I just watched last years Superbowl, man what a game, what a game...
A couple things:
1) We are gonna miss Vareen, he played amazing.
2) I noticed when BB accepted the trophy that his ear lobes are growing into his head. I never noticed that before. What up with that?
I think any combination of about 6/8 of the following would do it:
1) Edelman coming back wearing a Superman cape, producing like last postseason.
2) James White being able to catch 8+ passes out of the backfield in at least one of the games. They were able to use Vereen in this role last postseason and it paid off big, as you said. There's no reason why we can't hit White out of the backfield in an attempt to take advantage of mismatches. Since it's almost a given that we'll draw either Cincy/KC in the divisional round, this aspect is imperative, particularly against those types of front 7's that produce a lot of pressure and are constantly rushing the QB downhill. There's a good chance that the running game will be taken away in this situation, so White will need to step up for sure.
3) Sufficient contributions from other receiving options like we saw last postseason. Guys like LaFell, Amendola, Martin, and Gronk will need to produce.
We need big plays, 3rd down conversions, and touchdowns. Julian Edelman is not going to solve all of the issues of the WR corps on his own.
4) Having some semblance of a running game. We cannot be forced to have a one dimensional offense, even if the gameplan is calling for pass heavy sets. Lightning is not going to strike twice in two years in terms of being able to get by without running the football. I don't care about any charts showing attempts of 50+ passes. We're going to need to be able to run the football in at least 1.5 of the 3 games minimum, which is about as much as last postseason.
5) Improved OL protection for Brady. Without this we are toast, and that's not meant to be negative. It's a fact. Last week's game is being framed to blame our injuries, etc--but the film replay clearly shows an offensive line that was completely dominated. They sucked protecting Brady, and they sucked trying to run the ball. Too many missed assignments and poor communication, particularly against a team that was previously 0-5 in the division.
6) Improvement in our secondary play. While this has generally been a plus for the season as a whole, we also saw 4/8 last games where our defense gave up 420-440 yards to end the season. We managed to win ONE of those games, and it was a come from behind win over the Giants where Gostkowski had to make a 54 yd FG to steal a
one point victory in NY. This team is going to go as far as the defense takes it, and the CB3 position has been putrid of late, as has the play of L.Ryan without McCourty helping him. Without improvement in the CB2 and CB3 areas, we may have difficulty stopping the opposition.
7) Keeping with the defense, we need to cause turnovers. This year's team has failed miserably at that, finishing #22 in the league, overall. Over the 2nd half of the season we managed to have ONE game where they caused more than a single turnover, and ended up with a +/- turnover ratio of ZERO, as the offense gave it up 9 times and the defense produced 9 turnovers in the final eight games. I don't believe it to be coincidental that the record in these last 8 games was 4-4, and that we gave up a ton of yards in 4/8 games. Had it not been for the last second 54 yd FG by Gost, we'd have finished 3-5.
8) Luck/Health/Momentum--always difference makers in the playoffs. We'll likely need to draw at least one good matchup, come out with a "statement" type of game in the divisional round in order to get things back on track, and take advantage of the 2 weeks prior to the SB in order to rest and gameplan.
