We put up 13 points this past weekend. The 85 Bears D might not have been able to win that game for us.
I respectfully disagree.
While the offense did not execute inside of FG range, they still had the ball a whopping 8 times inside the BAL 35 yd line, which is normally FG range on a less windy day.
428 yards, and almost 50% conversion rate on 3rd downs (7 for 15, with at least a few of those being shot in the foot like the Solder holding penalty, the untimely drop by Welker which could have changed the entire game on the first possession of the 3rd quarter as we moved into BAL territory).
The score was 14-13 with 14 minutes left in the ballgame...it wasn't until the BAL offense started clicking and throwing the ball all over the field that they went up 21-13, and that was caused by unusual Patriot-like miscues and unfortunate circumstances that usually don't happen. Then of course we had Ridley knocked out unconscious on the fumble after driving the ball very nicely again, only to turn it over. The following possession resulted in much of the same, moving the ball downfield until a tipped pass at the LOS resulted in the INT.
We also don't usually choose to punt inside of FG range, but did it 2x in the first half of the ballgame due to unusual winds. Not only that, how often does Brady mismanage the time to take away at least one, if not two more attempts at a TD to close out the half? The score should have been 17-7 at worst heading into the half, that's still leading by 10 no matter how you look at it.
Actually, I'm not sure if you saw the stat but Tom Brady was 67-0 at home when leading any of the 67 games at halftime prior to this game. Bill Belichick himself was 72-1 when leading at the half at home, so they don't blow too many leads obviously. Lately the M.O. of the defense has been to give the game away, particularly in the big game scenarios, and particularly in the 4th quarter--just like Sunday.
Expecting Brady to win every single game is not realistic, and no other QB in NFL history has had to endure that kind of pressure...no one.
This defense needs to be able to win close, low scoring affairs too, and they have failed to do so in many, many key situations. If the defense doesn't allow Eli to march the entire length of the field TWICE in the past 2 SB's on the final drive, we win 2 more championships...I would've been happy with a split 1-1, but losing BOTH games on final drive downfield marches in embarrassing to say the least.
The offense in about 9/10 cases scores at least another TD in Sunday's game, but the defense needs to be able to hold the opposition to at least one full TD less and not give up more than about 20-21 points. In that case we may have lost this year in a close 23-20 game, or even a close 21-20 game, but I would have been able to live with that as these teams are evenly matched.
It was the defense's demise that changed the whole perspective of Sunday's game, as they allowed BAL to score 21-0 in the last third of the game----which is getting to be the norm around here in big playoff games more often than not, particularly in the last quarter.
