A novel theory

[Synovia]

imainly teams who try and establish the run and control the clock

They've lost these playoffs games for a reason, and its got nothing to do with the running game. The offense has given up turnovers for scores very early in every single one of these games.


You can't give your opponents free drives and free points in the playoffs. I mean, how many playoffs games do we need to watch Tom Brady get strip sacked in the first quarter?

 

[eom]

The idea that we lost to the jets because of the defense is tired, lazy, and incorrect. We lost to the jets because we turned the ball over 3 times within field goal range (twice we gave the ball to the Jets inside the 20).


An offense can't do that in the playoffs and expect to win. The offense gave the Jets 3 free scores (1 of which the jets managed to mess up - missed 27yd fg.).

yeah?

where did the jets get the ball on those 3 TO's and what was the end result of the 3 'gift' jets drives?

 

[ausbacker]

yeah?

where did the jets get the ball on those 3 TO's and what was the end result of the 3 'gift' jets drives?

New York Jets vs New England Patriot -
1/16/2011 at Gillette Stadium

Turnover 1 - NYJ interception return ball to NWE 12 - miss FG.
Turnover 2 - NYJ recover fumble at NWE 38 - Passing TD
Onside kick - NYJ recover onside kick at NWE 20 (after return + penalty).

The Jets started with some pretty short fields.

 

[andrewgarrr]

yeah?

where did the jets get the ball on those 3 TO's and what was the end result of the 3 'gift' jets drives?

Turnovers hurt the team twice. They give the ball away to the other team AND they lose a possession, momentum, and time. Just because the Jets didn't score 21 points on the three turnovers doesn't mean the turnovers meant nothing. The Patriots also did not score 21 points on those drives.

This is why everyone is always saying how important ball security is in winning games. If you give up the ball and the other team scores a touchdown it's potentially a 14 point swing with less time for your offense.

 

[AzPatsFan]

....
Jets 29 att, 120 yds - "Weak D can't stop the Jets running game"
Pats 28 att, 113 yds - "we didn't have a running game"
Pats 29-45 (64%), 299 yds - "our receivers were owned by the Jets DBs"
Drives with 3+ first downs: Pats 5, Jets 0

Playoff losses become an echo chamber for whoever screams the loudest and demands immediate and simple answers. The Pats are a complex team which doesn't lend itself to easy fixes. That is frustrating for the short attention span generation but is what Belichick brings to the party...for better or worse.

I think your analysis, by resorting to, the ACTUAL facts, pretty much says it all. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you don't.

 

[Synovia]

Exactly. What happened that game is they made some mistakes early, and then those mistakes got compounded while they were playing from behind (like with the turnover on downs with the fake punt).


The only thing that worries me long term from that game is Brady getting strip sacked early, which seems to be becoming a playoff habit of his.


And while the OL got beat on that play, (light, 1-on-1, just like light got beat by suggs the year before), Brady held onto the ball forever.

 

[Synovia]

Turnovers hurt the team twice. They give the ball away to the other team AND they lose a possession, momentum, and time. Just because the Jets didn't score 21 points on the three turnovers doesn't mean the turnovers meant nothing. The Patriots also did not score 21 points on those drives.

This is why everyone is always saying how important ball security is in winning games. If you give up the ball and the other team scores a touchdown it's potentially a 14 point swing with less time for your offense.

Its not just that they give the other team the ball (and take the ball away from you), its that they do it with very little change in field position. You don't get that 40 yard cusion a punt gives you. IE, the other team often gets teh ball at your 20 yard line.

Its a huge swing in expected points.

 

[Off The Grid]

Many have complained here that it does little good to compile records like 11-5, and 14-2 if you immediately lose in the Playoffs.

Real Patriots fans remember the dreary decades of hoping for merely .500.

Wrong.

Real Patriot fans aspire to World Championships, regardless of our past.

I was there right with you, over the decades, suffering through the carnage.

But at NO point, thank you, did doing so imbue in me some pathetic notion of entitlement, to strike an arrogant, obnoxious, and condescending pose ~ as you have, here, and in so many other posts ~ towards those who were simply born later than me.

We can agree on one thing, you and I: All Ingrates Must Hang.

But admiring ~ even worshiping ~ Coach B is not mutually exclusive with criticizing his many mistakes.