Major lost leads = blame goes to defense

[supafly]

In other words, We do have some things to be happy about on offense. Brady threw another 300-350 game, connected on several deep throws. Welker was his usual self, Moss caught a deep ball. Aiken even looked good at times, same with Maroney. The O-line was sufficient, Faulk looked like himself.

What do you have to be happy about on D?

The run game? The short passing game? 3rd downs through the air? Were you impressed with the pressure on the QB? Tight coverage? Confusing Henne?

The only thing that really stuck out to me was the ability to tip a couple balls.

 

[WelshPat]

The defense was far from good today but come on man. They outright stopped the Fins multiple times in that 4th quarter and our offense did NOTHING to help them out. That is a crucial time when you don't necessarily need points, but at least get a few first downs and run some clock, let them REST.

This is not a dominant defense and it needs work yes. But look at the talent we have on offense, they are a far bigger disappointment when they do NEXT TO NOTHING in the 2nd half in every loss. You keep putting the defense on the field time after time, they are going to give up points.

Couldn't have said it better.

 

[zeke mowatt]

Personaly, I'm MUCH more dissapointed in the offense. I pretty much expected the defense to be below average this year given all the young players/loss of vets. Figured brady and the rest would carry the D this season. Not happenning.

I expected he offense to shake the rust off and be hitting on all cylinders by now.

 

[DougFlutie]

In other words, We do have some things to be happy about on offense. Brady threw another 300-350 game, connected on several deep throws. Welker was his usual self, Moss caught a deep ball. Aiken even looked good at times, same with Maroney. The O-line was sufficient, Faulk looked like himself.

So what if Brady had 350 yards.
The fact this offense couldn't anything in the 2nd half, lost this game. The defense held up its bargain in the 2nd half, you can't prevent a field goal all 2nd half.

 

[crowell33]

In other words, We do have some things to be happy about on offense. Brady threw another 300-350 game, connected on several deep throws. Welker was his usual self, Moss caught a deep ball. Aiken even looked good at times, same with Maroney. The O-line was sufficient, Faulk looked like himself.

What do you have to be happy about on D?

The run game? The short passing game? 3rd downs through the air? Were you impressed with the pressure on the QB? Tight coverage? Confusing Henne?

The only thing that really stuck out to me was the ability to tip a couple balls.

The offense has averaged 19 points the last 2 weeks. Not enough. Brady threw 2 passes to the wrong team in the second half and we turned it over on downs on 4th and inches inside the 10. The previous 3 weeks in a row Maroney coughed it up to the other team. Total yards? How about total points instead. ( All due respect )

 

[mayoclinic]

We've now blown leads of :

10 to DEN
17 to IND
14 to MIA

Add in the 24 pt lead to the NYJ, which was shaved to 10 a few weeks ago, and I see major blame on the defense. It is an absolute sieve. I don't see how anyone can think we have the players this yr on defense to really compete.

No way you can blame the offense, IMO. At least they do their job by getting points on the board. Even when it was 24-17 last week v. NO, the defense let them score 2 more long TD's.

What planet are you on?

1. Step 1: offense scores points. Pats get the lead.

2. Step 2: offense stops scoring points, blowing repeated red zone opportunities. Coaching staff repeated goes for it on 4th down despite the offense's recurrent inability to reliably make it, giving up points in the process.

3. Step 3: opposing team eventually scores enough points to come back and win.

And you conclude the defense is the obvious problem?

I'm sorry, but if we stop scoring points, eventually we'll allow anyone to come back.

17 2nd half points in 5 road losses this season. That's under 3.5 points average. That won't cut it against anyone.

 

[Satchboogie3]

If a QB were to throw for 500 yards and the team had 700 yards offense, but got zero points, would we really be arguing "oh, but they marched down the field...". The point is to SCORE points, not to get yards.

What I don't get is that week 2 they completely over-thought the offense with the hurry up, grease boards game plan. Although it didn't work, it was good to see them get creative. After that, though, it's been the most one-dimensional, predictable offenses I've ever seen.

 

[SoCal Pmen]

Offense and defense share the blame on this as does the coaching for lack of adjustments and no creativity on play calling. Throw in special teams for not having any type of a consistent return man since Ellis Hobbs was dealt away. There you have it folks...an average team.

 

[supafly]

Couldn't have said it better.

You do realize MIA has a tough defense, right?

We scored 21, and left at least 7-10 off the board. That's about 28-31 pts. I think everyone could agree we should've had at least 28. No one's going to give ANY credit to a sufficient MIA defense? They are 2nd in the whole NFL in sacks, can stop the run, etc. Other than leaving 7-10 off the board in any other game, this offense has a pretty high scoring average, and pretty much did today too. Even if they just kick the FG, that's still a 24 pt game. Everyone's going to be ripping on the offense for a 24 pt game?

Is MIA known for it's great offense, no. They have a pretty basic smashmouth style that should've been stopped better. This D is making poor/mediocre offenses look better than they should.

 

[letekro]

I watched the game from the endzone today. Both teams had receivers running free all day. The difference is, in the second half, the Dolphins managed to put a little pressure on Brady so he didn't have time to find the open man. The Patriots put Zero pressure on Henne at anytime in the game. Derrick Burgess played a miserable game. In this league, with the rules the way they are, an accurate QB is very likely to get a completion, defensive holding call or interference call on literally every play if there is no pressure - that's what we saw with Brees, and what we saw with Henne in the second half today. The offense is far from perfect, Brady is not what he was in 2007, and the play calling is uninspired, but that pass defense, and specifically that pass rush, is not good enough to consistently win against accurate QB's.

 

[DougFlutie]

If a QB were to throw for 500 yards and the team had 700 yards offense, but got zero points, would we really be arguing "oh, but they marched down the field...". The point is to SCORE points, not to get yards.

The thing is many fans will point to how the offense can't be at fault since they are so good at generating yards (in the 1st half).

 

[supafly]

What planet are you on?

1. Step 1: offense scores points. Pats get the lead.

2. Step 2: offense stops scoring points, blowing repeated red zone opportunities. Coaching staff repeated goes for it on 4th down despite the offense's recurrent inability to reliably make it, giving up points in the process.

3. Step 3: opposing team eventually scores enough points to come back and win.

And you conclude the defense is the obvious problem?

I'm sorry, but if we stop scoring points, eventually we'll allow anyone to come back.

17 2nd half points in 5 road losses this season. That's under 3.5 points average. That won't cut it against anyone.

The last sentence is important, and makes a lot of sense to your case.

My point is that besides a mistake or 2 on offense, are you really not going to expect some stops at times for Miami? If they kick the FG that's 24 pts they scored today + moved the ball all over the field at times.

Is the defense really impressing you? If we had any kind of defense at all, they'd have never let IND back into it, they'd never have blown leads of 17, 14, 10, etc. I agree that the offense needs more work, but in a game where you move the ball as well as today, what do you really want from them?

I can see if TB had a bad day, couldn't hit anyone. I'd agree if Moss couldn't get open like v. NYJ, or if Wes wasn't himself. I'd agree if Aiken didn't contribute, or if the o-line looked real bad. But that didn't happen today, at least not more than any other average game.

I respect your opinion, but in a short week where we didn't have as much time to prepare--I still think the offense did an alright job. It's the defense who is getting ripped apart, and doesn't provide too many good things.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The defense must take a share of the blame but, Bill O'Brien and Tom Brady are the main reason the Pats lost today.

Were they the guys who decided to not go for it on 4th and inches only to go for it on 4th and long in chipshot FG range...no, I didn't think so.

Were they the ones who allowed Miami to drive the field repeatedly in the second and fourth quarters converting on multiple 4th downs...no, I didn't think so.

This offense has no margin because of the defense in transition (no that the one that preceeded it wasn't worth replacing...). Unfortunately they don't have the weapons to deal with teams who even periodically succeed in taking away moss and welker. They cannot or willnot commit to running the ball either, and I think that is personnel related on a couple of levels and has been for three seasons now.

 

[DougFlutie]

This offense has no margin because of the defense in transition (no that the one that preceeded it wasn't worth replacing...). Unfortunately they don't have the weapons to deal with teams who even periodically succeed in taking away moss and welker.

You're blaming this on lack of offensive talent???

This offense had a huge margin to win this game, not a thin margin, had multiple opportunities.

The defense came up big in the 2nd half, you can't expect them to not give up a FG through nearly 2 quarters.

Crennel and Weiss had something like 20+ years of NFL experience before becoming coordinators. Pees came straight from college. O'Brien came straight from college. Neither did diddly while even in college, and yet they were given the keys to major units in the NFL.

These coordinators did not pay their due like others have done... and it shows.

 

[supafly]

The thing is many fans will point to how the offense can't be at fault since they are so good at generating yards (in the 1st half).

My point is that everyone contributed, and did it pretty well at times. When your QB does his job, the WR do their jobs, the O-line does their jobs, etc--what else did you want?

The game would've been won without the INT in the EZ, I understand. Or even with the FG, but do you really need to score 24 pts to get a win every time?

With the numbers thing, I am likening the argument to that of this example:

"TBC did great today, he had 2 1/2 sacks, did a great job of rushing the QB, etc. Butler had a couple of key passes defended, Bodden had an INT. McGowan made some real key hits, and caused a fumble. The D line was very productive, and AD looked a lot better too. Woods had 7 tackles, and a strip sack, etc----------but....we came up short"

That would prove at least the defense did their jobs, etc, but didn't get the breaks today. My point is that the offense may not have been what you wanted, but they didn't look as bad either. They were the ones who put up good numbers and had production but didnt get the breaks today.

 

[okterrific]

The people saying it's "on the offense", what they really mean is, we know the defense sucks so it's always up to the offense to score 30+ if they want to win. In the grand scheme of things, it's the defense.

 

[crowell33]

The people saying it's "on the offense", what they really mean is, we know the defense sucks so it's always up to the offense to score 30+ if they want to win. In the grand scheme of things, it's the defense.

Its the offense.

 

[DougFlutie]

You can't blame the defense for every loss just because the opposition scored more points in a loss.


This offense is like A-Rod before Kate Hudson.

 

[patsinthesnow]

It's obvious we must put in BJGE, Hoyer, and Nunn for the first quarter.

 

[DougFlutie]

My point is that everyone contributed, and did it pretty well at times. When your QB does his job, the WR do their jobs, the O-line does their jobs, etc--what else did you want?

Did they do their jobs in the 2nd half? Hardly.