Tough to say, but we've pretty much become chokers (merged)

[Satchboogie3]

Is it possible that this is simply variance? Is it possible that in today's (capped) NFL you simply won't have a team that can be "clutch" for 10+ years? Does "clutch" even really exist?

The Patriots lost close games, lost leads, etc in the SuperBowl years. The difference is that they managed to come out on top in the playoffs. What has happened since 04' may simply just be due to variance. I mean, what other teams have we seen that have been able to always get the "clutch" play for 5+ years? None.

Indy has been the best team in the league (w/ Pats too) for the last decade. They have won the most games, the have had amazing come from behind wins, yet, in the end, they have only won 1 Superbowl and have had a ton of early exits from the playoffs. The Steelers are the only other team with anywhere near the success this decade (2 SB wins) and they have had plenty of moments of chocking (like losing to NE in the '01, or losing the season series to CIN...). The '01 Rams were similar to the '07 Pats and they chocked in the Superbowl.

People, no team will EVER be overwhelmingly "clutch" in a capped NFL. We have still had more overall success than any team this decade. Luck will always play a part in games. We had luck on our sides for the overwhelming part of 8 years, we just didn't have it today.

I think Pats fans have just become a bit too demanding. They are still a dominant team and can still win the SuperBowl, they just need to work hard and have a little luck. Just look at what happened to the Colt's defense in '06; it can happen.

 

[RussFrancis]

Why do you think that is? Poor play calling? Poor decisions made by Brady? Not having faith in the new guys on the team? It has been bothering me as well that when it comes down to these situations we cannot pull the win or the 1st down or the TD when needed. One will never know what BB thinks and I still have all the respect in the world for him. Just wondering why this seems to happen.

Its called not having a RB we trust. Instead, we're stuck with Laurence Maroney. And he'd already cost us 7pts earlier in the night. A team with a strong RB milks that time away, probably gains those 2yds on 3rd and 4th down the hard way, the old fashioned way, the way this team used to do before we became completely enamored with the pass. The Superbowl winning teams, with Smith and Dillon shouldering the load in critical times, would have gained that last 2 yds on a single dive play on 3rd down, and that 4th down would NEVER have been a thought. These Patriots teams now cant gain 2 yards in a critical spot BY PASSING to save their lives. Sucks.

 

[RussFrancis]

Is it possible that this is simply variance? Is it possible that in today's (capped) NFL you simply won't have a team that can be "clutch" for 10+ years? Does "clutch" even really exist?

The Patriots lost close games, lost leads, etc in the SuperBowl years. The difference is that they managed to come out on top in the playoffs. What has happened since 04' may simply just be due to variance. I mean, what other teams have we seen that have been able to always get the "clutch" play for 5+ years? None.

Indy has been the best team in the league (w/ Pats too) for the last decade. They have won the most games, the have had amazing come from behind wins, yet, in the end, they have only won 1 Superbowl and have had a ton of early exits from the playoffs. The Steelers are the only other team with anywhere near the success this decade (2 SB wins) and they have had plenty of moments of chocking (like losing to NE in the '01, or losing the season series to CIN...). The '01 Rams were similar to the '07 Pats and they chocked in the Superbowl.

People, no team will EVER be overwhelmingly "clutch" in a capped NFL. We have still had more overall success than any team this decade. Luck will always play a part in games. We had luck on our sides for the overwhelming part of 8 years, we just didn't have it today.

I think Pats fans have just become a bit too demanding. They are still a dominant team and can still win the SuperBowl, they just need to work hard and have a little luck. Just look at what happened to the Colt's defense in '06; it can happen.

I'll say it again. What has happened since '04 is that we drafted Laurence Maroney to rely on as the workhorse of our running attack, and the RB in critical situations like last night is the key. He's completely unreliable. We shouldnt even have to ASK Kevin Faulk to do what he was told to do last night. Those yards should have been gained ON THE GROUND by a RB with some stones. We didnt have a RB like that last night. And we lost.

 

[Satchboogie3]

I'll say it again. What has happened since '04 is that we drafted Laurence Maroney to rely on as the workhorse of our running attack, and the RB in critical situations like last night is the key. He's completely unreliable. We shouldnt even have to ASK Kevin Faulk to do what he was told to do last night. Those yards should have been gained ON THE GROUND by a RB with some stones. We didnt have a RB like that last night. And we lost.

The reason we didn't have a workhorse RB last night was because they are injured. We have 2 good power RBs in Morris and Taylor. With either of them active, we win this game easy.

 

[RussFrancis]

The reason we didn't have a workhorse RB last night was because they are injured. We have 2 good power RBs in Morris and Taylor. With either of them active, we win this game easy.

I realize that, but a, theyre both old. and b, theyre both hurt. C, our third option was Laurence Maroney, and he's just not good enough. Which is why a and b suck even that much more. hopefully a and b dont reoccur in the playoffs, or I'll be reminding people of C again.

 

[Satchboogie3]

I realize that, but a, theyre both old. and b, theyre both hurt. C, our third option was Laurence Maroney, and he's just not good enough. Which is why a and b suck even that much more. hopefully a and b dont reoccur in the playoffs, or I'll be reminding people of C again.

How many teams in this league can still have a dominant running game with their top 2 backs injured? Not many. Out of those teams, how many have a prolific passing game? None.

 

[RussFrancis]

How many teams in this league can still have a dominant running game with their top 2 backs injured? Not many. Out of those teams, how many have a prolific passing game? None.

You missed my original point, which was that we drafted the wrong RB. We shouldnt be leaning on any 34 year old RBs as our "top 2 backs". How many great teams, teams winning Superbowl titles, have 34 year olds as their "top 2 backs"?? Maroney should be our top back. He's 24. He simply isnt. We had the guy playing last night who SHOULD be this team's top back. He's not. Morris is always hurt. Expecting Taylor to come back and shoulder the load off of a FOOT injury of all things is tough sledding. I hope Im wrong there, but Im not holding my breath.

 

[ausbacker]

Yeah, I tend to agree. Although I am incredibly proud to follow a team that goes about it the way the Patriots do, we have become chokers and those clutch plays that defined the earlier part of this decade are gone.

 

[HarkDawg]

JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH........


we are not the CHOKERS alright? Don't be so pessimistic.


It's a tough loss. THAT IS IT. We did not lose the SUPERBOWL or a PLAYOFF game we just lost a regular season game. Pick your heads up..... time to move on and keep going.

Rocky Balboa speech to his son.......

YouTube - Rocky Balboa's inspirational speech to his son.

YouTube - Rocky Balboa's inspirational speech to his son.

YouTube - Rocky Balboa's inspirational speech to his son.

 

[patsinthesnow]

"Become" chokers? This team has always been this way, even when they were winning super bowls. They can never close anybody good out. Sure, they can beat scrubs 56-10 and 59-0, but put them against a good team and no lead is safe.

SB36 - Rams score 14 points in the blink of an eye
SB38 - Blew a 21-10 lead
SB39 - A 24-14 game became 24-21, luckily McNabb was puking

Just once I'd like to see them beat a top tier team easily.

I never looked at it that way.

 

[Patjew]

JESUS MARY AND JOSEPH........


we are not the CHOKERS alright? Don't be so pessimistic.


It's a tough loss. THAT IS IT. We did not lose the SUPERBOWL or a PLAYOFF game we just lost a regular season game. Pick your heads up..... time to move on and keep going.

Rocky Balboa speech to his son.......

YouTube - Rocky Balboa's inspirational speech to his son.

YouTube - Rocky Balboa's inspirational speech to his son.

YouTube - Rocky Balboa's inspirational speech to his son.

I know you're young and may not have followed things closely a few years back, but the level of "clutchness" of the team from 2001-2004 was markedly different than that of 2005-current. Brady became a human in the playoffs with that INT to Champ Bailey in the end zone in 2005. They have had some brilliant stretches since then, but the O and D and ST units have not been able to bail each other out like they did earlier this decade.

Rocky didn't win his last fight either.

The Pats are still great, but they can be beat when it counts now. It wasn't always like that.

 

[HarkDawg]

I will be 23 on the 18th. I see where you are coming from. The movie was suppose to be a pick me up sort of thing.....

We expect the Pats to be godly...... back to the glory years. Brady did his job today and the offense did well as a whole. i do not want to play the blame game.....

Running was better than most ppl realize and it opened the passing game early on and Faulk was impressive on the ground as well.

It is time to move on.... that is all I mean.

 

[condon84]

How can you blame Maroney when he is getting hit in the backfield as soon as he gets the ball? Our Old cannot run block consistently anymore.

 

[HarkDawg]

I know you're young and may not have followed things closely a few years back, but the level of "clutchness" of the team from 2001-2004 was markedly different than that of 2005-current. Brady became a human in the playoffs with that INT to Champ Bailey in the end zone in 2005. They have had some brilliant stretches since then, but the O and D and ST units have not been able to bail each other out like they did earlier this decade.

Rocky didn't win his last fight either.

The Pats are still great, but they can be beat when it counts now. It wasn't always like that.

the pattern you made shows a relentless opposition team coming back (last 3 Pat Superbowl victories) I think that was you who made that claim?

 

[Patjew]

the pattern you made shows a relentless opposition team coming back (last 3 Pat Superbowl victories) I think that was you who made that claim?

I think that was someone else.

In the cases that perosn brought up, the Pats opponents did relentlessly fight back. But the Pats O or D always had enough to fight back against the relentless fight and make them... relent until the Pats won. It seems like they don't do that anymore.

 

[stcjones]

I feel the Pats did choke this one away and that there's no way this team lost this game 5 years ago.

I would love to disagree with this.....but it is what it is....Belichick's arrogance has resulted in horrible coaching decisions (go for it on 4th and 2 on YOUR OWN 28 against an offense that showed in the second half it could almost score at will......REALLY BILL?) and appointment of two lousy coordinators.....Now we are getting the reputation as chokers.....Taking a beating in the papers down here in s. florida.....Now the doofins think they are right back in the race......jeezus...give me a break

 

[stcjones]

And why was this a tight close game because we "choked" away a once-insurmountable lead. We didn't go toe-to-toe, we were beating them up and down the field for 46 minutes, but we couldn't put an end to them.

This game should have ended with us winning by at least 10 points, at least that's how it used to be.

very well said.....the "old" patriots didn't let up like that, or make dumb decisions and mistakes to keep them hanging around......BB going for the 1st from our 28......Brady and whoever the OC is.....going repeatedly with the Kevin Faulk draw.........Throwing deep on 1st down when our focus should be clock management.....Heck the Pats used to let the play clock wind down to 2 sec EVERY play in the 4th quarter....and had it timed perfectly....those teams 2001-2004 were very well coached......

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

Rocky didn't win his last fight either.

actually, if i remember correctly, he did.....in the alternate ending on disc 2

 

[captain insano]

Bill you really should have punted the ball instead. ( just a PUN on ur name)


Indy the best??? No. Cincy/Chargers/Patriots are better imo

we really screwed up tonight..... It was our game to lose and we did just that.

just say it. the pats choked .

 

[Snarf]

Bend don't break loses us another one

Can anyone explain why our successful, aggressive defense that we used in the first half turned into limp wrist "bend don't break" choke-a-rific Pees trademarked defensive fail?