I am getting tired of the "If Marshall held onto the ball" narrative

Rob0729 said:

Listen to sports talk radio.

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Felger?


If Marshall held onto that ball they only would have lost by six.

Oh, that amazing " what if " game......let's play shall we?



"If" only that phantom "roughing the passer" call against Stabler isn't called in the 1976 AFC Divisional Playoffs?

"If" only Adam V had tripped up Desmond Howard on his 99 yard KO return in SB XXXI ?

"If" only TB throws a TD on the Denver 1 yard line, instead of a 99 yard INT in the 2005 AFC Divisional Playoffs ?

"If" only we weren't hit with a phantom offensive PI call in the 2006 AFCCG, up 21-3 and driving again in Colts territory ?

"If" only our D had sacked Eli Manning on that 3rd and 23, or "if" Rodney had been able to smack the ball off Tyree's helmet on the catch after in SB XLII?

"If" only butterfingers Wes Welker holds on to that coach on 2nd down in SB XLVI ?

Same "If" above similar in the 2012 AFCCG ?

"If" only TB hadn't been knocked out for the entire season on opening day 2008, by a cheap short artist ?

"If" only the Pats could have gotten more than 3 points on the first two drives of the 2010 AFC Divisional Playoffs against the Jets ?


Oh, if only !!! So, you see we can play that game also !!!

Dropping passes is also not all that extraordinary, for Brandon Marshall.

That's not to say he's not a terrific receiver. He makes lots of great catches and also has a tendency to drop a relatively easy one now and then, moreso than many of the other top receivers.

Rob0729 said:

I heard it multiple of times today. Toucher and Rich. Obviously, Felger and Mazz. I think John Dennis said it too.

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Clearly you are listening to too much talk radio, Rob. 30 minutes a day should be the maximum in order to maintain good mental health, and you can add an extra hour on Mondays to hear the Brady and Bellichick interviews. (BTW- I wait and get those over at the Patriots.com audio section.)

Honestly, i think we as fans (as a broad collective, not every one of us) tend to behave and rationalize in this way a bit too much.

The people who are making these comments about Marshalls drop have an agenda whether conciously or subconciously. In this case its the agenda of "dude, we almost had you guys!" Or the mediots trying to make it sound closer than it was. (Though they dont need to do that as it was a nice battle with or wthout their analysis)

I think we have a tendency to focus a little to hard on a few things out of a 60 min game and then say "what if?" Especially after a loss. Ignoring the fact that the other team has mistakes/hardships/bad calls/injuries/and just plain bad luck at times too.

Its like when we, as FANatics regularly complain about the officiating after every game. We always seem to think our team was the one treated unfairly by the refs. That one happens win or lose but is especially repulsive after a loss and is just lame excuse making, cuz thats easier than admitting the real reasons for a loss.

When the game is really on the line, the Jets cannot stop Brady, and the Patriots are the better team. Nothing has changed on that front, and you can analyze a bunch of particular plays/drops all you want, but I don't think the bottom line changes if a couple of small things had gone the Jets way.

Kind of like the Colts thinking they came oh, so close to beating the Patriots. Forget about the ridiculously fluky pick-6, the fact the Patriots didn't throw the ball for a full quarter, or that they Colts got a garbage time TD to make it respectable.

In both cases, it was clear who the better team was.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

When the game is really on the line, the Jets cannot stop Brady, and the Patriots are the better team. Nothing has changed on that front, and you can analyze a bunch of particular plays/drops all you want, but I don't think the bottom line changes if a couple of small things had gone the Jets way.

Kind of like the Colts thinking they came oh, so close to beating the Patriots. Forget about the ridiculously fluky pick-6, the fact the Patriots didn't throw the ball for a full quarter, or that they Colts got a garbage time TD to make it respectable.

In both cases, it was clear who the better team was.

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From 2001 to 2003 we heard this crap 40 times.

"We are a better team"

"We are more talented"

"If we made this play"

"Bla-bla-bla-bla-bla"

It died down a little in 2004 when teams start to shut the hell up and even in the AFCCG the Squealers and in the SB the Iggles still *****ed.

doesntmatter1 said:

I think the biggest moment in the game was when they punted after we challenged the spot. If they go for it, who knows how the game goes.

But if they want to specifically target drops than I raise them the multiple dropped int by Ninko. Things could have quickly spiraled out of control.

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The Pats have had SO many near-INTs this year, it's ridiculous. Especially Butler.

But if that's the trade-off for the SuperBowl INT then I guess I'm ok with it.

Rob0729 said:

All I have heard is "if Marshall held onto the TD pass, the Jets might have won" today. What a crock.

First, on several drives earlier, Edelman dropped a TD pass and had to settle for three which evens out the dropped TDs.

Second, Marshall clearly committed OPI and got away with it. He pulled Ryan down by the collar.

Third, after that drive, the Pats scored 17 unanswered points. I don't know having a 8 point lead vs. vs 4 point lead the Jets had would have changed that. The Pats would have scored on the next drive no matter what and the Jets' strategy after that would be not that different if they had an one point lead rather than the 3 point deficit with a little over 7 minutes left. They were not going to milk the clock with that much time left with an one point lead facing Tom Brady.

Sure, any one play theoretically could change the entire game. But I would argue that the play was late enough in the game and the strategies by both teams would have been about the same whether the Jets scored that TD or made the field goal they did.

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Its 24 hour sports talk and so they have to talk about something, they are mad that the pats haven't lost yet so they have to say the Pats should have been beaten by the Jets and will get beaten by the 3-3 fish. It was annoying me when the CBS announcers were saying how great Ivory was doing, guy was averaging under 3 yards per carry but yeah he was awesome

Reminds me of the narrative after this game.



Everyone, even the national media kept saying that the Ravens would have won this game had Cundiff not missed this chip shot.

No, they would have TIED the game and sent it into overtime.

robertweathers said:

From 2001 to 2003 we heard this crap 40 times.

"We are a better team"

"We are more talented"

"If we made this play"

"Bla-bla-bla-bla-bla"

I died down a little in 2004 when teams start to shut the hell up and even in the AFCCG the Squealers and in the SB the Iggles still *****ed.

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The *****ing post super bowl from the Seahwaks fans and players was pretty funny.

Imagine if this was 2003-2004 and the Pats were winning by three all the time....half this board would be on suicide watch.

Really, if your first thought after a win is "EVERYTHING'S BAD!!!", you probably will never be satisfied with anything this team does.

meatface said:

The *****ing post super bowl from the Seahwaks fans and players was pretty funny.

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They did *****. Next time don't have your Qb throw over the middle on the 1 yard line.

meatface said:

The *****ing post super bowl from the Seahwaks fans and players was pretty funny.

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And that coming from a team that was gifted a goal line setup with one of the flukiest plays I've ever seen.

Every time I watch the replay, I want to jump through the press box and punch Paul Allen in the face as that obnoxious woman turns to him gaping about the lucky catch, but then I realize he will soon experience deep agony in defeat, so I merely want to slap him in the face and give him a dead leg.

There are more ifs and gaffs in the line play over the course of a game that affect the score than any other plays. Only superficial fans point to 1 or 2 plays as being the factor ... Belichick answers this question correct every game ... the team loses and the team wins.

Had Marshall caught the ball, it is entirely possible that he would have been flagged for OPI.

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

Dropping passes is also not all that extraordinary, for Brandon Marshall.

That's not to say he's not a terrific receiver. He makes lots of great catches and also has a tendency to drop a relatively easy one now and then, moreso than many of the other top receivers.

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He gets an occasional False start penalty at the end of a game as well.

Rob0729 said:

Listen to sports talk radio.

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Yeah they've mentioned that our receivers dropped a lot but seem to be dismissing the fact that Edelman dropped an equally catchable and important TD pass that I believe would have put us up 20-10, this changing the complexion of the game itself.

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

Dropping passes is also not all that extraordinary, for Brandon Marshall.

That's not to say he's not a terrific receiver. He makes lots of great catches and also has a tendency to drop a relatively easy one now and then, moreso than many of the other top receivers.

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When I saw that drop I couldn't help but think about his inability to catch touchdowns early on in his career. From 2006-2011, excluding one season, his yards to TD ratio looked more like a slot receiver than a 6'4" #1 WR.

If Marshall had been in position to make the catch, that would've meant he wasn't using his hands to push off, which would've meant he wasn't open in the first place.