One thing that bothered me about Last week's game

[Brady_to_Moss]

I am asking for 200+ against the Jests

 

[RobertWeathers]

Plus, I have it on good authority that Brady came over to the sidelines and said his bad shoulder was acting up, he was tired and bored, and he wanted out of the game.

Too funny......

 

[Potstickas]

Unless the Bills or whoever is complaining, takes out their starting QB and waves the white flag in essence, then all bets are off.

The eagles put up 28 points on the Giants in the last half of the 4th quarter. I wouldn't go all out (which the Pats did by going for the TD on 4th down ) but I wouldn't purposefully go 3 and out every series.

 

[Potstickas]

I am asking for 200+ against the Jests

l:rocker: A Team that talk as much as the Jets. They have to expect that they will get run up on. You put a huge target on your back. When the opponents got you bent over, you think they are going to give you any pity?

 

[patsfan13]

How many pts did the Bills score to come back against the Bengals? And Philly in the last 5 minutes against the giants?

"It ain't over till it's over"

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I'm pining for the day we put 100 up on some team. It'll never happen, but I can dream.

I honestly believe that IF they wanted to do so, they could have in the Tennessee game last year...

 

[BrainTrust66]

The fact is, haters gonna hate; For the Pats its a no-win situation. If they go for it on 4th down then they are running up the score. If they kick a field goal then they are running up the score. It drives me absolutly batty!

Then there's the matter of whether or not they are running it up because they are still passing. Again, this angers me. It's like the other team's fans want us to:

1. Punt on 4th down, regardless of where we are on the field - on their 5-yard line? Pats should punt so as not to hurt their opponent's sensibilities.
2. Run the ball up the middle/tell them what the play is going to be.

My baseball analogy is this - in baseball there's an unwritten rule about stealing bases when you have a big lead (not sure how big is big enough, though). Whitey Herzog would steal with most any lead and when asked about it he replied, "We'll stop stealing bases if you promise to stop scoring runs." The same rules apply here.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

We've all heard many times in the past that the Pats aren't trying to run up the score by going for it on 4th down up by a bunch. I believe that even BB's implied that its more of an insult to kick a FG rather than giving the other team a chance to stop them on 4th down.

That being the case I've always defended us when my friends (non-pats fans) claim we run up the score cuz we're arrogant pricks or whatnot. However, last week all those reasons flew out the window because:

Late 3rd Quarter we go for up on 4th and 9 deep in Buffalo territory. That seemed to go along with BB's philosophy of giving the defense a chance to stop us instead of taking the easy 3 points.

However, late in the 4th Q, with like 5 min left in the game, we decide to kick a FG. That pretty much meant we were running up the score. According to BB's philosphy, and according to my friends.

So, my question is, why did we kick that FG? With only a few minutes left in the game and up by so much? I had thought the Pats prided themselves on not "rubbing it in". Is it because we really hate the Bills? I would think we'd feel pity on them if anything. At Least I do lol.

Its not a big deal of course, but I thought I understood the whole reasoning about not really running up the score by going for it on 4th late in the game up by a bazillion and that by kicking a FG we would be insulting them. But Last weeks game turned that upside down, well unless we really were trying to run up the score.

I wondered about this as well. As you said not a big deal, but it is inconsistent with his previous behavior.

 

[Betterthanmost]

I don't want to be on some highlight reel of top 10 comebacks of all time. Put up 60 unless they pull their starters first

 

[asfpnepRefugee]

You're putting too much thought into this. Way too much thought.

This is the correct answer

 

[asfpnepRefugee]

The whole running up the score thing is a bunch of BS anyways. Anyone who whines about it is a loser.

I imagine the Giants wish they had run up the score more against the Eagles, no?

Unless the losing team wants to quit trying, there is no reason for the winning team to quit trying.

 

[nabwong]

What happens if we have 4th and 9th in the playoff? I bet BB was in "practice mode" at that point in the game.

 

[asfpnepRefugee]

What happens if we have 4th and 9th in the playoff? I bet BB was in "practice mode" at that point in the game.

What yard line were they on for that play anyways? IIRC weren't they in that zone where it kinda makes sense to go for it anyways on the notion that it'll be hard to pin the other team down deep w/ a punt but it's too long for a FG?

 

[jmt57]

A couple of things to consider when the Pats went for it on 4th & 9:

• They were on the Buffalo 33 yard line. That's kind of a no-man's land on the football field; too long for a FG outdoors in cold weather (would be 50-51 yards) and too close for a punt (only going to gain 13-25 yards of field position). In that area of the field the correct call is to go for it.
  
  
• There was still more than 1/3 of the game left to play! Yes the Pats were up 31-3, but with more than 21 minutes left in the game there is plenty of time for an opponent to make a comeback.

In addition, why risk a big momentum shifting play such as a blocked punt?

One other thing to consider: every week when reading the 'keys to the game' for an opponent, I keep seeing for the opposition to win they need to keep the Pats offense off the field. In a situation such as this one, the same is true with the Pats defense and the opposing offense; what you want to do is keep the ball out of their hands and run the clock down. With that in mind, why not go for it on 4th down at the 33?



As for the last field goal, I think opposing fans are going to complain no matter what the choice is. If the Pats go for it (it was 4th & 6 on the Buffalo 8) then you're going to hear far more whining about running up the score than with the previous play. Choose to kick the field goal and those very same people are complaining about the same thing.

Forgotten in the discussion is that there was still eleven minutes left in the game, so even if Buffalo does get some long plays on offense, a turnover run back for a TD, maybe a blocked punt returned for a TD, an onside kick or two, those three extra points now mean that even with four touchdowns the Bills no longer take the lead or tie the score. As pointed out previously it's not as if that kind of comeback has never happened in the NFL.

In addition, in the first scenario (4th & 9 at the 33) if the Pats get a first down they have an opportunity to take more time of the clock with a first down. In the second scenario (4th & 6 on the 8) there is very little chance that they would get a fresh set of downs in order to run more time off the clock; it's either going to be a touchdown or turn the ball over on downs.

 

[GrogansArmy]

I wondered about this as well. As you said not a big deal, but it is inconsistent with his previous behavior.

^This.

I get the reasoning behind going for it and kicking the FG. In the past, however, or at least since 2007 that I can recall, we've almost always went for it late in the game up by so many. Why the change this time.

 

[BrainTrust66]

^This.

I get the reasoning behind going for it and kicking the FG. In the past, however, or at least since 2007 that I can recall, we've almost always went for it late in the game up by so many. Why the change this time.

I agree with some of the other posters - let's give Graham and the kicking unit some extra practice. It's not like they've all been working together for that long. It wasn't a pressure situation but it was a cold weather event.

 

[letekro]

How lucky are we that our team has been so dominant over the past decade that people are actually convinced that there is such a thing as "running up the score" in professional sports? Think about that. I had NEVER in my life heard that concept applied to professional sports until 2007. I had heard it applied in little league. I had even heard it applied in college football, when Houston tried to put 100 on an SMU team who didn't have a football program the year before. The competitive imbalance and fragile amateur egos that justify the anti-running up the score philosophy simply did not exist at the professional level before the Patriots started pounding people.

 

[Its_The_Patriots]

The only thing that bothered me about last weeks game, is that I didn't get to see it. I was not a happy camper, but it is what it is....