Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

I'm surprised nobody is saying anything about his play calling. Where were the HB screens? Where were the quick slants? Where was the HB draw plays? To me it looks like they played conservative and got comfy with a 4 point lead. That killer instinct went away once Brady, Moss and the team got all their records in the regular season.

After that week 17 game against the Gians the offense went into safety super cautious mode.

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

agreed.

McDaniels is the one I keep wondering about. Distracted by coaching offers? Not enough supervision by BB?

I figured with 2 weeks to prepare, there was a chance JM or BB would come up with some offensive twists. Different formations, different players, different snap counts, etc. I think Brady may have been tipping plays/ receivers based on his audibles. Even if not, the Giants seemed very keyed-in to each play, and I think that's because there wasn't enough variation.

Instead, it seemed to me they ran their same well-filmed offense which allowed the Giants to very easily anticipate the matchups and how to defend the play. I know Brady didn't practice for a few days and that probably limited their installing any radical new plays.

But my overall feeling is that BB didn't do enough to influence the offense, leaving too much responsibility to Brady and JM.

The biggest shocker to me is the lack of halftime adjustment to their offense.

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

What could he have done?

Screen passes: They weren't bringing the house; on the short passes, faulk would've gotten stuffed at the line

Rush Maroney: Obviously wasn't working

Deep pass: Brady had no time to set it up.

Welker: kind-of worked, but still he was hit shortly after the catch.


The giants weren't brining the house. When they're not blitzing, and still getting incredible pressure on the qb; you can't win.

Its a testiment to the D that we stayed in the game for as long as we did.

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

Why didn't they roll Brady out? To me like I stated the offense seemed scaled back after the broke all those records. Why rethink everything when what you did early on got you to 16-0? I don't care what kind of pass rush that was the offense didn't look anything like it had all season. It's not like they didn't see the same pass rush in week 17!

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

Bingo. If I, watching TV, can predict 99% of the freaking time whether the Pats are going to run or pass then I'm sure the opposing team can do the same. Belichick, because of the team's offensive talent, got arrogant and made execution harder on his players by making his offense predictable and one dimensional. The Pats either pass about 20 straight times or when they decide to run, then run 10 straight times, all from very predictable formations. Defenses look good against the Pats O because they don't have to think/guess at what the Pats are going to run. The most frustrating part of this loss is that the Pats killed themselves, more than the Giants did. The Giants played to the best of their ability but there were many things the Pats could have done to counter the Giants and they refused to do any of them. The Pats have always fared well against blitzing team, with less offensive talent because they were willing to change their offense to attack the weak areas of the defense. Their arrogance and stubborness prevented them from doing the same last night until they absolutely had to once they had fallen behind and this is what cost them the game. Not the defense which held the Giants to 3 freaking points through 3 qtrs.

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

McDaniels had a bad game. There was very little creativity to the plays run. Overall, it's tough to say he had a bad year when the offense played as well as it did. However, at numerous points during this year and last, I have been underwhelmed by his playcalling.

And to the above point, you are correct. My buddies and I actually did this during one of the games later in the year, and at times, you can easily predict whether the play is going to be a run or a pass. We were about 80% accurate. If we can diagnose a play sitting on a couch, the opposition can certainly do it as well. Maybe the predictability worked for awhile, but teams caught on throughout the season, particularly in the playoffs.

I still don't understand why there were not more quick slants and draws. They tried some screens without much success. But give the Giants D-Line credit. And despite all this complaining we're all doing, if a fluke pass isn't caught against Tyree's helment, the Pats probably STILL win the game despite being out hustled and outworked.

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

You are right, our offense is so damm predictable. It is amazing that is why every team we played except one beat us. ..... never mind that is the dolphins.....

the melt down on our losing one game this season you would think this was 1990 when we won one game.

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

Obviously our offense accomplished amazing things this year, as did the whole team. And no doubt we must give big credit to the Giants D for playing their hearts out.

The point I (and probably others) am trying to make is that for such a "well-coached" team in the hands of a "genius" of a coach, it seems to me they didn't anticipate some fundamental issues when planning for this game. Perahps there's more to it, or perhaps BB is simply too hands-off on offense.

It's great for BB to be coaching the defense on the sideline while Brady and JM are running the show, but it also speaks volumes about what happened to our offense during the post-season, imo.

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

JM didn't call enough running plays. You saw Maroney shredding the tired Giant's front 7 late in the game. Just so terribly disapointed.

Loss of words.

But today at work, JM was exactly the person I was thinking off. WAY too many check downs and Screens.

It's ok. Alway's next year.

Only 1 Team can talk ****. That's the Giants. All other teams say one thing. "Always next year"

Re: Josh McDaniels has a lot to learn (went conservative since breaking record)
 

Football, ultimately, boils down to winning the big one.. If you can't win that one, you don't go down in the record books or get the respect.. It's as simple as that.

We can all collectively whine and point fingers but ultimately, there were failures all around - from the coaches, the players, everyone... I think I saw the Giants functioning as a team. But the Pats, except for the 4th quarter drive which resulted in a late TD, looked out of rhythm, confused and even disinterested ... I don't know if it was just me but Brady, Moss and others seemed to have too grim of an expression on their faces right at the start of the game.. Maybe the thought of perfection was weighing too heavily on them, who knows ??

Anyway, they had a great run and they ARE a great team.. I think they can come back next year (forget the 16-0 BS, that's done now) and win the big one... I think they will meet Green Bay or Dallas this time.. They should get it done this time around. Last time around, they didn't win the AFC. They did it this year. Next year, they should win the SB and I think they will.