Ongoing issues for the Patriots coming out for the second half

Is my memory wrong? I seem to remember the Pats having issues last season coming out of the half. I feel like that was one of our main complaints in our game threads.

Yesterday, if true, obviously follows that trend. Which would not be good, considering Bill is suppose to be a second half adjustment genius.

festy1986 said:

I seem to remember the pats having issues last season coming out of the half. I feel like that was one of our main complaints in our game threads.

Yesterday, if true, obviously follows that trend. Which would not be good, considering bill is suppose to be a second half adjustment genius.

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Offensively they have had issues either in the first half or in the second half since McDaniels arrived in 2012. The initial game plan either does not work or if it does work they do not make the proper adjustments for the second half. They have very few games where they performed well in both half's.

Brady6 said:

Offensively they have had issues either in the first half or in the second half since McDaniels arrived in 2012. The initial game plan either does not work or if it does work they do not make the proper adjustments for the second half. They have very few games where they performed well in both half's.

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The fact that you can make either argument indicates pretty strongly that neither is legitimate. They were just generally inconsistent last year. Injury attrition probably had a lot to do with that.

BradyFTW! said:

The fact that you can make either argument indicates pretty strongly that neither is legitimate. They were just generally inconsistent last year.

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They cannot put 2 solid half's of offensive football together. The emphasis falls on the coaching staff they are responsible for the game plan that will work for an entire game and to make the adjustments needed. First half, second half I agree there is no way to determine what is the issue, but clearly there is an issue.

Offense does nothing in the second half, defense gives up a lot of points (definitely) and looks gassed in the same half -- that's one of the top templates for a Patriots loss. Usually, we think of that as happening in the postseason. This time, it was in tiring Florida weather.

They did some things that worked in the 1st half (Minitron reverse, Pistol formation etc.) that I didn't see for the rest of the game. I've never understood that.

captain stone said:

They did some things that worked in the 1st half (Minitron reverse, Pistol formation etc.) that I didn't see for the rest of the game. I've never understood that.

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It almost seemed like the Patriots were incorperating aspects of the spread option when lined up in the pistol and it was working even though the Dolphins knew Brady was no threat to run it.

Last year, there were plenty of games where the Pats had stronger second halves than first halves.

Against Atlanta, the score was 10-10 at the half and the Pats won the game 30-23
Against Miami (the first game), the Pats were down 17-3 and won 27-17
Against Carolina, they were down 10-3 at the half and lost 20-24 (with a very questionable PI non-call at the end of the game of Gronk getting manhandled in the end zone at the end of the game)
Against Denver, the Pats were down 24-0 at the half and won 34-31 in overtime
Against Houston, the Pats were down 17-7 at the half and won 34-31
Against Cleveland, the Pats were down 6-0 at the half, they won 27-21

So it isn't a second half issue. They had plenty of games where they have performed much better in the second half.

Where they have had problems is the third quarter specifically. That was their worst quarter by far last year.

captain stone said:

They did some things that worked in the 1st half (Minitron reverse, Pistol formation etc.) that I didn't see for the rest of the game. I've never understood that.

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One of the most underplayed thing in the game on Sunday was that Edelman seemed to get injured on a play in the first half where he had to go to the sidelines. On the play in the second half where Brady overthrew him, it looked to me that he had a slight limp after the play.

I have a feeling that we didn't see Edelman in the second half because he was dealing with some kind of leg injury.

I think this is less about second half issue trends and more that the heat and humidity sapped the energy out of these guys in the second half.

And one other point: Damn the schedule-maker to hell for these 1st 2 games.