Although I agree with the premise that the Patriots were vulnerable early because of Brady's come back from that devestating knee injury, and he has since shown marked improvement, I think he still has a point. Road games have been a bigger problem for the Patriots this season than in seasons past. We'll see if the problems extend into the post season or not. To be fair he did say that the Patriots would still be dangerous in the playoffs.
Come on now, really? It certainly something to consider, definitely not "ludicrous at best".
Of course people are going to discount them because of those things. They'd be foolish not to. It doesn't mean they don't respect the players and the coach. It just means that there are signs of vulnerability when you see those characteristics in a team, especially if that team will have to play at least one and probably two road games to get to the SB. Now you can argue that there are reasons for those stats that no longer exist but until the Patriots go on the road and play well in the playoffs it is something an objective person would have to consider.
Well, I think it will be harder to go there and beat the #2 seed rather than be beaten if only because history shows it to be harder. But no one is "counting" their "chickens". Virtually nothing but respect for the Patriots on the CMB. There are some idiots guaranteeing victory and such, but they're just idiots. Nochickens being counted here, that's for sure.
Dude, he said the Patriots would be dangerous in the playoffs, that IS respect. "Ashamed to be a fan of football", really? Wow.
Although I can see why you would call LT a "cry baby" I defy you to give me an example of Rivers being one.
Actually, if you read his posts, he says they're always dangerous, but then continues on using the misleading 2-5 record on the road as a yardstick for things to come.
I haven't been to the chargers board, so I don't know what they're saying. I only know what jc was saying, because he posted it here... And he is who I was responding to. Something you're doing, is taking certain sections of my post out of context by splitting up the quotes (with regards to the ashamed comment), and I'd respectfully ask you to stop doing that.
It IS ludicrous at best to use the Saints game as a yardstick for NE's road games in the future. Which he's essentially trying to do by pointing out that game specifically. Which was an epic failure on 7 of 50 plays, but he's only looking at the results, and not the rest of the game.
He, and apparently you, aren't looking at the whole picture, with the young DEF, the QB coming off of major surgery, sifting through receivers like Galloway who cost us the jets game etc... There are a WHOLE host of reasons that need to be considered instead of just looking at the 2-5 record and making an immediate judgment that NE WILL suffer on road games because they HAVE suffered on road games. You can look at them, but you can't make a legitimate correlation to future performance.
It absolutely IS foolish to discount a team who has been consistently improving (with admitted bumps along that road) week after week, and is a division winner. People try and discount NE based on the division their in, playing and barely beating the bills, jets and phins etc... I do recall SD struggling mightily against the raiders in week 1, so we should discount you on your close victories too right? And just chalk up 5 of your wins to a really weak division too huh? Didn't think so, so why do it to NE?
NE came in in 2006 to San Diego, where both teams played HORRIBLY and upset the #1 seed. It's hard for ANYONE to go on the road in the playoffs and win, so your assertion that it would likely be more difficult is true, but not true enough to discount the teams past history in situations that they may find themselves in this season.
Paying lip service by making one VERY general statement that the Patriots are always dangerous, followed up by nothing but negative nancy statements isn't respect. And the last part of that is taken way out of context, which I already addressed earlier in this post.
As for Rivers, the reason I think he's cry baby is how I've seen him behave on the field... When things don't go his way, or he doesn't get calls that he thinks he should, he seems to get really whiny based on facial expressions (so I could be wrong, but he seems to throw tantrums on field like my 2y/o does). I don't recall any truly whiny statements he's made (which is why I don't like LT).
So feel free to question my statements, but do NOT partially quote me and then take the text out of context. Also expect a rebuttle if I believe you're incorrect in your assertions.