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TheBostonStraggler

I have to agree with Curran's assessment. Today, and at moments in the recent past, the Patriot offense appears to flip a switch. With the switch on the Patriot O is very dynamic and potent. A snap of the ball, let it develop, hit the open guy. And while obviously plays are called and sometimes the pass will go to who the play is the called for -- the Patriots might be the best in the NFL at this dynamic. We have TB who is most capable at doing this......and BL, WW, AH, Gronk (and DB or SR or DW). One of these guys will get an edge in his match up most of the time.
Yet crunch time comes and this dynamic sometimes evaporates. The O goes with the very quick, force it into one spot play which is not what this O thrives on. I don't know if it is the play calling and/or TB pushing this slimmed down approach, or the offense is generally tightening up because it is crunch time. But IMHO it seems obvious the Patriot O becomes too un-dynamic during crunch time. I have no problem with and understand the coaches want to run the clock and limit the possibility of a negative play......but for god's sake stop with this overly restrictive offensive approach during crunch time. As Curran said, the secondary is what it is. They can't be counted on to stop the opposing O during crunch time. BB and JM and TB need to understand what the Patriots are and are not capable of.....and play the kind of O that most teams will not be able to stop.

The good news is some of what sunk the Patriots today is fixable. It doesn't take major planning to adjust the offensive philosophy to continue to press during crunch time (and #$%@ing know that we have a good running game now!!!!). And while, unfortunately, the secondary is likely to continue to give up lots of yards, it doesn't take a miraculous effort to make sure there is a safety over the top of the deepest receiver.
The Patriots can win with this secondary. With this potent O and solid run stopping, the Patriots can win most of their games. What they can't do is play to sit on tenuous leads and expect the secondary can hold the lead. That is going to cause the Patriots to lose too many games.
Onto the Jets.....

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KontradictioN

Brady stank up the joint. He has one or two games where he usually does every year. But the offense still handed the defense a lead in the end and the defense blew it.

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TheBostonStraggler

That is an accurate recap, no doubt. Curran's point is the defense 'is what it is' -- specifically the secondary is what it is. Their ability to stop the opposing offense in crunch time is what it is. And this is something that must be given its proper weight in the decision making process. As such the offense cannot play 'prevent defense' (so to speak) in crunch time. And while TB was having his difficulties this game, I think after the first series the Patriots drove to the red zone every possession until mid fourth quarter (pretty sure about that). This tells me even with TB having a subpar game, the ability to move the ball outside the redzone was almost automatic (had to be 6 or 7 possessions in a row they ended up in the red zone). Yet the last few series starting mid fourth quarter resulted in no or 1 first downs. This can only be explained by either Seattle's defense did a complete turn around (they stepped up but to be shutdown all of a sudden?) OR the Patriots go away from what was getting it done between the 20s all game. IMHO it is(was) conspicuous that they are not doing what they were so effectively doing.
Bottom line, the pass D is poor. The O is going to have to continue in attack mode if the PAtriots are going to put away teams THEY SHOULD be beating.

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patsfan-1982

i think its more then just "gag in crunch time" the offense realy cant run set plays at lest not at the level that they run the no huddle...but at the end of the day this loss is all on the secondary

cstjohn17

No lead is safe with this secondary.

marian

Problem is in Brady's head, once you get into his head, you win. You can do it before the game like the Jets used to do it some time ago, or with one negative play and some trash talking like yesterday. From the moment of first INT he started to throw into receivers feet and lost fun playing the game. He was frustrated and afraid, so played not to lose the game.
It's not all on his shoulders obviously, coaches and secondary also are to blame, but right now it doesn't looke like offense can fight. They just execute. They are good oiled machine that executes, and once you interrupt the program, they don't know how to fight (except Welker). Then they turn to defense to win the game but it's the offence that should win games for us.
We came to take what's ours (W) but it wasn't there. Seattle wanted it more and believed and got it.

mosi

I tend to agree with this. Once he gets rattled, he is off his game. He can get it back but more often than not, it does not happen.

serifyn

Failing late is becoming part of this team's identity. Even against Denver the Broncos almost came all the way back, if not for a Mcgahee fumble.

The Patriots are either not adjusting as the game progresses or are becoming mega conservative when they have a huge lead, putting games in the hands of the maligned secondary.

Every year, a team develops an identity of certain strengths and weaknesses, a couple of years ago, Ball security was historically good and the defense which although porous, was incredible at forcing turnovers , last year, the red zone defense for the patriots was unbelievable, even with the last ranked secondary, so far this year, all the patriots seem to do well is give up huge leads and not play for 60 minutes.

While the rush defense seems to be a bit better, and the patriots appear to be slightly better at forcing timely fumbles, i'm going to say this is the worst ive seen the Patriots defense play ever, and that does not bode well when the offense cant carry you like it has in the past.

TheBostonStraggler

Actually there are leads safe with this secondary: (1) A lead that remains the same by adding to it or (2) leads where there isn't enough time for the opposition to get enough possessions. These are the leads that equal paths to victories for the Patriots. So how do we achieve these type leads? By allowing, arguably, the best offense in the league to do what it does best (and had been doing for 3+ quarters in this game).

The O had their chances of putting this game away too. A stop by the D or a couple of first downs by the O -- either one puts this game away. The D is expected not to make the stops. They are playing up to what they are (poor). Our O didn't get the couple of first downs either.....and they played way below what is expected of them. So you can complain about the pass D all you want (and they deserve to be thought of as poor) but the O is the bread and butter of the Patriots. And if they produce 1 first down in 3 possessions in crunch time knowing the kind of D the Patriots have, this is just as much on them (and BB and co.).

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