throwing too many stupid INTs this year, and needs to shore up protecting the ball and making smarter passes before you guys can be considered the premier team in the NFC. If the Saints play the Falcons in Atlanta again, I'm not so sure you guys will come away with the W.

We agree on this. I would defiantly put GB above us , and we are not completely confident of beating the Falcons again. I dont think they had a bad game, our defense made them have a bad game. But you are completely correct. We might be a better team, but our TO's are outrageous and allow any team the possibility to beat us. The Cardinals and the Browns scored 1TD on offense combined, but we lost both games 30-20 and 30-17, go figure that one,lol. Our only constant has been defense.

sometimes its hard for us to fault Brees, I mean he is putting up amazing #'s again and a 68% comp. and we know he's injured, but the TOs are killing us. If we just controlled the Ball we would have won those games. aww well, we will see, your right GB is #1 right now and I only say that because Vick has never beaten a Payton run team, we know how to stop him, and if we keep turing the ball over the Falcons can beat us. Hel the Cardinals proved that.

***MassPats38*** · 01-01-2011, 11:53 PM

The Cravens played the Pats on the first game of the post-Moss offense. The Pats offense is significantly improved from that game, as is the defense given rookie development. The Ravens offense is not high scoring, averaging about 23 ppg. That won't get it done against the Pats the way the offense has been clicking. Flacco will not beat the Pats if Rice can be shut down, and is likely going to be vulnerable to schemes when he has to throw.

Manning is tough because he can figure out defenses and adjust. I expect that is why he can put up a lousy half and return for a great second half. The Pats really have to match score for score in the second half to beat him, and cannot afford a bad series or two. The Colts are certainly beatable, but I view them as the tougher game for the Pats.

Omega Supreme · 01-02-2011, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pherein

I dont think they had a bad game, our defense made them have a bad game.

I can't really disagree with that. After reading what I wrote, I didn't give the Saints' D enough credit. They did an incredible job with shutting down the Falcons' running game, and proved that Matt Ryan isn't the kind of QB who can carry a team on his back.

Quote:

sometimes its hard for us to fault Brees, I mean he is putting up amazing #'s again and a 68% comp. and we know he's injured, but the TOs are killing us. If we just controlled the Ball we would have won those games. aww well, we will see, your right GB is #1 right now and I only say that because Vick has never beaten a Payton run team, we know how to stop him, and if we keep turing the ball over the Falcons can beat us. Hel the Cardinals proved that.

My main fault with Brees this year is that he's often let the pressure get the best of him and has made some dumb throws as a result. That's a big reason why he's thrown so many INTs this year.

pherein · 01-02-2011, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omega Supreme

My main fault with Brees this year is that he's often let the pressure get the best of him and has made some dumb throws as a result. That's a big reason why he's thrown so many INTs this year.

Your right, and we are understandably nervous

Mogamedogz · 01-02-2011, 02:02 AM

The Colts are always our biggest threat so long as they have Manning. They scare me more than any other potential opponent.

Was kinda hoping the Chargers would take care of them again to keep my blood pressure down.

***convertedpatsfan*** · 01-02-2011, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pherein

Im not convinced yet. Payton/Brees have beaten the Falcons 8-2, 4-1 in the Georgia dome ( I think we were the only team in the NFL that never believed the Falcons were invincible at home). But they are a good team, and they did beat us once. Ryan has come a long way in a short time. I think the problem with the Falcons is with their depth.
If you can contain, turner,white,gonzo,and confuse Ryan a bit, they seem to struggle.
Sense most of the NFL saw this game, Im sure the Falcons are in for a hard road in the playoffs.

But their defense did a great job vs us. I don't believe they thought their secondary could contain all of our key players so they just desperately blitzed every play, hoping to stop Brees from picking them apart. It kind of worked

Now we are in the precarious position of every NFL team seeing that it worked. We will be blitzed heavily in the playoffs.

I think what we saw was 2 teams putting 100% effort on the field, except for the saints OL. The saints OL also had problems with the ravens. That needs to be fixed pretty fast. They are better than that.
.and with Breeses ability to turn over the ball, is keeping every team in the game. The way our defense played was not new, we have kept a lot of teams to 1 TD, so we should have distanced our selves, but we keep turing over the ball.

That said, I think your right, I dont believe the Falcons have the heart or coaching to go deep in the playoffs.

Green Bay does, they are a very good team, very similar to us in ability and depth. The only plus we have over GB , I believe, is at the QB position and RB core. But there defense is better than ours. Until the saints fix these problems, I consider GB your #1 threat in the NFC.

even so, Im worried about our ability to play at the Bears stadium. We truly suck in the cold. We might beat any NFC team in a dome, but out side in the cold/wind, a lot of teams can beat us.

AFC Threats
1.Raven= excellent Run/Pass game balance. elite defense. They are going to be a legitimate threat, and they don't care who they play.

2.Steelers = good Run/Pass game balance. elite defense. You seem to have their number tho.

3. KC = monster Run game/Pass is ok. Good defense but pass coverage is pretty suspect. Great coaching.

I just dont see the Colts going to Foxboro and having a chance, they are way to banged up.

just my uneducated opinion

Your uneducated opinion is worth a heck of a lot more than my uneducated opinion

And yeah, Atlanta won the first match-up, but that was a bit of luck with Hartley missing an easy kick in OT. They match up well and the games are close but both teams could easily have swept the series with one or two breaks.

What is going on with the Saints OL anyways? It's the same group as last year, and Brees was great against the blitz, but this year they have definitely struggled at times.

Green Bay is very good, I agree. But I think you guys can beat them, especially at your place which is the only time you'd face them. And the Saints defense looks pretty solid this year too, especially compared to last season. Your D is in the top 10 in points and yards which is pretty good. The offensive turnovers are becoming an issue though.

As for the Bears, you guys might suck in the cold, but the good news is so do they

Plus they're coached by idiots. You'll find a way to win this or they'll find a way to choke.

What are your thoughts on the Eagles? Could be your first opponent.

groundgame · 01-02-2011, 04:34 PM

This assumes INDY wins v. TENN.

Pats would: (1) Avoid Indy until AFC Title game (if we win our Divisional round game); (2) We don't mind if Jets upset Indy, thus NYJ would be our next opponent; (3) Baltimore and KC both looked shaky today, therefore there is a possibility Ravens could lose at KC next week- whereby we avoid a dangerous Ravens team as our first playoff opponent for the second year in row.

JonVaughnTD · 01-02-2011, 04:38 PM

It doesn't matter who the Patriots play. If they can't beat anyone that comes into Foxboro then they don't deserve to go to the Superbowl. With that said, they will beat any team that shows up.