Because we hate ourselves: Would the Patriots have won tonight?

Cam was AWFUL tonight. Pats coulda beat this team.

Maybe they could have, but the game actually made me feel a little better about the Pats. Peyton Manning didn't win that game, the Broncos D did. And, they abused Carolina worse than they did the Pats, so maybe our o-line isn't as bad as we think. I'm now officially looking forward to next season.

I think it would've been close and come down to a few plays here and there. Probably wouldve been won by a field goal.

then again I thought Carolina would destroy Denver so what do I know

it would have been a whole def game more of a shot out like 31- 26 pats. panthers defense would not have stopped Gronk or Edelman. on defense BB would have played a lot of zone with a spy on cam they would have got a lot of first downs but only 4 FG's and 2 late TD's

Honestly if it's the CAR that showed up tonight, I think every other team that made it to the divisional would have crushed them- barring maybe the Cardinals, purely cause Carson Palmer would outshit Cam.

Of course, Von Miller and friends were a large factor in them playing so bad. Still, Panthers looked so unprepared. People are gonna talk about Cam all offseason when the guy who really should be under the gun for this game is Rivera.

I think Carolina was exposed and the mediocrity of the NFC showed up. I thought Seattle would expose them, but RW put the Seahawks in a huge deficit before anyone could blink.

Wrath Mania said:

Honestly if it's the CAR that showed up tonight, I think every other team that made it to the divisional would have crushed them- barring maybe the Cardinals, purely cause Carson Palmer would outshit Cam.

Of course, Von Miller and friends were a large factor in them playing so bad. Still, Panthers looked so unprepared. People are gonna talk about Cam all offseason when the guy who really should be under the gun for this game is Rivera.

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I'm not sure that I'd necessarily agree about them looking "unprepared."

It was a 16-10 game with 3:00 minutes left in the contest, and that was mainly due to the dominance of Von Miller. The Broncos defense was tough this year. I don't know that I'd put it all on Ron Rivera, but that's just me.

No, did you watch how we played the last 4 games of our year?

supafly said:

I'm not sure that I'd necessarily agree about them looking "unprepared."

It was a 16-10 game with 3:00 minutes left in the contest, and that was mainly due to the dominance of Von Miller. The Broncos defense was tough this year. I don't know that I'd put it all on Ron Rivera, but that's just me.

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Wasting all their challenges in the first half? Denver defenders claiming afterward that CAR didn't change anything up at all, they were ready for everything? A team that had to change their cleats in the second quarter when they had hours to prepare? Running the ball every 1st down for no gain? I don't know, maybe unprepared is too strong, but Rivera didn't really cover himself in glory tonight.

Wrath Mania said:

Wasting all their challenges in the first half? Denver defenders claiming afterward that CAR didn't change anything up at all, they were ready for everything? A team that had to change their cleats in the second quarter when they had hours to prepare? Running the ball every 1st down for no gain? I don't know, maybe unprepared is too strong, but Rivera didn't really cover himself in glory tonight.

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I don't know. I just think it's too easy to always blame the loser for looking unprepared. I guess it's always true that the loser could've been more prepared but I think I respectfully disagree with your reasoning, that's all.

Both teams had to change their cleats, and they showed images of Sanders, CJ Anderson, and Manning all slipping. The sideline reporter stated that Sanders openly told her they needed different cleats.

They rushed for 118 yards with a 4.4 YPC average and faced a stingy defense, so I think they were on the right side of that matchup. Their drops and bad ST play on that 61 yd return really hurt them, but not as much as their fumbles and Denver's defense did.

Maybe they would have but who knows.

All I know is my life is fuller and richer for not having watched a single second of the game. I'm proud of myself. I got a great nights sleep, a fun day climbing and dinner out with my family. Checking in here was all I needed to conclude I made the right choices.

Unfortunately, I watched it, was a tad boring.. but Denver had no "O" for this game, their dominating defense did this..

Carolina's clock management was terrible, and their offensive ability or ineptitude was on display..

I believe the Pats could have won last night.. was not all that impressed with Carolina, they acted like they had never been there before..

BTW the commercials kind of sucked as well.. where was the Budweiser/Puppy commercial??...

Cam Newton would've ran all over us. Remember how effective Alex Smith was against NE? Well multiply that by a million.

danmateus said:

Cam Newton would've ran all over us. Remember how effective Alex Smith was against NE? Well multiply that by a million.

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Thats what I'm thinking. The Denver defense punched Cam in the mouth at the start of the game and he mentally checked out from that point on. That fumble 6 changed EVERYTHING. I really don't think we could have done that. He would have had time in the pocket and opportunities to run for big yardage.

VectorPrime said:

Thats what I'm thinking. The Denver defense punched Cam in the mouth at the start of the game and he mentally checked out from that point on. That fumble 6 changed EVERYTHING. I really don't think we could have done that. He would have had time in the pocket and opportunities to run for big yardage.

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danmateus said:

Cam Newton would've ran all over us. Remember how effective Alex Smith was against NE? Well multiply that by a million.

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Yeah, I tend to believe that Carolina would've played a lot differently without facing that tough Broncos defense, so I'm not going to lose any sleep thinking that we definitely would've won another SB.

I will say that Manning (and his teams) have now taken at least 1, if not 2 (splitting 2013/2015) championships away from the Pats when you include the obvious year of 2006.

probably yes but it is what it is

Bradyking12 said:

I'm on to 2016

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It's funny how often that gets used. Do you think Belichick uses that in his home life as well? Like let's say Bill has a wild night and doesn't come home until the next morning. If his girlfriend says "Where were you last night?" Does he respond with "I'm on to today."

BB would have figured out how to get into Cams head before the game and he would have choked even more than he did. The o-line would still have struggled so it would not have been a blowout but Brady's big game experience and the pats D would have brought home number Five.

Damn, why did you have to go and start this Thread?

DarrylS said:

Unfortunately, I watched it, was a tad boring.. but Denver had no "O" for this game, their dominating defense did this..

Carolina's clock management was terrible, and their offensive ability or ineptitude was on display..

I believe the Pats could have won last night.. was not all that impressed with Carolina, they acted like they had never been there before..

BTW the commercials kind of sucked as well.. where was the Budweiser/Puppy commercial??...

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It was on the podium post game, along with the Papa John smooch...

No. The interior OL would not have been able to contain Lotulelei or Short. They would have been on Brady like stink on ****.