I wrote in my last post before the playoff game that a loss to the Jets would be as bad as the loss loss to the Giants in the 2007 superbowl. Evidently I was wrong. Back in 2008 I would turn the channel a the mere mention of football right up until a bout a week before the draft. This year within 2 weeks I was sneaking peeks at PFT and this site and found it didn't tear my heart out....if I focused on the threads that focused on the future.
It probably would be therapeutic for me to talk a little about the Jets game, even though I'm sure its been dissected to death in the previous weeks. Please bear with me, because I never saw any of your comments....and I won't be long.
1. IMHO the game was lost in the first 2 drives of the game. We seemingly moved the ball at will, yet instead of coming out of those drives with 10-14 points, we managed only 3. After that it seemed that while the offense totally lost its rhythm, the defense slowly gave up points, mostly because it couldn't come up with "the big play" that it had been its bedrock over the last half of the regular season. No picks, No pass rush....no offense....no win.
2. Just one Brady observation, and I wonder if anyone else feels this way. Over the last several years Brady, for the most part, has thrown the ball to wide open receivers. In the Jets game it seemed to me that he rarely threw the ball to tightly covered receivers, and allowed the receiver to make a play. Conversely, Sanchez did it several times throughout the game with success.
There was one play in particular that stood out to me. It was in the 4th quarter when the Pats were marching down the field down 10. The drive stalled around the Jet 35 and on 3rd and long Brady had all the time in the world to throw the ball. He held it....and held it, and ultimately threw an incompletion. On the replay you could clearly see Tate open up late coming back on the outside about 2 yds short of the sticks. Brady never gave him a look, instead kept of looking for Welker.
Was I the only one scratching my head after that play? Why Welker. Why not the open Tate. Why not give the 6'7 Gronk a chance to make a play on some guy over a half a foot shorter. Why was it Welker on a ball that would have been about 7 yds short of the first down, even if it was completed.
It was that play, and the fact it looked like we were doing our best "Eagle last drive of the superbowl" impression on the last meaningful drive; that left me not only crushed at the loss, but perplexed at the ending.
Thanks I feel better. ;} Now "back to the future"
1. One of the real problems of the loss, at least from a fan's point of view, is that regardless of whatever success we have in the regular season, NOTHING that is done in 2011 matters until we start to win some playoff games, Think about it, come next January, it will be FOUR years since the Patriots have won a playoff game.
So regardless of the moves we make this off season, and the anticipated success as THIS version of the Pats evolve and mature, it renders the regular season (except as a function to get into the playoffs) a lot less meaningful.
2. On a more personal note, it also means regardless of any future success we have against the hated Jets, we still have to deal with the fact that they have won 4 playoffs games since we have won one. Jet fans can now (to a lesser degree), now take the high ground, Pats fans used to hold, as having playoff success. When they throw it in our faces about Rex's record vs BB, we will just have to take it.
The fact is, even though they still haven't won the division, the Jets are the top dog in the division. We just have to deal with it.....and I hate dealing with that reality. BTW- please note that I truly believe that THIS past season was the Jets high water mark for a lot of reasons, doesn't negate that until next JANUARY, we are under their thumbs, at least on the fan side of things.
3. I am constantly amazed at the amount of knowledge the "draft geeks" on this site offer the rest of us. What a great service they provide. Thank them every time you get the chance. Fortunately for us there are too many to mention individually, but you know who they are.
4. That being said I haven't seen so many varied opinions on potential picks as I've seen this year...so far. For example there is a good thread on the draft board that talks about Robert Quinn. To a novice like me, he would seem to be a guy who "might" be worth going up into the top 10 to get. On the plus side, he seems to have the kinds of physical gifts that one might envision BB getting a second chance to coach the "next" Lawrence Taylor.
Then someone writes an eloquent post that made a strong case that Quinn is potential disaster pick. He pointed out character issues. He mentions the fact that 90% of his best production came against weak opponents...in a weak conference. By the end all I could think about when I thought about Robert Quinn, was Vernon Gholston.
My point is that there is a lot of diverse opinions about a number of players other than Quinn. So I'm beginning to wonder more and more about this draft. Is it the one we finally make moves to reach up into the top of the draft, or is it the same old, same old; 5 guys who most of us didn't expect and an extra pick for 2012 (btw, not that that's a bad thing, just look at this past year
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5. So I'm starting to think that maybe the Draft isn't the most critical part of this year's off season. Maybe....just maybe, the thing we should be all focusing on is the MONSTER crop of FA's that will descend on the the NFL in just a few short weeks. Never have we seen such a large and quality filled FA class as the over 450 players who will enrich the entire league.
There will be double digit all pros available, along with dozens of proven starters looking for new homes. There are almost too many to even start to consider who might fit into an already talented young team.
A lot of this will start become clearer when there is finally a CBA, and teams know what they have to work with. It will become clearer still after we have decided what we will do with our own key FA's. I'd love Mankins back, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around paying that much money to a G. Will we bring back Light, or is the Volmer era ready to begin. And what about Kevin Faulk?
Lots of questions, very few answers, but TONS of potential speculation. This is going to be one of the most interesting off season in a long long time.
6. Bottom line, regardless of the moves in the draft and FA, the Pats are going to end up with a team that will have the "potential" for competing at the highest levels of the league. That is the bittersweet news we can console ourselves with, as some other teams play in that meaningless game on sunday.....at least meaningless to me
7. Oh yeah. Go Packers...and I really really mean that. I don't think I can deal with BOTH Jet fans and Stiller fans this off season.
Idle thoughts - denial, anger....acceptence
Linear Mode
