Does anyone really believe this crap?

By "this crap", I mean the suggestions from many (on this board, in the Boston and national media) that Brady's decline is upon us, that Belichick has put us in a bad position, that this loss to the Dolphins means our team isn't elite anymore, and that we are no longer the cream of the crop in the AFC East.

How can any Pats fan who has been around for a few years really believe this? How many times have we had a rough start to a season and rebounded drastically?

Last year, we lost a huge amount of our top talent and were dominated worse than any of us had seen in a long time - for 60, not 30 minutes - in Cincinatti, and surprise, we wound up 12-4 with a first round bye. How can any reasonably educated person not expect a similar outcome this year? Bad games early in the season have happened to us time and time again, and we have always climbed our way to the top of the division and near or to the top of the AFC. I can't even think of a time since 2007 where we didn't have some anomaly of a piss-poor performance against an inferior opponent in the first half of the season - and every year (save the Bradyless) we're right back where we belong by the end.

We laid an egg in Miami. It happens. We will be fine. Anyone who now expects less than 11 wins from this time is hopelessly pessimistic, self-hating, or (and this is the only somewhat excusable reason) a new fan with no understanding of how our team has operated in the Belichick/Brady era. I don't see any other possibility.

brady looked fine til he slapped gronks helmet. then lots of ducks started flying.

I sure as heck don't. Brady was throwing poorly in the second half of the game after getting the crap kicked out of him all game long? Wow, whodathunkit. Never would have seen that coming.

We need a running quarterback, a new coach and a receiver who can run a 4.2 40 and we need them now!!!!!!!!!

I don't think Brady is in decline at all. Sure, he made some really bad throws. He also made some really nice ones when he was getting good protection. The entire team played poorly in the 2nd half, and Brady was the least of our problems.

Not sure what to make of the Belichick thing though. He is easily one of, if not the, best coaches of all -time. But after such a long tenure, even the best coaches lose the locker room. Not saying that's the case with Belichick at all, but it isn't out of the realm of possibility.

Better to have a game like this week 1 than week 15.

There's plenty of historical evidence to show that the Pats aren't quite dead yet..

chasa said:

brady looked fine til he slapped gronks helmet. then lots of ducks started flying.

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VrabelJr said:

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rewatch the game, you will see it.

Eventually Brady and Belichick will decline. The former is 37, the latter is over 60 and has been coaching for decades. Brady's physical skills are in decline, for certain, but so were Peyton Manning's last season and he put up the best statistical season of any quarterback in history. For whatever reason, the Broncos can find undrafted TEs, near-bust RBs, and late-round offensive linemen to put with Manning and have an unmatched offense and the Patriots can't do the same with Brady.

Its week 1 and we played a very poor half of football after an average half of football. The overreactions should be expected at this point.

Brady IS declining. He can't hit a deep ball to save his life (the one Edelman caught was underthrown and Edelman made a great adjustment). Belichick has drafted and signed free agents and hasn't fielded a good defense for years now. You have all these guys, that people on this board tell me that are great (Mayo, McCourty), yet they still suck.

It's one of two things. Either, Belichick isn't good at evaluating talent, or his coaching stinks.

It's all over. Brady will soon make Geno Smith look like a HOFer. Revis got beat on a play and now he sucks forever. Wilfolk is too fat and horrible, Vellano is too small and horrible. Oline is horrible and will be all year. Everyone stinks.

There will never, ever be any improvement at all. We all know Belichick the blabbermouth is the world's worst teacher and his whole staff and all the players and the cheerleaders and the Krafts and Ernie and everyone are losers and don't know anything. RayRay knows more.

Minnesota will blow them out. A much better team. No need to watch anymore. The Pats are going 1-15, getting the No. 1 pick and our "Super Bowl" will be a lone win over the Toesucker Jets in OT.

You know it's all true. The trolls all said so.

TonyTucker said:

Brady IS declining. He can't hit a deep ball to save his life (the one Edelman caught was underthrown and Edelman made a great adjustment). Belichick has drafted and signed free agents and hasn't fielded a good defense for years now. You have all these guys, that people on this board tell me that are great (Mayo, McCourty), yet they still suck.

It's one of two things. Either, Belichick isn't good at evaluating talent, or his coaching stinks.

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Yeah DMC sucks. You are a clown.

It's the first game of the season give the guy a break everybody plays a bad game every now and then.

is Brady in decline at 37 years old YES but has anyone really I mean really stopped to look at his stats wins yards and TD's his decline means over 4000 yards passing and 25 TD's and on his best day still has the talent to beat any team in the NFL on there best day all on his own,

and lets not forget from 2007 until 2012 he had the best receiving core in the NFL and also 2010 2011 and 2012 were also the best OL's Brady ever had in his career not only age but a big drop off in talent on the roster has made brady look worst

He slapped then punched gronks face mask. I'm pretty sure at one point later his hand was bleeding.

Not that I think that's why but it's not something you wanna see him do.

If you don't think Brady is "in decline" then I have a bridge to sell you. The guy is 37 and he's not Superman, regardless of what some forumites here think. The Brady of today is not as good as the Super Bowl MVP Brady, the guy who started 10-0 in the playoffs. This isn't to say he sucks, but it'll be 10 years since he last won a super bowl (and has a .500 playoff record since 2004) - and let's not forget, he hasn't really shined in any of the Pats playoff losses. It's not like, heck, Brady was phenomenal, but X team just had too much firepower.
Here's to hoping the team gets its collective head out of its arse and beats Minnesota next week.

And yes, I'll take Brady 2004 over Brady 2007

TonyTucker said:

It's one of two things. Either, Belichick isn't good at evaluating talent, or his coaching stinks.

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If that was the case, then wouldn't the Patriots' record over the last ten years look like that of the Oakland Raiders?

I don't believe Brady's decline is upon us. The guy is 37 and got dry humped up and down the field. I do, however, believe that the coaching staff didn't put the players in the best position to succeed.

It's funny but the Broncos had a similar second half last night as the Patriots. It wasn't as bad, but they punted 5 out of 6 times in the second half, they had 31 yards in the 3rd quarter, their longest drive other than the TD drive was 25 yards, and the defense had trouble stopping the Colts other than the red zone where the Colts struggled last year too (it is because they don't have a RB).

Yet all the stories I saw about the Broncos are they let their foot off the gas and Peter King opinined that it wasn't surprising that the Colts couldn't beat the Broncos without Mathis (did he even watch the game because Manning peed down his leg when he need to get just one first down to end the game?). Everyone is praising the additions to their defense even though Andrew Luck threw for 370 yards and Two TDs while giving them a gift INT (and both INTs were lucky bounces off of tipped balls). Obviously, they looked better overall than the Pats, but I don't get how the national discussion is the Pats are a disaster and the Broncos were awesome last night.