3rd and 4... 2:30 remaining...

[cstjohn17]

Call this therapy but I still can't get this play out of my head... as bad as the team played, and it was bad, worst half of football in years, they could have won the game on this play.

The 5 yard penalty made it difficult but on the 3rd and 4 and am still surprised we didn't run the ball on this play. Call it Marty Ball but we would have forced the Colts to use their final timeout or allow the clock to tick to the 2 minute warning before punting... a 2-3 yard gain on 3rd down would have setup the possibility of a 4th and short, faced with a 4th and 1 it would have been really tempting to go for it knowing a first down would seal the victory... 4 and 4 was too much of a gamble...

Still bugs me..

Time to move on, the team over achieved in my opinion. AFC final is a solid showing, time to start reading about the draft...

New England - 3:22
1st-10, NE40 3:22 NE committed 5 yard penalty
1st-15, NE35 3:22 T. Brady passed to R. Caldwell to the right for 7 yard gain
2nd-8, NE42 2:39 T. Brady passed to B. Watson to the left for 4 yard gain
3rd-4, NE46 2:30 T. Brady incomplete pass to the right
4th-4, NE46 2:17 T. Sauerbrun punt, touchback

 

[Oswlek]

Call this therapy but I still can't get this play out of my head... as bad as the team played, and it was bad, worst half of football in years, they could have won the game on this play.

The 5 yard penalty made it difficult but on the 3rd and 4 and am still surprised we didn't run the ball on this play. Call it Marty Ball but we would have forced the Colts to use their final timeout or allow the clock to tick to the 2 minute warning before punting... a 2-3 yard gain on 3rd down would have setup the possibility of a 4th and short, faced with a 4th and 1 it would have been really tempting to go for it knowing a first down would seal the victory... 4 and 4 was too much of a gamble...

Still bugs me..

Time to move on, the team over achieved in my opinion. AFC final is a solid showing, time to start reading about the draft...

New England - 3:22
1st-10, NE40 3:22 NE committed 5 yard penalty
1st-15, NE35 3:22 T. Brady passed to R. Caldwell to the right for 7 yard gain
2nd-8, NE42 2:39 T. Brady passed to B. Watson to the left for 4 yard gain
3rd-4, NE46 2:30 T. Brady incomplete pass to the right
4th-4, NE46 2:17 T. Sauerbrun punt, touchback

Based on health and production, about the only back that could have run with the ball was Heath Evans.

If Faulk were healthy he would have made a big difference on that drive and on the final one. But I could say the same damn thing about a dozen other guys.

When will the madness that is NE Patriot injuries cease?

 

[Brownfan80]

Based on health and production, about the only back that could have run with the ball was Heath Evans.

If Faulk were healthy he would have made a big difference on that drive and on the final one. But I could say the same damn thing about a dozen other guys.

When will the madness that is NE Patriot injuries cease?

That frickin' flu is as much to blame for the loss as are the Patriots mistakes and the Colts playing lights out in the second half.

Half the guys that we normally depend on to make plays were nowhere to be seen, either out with cramps or other flu related type things. You'd want to say that the cramps could come from hydration or the heat, but I'd like to think that our guys know a thing or two about hydration. And weather conditions don't usually get the best of our guys, especially in a damn dome!

Frickin' flu.

 

[Siddiqi]

Even if we run it and get no gain, it would have been a good play, we stopped the clock for no reason and helped the colts. The touchback also bothers me, this is where we really miss Josh Miller because he would have pinned the colts deep in their own territory instead of getting a touchback.

 

[Brownfan80]

The play call and the setup was horrible. Why put your QB in the shotgun in that situation? Doing that takes the guesswork out of the minds of the defense and they know a pass is coming, and they can set their defense accordingly. McDaniels took half of the options out of the hands of Brady and gave all of the options to the Colt defense.

Going under center makes the defense think, is it a pass, is it a run, is it PA, could it be a rollout, anything at all..but in that damned shotgun in a crucial situation like that, McDaniels really showed his ignorance at play calling.

May as well have written an invitation to the Colts defense... Hey guys, we are gonna pass.

McDaniels has to go, plain and simple.

4 freakin yards Josh, 4 yards and the game is history in our favor. You piece of crap Josh, snot nosed little twerp.
And, Josh, Im gonna email you and let you know what I, and a lot of others, think of you. Stinking little crud.

Now, I'm done.

We'd run several draws and quick handoffs from that formation, so I'm not sure it took ALL the guesswork out of the defense, but yeah, that third and four play was horrid. Just... not what you'd want.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

I know this is going to sound like blatent hindsight and almost insane, but given the way the game was going, I thought you could make an argument we were in 4 down territory there.

I honestly believed, and continue to believe, that trying to get those 4 yards in 2 downs was our best chance of winning. We weren't going to stop the colts on the last drive. We were absolutely gassed, and they would have had 4 downs to get 10 yards until they got in field goal range anyway.

Even if you don't convert on 4th down, the short field just seemed like no big deal. If anything, they might have scored more quickly and given us the ball back. I had no doubt that if we didn't make that 1st down, that they would be right back in that spot within seconds.

 

[ATippett56]

The 5 yard penalty made it difficult but on the 3rd and 4 and am still surprised we didn't run the ball on this play.

Heath Evans is worthless and I hope that clown will not be on the Patriots roster in 2007.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Even if we run it and get no gain, it would have been a good play, we stopped the clock for no reason and helped the colts. The touchback also bothers me, this is where we really miss Josh Miller because he would have pinned the colts deep in their own territory instead of getting a touchback.

I don't know how much a run would have done with the clock. I think it would have just made a difference of 10 or 15 seconds since the 2 minute warning was coming anyway.

 

[BlitzFritz]

I know this is going to sound like blatent hindsight and almost insane, but given the way the game was going, I thought you could make an argument we were in 4 down territory there.

I honestly believed, and continue to believe, that trying to get those 4 yards in 2 downs was our best chance of winning. We weren't going to stop the colts on the last drive. We were absolutely gassed, and they would have had 4 downs to get 10 yards until they got in field goal range anyway.

Even if you don't convert on 4th down, the short field just seemed like no big deal. If anything, they might have scored more quickly and given us the ball back. I had no doubt that if we didn't make that 1st down, that they would be right back in that spot within seconds.

I was thinking the same way abou this all day.

 

[Brownfan80]

They really dont look deep enough to see that, for the most part, from the latter stages of the 2nd quarter, till the end of the game, it was absolutely pitiful....totally horrid.

The offense came up short. But so did the defense. I doubt Pees or McDaniels or the players for each coordinator are very happy about their units performances in the second half.


The team caved, it wasn't just the offense.

At the end of the first half and start of the second half the defense was on the field for nearly 30 straight plays. That was their own fault for not getting off the field. The offense didn't help when they went three and out the first time they got the ball back, but the defense let them sit so long that their rythm was gone. The defense had as much to do with this loss as the offense, if not more. They gutted it out, but just came up short. It's a rough one.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Stan, I agree with you totally.

1) NEM -- you're one of my favorites.

2) You're confusing me with the other AZ pats fan!

Do you still agree with me?

 

[Lansdowne]

I thought that illegal contact penalty on Troy Brown when Ben Watson got the first down was huge.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

I was thinking the same way abou this all day.

The one other thing about this is that if we had made it on 4th down, the game would have been over. It would have been the 2 minute warning, and they would have been out of time outs. If we had made it on 3d down, they still could have gotten the ball back with 15 to 30 seconds left.

Actually what I was thinking during the game was to run on 3d down and, if we had a fake punt, do that on 4th.