Curran: Patriots have cut cord to past

[DaBruinz]

Curran: Patriots have cut cord to past

pretty decent

I have to say that is one of the better articles that Curran has written in quite some time..

 

[Uncle Rico]

That article should be mandatory reading for all national media whose job is to talk about the Patriots or cover a Patriots game.


The comparisons to The Dynasty (Pt 1!) will always be there, because those are such good reference points and memories. Kind of in the way Brady will always be compared to Montana, or Manning to Marino. But that doesn't keep them from establishing their own identity as well. This group is well on its way.

 

[shmessy]

Curran from his column: "The Patriots haven't played this far over their heads since 2001 yet few people seem to be getting how much they've accomplished."

I swear, I'm not Tom Curran, but am glad he has come around to realize what many of us stated 4 weeks ago.

Pardon me if I'm more than a little chafed by the second part of his sentence there - - as if he has bravely stumbled upon it before it was common knowledge (at least on this board - - maybe that's the "few people" he attributes).

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...23-team-playing-waaaayyyyy-over-its-head.html

 

[patfanken]

Tommy has NAILED it. It was an article I wish I had the insight to write. He couldn't be more right. If you just step back and think who is out there on the field on game day, it boggles the mind.

Think about it, especially the defense. Granted they are all better athletes than what was there in the recent past, BUT, so many key players haven't even seen their THIRD season.

Brace, Deadrick, Pryor, Cunningham, Spkes, Fletcher, McCourty, Chung, Butler, Brown, That's a lot of guys who are getting regular play in various sub packages, not just the "four starters".

Even when you go on offense you see the imprint of the THIS incarnation of the Patriots.

Volmer, Edelman, Tate, Woodhead, Hernandez, Gronk. Not as many but a significant chunk of players

8-2, with all this inexperience is a testament to BB and is STAFF's coaching. It may be all smoke and mirrors so far, but at some point its going to gel, and then it WILL be something to see.

 

[shmessy]

Tommy has NAILED it. It was an article I wish I had the insight to write. He couldn't be more right. If you just step back and think who is out there on the field on game day, it boggles the mind.

Think about it, especially the defense. Granted they are all better athletes than what was there in the recent past, BUT, so many key players haven't even seen their THIRD season.

Brace, Deadrick, Pryor, Cunningham, Spkes, Fletcher, McCourty, Chung, Butler, Brown, That's a lot of guys who are getting regular play in various sub packages, not just the "four starters".

Even when you go on offense you see the imprint of the THIS incarnation of the Patriots.

Volmer, Edelman, Tate, Woodhead, Hernandez, Gronk. Not as many but a significant chunk of players

8-2, with all this inexperience is a testament to BB and is STAFF's coaching. It may be all smoke and mirrors so far, but at some point its going to gel, and then it WILL be something to see.

I'm sorry, Ken, but everything in that Curran column was written right here on this board 29 days ago. (see the previous post with link).

Meanwhile, that last week in October at that VERY time, while we were noting what he's now seeing, Curran was writing pieces like this:

http://www.necn.com/10/27/10/Vikes-...anding_sports.html?blockID=340355&feedID=3352

"For now, though, know that Moss is making a difference in the film room according to Childress who confirmed that Moss is giving a tutorial in all things Patriots this week.

"He’s very articulate," said Childress. "He spent time with our coaches yesterday and did a great job with both our offense and defensive coaches."

Childress went on to say that, "He did a good job. You never know what you’re going to get and how they have to play him. He at least had some insightfulness on both sides."

Clearly, Childress is going for his "Candor" merit badge this week. And it's growing on me."



Good for Curran coming around eventually, however, and is appreciating what a real HC can do.

 

[ewg_gestalt]

Yes Tommy C, this offense should have been able to close out a game in the 4th qtr against a small and quite average Indy Colt D. But they couldn't do it and that needs to be analyzed and then corrected. It is troubling how they refused to exploit the obvious physical mismatch they had at TE against the Colts. They took bullets out of their own gun and made their own offense weaker and more predictable.
Sorry Tom but this Patriot O doesn't get nor do they deserve the free pass the D does.

The ability to exploit the TEs in the passing game depends critically on the ability of the OL to handle the pass rush without the assistance of the TEs as blockers. In games where the Patriots didn't fear the pass rush, you see more Hernandez and less Crumpler, while Gronkowski can stay in for both aspects of the game.

Against the Colts, Belichick must have felt that having the extra blocking support, for the pass rush and the running game, was more important than exploiting the tight end matchup. Having Gronk downfield means one less blocker who can stop a Mathis or Freeney from sacking Brady. Switching Crumpler out for Hernandez yields exactly the same result. The fact that Gronk only had one reception, and that one early, meant that BB or BO'B probably saw something they didn't like, and decided to nip any danger in the bud by committing Gronk to blocking the rest of the game. Also, the fact that three of the four touchdowns were scored from outside the red zone meant that most of the normal opportunities to exploit the TE's size—namely, on red zone offense—just weren't there.

It would have been nice to see a few more plays involving the TEs, but I think there was sufficient reason for them not to do so.

If you want to criticize them for running multiple times at the start of a possession when the goal is just to a single frakkin' first down, I'm with you there. If you want to criticize the spread offense with five receivers, I'll join that chorus. But the TE issue? It's a harder sell, I think.

 

[apple strudel]

People are missing the boat on just how remarkable this season has been so far.

Patsfans.com is missing the boat on just how remarkable this season has been so far.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Patsfans.com is missing the boat on just how remarkable this season has been so far.

No kidding.

My gut feeling is that some folks are just remembering how glitzy 2007 was and not how ugly the games were in 01, 03 and 04....

FWIW, in 01 when the Pats played the Rams in foxboro, Kurt warner had 396 yards passing. It happens.

 

[shmessy]

Patsfans.com is missing the boat on just how remarkable this season has been so far.

Posts #23 and #25 in this thread.

Regarding 29 days ago!!!!!!!!!

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...23-team-playing-waaaayyyyy-over-its-head.html

Is this microphone not working???????????????????????????

Clear proof that the majority of this board was 29 days AHEAD of Curran. But yes, we take all kinds here.

 

[Garbanza]

very nice article. appreciate what you see. Sigh.....I need to do more of that.

 

[reflexblue]

Curran hit the nail on the head, who would have thought the Pats would be in this position back in the summer, i know i didn't. But I (along with most others) have come to expect more now that they've come this far, which is out of perspective. I never thought this would be a potential Super Bowl team when this season started. i've fallen into the trap of expecting them to win every game, and if they stumble i get a little upset when i don't have a right to. (given the make up of the team). I don't fault the players though, Sunday in the fourth quarter the offense became Vanella, and to me that allowed Manning to come back. Thats a recipe for losing, and the staff owe's it to this group of players to do the best job they can.

 

[IllegalContact]

Curran hit the nail on the head, who would have thought the Pats would be in this position back in the summer, i know i didn't. But I (along with most others) have come to expect more now that they've come this far, which is out of perspective. I never thought this would be a potential Super Bowl team when this season started. i've fallen into the trap of expecting them to win every game, and if they stumble i get a little upset when i don't have a right to. (given the make up of the team). I don't fault the players though, Sunday in the fourth quarter the offense became Vanella, and to me that allowed Manning to come back. Thats a recipe for losing, and the staff owe's it to this group of players to do the best job they can.

I see it a bit different....I thought they beat up on the colts by simply playing vanilla in the first half........so much so, that I would have continued to do the exact same things in the 2nd half until Indy could have proved they could stop something. The pats ran their zero set 46 of 60 offensive plays in the game (2 TE set) of the 14 plays they didn't 4 came in the first half and 10 came in the 2nd half. It just seems they went away from what was working really well

 

[sarge]

man, some fans on this board should read this

When the Patriots are an unlikeable and underachieving team -- and they were both those things in 2009 -- it's easy to point that out. But right now they're overachieving.

Yet the demand for "more" seems stronger than appreciation for what they're doing.

 

[PatsFanStnfrd]

The reasons why there is not much greater appreciation of where the Patriots have achieved so far are:
1) everyone recognizes the Pats are playing way above their heads - with or without Moss
2) everyone is holding their breath for the collapse they expect to arrive any day now (shades of Cleveland)
3) everyone is afraid to believe because they might jinx the team
4) everyone delights in being MMQB -- criticizing some shortcoming or another
5) everyone in the media has a vested interest in reinforcing points 1 to 4 above

So, the echo chamber reverberates.

Until they see how the season ends.

 

[Deus Irae]

man, some fans on this board should read this

Yet the demand for "more" seems stronger than appreciation for what they're doing.

Welcome to modern U.S.A.. That's true in almost every field.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

The reasons why there is not much greater appreciation of where the Patriots have achieved so far are:
1) everyone recognizes the Pats are playing way above their heads - with or without Moss
2) everyone is holding their breath for the collapse they expect to arrive any day now (shades of Cleveland)
3) everyone is afraid to believe because they might jinx the team
4) everyone delights in being MMQB -- criticizing some shortcoming or another
5) everyone in the media has a vested interest in reinforcing points 1 to 4 above

So, the echo chamber reverberates.

Until they see how the season ends.

2010 has benn dominated by two themes:

From a "situational football" perspective, this team has been much, much better than the hard core stat perspective. In today's fantasy football perspective, stats are all the rage.

There is so mediot material out there and how can they know 32 teams? That's why Tom Waddell is still employed at NFLN when two weeks ago he couldn't imagine how the dink and dunk Pats could score on the Steelers.

We also need situational awareness. Do you realize our biggest problem is learning to play with a big lead in the 4th qtr? Of all the problems in the pigskin universe, that's about the best problem to have thrust upon you.

 

[ATippett56]

The New England Patriots fan base have been spoiled by three Super Bowl victories in four years. The perceived expectation is the gold standard every year.

The reality:

Look at the youth on their defense and at all those skill positions because of bad drafts from 2006 to 2008.

Aside from Mayo, the 2008 NFL Draft for the Patriots looks worse and worse with of release of Wheatley and Crable this season. The 2006 NFL Draft for the Patriots speaks for itself.

The reality:

Poor free agent acquisitions and trades that include Adalius Thomas, Shawn Springs, Derrick Burgess, Joey Galloway.

Holy crap, they've beaten Baltimore in OT a week after trading Randy Moss, San Diego on the road, Miami on the road, Pittsburgh on the road and the Colts and Vikings at home with THESE guys?

It seemed that Moss was to be a distraction in the locker room for the remainder of the 2010 season. Belichick did not desire a potential divided locker room scenario brewing.

The bottom line:

This is Belichick's best coaching year EVER!

 

[RhodyPatriot]

The ability to exploit the TEs in the passing game depends critically on the ability of the OL to handle the pass rush without the assistance of the TEs as blockers. In games where the Patriots didn't fear the pass rush, you see more Hernandez and less Crumpler, while Gronkowski can stay in for both aspects of the game.

Against the Colts, Belichick must have felt that having the extra blocking support, for the pass rush and the running game, was more important than exploiting the tight end matchup. Having Gronk downfield means one less blocker who can stop a Mathis or Freeney from sacking Brady. Switching Crumpler out for Hernandez yields exactly the same result. The fact that Gronk only had one reception, and that one early, meant that BB or BO'B probably saw something they didn't like, and decided to nip any danger in the bud by committing Gronk to blocking the rest of the game. Also, the fact that three of the four touchdowns were scored from outside the red zone meant that most of the normal opportunities to exploit the TE's size—namely, on red zone offense—just weren't there.It would have been nice to see a few more plays involving the TEs, but I think there was sufficient reason for them not to do so.

If you want to criticize them for running multiple times at the start of a possession when the goal is just to a single frakkin' first down, I'm with you there. If you want to criticize the spread offense with five receivers, I'll join that chorus. But the TE issue? It's a harder sell, I think.

Welcome to situational coaching and how the Patriots ignored the teaching of their own HC.
It's interesting how you mentioned the lack of red zone chances as the reason why the TE's weren't involved in the pass game.
The Colts D saw those 4th qtr possessions by the Patriots as red zone football, they needed to stop the Pats from going 10 yds and getting a 1st down and that's exactly how they played it.
They compressed their D at the line to stuff the run and went man to man with their D smurfs DB's on our O smurf WR's.
And guess what??
The Patriots NEVER adjusted to what the Colts were doing on defense in those possessions.
The Colts are jamming the line, playing man on our small WR's and we don't need a 6' 6" TE in our pass game at that point??
Are you kidding me?
If there were ever a time in that game that screamed out for those big tall pass catching TE's it was in those 4th qtr possessions when the Colts D was in a red zone mode and the Pats did nothing to counter it/exploit it.
Situational football and Bill O'Brien and this O flunked and flunked badly in the 4th qtr.
Thankfully Peyton Manning bailed them out with a terrible INT.
It NEVER should have come to that
And you know who agrees with me?? Tom Brady.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Best.
Patriots.
Football.
Article.
This.
Year.


hammer hits nail, solidly

 

[reflexblue]

I see it a bit different....I thought they beat up on the colts by simply playing vanilla in the first half........so much so, that I would have continued to do the exact same things in the 2nd half until Indy could have proved they could stop something. The pats ran their zero set 46 of 60 offensive plays in the game (2 TE set) of the 14 plays they didn't 4 came in the first half and 10 came in the 2nd half. It just seems they went away from what was working really well

I should have said conservative. As i said in the game day thread they played not to lose on both sides of the ball. But i can understand the Defense giving up points, after all its Payton Manning. But i have a problem with the offensive play calling in the fourth quarter. They had two possessions after the 8 minute mark and made one first down, Indys defense isn't THAT good. If they made a few first downs manning wouldn't have had a chance to come back.