Do You Have Faith in the Patriots?

[slash83]

If it comes down having to go to Denver I would rather face Manning then Brock.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

Can edelman block? Also need edelman to be 80 percent of what he is. Lafell has done nothing for this offense.

 

[Kdo5]

Yes I have faith. Belichick and Brady. With those two (and Gronk) we always have a chance. There's not a single team in the AFC that we can't go toe to toe with. There's no game we can go into that I'll be thinking "we don't have much of a chance".

I admit that the Patriots have been playing very poorly ever since the end of that Broncos game. They did well against Houston but every other game was bad news...even the win against Tennessee wasn't a pretty one.

The offensive line is a nightmare. Really terrible and it's only gotten worse. Having Vollmer back is key...hopefully he brings even slightly more stability to that group. Every little bit helps. I also think the coaching has been BAD especially on offense. I'm not a McDaniels hater but I think he has called some bad games during this stretch. Today's play calling was laughable. He went a half basically ONLY running the ball and spent the other half ONLY passing...usually with Brady heaving balls downfield with heavy pressure. Umm hello, Josh? How about you keep it ****ing balanced and we could have put together another scoring drive or two? [/rant]

But if the coaches get their **** together, Vollmer returns, Edelman is around 80%, and we get back Jones/Hightower...I see no reason why we can't make it to the Super Bowl. I think that if Nate Solder hadn't been injured we'd be in great shape. If we had Vollmer/Solder it'd be SO different. Kind of funny to think about it but Nate Solder going on IR might have been one of the two the most costly injuries of all. Edelman of course is the other.

 

[supafly]

Zero confidence in the offensive line. This line has been bad for a while and Edelman isn't fixing that. He won't be 100% and he'll only try to mask some of their shortcomings.

I've been pointing to the struggles of the OL in both pass protection and lack of run blocking for weeks now, much more than any injured player. I'm concerned that it will be our downfall--yes.

 

[supafly]

Can edelman block? Also need edelman to be 80 percent of what he is. Lafell has done nothing for this offense.

Not only do we need Edelman to return as the type of weapon that he was last postseason, but we'll need those role players like Amendola/LaFell/White to really step up and make clutch plays. Hopefully, Gronk can get going again as well.

Either way you look at it, it's going to either be a dominant passing attack pre-week 10, or a well balanced rushing/adequate passing attack, in order to go the distance. Right now, we don't seem to have either. Let's hope that can change with just one good effort that may be able to turn this around, but it will have to be rather quickly.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

I've been pointing to the struggles of the OL in both pass protection and lack of run blocking for weeks now, much more than any injured player. I'm concerned that it will be our downfall--yes.

If you had to choose your starting OL? Which players?

 

[jboston19]

I'm a tad concerned how much some of the returning wounded will be in football shape, but I have much more confidence in the group that will likely take the field in two weeks as opposed to the one who played today. I also feel like the coaching staff was trying to get in to the playoffs without further injury rather than trying for the #1 seed.

 

[supafly]

If you had to choose your starting OL? Which players?

At this point in time with the injuries that we have? I'd have to go:

Vollmer LT
Stork/Kline LG
Andrews C
Jackson/Kline RG
Cannon RT

I don't see any other options, unless you'd argue Waddle at LT, with Vollmer back to RT. Any way you look at it, we'll most likely need to keep a TE in on a lot of plays, so that will be imperative in helping the protection.

 

[Archeryaddict12]

I'm concerned if players can't get healthy for the divisional round. If they can get healthy then this team can be what it was earlier in the season.

 

[patsrulenfl]

I had faith in them before the Miami game, for them to go anywhere and win against anyone THIS year. However, after the Miami game, my confidence is shaken. Any team with a good pass rush will spell trouble for the Pats unless they somehow get their Oline act together.

The problem is 3 of the 5 remaining AFC teams have very good pass rush, KC, Denver and Cincy. Even though we beat Houston, their pass rush is nothing to laugh at with Watt leading the charge.

Here's how my balanced mind (you can go ahead and call me negative, pessimist whatever) looks at the playoffs. There are several question marks heading into the playoffs.

1. I don't know how they will do with Edelman playing after 2 months of not playing.
2. How will the OLine do in the playoffs.
3. How will Brady's ankle injury affect his performance. Will it have any mental effect as we have seen numerous times before when he sees ghost defenders and ducks and takes a sack.
4. How will the defense perform on 3rd downs. It was atrocious today.

I wouldn't be surprised if the get to the SB. I also wouldn't be surprised if they are one and done with so many questions still need answering.

 

[Gronkowski123]

yes but the 0-line stinks.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

If you had to choose your starting OL? Which players?

Left tackle - vollmer
Left guard - Kline
Center - Andrews
Right guard - stork
Right tackle - cannon (God help us if he is on the field)

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Simple question. I've followed a lot of Patriots teams that were very good, but always felt they wouldn't make the big play when it counts, or, gawd forbid, they had a couple key injuries.

I have faith in BB and Brady and all the way down to make the absolute best out of the players they have and situations and teams they need to surmount.

Sometimes it's still not enough. Obviously only one team can win.

I wouldn't pick any other team to overcome whatever they need to, in this case, get healthy and rolling quick.

What say you?

I have been REALLY high on our chances up until a few weeks ago. I see us as Offense, defense, STs to go with the top notch coaching - we really had solid units in all spots (a few soft spots within each group but overall very balanced and capable). The injuries and the poor OL play has shaken my confidence to the point that I need to see the divisional round game with the Patriots passing game moving the ball closer to what they had been doing previously. I'll feel A LOT better if I see that. If not then I would rank the Patriots chances like every other AFC team: capable of scratching and clawing any PO win but it will be extremely uncertain each step of the way.

After seeing 2 games of Jackson I think this guy could end up being key. When defenders are not greeting him 2 yards deep into the backfield he looks to really know about making the most of each run. Whether it's 1 or 2 yards or 5 to 10 yards he really seems to know about the small stuff of running a football. He will be important in keeping 3rd downs at likelier converted distances. And IF the passing game starts taking off like I hope it will when a healthy Jules, Gronk, DA are on the field together (to take back the short-middle game we have been sucking on), I'm super enthusiastic to see what SJ will do with a loosened LOS.

 

[DaBruinz]

Can edelman block? Also need edelman to be 80 percent of what he is. Lafell has done nothing for this offense.

That's because he's been injured most of the year.. SMH.. Clearly you don't pay attention to the injury reports..

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

That's because he's been injured most of the year.. SMH.. Clearly you don't pay attention to the injury reports..

Lafell? He came back from injury and didn't do as much. He injured himself again but lets not make excuses for him. Just hasn't been as productive as last year. Maybe he can right the ship. Idk

 

[supafly]

I had faith in them before the Miami game, for them to go anywhere and win against anyone THIS year. However, after the Miami game, my confidence is shaken. Any team with a good pass rush will spell trouble for the Pats unless they somehow get their Oline act together.

The problem is 3 of the 5 remaining AFC teams have very good pass rush, KC, Denver and Cincy. Even though we beat Houston, their pass rush is nothing to laugh at with Watt leading the charge.

Here's how my balanced mind (you can go ahead and call me negative, pessimist whatever) looks at the playoffs. There are several question marks heading into the playoffs.

1. I don't know how they will do with Edelman playing after 2 months of not playing.
2. How will the OLine do in the playoffs.
3. How will Brady's ankle injury affect his performance. Will it have any mental effect as we have seen numerous times before when he sees ghost defenders and ducks and takes a sack.
4. How will the defense perform on 3rd downs. It was atrocious today.

I wouldn't be surprised if the get to the SB. I also wouldn't be surprised if they are one and done with so many questions still need answering.

I've always felt that this was a typical kind of year where we'd at least go to the AFCCG, as my expectations became quite tempered after seeing what the offense looked like without Lewis/Edelman.

Now, I think we'll have to play a good game just to beat CIN or KC, as their defensive pressure and scratch and claw offenses can pose the same kind of problems that we've been seeing lately--Edelman or no Edelman. I still think we have a legitimate shot at not only going to the AFCCG, but winning it, as long as the team turns things around quickly and has an excellent effort in their next game. I'm talking about the kind of team effort seen vs. CIN last season after the loss at KC.

 

[ausbacker]

Yes, mainly because I have a sneaking suspicion the Patriots are holding some cards up their sleeves that they didn't want anyone to know they had.

 

[festy1986]

Do i have faith in the patriots. Lol.

Hahahhahahahahhaha

 

[supafly]

Yes, mainly because I have a sneaking suspicion the Patriots are holding some cards up their sleeves that they didn't want anyone to know they had.

Keeping something up the sleeve sounds plausible since we're used to seeing excellent gameplanning from this team, but that doesn't explain losing both games to mediocre opponents when all you needed was a split to secure HFA. More importantly, it doesn't explain putting your 2 top players (Brady, Gronk) on the entire team out there to keep getting lit up in the hopes that you're somehow going to manage more than ONE offensive touchdown per game.

My concern is that our OL and running game are worse off than even imagined, and that they're scrambling and failing to right that ship.

 

[Banjo]

It depends on the matchup, but I see them losing in the divisional round. This team is broken, and the players who are left suck right now.