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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.Question to Patriots fans. In each of our last 3 playoff losses dating back to 2011, our offense has managed to put up only 17, 13, and 16 points per game. That kind of production is not going to win you big games.
Do you think this 2014 Patriots Offense has what it takes to put enough points on the scorecard in a championship playoff game? What is different about this Patriots Offense than in years past?
Best offensive weapon in the NFL? Who is that?
The lack of points scored was a big issue in those playoff losses no doubt.
Where I see this years offense as improved, in comparison, is when it comes to red zone weapons, in particular a height and size improvement over the squirts.
Once this offense gets into the RZ and trots out some combo of Gronk, Wright, LaFell, Dobson and Thompkins ... points will be scored.
I'm never a fan of these "championship caliber" conversations. Did the 2011 Patriots have a championship caliber defense? They were a Welker drop away from being one. How about the 2011 Giants, who allowed nearly as many yards and even more points than the Patriots did? What about the 2003 Patriots offense? Clearly it was championship caliber, even being the primary reason why they beat the Panthers, yet they were a terrible running team and only scored 21.6 ppg.
Did the 2007 Giants have a more championship caliber offense than the 2007 Patriots? If I could guarantee the 2014 Patriots would have as productive an offense as the 2013 Broncos, would anyone really object to that because of what they did in their final game? And if we look at those two examples as evidence that running is more important, why does the top 10 in 2013 ypc only have 4 playoff teams?
Obviously you can't be terrible on offense or defense if you want a shot. But good is good enough so long as the entire team is good enough. Most of this comes down to fans wanting to create after-the-fact story lines and causation when it really is more luck and chance.
Our last 3 playoff losses also came without one of the best young pass catchers in NFL history
Your offense cant score points if your defense cant get off the field on 3rd down. The best thing to happen to our offense is what looks like an athletic, shutdown secondary.
The talent we have on offense this year, centered around Ridley, Vereen, Gronk, Edelman, Thompkins and Amendola is light years ahead of what we had with Antowain Smith, Kevin Faulk, Jermaine Wiggins, Troy Brown, David Patten and David Givens.
More than enough horsepower. Question is just whether this team has that much heart... and we wont know until November or December.