BB didn't "throw away HFA"

luuked said:

What stupid decisions ?

Lets take away the the shiny, red herring that is the dropkick and name me one more stupid decision in that game ? Did Belichick tell Chung to play off coverage and allow a 3rd & 10 completion for over 20 yards right after the kick ? Or did he decide to get a punt blocked before the half ? Or did he decide to allow a punt to be returned for a TD ? Should Belichick trip opponents in the future to prevent plays ?

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Does Belichick bear responsibility for the fact that they were punting with 8 seconds to go in the half?

PatriotSpy said:

I have heard that quite a few times where their goal is to win the division. Brady has said it himself. I'm seriously not making that up.

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That is a goal, not THE goal. THE goal is to win the Superbowl and requires many other goals to be achieved in order to happen. You're not trying to understand BB's methods, you're trying to fit what you observed into you existing world view.

PatriotsPimp136 said:

It was a meltdown ending. Denver has never been a friendly place and we saw it once again in display

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How does one construe a 2 point loss in the AFCCG against the number one seed away at a mile above sea level a melt down.

Galeb said:

How does one construe a 2 point loss against the number one seed away at a mile above sea level a melt down.

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I am talking about the ending to the season.

The Brandon Five said:

Does Belichick bear responsibility for the fact that they were punting with 8 seconds to go in the half?

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Because we see blocked punts -- especially on the Patriots -- so often that a punt at our own 38 yard line (!!) should be considered a risky play ? It wasn't like the ball was in our own endzone where the punter has to work with a shortened field. We were 12 yards from midfield..

By that logic we should never throw the ball before halftime because it could be intercepted. Or run it because the runner could fumble it. But when we take kneel downs everyone here also goes crazy because we miss scoring chances..

season's over boys.........they have some improving to do in the offseason

they got further than anyone thought last summer........I'm glad I got to watch my team to the end of January, but this season was really tiring

luuked said:

Because we see blocked punts -- especially on the Patriots -- so often that a punt at our own 38 yard line (!!) should be considered a risky play ? It wasn't like the ball was in our own endzone where the punter has to work with a shortened field. We were 12 yards from midfield..

By that logic we should never throw the ball before halftime because it could be intercepted. Or run it because the runner could fumble it. But when we take kneel downs everyone here also goes crazy because we miss scoring chances..

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The point is this: why take a knee at the end of the half in other games but not in that game? Bill stressed how good the Philly ST unit had been during the week. Why give them back the ball at all?

PatriotsPimp136 said:

I am talking about the ending to the season.

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The ending of the season was a result of poor OL play more than any other reason. I wouldn't call that a meltdown, rather an amalgamation of poor OL health, lapses in talent evaluation/projection, attrition of targets necessary to get rid of the ball quickly, questionable positional coaching and inadequate player development.

Galeb said:

The ending of the season was a result of poor OL play more than any other reason. I wouldn't call that a meltdown, rather an amalgamation of poor OL health, lapses in talent evaluation/projection, attrition of targets necessary to get rid of the ball quickly, questionable positional coaching and inadequate player development.

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Well we can sugarcoated all we want but i feel this o line wouldn't have looked that horrible had the game been in foxboro. Denver's defense played posesssed at home

The Brandon Five said:

The point is this: why take a knee at the end of the half in other games but not in that game? Bill stressed how good the Philly ST unit had been during the week. Why give them back the ball at all?

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How was this in our control ? We tried to pickup a first down on a 3 & 5 on our own 38 with a throw to Chandler which would have put us 25 yards away from FG range. It was incomplete the time was stopped.

What do you wanna do ? Go to the refs and tell them to continue running the clock ?

The score was 14:7 at that point so we did exactly what all the people on the board here are constantly mocking and tried to go for some points before the half. And even if we had kneeled or ran instead of throwing the ball (conceding the scoring opportunity) there is no guarantee that the Eagles wouldn't have made us punt it.. they still had 2 timeouts and the best ST unit in the game..

PatriotsPimp136 said:

Well we can sugarcoated all we want but i feel this o line wouldn't have looked that horrible had the game been in foxboro. Denver's defense played posesssed at home

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Now you're interpreting a balanced, well thought out criticism as sugarcoating? It's fine if you disagree with my conclusions, they could certainly be wrong, but calling it sugarcoating is a gross mischaracterization.

luuked said:

How was this in our control ? We tried to pickup a first down on a 3 & 5 on our own 38 with a throw to Chandler which would have put us 25 yards away from FG range. It was incomplete the time was stopped.

What do you wanna do ? Go to the refs and tell them to continue running the clock ?

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I dunno...maybe run the ball? There were only eight seconds left.

If we get the 2 point conversion and win in OT, BB is a genius, it's a game on inches

Gronk and our defense was the only good thing about last night.

i think BB was counting on Denver losing somewhere in there…. either in the regular season, or being ONE AND DONE in the playoffs again.

don't forget they wouldve had home field over us in 2012 but they lost to the ravens in mile high. last year they lost to the colts at mile high.

bb probably thought the Super Bowl would still go through foxboro

Belichick I am sure had a dilemma for the Miami game plan:

1. He knows Brady plays as skittish as a newborn kitten in the confines of Mile High Stadium, and that does not bode well for the Patriots if they advance to play in Denver.
2. Seeing the QB mess in Denver, a loss to the Steelers is about a 60% probability.

Therefore, if the above two (before we discuss the injuries factor) wash each other out, and the Denver game is 50% either way, why do you play to lose in the 1st half of the MIA game, and the light bulb goes on in the second half, and then play for the win?

Conclusion: Even if they won in Denver yesterday, the game plan for the Miami game was a major coaching/Ernie blunder.

The Brandon Five said:

I dunno...maybe run the ball? There were only eight seconds left.

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Did you on purpose ignore what I wrote about running the ball ?

The game is 14:7 we are closer to FG range than to our endzone and try to convert a third down. This is exactly what everyone wanted against the Broncos, Jets and Miami. And yet because a ST screwup manages to get a punt blocked it suddenly is a stupid idea to go for the FG before half ? Logic ?

PatriotsPimp136 said:

Emphasis should have been higher for HFA. Denver of all places. If it was elsewhere then fine.

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Doesn't seem like that was BB's mindset when going into the miami game

MrNathanDrake said:

i think BB was counting on Denver losing somewhere in there…. either in the regular season, or being ONE AND DONE in the playoffs again.

don't forget they wouldve had home field over us in 2012 but they lost to the ravens in mile high. last year they lost to the colts at mile high.

bb probably thought the Super Bowl would still go through foxboro

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Then he was derelict in his job if he decided that they could lose and hope Denver loses along the way.
There is no way BB makes a decision based upon thinking another team will lose a game.

He made his choice. He wanted to rest players, enforce some silly project with the running that, the one that he put under wraps in the playoffs, and heavily risk losing the 1 seed he had in hand. It did not work. You could argue if he tried to win the Miami game players would have gotten hurt, but that is only speculation. Doing it this way failed. We will never know what would have happened if he had done it the traditional way and tried to win a game that ultimately was the difference between going to the SB and going home.

TinhWoodhead said:

Doesn't seem like that was BB's mindset when going into the miami game

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And he was wrong. His approach failed. Perhaps winning that game may have caused injuries, but that is only speculation. We know what he did turned out to fail, we don't know what would have happened if he did what many of us felt he should.