Offense, Not Defense, Let the Patriots Down on Sunday

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Offense, Not Defense, Let the Patriots Down on Sunday
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When the Patriots look back on this game they'll likely see it was their inability to score and not their defense that really cost them this game....

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[Texxx]

Might as well say the front office let the team down because Brady had the worst weapons in the league. Why anyone thought the Pats could win with this terrible offense really should study and learn more about the NFL and the Pats history.

 

[SebertJr]

D was on the field too much...and still held the "best offense in NFL history" to only two TD's , ask anyone before the game if Denver is held to only two Td's who wins the game ??? 9 out of 10 would pick the Pats.

 

[pheenix11]

Might as well say the front office let the team down because Brady had the worst weapons in the league. Why anyone thought the Pats could win with this terrible offense really should study and learn more about the NFL and the Pats history.

So it was the front office who overthrew the open receivers yesterday?

 

[upstater1]

D was on the field too much...and still held the "best offense in NFL history" to only two TD's , ask anyone before the game if Denver is held to only two Td's who wins the game ??? 9 out of 10 would pick the Pats.

Uh, time of possession.

Deep into the middle of the 4th qtr., the Patriots got their second possession of the half.

I question how anyone can miss TOP in this game, and how thoroughly the Broncos offense dominated the Patriots D, and how the Denver punter was the missing man. When a team's punter doesn't play, that's on the defense. Look at the yardage the broncos racked up and the TOP. The Patriots D didn't stop them at all.

The Patriots offense at least, besides the 2 TDs and a field goal, had two additional long drives, one stopped by a bogus penalty on Hooman, and the other stopped by sack on 4th down. If the defense managed to stop the Broncos just once or twice more, maybe the Patriots would have had another drive as well. Good for say 3 or 7 points. Add the 10 they lost on the other 2 drives, and that's more than enough offensive production.

Don't get me wrong--I think the offense is woefully ill-equipped at WR even with Dobson. The offense needs a top receiver out there, like other teams have. enough of Matt Slater. But at the end of the day, the defense totally collapsed in this game.

 

[Sciz]

I strongly disagree with this. Yes, the overall numbers were fine, it this was a very low drive game. The Pats allowed 1.66 points per drive this season. Against the Broncos without adjusting for the last drive where they kneeled, 3.25 points per drive. The offense was just under their average points per drive, 2.00 to the season average of 2.21. The defense allowed almost twice as many.

Now I'm not saying the offense was good, but the defense was deceptively awful.

 

[mgteich]

And was it the front office that injured Amendola, Thompkins, Dobson and Brady?

So it was the front office who overthrew the open receivers yesterday?

 

[grux]

The offense was on the field for 8 possessions all game. How can anyone say the defense wasn't even partially responsible for the loss. The key to beating Manning is to move him out of the pocket. Where was the pass rush? Lastly, the Broncos had two of their longest drives (over 7 minutes) of the season yesterday. The defense needed to step up and get off the field and they couldn't.

 

[Ian]

Uh, time of possession.

Deep into the middle of the 4th qtr., the Patriots got their second possession of the half.

I question how anyone can miss TOP in this game, and how thoroughly the Broncos offense dominated the Patriots D, and how the Denver punter was the missing man. When a team's punter doesn't play, that's on the defense. Look at the yardage the broncos racked up and the TOP. The Patriots D didn't stop them at all.

Defensively obviously I understand they struggled to stop them but the other problem, especially in the first half, was the fact they couldn't move the chains themselves and keep the defense off the field and score points. The time of possession was 60/40 in favor of Denver and if you read the piece I wrote you'll also see that New England ran just 56 plays this game, their lowest total since week five when they ran just 60 in Cincinnati. Part of that comes from Denver keeping the ball, but the other comes from them not doing the same when they had it.

The offense was on the field for 8 possessions all game. How can anyone say the defense wasn't even partially responsible for the loss.

They were, but not to the extent many are making it out to be. This was a game where everyone knew coming in they wouldn't be able to completely shut down Denver and were going to have to at least score a bunch of points to win this game, and as I wrote they seemed poised to do it after scoring over 30 in each of their recent contests. New England needed to be at the level the Broncos were at offensively in terms of their execution and unfortunately just weren't. The people who are all over the defense are correct to a point, but the expectations are unrealistic compared to what they were at least able to do, especially considering they lost Talib early on. They held Denver to 13 in the first half, and 13 in the 2nd. Scoring just 3 points in the first three quarters, regardless of the number of possessions, isn't going to win a Conference title or a Super Bowl ring for that matter.

If the Patriots had been able to put up points, get a lead, and force Denver to play from behind, I doubt we would have seen the same methodical approach that they were able to run in terms of their play-calling which allowed them to eat up the clock. After re-watching it late last night there were so many plays to be had that they uncharacteristically missed, and by not making it competitive point-wise Denver was able to stay in control. Unfortunately we needed another big offensive performance, and it needed to happen long before they finally put up 13 in the fourth quarter.

 

[SVN]

manning had the ball for 14+ mins for 2 drives. Brady missed some throws sure but there is enough blame to go around on the defense.they didnt touch manning on defense. Easy to blame the QB and offense.

 

[Ian]

manning had the ball for 14+ mins for 2 drives. Brady missed some throws sure but there is enough blame to go around on the defense.they didnt touch manning on defense. Easy to blame the QB and offense.

Obviously the long drives were an issue, but the point is they needed more than 3 points in three quarters. I think most people could have handled losing 26-24 if the game had been competitive and the Broncos just outlasted them. But looking back at the game the execution was bad on the offensive side of the ball, which is something we just haven't seen in recent weeks. This is a group that's normally better than they were yesterday, and it's definitely disappointing.

 

[Ring 6]

Defensively obviously I understand they struggled to stop them but the other problem, especially in the first half, was the fact they couldn't move the chains themselves and keep the defense off the field and score points. The time of possession was 60/40 in favor of Denver and if you read the piece I wrote you'll also see that New England ran just 56 plays this game, their lowest total since week five when they ran just 60 in Cincinnati. Part of that comes from Denver keeping the ball, but the other comes from them not doing the same when they had it.



They were, but not to the extent many are making it out to be. This was a game where everyone knew coming in they wouldn't be able to completely shut down Denver and were going to have to at least score a bunch of points to win this game, and as I wrote they seemed poised to do it after scoring over 30 in each of their recent contests. New England needed to be at the level the Broncos were at offensively in terms of their execution and unfortunately just weren't. The people who are all over the defense are correct to a point, but the expectations are unrealistic compared to what they were at least able to do, especially considering they lost Talib early on. They held Denver to 13 in the first half, and 13 in the 2nd. Scoring just 3 points in the first three quarters, regardless of the number of possessions, isn't going to win a Conference title or a Super Bowl ring for that matter.

If the Patriots had been able to put up points, get a lead, and force Denver to play from behind, I doubt we would have seen the same methodical approach that they were able to run in terms of their play-calling which allowed them to eat up the clock. After re-watching it late last night there were so many plays to be had that they uncharacteristically missed, and by not making it competitive point-wise Denver was able to stay in control. Unfortunately we needed another big offensive performance, and it needed to happen long before they finally put up 13 in the fourth quarter.

We weren't really even competitive on defense. Most yards ever allowed by a BB team. One punt. Almost 12 minute difference in time of possession
I'm too depressed to look up how many first downs the had. Is guess about 35.
Worst defensive game I remember in a very long time. They did whatever they wanted almost at will.

 

[SVN]

Obviously the long drives were an issue, but the point is they needed more than 3 points in three quarters. I think most people could have handled losing 26-24 if the game had been competitive and the Broncos just outlasted them. But looking back at the game the execution was bad on the offensive side of the ball, which is something we just haven't seen in recent weeks. This is a group that's normally better than they were yesterday, and we just didn't get to see it.

Sure. Not letting them off the hook. But to say defense didn't let them down is a little over. Broncos punted once in the game. Coaching didnt help going for the 4th down instead of kicking a FG. Sure they played very decent RZ defense but hardly had the ball between the 2nd and 3rd Qs.

 

[Ian]

We weren't really even competitive on defense. Most yards ever allowed by a BB team. One punt. Almost 12 minute difference in time of possession
I'm too depressed to look up how many first downs the had. Is guess about 35.
Worst defensive game I remember in a very long time. They did whatever they wanted almost at will.

27 vs 19. Don't get me wrong, I'm not even close to saying they played great defensively. This is a group all year with all the injuries managed to simply do just enough while the offense for the most part played well enough to win. When Talib went down they struggled and it was definitely ugly, but they held Denver to FG's instead of touchdowns while New England managed just 3 points through three quarters. Tough to win if you can't score, and if you can't completely stop them defensively you need to at least capitalize when you have your own chances with the football.

 

[Luke Skywelker]

I put a lot on Brady in this one. It was his responsibility to make the call at the line and sustain a couple of drives early to keep the defense fresh in that altitude and the ball out of Manning's hands. To go three and out two consecutive drives was a horrible omen. The play selection was poor, even some of his completions were off and didn't put the WR's in good position. The Oline didn't play great, but I felt like he could have gotten rid of one of those balls quickly. He just made zero out of the box plays in this game. This is all aside from him missing on the couple of deep balls. I remember reading Nantz meeting with him before the game and how jacked he was - you almost wonder if that got the better of him. You wonder if the timing/practicing/flu had him off rhythm. His early throws were high and too deep. He missed a wide open Edelman in the end zone on play by a couple yards wide and high.

Bottom line is that the guy has really been lackluster in the big games against the creme for awhile now. You can't deny that. He's not ice cold Tom from the first 5 years where you just knew he was going to find a way. In FB, there is so many ways to spin the blame, but Tom Brady played a really bad game. If you can't see that, it's blind loyalty.

They're starting to feel like the Atlanta Braves a bit. A really great system to sustain consistent excellence through the long hard duration of a regular season, but without the pop to dial it up when it really matters. We as fans can't really complain because it's great entertainment year in and year out, but you also can't help but now lack confidence in the big ones. I would have felt better about yesterday if they played well and were just outplayed, but they really didn't feel like they had a chance of winning that game one drive in. In FB, there are ebbs and flows that you hope for throughout a game, one team up, the other down, it makes for great sport. Denver was up the entire game until a point where it didn't matter.

 

[Ian]

Sure. Not letting them off the hook. But to say defense didn't let them down is a little over. Broncos punted once in the game. Coaching didnt help going for the 4th down instead of kicking a FG. Sure they played very decent RZ defense but hardly had the ball between the 2nd and 3rd Qs.

True, and I agree with you regarding the coaching and some of the other decisions. In the end both teams had eight possessions, so each one had a chance to score when they had the ball. I'm not saying at all that the defense doesn't deserve a lot of the blame. I think people are misinterpreting the fact that both were bad, but one was actually worse and needed to be much better than they were. Three points on six possessions is just not going to cut it against a good team like Denver.

 

[grux]

Obviously the long drives were an issue, but the point is they needed more than 3 points in three quarters. I think most people could have handled losing 26-24 if the game had been competitive and the Broncos just outlasted them. But looking back at the game the execution was bad on the offensive side of the ball, which is something we just haven't seen in recent weeks. This is a group that's normally better than they were yesterday, and it's definitely disappointing.

Do you think Seattle is going to let Manning sit in the pocket and not get touched? No chance.

 

[Ian]

Do you think Seattle is going to let Manning sit in the pocket and not get touched? No chance.

I agree, but I hope they score more than three points before the game gets out of hand, otherwise I don't like their chances either. Not that I'll be watching. As Brady said this morning, our season's over.

 

[grux]

I agree, but I hope they score more than three points before the game gets out of hand, otherwise I don't like their chances either.

I agree with you that Seattle has to put up some points. They should be able to against the banged up Denver secondary. However, I also thought that the Pats could score on Denver.:bricks:

 

[RhodyPatriot]

No urgency. No hurry up. No up-tempo.
That is not a great defense in Denver.
No attempt made to stress that Denver D, put pressure on them, stress those "large" D linemen by going no huddle.

Denver scored 13 pts in the 1st half. Patriots had 3. 3!!!!!

Matthew Slater on a deep route in the 1st qtr??
Shane Vereen for an attempted 2 pt conversion on a run play?
Really???

What exactly is Josh McDaniels strength as an OC???
I don't see it and this isn't Monday morning QB'ing on my part.
I've never understood the fascination with Josh McDaniels.


That offense was not ready to play yesterday and they were sleepwalking through 3 qtrs. of yesterdays game.

Inexcusable!!