Bill Drunk On His Own Kool Aid?

[KillEM]

Any top team that loses their star QB is in a lot of trouble.

Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Ben Rothlisberger, Tony Romo, Aaraon Rodgers, David Garrard, Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers, Jay Cutler.


An injury to any one of those guys, and their team goes from elite to average.

 

[dtbrks]

BB has been consistent all along, big win or the rare big loss. I'm glad for the even-keel approach, though some can call it kool-aid drinking. I think it adds perspective to why he is a sucessful coach. You just can't panic about one awful effort.

I posted this in another thread buried by all the doom and gloom, but this ain't Kool-Aid, it is the truth:

Last year, last week, yesterday all don't matter. Momentum is a myth. There are no points added or taken away from the scoreboard by expectations of what you should or should not do today based upon what happened at any point in the past. If you play better, execute better, have more people going their job, make fewer mistakes, and you put yourself in position to win against anybody. If you don't do those things, you put yourself in position to lose against anybody. Then whatever you do today doesn't matter in the next game, because on that day the same factors are involved. Each game is its own entity.

Don't cry about what you don't have, what a bad break you got, how a ref could have done this or that, or how someone got hurt unepectedly. It simply "is what it is" and you play with what you have. If everyone involved does their job, then history shows that the team will be in a position to win.

A key group of people who must "do their jobs" is the coaching staff. Now they have two weeks to determine how this team can get better, to determine just who among the players is not doing their job, and to find if someone else out there can do their job better. My guess is that when it comes to personnel changes at QB, the answer is unfortunately "no" but when it comes to strategies about what the current QBs on our roster are asked to do, the answer is a big "yes".

Bottom line: victories are not cheap, they are hard, every one of them has to be earned by superior effort and execution. That is true no matter who the opponent. There are no gifts and no God-given rights to victory. You have to outwork and outplay someone to take it away from them, and most often they have a lot of people who are talented, well-motivated and also working very hard to try to take it away from you.

Very good post. I think people forget how hard it is to win in the NFL. Do any of us know how hard it is to coach and play at this level? And do it at an elite status for a long time?

I played football, not a big time collage program at all. It's hard, hard work mentally and physically. These guys are hurt most of the time and all we do as fans is get on their arse..

If the team looses the rest of the games this season (although I know they wont), I will still love the pats and I will still think BB is the best coach in the game. In the end, it's a game, one that we as fans are very passionate about, but it's still a game.

sorry for the rant

 

[DisgruntledTunaFan]

2. not getting a veteran backup QB over the last few seasons

But who?? Every year, there's rarely any decent QB FAs. Look at the Colts and many other teams with decent QBs-their backups are garbage too. The only team that seems to fare well when their QB goes down is the Eagles, and that's b/c they ARE a better team, it seems, when someone else other than that clown is taking snaps under center.

 

[NEPatriot]

It really bothers me when BB and his staffs didn't see Dolphins using 2 QBs in the game. You would think that a person like BB was going to see something 'wrong'. What can I say?

Pats is an too old and slow organization to react during the games.

 

[Iron Helmet]

How GRACIOUS of you to say that you are leaning towards Bill Belichick being a complete idiot who believes all the hype that the media creates around him, but that you aren't 100% sure.

Let me know when this "well oiled machine" actually takes the field. Because, the O-line hasn't. And the Defense, as a whole, took yesterday off.

Why is it that people like yourself have to pre-empt your posts with this half-arsed justifications that you are a fan who "isn't blinded to what you see on the weekends." What I've found so far is that the fans who make that claim are blinded and don't actually put the entire picture together. Nor do they understand how the parts work together.

You mention this "well oiled machine" but, I have news for you, this team hasn't been a "well oiled machine at any point this season. It wasn't there in game one before Brady went down. And its hasn't been since then. The O-line has been average at best. Other teams seem to have figured out a way to blunt the zone blocking that the Patriots have tried to install. Yet people like yourself ignore that. And you ignore that the games are won and lost in the trenches. And yesterday, both the O-line and the D-line got their arses handed to them.

BTW, if you were so well informed, you'd know that Cassel has played football since High School. He spent his college years as the back-up to Palmer and Leinhart. He put enough pressure on Leinhart that Carroll came out and said it came down to a coin flip. That he could have just as easily gone with Cassel over Leinhart. You saying that he hasn't played and that its an insult to other players is actually an insult to every player on that team and a slap in the face to Belichick.

Now, that being said, Cassel is a back-up QB. Back-up QBs are supposed to not lose games for the team. Cassel has done that. As much as any of us might not want to admit it, the game was over before Cassel threw the pick. Because the defense was getting man-handled. And the Offensive line was offensive. It was extremely inconsistent in both its run-blocking and pass blocking. Tom Brady could have been back there and the results would have been pretty much the same.

First, calling Bill a man drunk on his own Kool Aid is a far cry from "idiot". However, you could be an idiot for saying this team would not run like a "well oiled machine" with Brady at the helm this season. It is pure speculation by you. The offense and defense are intimately connected, and last I checked, we were going into 2008 STRONGER offensively than last year. Dave Thomas back, Morris back, greater running back depth, Moss/WRs and Brady another year together...Brady sets the tone for this team. Period.

My comment was Cassel has not started a football game since high school. This is a fact. Your comment about Cassel being a coin toss away from starting just shows how ignorant you are. What is Carol supposed to say? He sucked? If you listened to that interview carefully, Carol didn't seem very optimistic that we would be competitive...insinuating that things would be ""difficult."

There were lots of better options, any of which we could have acquired over the past several years...try Jeff Garcia...see Eagles when McNabb went down. See Kerry Collins. Greise. David Car.

Are you kidding with this comment? "Tom Brady could have been back there and the results would have been pretty much the same" ...you are dismissed.

 

[BPF]

3. We watch football on TV weekends and slop up equally uninformed media bloviations all week, while Bill has the courage of his convictions based on 30+ years in the league and 20+ years running his systems and 8 seasons as a HC here with a .750 overall winning percentage when it's all said and done. He took just as much heat for Bledsoe/Brady on a .500 team through week 10 that season as he is for Brady/Cassel on a .667 team in week 3 this season. It took most of his enlightened critics until the end of the 2003 season and post season to admit they were wrong and he was right. This time fans should know better than to behave like reactionary kneejerks but some of us will never learn...

I agree w/you. BB will take the best course of action for this team and I believe more often than not he makes the right call.

Also Matt Cassell wasn't the problem yesterday. I know it's what most national pundits along with the general public want to talk about but the problem was the the middle of the defense. In any sport if you hope to win you must be able to first STOP your opponent. We were weak up the middle yesterday, too many successful running plays for Miami, they had 216 yds rushing!!!!, and too many receivers, especially TE's running free making easy catches, Pennington was 17/20 for 226 yds and everyone wants to talk about Cassel?! He was one of the problems but certainly not even close to being the main concern coming out of yesterday's lackluster team performance. I agree with what BB said, the Pats were outcoached, outplayed, outphysicalled and that's why they got beat. First order of business is for each player to play their responsibility and stop the run and then the defense can expand from there. Wilfork, Warren and Seymour along with Wright, Smith and Green need to be more consistent playing their responsibilities. I didn't like what I saw from Wilfork yesterday but maybe his bad back was worse than we thought going in and the bye week came at the right time. Certainly there will be corrections made and the Pats will be ok, too many solid players and great coaches for me to expect otherwise. I think what we'll find coming out of the bye week is a much different approach to defense. The coaches don't seem to trust the CB's as of yet so the Pats have been playing a soft cover 2 shell rather than take chances by blitzing thus leaving the CB's one-on-one. I don't understand this approach vs a team that has weak WR's like Miami but that's why BB said he and staff were outcoached. The lack of faith in the CB's also has affected the run D up the middle because the Pats have been sending Mayo and Brushi/Guyton back in passing situations/downs to cover the middle and teams have been gaining big yds in that void running out of passing formations/downs when the D-line is blocked. When this happens the LB's start to not trust themselves and take false steps which creates both running lanes and passing lanes. I believe we need to stop reacting and start dicatating some on defense. In order to create consistent pressure vs both the run and pass we need to start seeing more blitzes. I haven't seen an "exotic" defense from this team in quite some time because there's been no need with Brady at the controls and all the points coming out of the offense so a conservative approach was indeed a good course of action to follow. But now clearly the approach has to change because we need to go back to Patriots football ala 2001-2004. An example of a team changing it's style has been the Giants. They have adapted and expanded their blitz packages with Umenyora and Strahan not playing and realized they need to create pressure with a variety of blitz packages in order to make stops and create turnovers.

In addition, I don't think Cassel will ever be Brady but with the exception of Manning not many other QB's in the NFL can compare either so that's an unfair comparison, the best player in the league in Brady vs Cassel who started his 2nd NFL game yesterday. They are at much different points in their development process and as Cassel gets more snaps he will be a much better player, he will be better in Week 16 than he is now so let's have some patients and not crucify the kid this early.

Overall I think that things are never as bad as they seem and the Pats will be fine. Sometimes a loss like this can be therapeutic, obviosuly a loss is never what you look for but losses as bad as this one cause players to go back to the basics. NFL seasons have lots of ups and downs and the teams that navigate through those will be left standing in the end. These type of games build character for teams, now it remains to be seen if that's a good one or a bad one coming out of the bye next week for this year's team.

 

[letekro]

I agree w/you. BB will take the best course of action for this team and I believe more often than not he makes the right call.

Also Matt Cassell wasn't the problem yesterday. I know it's what most national pundits along with the general public want to talk about but the problem was the the middle of the defense. In any sport if you hope to win you must be able to first STOP your opponent. We were weak up the middle yesterday, too many successful running plays for Miami, they had 216 yds rushing!!!!, and too many receivers, especially TE's running free making easy catches, Pennington was 17/20 for 226 yds and everyone wants to talk about Cassel?! He was one of the problems but certainly not even close to being the main concern coming out of yesterday's lackluster team performance. I agree with what BB said, the Pats were outcoached, outplayed, outphysicalled and that's why they got beat. First order of business is for each player to play their responsibility and stop the run and then the defense can expand from there. Wilfork, Warren and Seymour along with Wright, Smith and Green need to be more consistent playing their responsibilities. I didn't like what I saw from Wilfork yesterday but maybe his bad back was worse than we thought going in and the bye week came at the right time. Certainly there will be corrections made and the Pats will be ok, too many solid players and great coaches for me to expect otherwise. I think what we'll find coming out of the bye week is a much different approach to defense. The coaches don't seem to trust the CB's as of yet so the Pats have been playing a soft cover 2 shell rather than take chances by blitzing thus leaving the CB's one-on-one. I don't understand this approach vs a team that has weak WR's like Miami but that's why BB said he and staff were outcoached. The lack of faith in the CB's also has affected the run D up the middle because the Pats have been sending Mayo and Brushi/Guyton back in passing situations/downs to cover the middle and teams have been gaining big yds in that void running out of passing formations/downs when the D-line is blocked. When this happens the LB's start to not trust themselves and take false steps which creates both running lanes and passing lanes. I believe we need to stop reacting and start dicatating some on defense. In order to create consistent pressure vs both the run and pass we need to start seeing more blitzes. I haven't seen an "exotic" defense from this team in quite some time because there's been no need with Brady at the controls and all the points coming out of the offense so a conservative approach was indeed a good course of action to follow. But now clearly the approach has to change because we need to go back to Patriots football ala 2001-2004. An example of a team changing it's style has been the Giants. They have adapted and expanded their blitz packages with Umenyora and Strahan not playing and realized they need to create pressure with a variety of blitz packages in order to make stops and create turnovers.

In addition, I don't think Cassel will ever be Brady but with the exception of Manning not many other QB's in the NFL can compare either so that's an unfair comparison, the best player in the league in Brady vs Cassel who started his 2nd NFL game yesterday. They are at much different points in their development process and as Cassel gets more snaps he will be a much better player, he will be better in Week 16 than he is now so let's have some patients and not crucify the kid this early.

Overall I think that things are never as bad as they seem and the Pats will be fine. Sometimes a loss like this can be therapeutic, obviosuly a loss is never what you look for but losses as bad as this one cause players to go back to the basics. NFL seasons have lots of ups and downs and the teams that navigate through those will be left standing in the end. These type of games build character for teams, now it remains to be seen if that's a good one or a bad one coming out of the bye next week for this year's team.

Good post. I would add that the Patriots typically get more aggressive and exotic on D as the season goes on - one of the reasons they typically improve on the second go around the AFC East and "peak" towards the end of the season.

 

[BradyIsBuddha]

I think we're going to see a completely different team coming out of that bye week, and Belichik will be the reason why. If I'm wrong, then it will be the players' fault for not humbling themselves to be coached all over again.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Any top team that loses their star QB is in a lot of trouble.

Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Ben Rothlisberger, Tony Romo, Aaraon Rodgers, David Garrard, Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers, Jay Cutler.


An injury to any one of those guys, and their team goes from elite to average.

Not only that but through week 3 this season some of them appear to have gone from elite to average WITH thiose guys on the roster...

 

[DarrylS]

A lot of posters need a big "calm down",, BB is what he is an excellent coach.. he believes in Cassell, as this QB can manage the clock, move the chains and have minimal turnovers.. yesterday the pats pooped the bed offensively and defensively... every team has a bad day, this team had a superbad day.. lets see what happens in two weeks.. I suspect a much different team will take the field, conversely lets see how Miami does after yesterday.. and most of all lets see what happens when we play them again.

 

[Absurdly Metro]

When it comes to key players going down, the same can be said for alot of teams as well. How would the Cowboys fare if Romo goes down? How would the Eagles fare if Westbrook goes down? How would the Chargers fare if LT goes down? How would the Colts fare if Peyton goes down? How would the Broncos fare if Tom Nalen goes down?

Haha. Good one.