The Pats had like four losses where they were leading in the fourth quarter and collapsed last year. That had to do with a lot of things that might be corrected this season (young players getting more experience, a healthy Brady and Moss, guys like Burgess now understanding the system, a more agressive defense, etc.).
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I just don't get the talk about our "Fourth Quarter Meltdowns" last year or "not being able to finish" last year.
Let's look at the games where we led going into the fourth quarter and lost (putting aside the Houston game because we were already in the playoffs, because it was the last game and because of the Welker injury).
@Jets and @Broncos. In each of those games we put up
no points in the entire second half. So, we didn't all of a sudden fall apart at the end of the game.
@Colts. Another game where we put up
no points in the Third Quarter (10 in the Fourth, after a great first half) and where Peyton caught on fire sometime late in the Third Quarter. We still almost won the game on "Fourth and Two." I attribute that loss to Manning and bad luck.
@Dolphins. This is the only game where we just seemed to fall apart at the end and I guess I could agree with you on it. But, still, it was the week after we were destroyed by the Saints, also on the road. Again, we only put up seven points in the third quarter and none in the fourth.
To me, the overlooked statistic is the difference between the first and second halves last year.
We outscored our opponents by 146 points in the first half (282--136) but were outscored by a point in the second half (146--145).
However, the D gave up virtually the same number of points in the first and second halves (136 vs. 145 over 16 games).
Now, here's how the offense scored by quarter last season:
First: 99 points
Second: 183 points
Third: 70 points
Fourth: 75 points.
To me, this isn't a matter of "melting down" or "not being able to finish," but part of a bigger problem where the Offense just didn't get the job done in the entire second half.
The D just couldn't sustain it's ability to offset that great a difference in offensive production between the first half and second half.
I'll grant that that indeed might have "felt like" we were melting down, but that's not what the numbers say was really going on.
If the Pats "couldn't finish" or "melted down," then the D would have done so as well, but the evidence is that it didn't.