Has the NFL caught up with Belichick?

[BendButDontBreak37]

I'm feeling very frustrated now, but I'm definitely voting Brady on the importance of Brady vs Belichick debate.

Wow, that is huge. This kind of commentary directly after the 'NFL life' special showed what a fun loving guy he is.

He is too aggressive on offense for his own good and not aggressive enough on defense. That was a brutal call late in the 2nd half to pass the ball in the flat, run the ball get into field goal position and go into the half 24-7. Game, set, match.

I have to agree with that guy. If it came down to having to choose one guy to have for the past 10 years and the next 8 going forward, I'll take Brady all day. Belichick is human when he is hit with his kryptonite.....average defensive players

 

[Observer]

Is the defense the root of the problem or the fact that the Patriots play vanilla schemes and haven't disguised any of their coverages this season?

In that case the coaching is bad.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I missed the game so Im only going on the commentary I heard on the radio pregame. Sounds like they played agreesive most of the first half and played well, then once they had the lead they played soft and off the recievers. Not sure whos fault it is but the corners made some bad plays according to the guy on the radio.
Kind of gald I missed this game.

 

[Patriot Missile]

The NFL is catching up to all the great defensive minds.

 

[neuronet]

No, this ultra soft pass D has been going on too long to blame it on talent.

This is right on

 

[RayClay]

Ok,

Tomlin, McCarthy, Payton, Ryan, Harbaugh

Those teams all have message boards...just saying, get in before the bandwagon's full.

 

[cavtroop]

Is the defense the root of the problem or the fact that the Patriots play vanilla schemes and haven't disguised any of their coverages this season?

I mentioned this in the game-thread. It seems to me that we're playing a straight up game play - 4 down lineman (or 3DL, and a down LB) rush the QB, CB play man, S play some kind of deep zone, and thats it. That seems to be the only call in the playbook. Maybe 10% of the time, send a 5th rusher.

We don't have the horses to get to the QB with our DL, especially with AH out of the game. I miss seeing those exotic fronts - pressure coming from unexpected locations, CB's blitzing, S blitzing while DE drop into coverage. We don't seem to do any of that this year.

I don't know if it's a philosophy change, of if BB doesn't think the kids out there are ready to run that level of gameplan. Regardless, I'd like to see ALOT more of it, as the results can't be much worse than they are now running what looks to me like a very very vanilla D.

 

[RayClay]

The question is stupid and ignorant.

The NFL caught up with Don Shula. It caught up with Joe Gibbs. And Tom Landry. They could no longer build winning teams. BB went 14-2 last year.

Ah ha! What about all the teams that won 15 and 16?

 

[reflexblue]

BB hasn't put as much emphasis on defense since 2004...and coincidently, we havent won anymore championships either. His strategy used to be kick ***** defense is PRIORITY and then score at least one more point than the other guy and walk away with a win. After Romeo left it became "bend but dont break...too much" defense with the PRIORITY on scoring ALOT more points than the other guy. Alright....ill slow u down awhile and take some time off clock....then let u score...because I know I can march right down the field and score on you again. That seems to be the philosophy anyways....

THIS....... and ove been thinking for years it was a mistake to put the emphasis on offense starting after the '06 loss in the AFCCG.

 

[chrisfx811]

From my comfy, inexperienced, out of the loop perspective:
1. There's no 'genius' in these vanilla schemes. I always read guys talk about how bb was holding back at various points, and would unveil his complex, game changing scheme in the big moments.
That appears to be crap.

2. Idk what all the talk is about 'smart' players needed for pat's schemes is about. Maybe on offense, but defense...if its that complex maybe dumb it down so the average, run of the mill playmaker can fit in.

3. This was the first loss in a while that didn't fit the blueprint for stopping the offense.

4. Defensive personnel moves (draft incl) since the end of 07 have left us with the frustrating holes we still see today.


But hey, it's only one game, and although 07 gave some fans unrealistic expectations, mostly from the hole it left, I'm not ready to give up on them yet.

 

[ctpatsfan1]

The nfl did not make Belichick fire out two top coverage safeties with no replacements.

heh, Merriweather was anything but a top coverage saftey. I will give you Sanders but Merriweather frustrated the heck out of me with the poor tackling and angles he always took.

 

[cavtroop]

I wanst paying specific attention to the DL - but does anyone remember the DL even stunting today? It seems all I remember is the 4 of them rushing straight upfield...

 

[Ron Sellers]

Since a majority of my evaluations have been spot on the previous two weeks, I'll throw it all out there.

You can't be serious.

I have no problem at all with fans with relatively little knowledge about the game of football commenting on a forum such as this one; in fact I would encourage all such fans to comment and ask questions.

But for you to turn around and pat yourself on the back as if your so called doom-and-gloom evaluations have been more well thought out, intelligent and logical than those that others offer is flat out ridiculous. The majority of your evaluations have been proven to be wrong, in spite of the final score of today's game.

In the meantime, get some ice on that shoulder of yours Nostradamus.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

Ok, I will bite, not because I am drunk and pissed off about the loss that I didn't even see and just read, but because I am furious at how our coach gets casually thrown under the bus by chicken-littles who never had the courage to come out and post their thoughts when the going was good.

Those posters who want BB's head because of this loss against a div opponent even though it is just the third game in the season - please, unlike your poor posting history, do have the guts to chime in after every game from now to give your thoughts.

Let's see whether the NFL has caught up with BB or if he has still something to show this fanbase.

Go BB! Go Brady! Go Pats!!!

 

[The_Riddler]

I don't think so. I don't think we have the personnel to have a good defense.

Whose fault is that?

 

[PatsBoy12]

And who is the idiot putting together the personnel having a boat load of draft picks every year? Instead of drafting impact players he keeps trading down picking up scrap heap players like Cunningham, Butler, Brace, chad Jackson, Spikes

Oh let me guess that must be the genius, whose Defense after 3 weeks is on pace to set all time worst record for total yards, passing TD's allowed

Well he deserves all he gets this year. This is at best a 9-7 team, exposed for the frauds they are

Game has past him....It has happened to many - Landry, Noll, Shula, Parcells.

I never thought I'd read a post like this and find myself agreeing with a lot of it, but here I sit and that's exactly what happened. I just don't understand it. Have you all seen Kerigan? How about Clay in GB? It's so annoying. I just don't get it anymore. All I keep hearing about is how much of a genius BB is, but the defense has been near the bottom in almost everything for the past three or so years. It's pathetic.

 

[ausbacker]

I mentioned this in the game-thread. It seems to me that we're playing a straight up game play - 4 down lineman (or 3DL, and a down LB) rush the QB, CB play man, S play some kind of deep zone, and thats it. That seems to be the only call in the playbook. Maybe 10% of the time, send a 5th rusher.

We don't have the horses to get to the QB with our DL, especially with AH out of the game. I miss seeing those exotic fronts - pressure coming from unexpected locations, CB's blitzing, S blitzing while DE drop into coverage. We don't seem to do any of that this year.

I don't know if it's a philosophy change, of if BB doesn't think the kids out there are ready to run that level of gameplan. Regardless, I'd like to see ALOT more of it, as the results can't be much worse than they are now running what looks to me like a very very vanilla D.

Agreed. It seems like the "situational" aspect of the Patriots D relates to doing exactly the same thing but with different personnel rotating through.

Despite whatever personal opinions people have toward Meriweather & Sanders, releasing them were two bonehead moves.

 

[The_Riddler]

I never thought I'd read a post like this and find myself agreeing with a lot of it, but here I sit and that's exactly what happened. I just don't understand it. Have you all seen Kerigan? How about Clay in GB? It's so annoying. I just don't get it anymore. All I keep hearing about is how much of a genius BB is, but the defense has been near the bottom in almost everything for the past three or so years. It's pathetic.

Getting old isn't it? But you'll still have the homers on here like JackBauer, PatsFanInPittsburgh and others, defending BB and his drafting strategy to the hilt. They'll learn. In time they'll learn. Jack still loves Brandon Tate and still feel like he just needs a litter more time.

The trade down strategy DOESN'T EFFIN WORK BB !!!! End of Story, get real impact players by dealing up for once or even just staying put. All these 2nd round busts man, brutal. Cunningham out there, literally invisible, Butler, Wheatley, Brace on and on.

PatsFanInPittsburgh is on here the other day defending BB's 2nd round picks saying that he read somewhere that 50% are busts, which as we all know we've already met that quota and are seeing glim projected returns on 3 more (Brace, Cunningham and Spikes) who have not yet been factored into that 50% quota that we've already met. What PatsFanInPittsburgh didn't do his homework on was that if you don't factor in QBs (which we wouldn't in this case, the NFL norm on 2nd round picks that make it is around 60 %). So goof ball out in Pitt, do your homework before you spit out trash you arse !!!

 

[PushnPencils]

You can't be serious.

I have no problem at all with fans with relatively little knowledge about the game of football commenting on a forum such as this one; in fact I would encourage all such fans to comment and ask questions.

But for you to turn around and pat yourself on the back as if your so called doom-and-gloom evaluations have been more well thought out, intelligent and logical than those that others offer is flat out ridiculous. The majority of your evaluations have been proven to be wrong, in spite of the final score of today's game.

In the meantime, get some ice on that shoulder of yours Nostradamus.

Can you point out where I've been wrong? I need to know.

 

[jays52]

Getting old isn't it? But you'll still have the homers on here like JackBauer, PatsFanInPittsburgh and others, defending BB and his drafting strategy to the hilt. They'll learn. In time they'll learn. Jack still loves Brandon Tate and still feel like he just needs a litter more time.

The trade down strategy DOESN'T EFFIN WORK BB !!!! End of Story, get real impact players by dealing up for once or even just staying put. All these 2nd round busts man, brutal. Cunningham out there, literally invisible, Butler, Wheatley, Brace on and on.

PatsFanInPittsburgh is on here the other day defending BB's 2nd round picks saying that he read somewhere that 50% are busts, which as we all know we've already met that quota and are seeing glim projected returns on 3 more (Brace, Cunningham and Spikes) who have not yet been factored into that 50% quota that we've already met. What PatsFanInPittsburgh didn't do his homework on was that if you don't factor in QBs (which we wouldn't in this case, the NFL norm on 2nd round picks that make it is around 60 %). So goof ball out in Pitt, do your homework before you spit out trash you arse !!!

and I would assume that the logical thing to do following that line of thought is to trade up for dominant pass rushers?