A few thoughts on the game, before I shut down and stop thinking about football for awhile

I think I'll probably go dark with all media except for here for awhile, it’s served me well in the past after losses. Usually leave these to @patfanken and @Rob0729 , but have a few thoughts I wanted to get down.

--I think the Pats deferred because Belichick knew what kind of game it would be, and thought that they would get better field position in the second half if they kicked. If so, he was right.

--Yes, the Miami game ended up being huge. I was hoping Belichick played that weird because he was confident playing in Denver. If so, he was wrong.

--Don’t understand why the secondary wasn’t playing tight from the get go. Butler giving up the 3rd and 10…a stop there changes the tone. But he’s terrific, so not going to blast him.

--Thought White might be a weapon, and they tried, but….I feel like White could have fought harder to get to those balls, have to say.

--OK, I’m on board the hating Simms and Nance train. Abysmal. Not just against the Pats, but clueless. Simms says “the secondary can do that within 5 yards of scrimmage” when Denver interfered 10 yards down the field....when the Pats recovered the lateral, “the key is did anyone recover it?” Are you watching the game? Just awful.

--And of course Mike Carey guessed wrong there. Of course he did.

--I hate streaks like Ghost’s. You’re just waiting for them to end. If he hits that and the game plays out the same, that’s a legendary Brady comeback.

--I was hugely wrong about the game. I thought the Pats would win big—thought the defense would stifle the run, Manning couldn’t do it on his own, and the Pats would get their 27. Defense played well, but the offensive line couldn’t be hidden anymore. I hated the idiots throughout the week agreeing with me in the media, and hated the money coming in on the Pats. All bad signs. I was worried I was wrong. I was.

--Felt they should have kicked the FG, but can’t say I hated going for it. Obviously ended up being big.

--Manning will get devoured...he made some throws in the first half before the HGH wore off (sorry) , or the adrenalin from the home crowd or whatever, but he won't stand up on a neutral field against whoever the NFC brings. Congratulations America, this Super Bowl will suck.

I’m actually, bizarrely, feeling sort of emotional right now. Very proud of this group of men, who fought so hard. They will be back in this game next year, you’re damn right they will.

I want my goddamn draft picks back.

Well said. Agree across the board.

Would add:

BB decision making late in 2nd quarters was weird and poor all season. Tonight is cost us a FG and we lost by 2. IIWII.

aloyouis said:

Well said. Agree across the board.

Would add:

BB decision making late in 2nd quarters was weird and poor all season. Tonight is cost us a FG and we lost by 2. IIWII.

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Yeah, although the "horrible coaching" thread raging now is more than a little over the top...

aluminum seats said:

Yeah, although the "horrible coaching" thread raging now is more than a little over the top...

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It's not over the top. In fact it's not over the top enough. The coaching defensively in most of the first half was bad. The offensive gameplan was borderline criminal. The going for it instead of kicking the field goals was ridiculous.

How many times did you see JE in motion? Reverse? Misdirections that killed Denver last week? So no, the coaching critiquing hasn't gone far enough.

You never take the ball after winning the toss, but you do tonight. WTF
The Gost never misses an extra point but he does tonight. WTF

Little things that make or break a season.

Marcus Cannon must be cut, tomorrow.

That is all.

Pretty good stuff expect the White comment. Brady didn't throw good passes on the two down the right sideline. White sped thru his coverage (and grabs and holding) but they just couldn't connect on those. Hard to fault Brady as he was under attack, battered and it is hard enough to connect when throwing long.

On a left side throw to White, go watch it again, it was textbook pass interference. At first I thought "You gotta catch that White" but the defender didn't even glance backward and had his body and arms accosting White.

I don't care if BB and TB and JM and everyone hates White, thought he was/is inept, or thought he should be sent to Guantanamo Bay prison immediately. White's matchup was prime for production. He is the fastest and most evasive guy on the Patriot side of the field and he was often covered by a guy not his equal. You get him the ball against that coverage with a step of breathing room, who knows what the YAC pile up could have been. Even if they did have real doubts about White, the sputtering Patriots O should have attempted to exploit this mismatch and attempted to exploit it frequently. That we didn't is IMHO an inexplicable coaching choice by JM and BB....

aluminum seats said:

Yeah, although the "horrible coaching" thread raging now is more than a little over the top...

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No kidding. You would have thought Grady Little was wearing a hoodie

ViperGTS said:

It's not over the top. In fact it's not over the top enough. The coaching defensively in most of the first half was bad. The offensive gameplan was borderline criminal. The going for it instead of kicking the field goals was ridiculous.

How many times did you see JE in motion? Reverse? Misdirections that killed Denver last week? So no, the coaching critiquing hasn't gone far enough.

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They didn't trust the oline. Its that simple.

Wish I could add to that. I can't. Spot on brother.

Been a real pleasure reading your observations after every game this season ,Deb. You're another great asset to this board. Playoff football axiom per the Hoodie...every game hinges on 5 key plays/decisions. The Pats were on the wrong side of the hinge today. I got a bad feeling after I saw that Philly game that this team was spurting blood somewhere. Now we see there were wounds everywhere in all three phases. We have a great team but this season, just not good enough.

ViperGTS said:

It's not over the top. In fact it's not over the top enough. The coaching defensively in most of the first half was bad. The offensive gameplan was borderline criminal. The going for it instead of kicking the field goals was ridiculous.

How many times did you see JE in motion? Reverse? Misdirections that killed Denver last week? So no, the coaching critiquing hasn't gone far enough.

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Tough loss, so I understand the need to vent.

Iam not totally surprised at the result-wouldve been okay if they lost handily.HFA helped the denver pass rush a lot today.But that gronk TD makes the loss hard to take. My fear was the coaching staff might over think this and they did starting from the coin toss all the way to the FGs.
The team went through a tough off season and lots of injuries and made it this far. Sometimes you get lucky sometimes you don't. The Butler INT last yr make this easier .

robertweathers said:

They didn't trust the oline. Its that simple.

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Why did the o-line play like they did against the Chiefs?

Because they ran the routes like they are supposed to. They didn't today why is that? No one has explained it to me.

ViperGTS said:

Why did the o-line play like they did against the Chiefs?

Because they ran the routes like they are supposed to. They didn't today why is that? No one has explained it to me.

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Denver D plays faster. Chiefs pass rush not as impressive last week.

They probably win this game with Nate Solder at LT. But hey . . .

ViperGTS said:

Why did the o-line play like they did against the Chiefs?

Because they ran the routes like they are supposed to. They didn't today why is that? No one has explained it to me.

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They got to TB much quicker than KC did.

It's kinda that simple.

ViperGTS said:

Why did the o-line play like they did against the Chiefs?

Because they ran the routes like they are supposed to. They didn't today why is that? No one has explained it to me.

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Because Denver's D smelled blood after the first series. They knew they could keep coming at Brady and hitting him, and dared the Pats to stop it. When you keep getting pressure, you don't let up until you get burned one or two times.

It's the same D plan that gets us in 90% of our losses. Got to hope we can finally adjust to it for those 10% games

The loss stings, but mostly because they didn't play to the level we expected them to. The Bronco's D has alot to do with that (among the weird stuff and the first quarter refereeing).

However, one thing that I believe fans tend to forget is that when the Patriots lose, it's because they didn't play near their best. We've become accustomed to being in every game with probably a better than 50/50 chance to win.

Not too many teams, if any other, can say that.

RelocatedPatFan said:

The loss stings, but mostly because they didn't play to the level we expected them to. The Bronco's D has alot to do with that (among the weird stuff and the first quarter refereeing).

However, one thing that I believe fans tend to forget is that when the Patriots lose, it's because they didn't play near their best. We've become accustomed to being in every game with probably a better than 50/50 chance to win.

Not too many teams, if any other, can say that.

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Very true. Although I thought the Pats would win, the possible range of outcomes I considered (if the game is played 10 times kind of thing) was one of them would be a close Broncos win.

One of the outcomes that was not going to happen was a Broncos blowout, and I think that's something else people should appreciate when it comes to the Pats, and Brady. Like in 2013, I fully expected the Pats to lose. They did. But it was not an embarrassing debacle. And, I'll say that if the Pats had gotten by Denver and played in the Super Bowl that year, they would have had a hell of a better showing than Manning and the Broncos.

Further & slightly OT, Denver really has the perfect recipe for generating awful Super Bowls. With that crazy thin air (should almost be illegal...I mean, really Mr. Commissioner, is that fair?) they clean up at home every year (actually lost twice at home this year, which is unusual enough), win their playoff games at home, and then are led like a lamb to slaughter to the Super Bowl.