Game Thoughts - Still Damn Proud of this Team Edition

[Rob0729]

Here we go:

1.) First and foremost, I am damn proud of this team. It is disappointing that their season ends today, but most teams wouldn't have had a winning record with all the things that went wrong this season. Hernandez being a scumbag murderer. They lose Wilfork and Kelly in the first few weeks. Amendola tears his groin. Mayo gone. Talib injured for most of the year. Vollmer gone. Gronk gone. Spike injured most of the second half and could barely walk. Dennard, Dobson, and a few others out for long stretches. This team had no right to be in the AFCCG. Their heart, players playing over their heads, Brady, and Belichick are the reason they got there.

2.) With a few moves and a bunch of players returning from injuries, this team should he the favorite in the AFC. A small consolation, but at least there is hope.

3.) With Wilfork and Mayo already gone, this defense had Talib holding the defense together. The second he went out (just like last year's AFCCG) this defense fell apart. Dennard was schooled by Thomas and the rest of the defense were constantly out of place.

4.) That said, they still played tough in the red zone (the Broncos were 2 for 6 in the red zone). This team would have been a rout if not for the red zone stops.

5.) Brady came up small too many times today. He overthrew Edelman for what probably would have been a TD early in the game. He threw the ball out of bounds to Collie when he was open.

6.) I don't know why they put Slater in on that go route. I guess they figured that their CBs suck and would never expect he would be a target.

7.) This team missed an outside receiver today. I assume Dobson was not close enough to 100% to be a big factor. They need to get another outside guy in the offseason and hope Gronk can make it through the year. I know people will probably say that it was the loss of Welker or Woodhead, but today they wouldn't have made a difference.

8.) Congratulations to the Broncos and their fans. The Broncos outplayed and outcoached the Pats all game.

 

[JDot]

Sucks we lost, really fun year tho. This team really overachieved. Onto the draft.

 

[IcyPatriot]

5.) Brady came up small too many times today. He overthrew Edelman for what probably would have been a TD early in the game. He threw the ball out of bounds to Collie when he was open.

I'll get hammered but I will say it ...

Brady is good enough for the regular season and way to immobile and confused/nervous in the post season. Might be time to move on and get some draft picks for him. He was great ... was ... used to be. He won Super Bowls with less when he was younger.

 

[Rob0729]

I'll get hammered but I will say it ...

Brady is good enough for the regular season and way to immobile and confused/nervous in the post season. Might be time to move on and get some draft picks for him. He was great ... was ... used to be. He won Super Bowls with less when he was younger.

I think he can't overcome the deficiencies of the receivers in the playoffs, but that doesn't mean he is a bad post season QB. The common theme in recent losses have been no Gronk and no legitimate outside threat. With small guys in the middle of the field, opposing defenses can flood the center of the field and knock the smaller guys off their routes.

Give Brady a healthy Gronk and/or a healthy legitimate outside receiver and I think he would play fine.

 

[cavtroop]

TE is a big need in the off-season. Gronk is phenomenal, but has missed what, the last 3 off-seasons?

We fully expected to have AH going into the season, so you can't blame that on the coaches/BB - that was a completely unforeseen circumstance, but now we need a 2nd TE that can help more in the run game, and threaten in the pass game a little bit. Hooman is a decent 3rd TE, but that's it.

Secondly, there is no way we have the number, and magnitude, of injuries that we had this year. So many pro-bowlers/top tier starters out, that it's amazing we made it as far as we did.

I was hoping we'd put up more of a fight than we did, but to make it as far as we did is something.

 

[ewg_gestalt]

I'll get hammered but I will say it ...

Brady is good enough for the regular season and way to immobile and confused/nervous in the post season. Might be time to move on and get some draft picks for him. He was great ... was ... used to be. He won Super Bowls with less when he was younger.

He also had the benefit of a stronger defense in 2001-2004 than he has had in recent years. In the 2007 SB he was in a walking boot days before the game, and in 2011 the defense was so badly depleted Edelman was moonlighting as a CB, and on offense GRONK was a shell of himself.

As for this year's game, please don't forget that throwing the football in Denver is not like throwing the ball anywhere else in the NFL. A 40-yard bomb in Gillette probably is a 42- or 43-yarder at Mile High. Manning has had all season to get ready for this; opposing quarterbacks have at most a few days.

 

[Fencer]

I'll get hammered but I will say it ...

Brady is good enough for the regular season and way to immobile and confused/nervous in the post season. Might be time to move on and get some draft picks for him. He was great ... was ... used to be. He won Super Bowls with less when he was younger.

I can only explain your post by conjecturing that you've gotten hammered already.

 

[IcyPatriot]

He also had the benefit of a stronger defense in 2001-2004 than he has had in recent years. In the 2007 SB he was in a walking boot days before the game, and in 2011 the defense was so badly depleted Edelman was moonlighting as a CB, and on offense GRONK was a shell of himself.

As for this year's game, please don't forget that throwing the football in Denver is not like throwing the ball anywhere else in the NFL. A 40-yard bomb in Gillette probably is a 42- or 43-yarder at Mile High. Manning has had all season to get ready for this; opposing quarterbacks have at most a few days.

At some point a team needs to do a rebuild ... at some point.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Most games are lost before the ball even kicks off. Not going to complain about this one. It was lost when AHern pulled the trigger and we failed to get Tom an outside weapon. Oh, we had a bunch of injuries. So, did Denver. Ryan Clady and Von Miller are two of their best 4-6 players. Lost their best cb too. Need to draft better. And, more importantly. We had way too much dead money on our cap from poor free-agent signings. Too many fat, old busts.

 

[borg]

Sucks we lost, really fun year tho. This team really overachieved. Onto the draft.

Exactly....BB squeezed as much as he could out of this fruit....but the final roster was not SB quality.....far from it. Except for maybe punting and slot guy(JE), NE was inferior up and down the roster.
Looking forward, I just don't see the assets available to boost this team to king of the hill. Low draft again, no extra picks, minimal cap space....lots of holes. Gonna be an offseason with difficult decisions

 

[heavyde050]

Here we go:

1.) First and foremost, I am damn proud of this team. It is disappointing that their season ends today, but most teams wouldn't have had a winning record with all the things that went wrong this season. Hernandez being a scumbag murderer. They lose Wilfork and Kelly in the first few weeks. Amendola tears his groin. Mayo gone. Talib injured for most of the year. Vollmer gone. Gronk gone. Spike injured most of the second half and could barely walk. Dennard, Dobson, and a few others out for long stretches. This team had no right to be in the AFCCG. Their heart, players playing over their heads, Brady, and Belichick are the reason they got there.

2.) With a few moves and a bunch of players returning from injuries, this team should he the favorite in the AFC. A small consolation, but at least there is hope.

3.) With Wilfork and Mayo already gone, this defense had Talib holding the defense together. The second he went out (just like last year's AFCCG) this defense fell apart. Dennard was schooled by Thomas and the rest of the defense were constantly out of place.



4.) That said, they still played tough in the red zone (the Broncos were 2 for 6 in the red zone). This team would have been a rout if not for the red zone stops.

5.) Brady came up small too many times today. He overthrew Edelman for what probably would have been a TD early in the game. He threw the ball out of bounds to Collie when he was open.



6.) I don't know why they put Slater in on that go route. I guess they figured that their CBs suck and would never expect he would be a target.

7.) This team missed an outside receiver today. I assume Dobson was not close enough to 100% to be a big factor. They need to get another outside guy in the offseason and hope Gronk can make it through the year. I know people will probably say that it was the loss of Welker or Woodhead, but today they wouldn't have made a difference.

8.) Congratulations to the Broncos and their fans. The Broncos outplayed and outcoached the Pats all game.

Brady missed a few passes but he also carried the team on his back trying to get the win. His TD run shows how bad he wanted it. He just did not have the weapons.


I really think Dennard was sick or something. He was beyond awful.

I just can't get how the defense is so bad year after year especially on 3rd down. I will chalk this year up to injuries. But the defensive performance today was embarrassing. As you noted above, if not for the FGs the Broncos would have killed the pats.