Yeah the defense really sucks but... they come through in clutch moments

[PatriotSeven]

...they are one clutch bastard. Sterling Moore last year and McCourtey this year. Just wanted to give credit where credit is due. That's all. I know, I know but this has to give them at least a little bit of confidence.

I was almost 100% sure we would lose the game and the man saved the day. So I'm going to say it. Thank you so damn much and thank ******* God!

P: Sorry Tim.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Not to pick on McCourty,but INTs like that are about as easy as they come,all he had to do was stand and jump for that ball which headed right to him,he handed it well but it wasn't a tough pick,Fitz practically gifted the game away.

That catch was easier than Asante's attempted failed game clinching catch in the SB and James Sanders catch against Peyton Manning at Gillette 2 years ago.

 

[Arrington Planet]

May I remind you how the Super Bowl ended? Or the Ravens and Seahawks games this season...

I'm more grateful to Fitzpatrick for that horrible decision.

 

[PatriotSeven]

May I remind you how the Super Bowl ended? Or the Ravens and Seahawks games this season...

I'm more grateful to Fitzpatrick for that horrible decision.

They can't go back and fix that. It's in the past. All they can do is try and play better and make the big play when we need it. I'm sorry, but as a defender, it just doesn't get more clutch than the one against the Ravens and the one yesterday.

Besides, we wouldn't even have been in the Superbowl if not for another clutch play similar to the one from yesterday. Our D were a bunch of overachievers last year.

Again, just giving credit where credit is due. He deserves it.

Edit: And let me just add, that I truly believe games like this will actually help us if we do ever find ourselves in a similar situation in the big game. It seems our team was so used to cruising past everyone in the regular season that when we found ourselves in an ugly dog fight, we were sure to lose it. This year we lost some heart breakers and we won some tight ones. Liked that our guys always seemed to have stepped up, and going back to the Arizona loss, it was the D that stepped up big in that one as well. And they actually did it twice yesterday with the other stop on the goal line. This type of win builds confidence for those types of situations. Takes pressure off of Tom too if he knows that there's still a chance our D could stop someone if he fails to close out a game. Might actually lead to him playing a bit more relaxed late in the game and put it away.

 

[BradyBranch39]

I'm really jealous of the Texans. They took a defense exactly like ours, hired Wade Phillips, and now it's top-5.

 

[Arrington Planet]

They can't go back and fix that. It's in the past. All they can do is try and play better and make the big play when we need it. I'm sorry, but as a defender, it just doesn't get more clutch than the one against the Ravens and the one yesterday.

Besides, we wouldn't even have been in the Superbowl if not for another clutch play similar to the one from yesterday. Our D were a bunch of overachievers last year.

Again, just giving credit where credit is due. He deserves it.

I don't think it was even close. That Moore deflection was a great (and miraculous) play from an otherwise really bad player. Today it was just a really bad decision from Fitzpatrick that resulted in an easy pick.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Hard to give the defense credit for Billy Cundiff ****ing the bed. They let the Ravens walk right down the field. And the Giants. You can make the argument that they were clutch in 2010 and they did have a great 2nd half of that season but the last 2 years has been a disaster all around. They suck right now, lots of work to do if this team is going to be a serious contender

 

[PatriotSeven]

Hard to give the defense credit for Billy Cundiff ****ing the bed. They let the Ravens walk right down the field. And the Giants. You can make the argument that they were clutch in 2010 and they did have a great 2nd half of that season but the last 2 years has been a disaster all around. They suck right now, lots of work to do if this team is going to be a serious contender

The strip in the end zone before by Sterling Moore? They let them walk down the field but they didn't let them score the touchdown. I'll take that every single Sunday. I could care less how many yards they give up.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Hard to give the defense credit for Billy Cundiff ****ing the bed. They let the Ravens walk right down the field. And the Giants. You can make the argument that they were clutch in 2010 and they did have a great 2nd half of that season but the last 2 years has been a disaster all around. They suck right now, lots of work to do if this team is going to be a serious contender

Talib has to be a surprising pro bowler type shutdown CB within 2 months if this team is to get back to the SB and win it this time.

I didn't think this years secondary would be anywhere near as bad as 2011,I may be wrong.

Brady can't do it on his own anymore,I think we can clearly see that it will gradually affect him if he has to carry the team on his aging shoulders again.....it's getting ridiculous that the offense scores and then the defense gives the score right back to the opposition.....3 and outs from the defense have become way too rare in NE

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The strip in the end zone before by Sterling Moore? They let them walk down the field but they didn't let them score the touchdown. I'll take that every single Sunday. I could care less how many yards they give up.

How is forcing one incomplete pass considered clutch? It was one great play by one player, but in that situation Bmore got the ball in their territory, we are protecting a 3 point lead and we should have blown the lead, game should have gone into OT instead of us stopping them and at least forcing a long FG. That's not clutch, and like Arrington Planet pointed out the D has already blown 3 leads in final minutes this year. They came up big against the Jets and Bills, lost the other 3 close games. 2 out of the last 7 does not = clutch.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Talib has to be a surprising pro bowler type shutdown CB within 2 months if this team is to get back to the SB and win it this time.

I didn't think this years secondary would be anywhere near as bad as 2011,I may be wrong.

Brady can't do it on his own anymore,I think we can clearly see that it will gradually affect him if he has to carry the team on his aging shoulders again.....it's getting ridiculous that the offense scores and then the defense gives the score right back to the opposition.....3 and outs from the defense have become way too rare in NE

Yeah he'll have to be good, maybe not shutdown but he and Dennard need to be like Asante and Randall Gay in '04. McCourty could be a great FS for us IMO and Tavon/Gregory could be solid. They keys are Dennard, Talib, and Cole as nickel though they all need to step up or we're going to go nowhere.

 

[PatriotSeven]

How is forcing one incomplete pass considered clutch? It was one great play by one player, but in that situation Bmore got the ball in their territory, we are protecting a 3 point lead and we should have blown the lead, game should have gone into OT instead of us stopping them and at least forcing a long FG. That's not clutch, and like Arrington Planet pointed out the D has already blown 3 leads in final minutes this year. They came up big against the Jets and Bills, lost the other 3 close games. 2 out of the last 7 does not = clutch.

Ok, well, I think you are the only person on the planet that doesn't understand why that was a clutch defensive play.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Ok, well, I think you are the only person on the planet that doesn't understand why that was a clutch defensive play.

And you're the only person that doesn't realize teams have 4 downs to move the ball not just one, which Baltimore used to move the ball 60 or 70 yards against a "clutch" defense.

 

[Arrington Planet]

How is forcing one incomplete pass considered clutch? It was one great play by one player, but in that situation Bmore got the ball in their territory, we are protecting a 3 point lead and we should have blown the lead, game should have gone into OT instead of us stopping them and at least forcing a long FG. That's not clutch, and like Arrington Planet pointed out the D has already blown 3 leads in final minutes this year. They came up big against the Jets and Bills, lost the other 3 close games. 2 out of the last 7 does not = clutch.

Technically, they also blew up the Jets game, with one minute left New England were down by three. Just, Brady came to the rescue. (Yes, they stepped up in overtime, but still.)

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Technically, they also blew up the Jets game, with one minute left New England were down by three. Just, Brady came to the rescue. (Yes, they stepped up in overtime, but still.)

That's true, and if Kerley ( or whatever WR it was) doesn't drop that wide open pass on the game tying FG who knows. I thought I'd give them some credit though for the sack-fumble in OT thought because 2 out of 7 is still pretty piss poor and does a good enough job debunking the theory.

 

[PatriotSeven]

And you're the only person that doesn't realize teams have 4 downs to move the ball not just one, which Baltimore used to move the ball 60 or 70 yards against a "clutch" defense.

And how does that take away the fact that it WAS a clutch play that saved Baltimore's likely game winning touchdown?

A winning touchdown with 15 seconds left to win the game isn't clutch because they should have blown them out?

Come on...

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Yeah he'll have to be good, maybe not shutdown but he and Dennard need to be like Asante and Randall Gay in '04. McCourty could be a great FS for us IMO and Tavon/Gregory could be solid. They keys are Dennard, Talib, and Cole as nickel though they all need to step up or we're going to go nowhere.

Dennard showed me today that he has a long way to go and really should not be out there when the team is playing zone.

I would be so inclined to say Arrington is a better choice than Dennard based on what I saw today....and that's not saying much because Arrington is a dud.

Dennard was a 7th round pick and is playing like one at this point.

 

[supafly]

Talib has to be a surprising pro bowler type shutdown CB within 2 months if this team is to get back to the SB and win it this time.

I didn't think this years secondary would be anywhere near as bad as 2011,I may be wrong.

Brady can't do it on his own anymore,I think we can clearly see that it will gradually affect him if he has to carry the team on his aging shoulders again.....it's getting ridiculous that the offense scores and then the defense gives the score right back to the opposition.....3 and outs from the defense have become way too rare in NE

I couldn't agree more.

I also think that there will be a ton of hype that Talib just cannot live up to. He will be an option, but this secondary as a whole will likely make him look bad too. It's just a shame.

We definitely need Talib to somehow live up to the new Superman rep if we're going to have any kind of a shot in my opinion.

When the offense does their job and puts up THIRTY-SEVEN points on the board, yet we come that close to losing something is wrong.

I am sure that plenty will point out the "good" aspects such as the timely (and lucky) turnover to save the day, the missed FG by Cundiff, the fumble in the Denver game etc...but at the end of the day this passing defense cannot stop anyone at all. Due to our offense we will likely continue to win 10+ games for the foreseeable future, but I also think that there is no way we'll win the big game again unless they somehow put up 40+ pts every game.

The Patriots gameplan (according to Curran, who is right) = score a bunch of pts by the offense and hope that the clock runs out on the other team before they can win it...

 

[supafly]

And how does that take away the fact that it WAS a clutch play that saved Baltimore's likely game winning touchdown?

A winning touchdown with 15 seconds left to win the game isn't clutch because they should have blown them out?

Come on...

Today---the offense scored 37 points...and yet even that wasn't enough to avoid the worry of another one point loss at the end. We played a 3-6 team...at home...coming off of a bye with 2 weeks to prepare for the mighty Buffalo Bills.

It's one thing to accept (as we've all done) that the offense will need to score a minimum of 23-24 or so to allow us a shot at winning, and even then--the Baltimore and Seattle games prove that isn't enough. It's another altogether to know that we have to be damn close to perfect, meaning ZERO turnovers and piling up 37 points, to be able to win a last second game in the end with an errant throw from Fitzpatrick.

Not turning the ball over once + putting up 37 pts isn't going to happen too many times my friend. We've already lost scoring 23 on the road in Seattle, and 30 on the road in Baltimore.

I think this team will go to the playoffs and be competitive, don't get me wrong, but I don't see how this current defense can take us to a deep playoff run again, and that's with the offense putting up ridiculous numbers.

 

[PatriotSeven]

Today---the offense scored 37 points...and yet even that wasn't enough to avoid the worry of another one point loss at the end. We played a 3-6 team...at home...coming off of a bye with 2 weeks to prepare for the mighty Buffalo Bills.

It's one thing to accept (as we've all done) that the offense will need to score a minimum of 23-24 or so to allow us a shot at winning, and even then--the Baltimore and Seattle games prove that isn't enough. It's another altogether to know that we have to be damn close to perfect, meaning ZERO turnovers and piling up 37 points, to be able to win a last second game in the end with an errant throw from Fitzpatrick.

Not turning the ball over once + putting up 37 pts isn't going to happen too many times my friend. We've already lost scoring 23 on the road in Seattle, and 30 on the road in Baltimore.

I think this team will go to the playoffs and be competitive, don't get me wrong, but I don't see how this current defense can take us to a deep playoff run again, and that's with the offense putting up ridiculous numbers.

Did I say they were good? No. Read the title.

McCourty's play still gave as the W and I loved him for it. Anytime a player makes such a huge play that directly leads to the win to close out the game it's a big deal for me.

Just think back to the losses this year where we lost by a combined 3 points. Remember that feeling? Remember that gut wrenching feeling deep deep in the pit of your stomach? Remember how you sat there speechless, so shocked, deflated and defeated? This game was going in that EXACT same direction.

McCourtey's play turned that feeling into jubilation. That's all.