KDPpatsfan said:
I believe that 2 of the TO's were as a result of the play calling in a way. 1.) Faulk should not have been carrying the ball in that situation since he is a know fumbler in traffic. 2.) that throw by Brady should not have happend I.E. they should have run it before hand.
That's not really play calling though. It's personnel and execution. We never had credible running game this season. Partly due to injuries and/or dropoff by our lead rb, partly because we don't have a viable backup for our lead rb, and partly because that O line never really got the hang of run blocking or pass blocking (with any consistency or against the better teams).
Last season that ball is not in Faulks hands to fumble, which led to the bogus interference call, which led to the TD, which resulted in Hobbs returning a kickoff that wouldn't have occurred and fumbling (because he was trying to make up too much on one play). Last season we punch footballs in in the red zone (or have a legit option to) rather than forcing the pass. Sure, Brady could have thrown it away and settled for the FG, except those weren't a guarantee tonight either. But after the 10 point momentum swing Faulk unleashed, and a missed FG, Brady (under tremendous pressure all night) was trying to do too much. Lets face it - we were all saying we needed 7 there.
While we were all preoccupied with the defense this season, this offense was never really consistently very good. Inconsistent in the receiving game, no running game. Brady was the one bright spot on offense all season. Tonight he just couldn't carry them any farther. It's a shame to waste a season with a 28 year old HOF QB. Belichick needs to figure out how to better protect and utilize that asset before something more unfortunate than a playoff loss occurs. Givens is likely gone. Branch is not a #1. Bethel is a waste of space. Davis has some potential if he wants to stay. Troy (who is obviously devastated by his mistake) may retire. Montana did it with Rice, Brady's done it three times already with the catch of the day. Koppen and Light will be back, but the line was struggling before they went out so who knows.
I feel bad for the defense because they got their act together (just not soon enough to grab a 2 seed) and clearly played well enough to win not just this week but for a few more. The good news is that bodes well going forward (provided Willie and Izzo don't kill each other on the plane ride home).
We'll have a lot to talk about this off season and three more weeks to talk about it.
God love Lobel - he's playing highlights from all the 3 games to glory's to close out his post game show. We'll live to fight another day.
