Unfortunately, that is exactly what I mean.
The defense played very well indeed. They have exceeded all expectation throughout the season as well as yesterday. The defense is the youngest in the nfl and will continue to improve. Belichick did a truly amazing job with this patchwork of youngsters, three bowl level vets, some guys of the street and few OK vets. Belichick deserves to be DC of the year.
Going into the game, we were not heavily favored because our defense could play like a top 15 defense (which they did). We were favored because we had the best offense in the nfl. Unfortunatley, we need to build a top 5 defense. For the patriots, the top offense plus an average defense is just not enough to get the job done. The defense must be able to win games. The offense CANNOT be routinely counted on, and apparently not in a clutch situations.
How serious is the situation. Well, we were reduced to fake punts and onside kicks to try to make up for the ineptness of the offense. Brady had forever to pass. If anyone were told Saturday how much time Brady would have, the would have taken the over and bet on the patriots.
The long drive by the patriots at the end of the game (that handed the game to the jets) was truly pathetic. There is no way that it made sense that Brady shouldn't be taking some chances in that situation. This was the time to put the team on his back and FINISH. Instead of trying to take what we needed, we accepted what was given. Perhaps someday we will find out what happened. There are a dozen other teams who would have put more faith in their quarterback than we did. Maybe Brady was injured. Maybe he was afraid to be hit again and again. Maybe we really need a better OC. How can a 14-2 team with the best offense in league lack confidence?
Drafting and securing players to be able to play against the jets' scheme is simply not enough, The jets (or someone else) will simply have another scheme next time.
I agree with this assessment 100%, except to point out that what hindered our offense and helped this particular Jets scheme to succeed was that we have very limited big-play, quick score capability right now. Adding some of that back in to both the running and passing games would certainly help.
[So, I guess that means I actually agree with your assessment, like, 95%? ]