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- Apr 23, 2008
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Does it matter where the Patriots started from? They scored. Hell, I would love if the D could give them field position like that on every drive.Yes, the issue is you because, while the offense "scored 10 points", you fail to acknowledge that 7 of those 10 points came off the interception that set them up at the Denver 10 yard line. What did the other 3 possession do? One was an interception that led directly to the Broncos getting 7 points. One was a stalled drive where the Pats had to take a huge risk to convert a 4th and 5 because of the afformentioned bad play at 8:58. The 3rd one? That carried over into the 4th quarter and led to a TD. But you didn't count that. But even on that drive, the O-line had 2 screw-ups that forced the Pats into bad situations.
Regarding some of the plays you referenced, having to convert the fourth down wouldn't have occurred if Vereen (from memory) didn't drop the peach Brady threw him a play or two earlier. It was a calculated risk they took.
The Patriots OL struggled in patches in the first, second, third and fourth quarter. They were also excellent for stretches in the first, second, third and fourth quarters. The Denver DL had a reasonable game. When you throw over 50 times, that's to be expected. Pass protection is a tough gig.Reiss only said that the O-line struggles re-surfaced in that quarter. And they did for that quarter. Which is all he said. And any unbiased person would acknowledge that a play that led to a turnover and plays that caused drives to be pro-longed are issues. They wouldn't make excuses and claim that things were "overblown" the way you are.
The OL was below average in the first four games.Was it a few untimely plays? Yep. But if you go back to the 1st four games, you could easily say the same thing. It was just a few untimely plays.. While the O-line didn't recover then, they DID recover against Denver. And that is what matters.