I'm Optimistic IF...

[upstater1]

1. ...IF this secondary improves as much as last year's did as the season goes on. With no Sergio and Ihedigbo, it should.

2. ...IF Hernandez and Gronk come back into form and get over injuries, this offense will be dynamic again, especially with the addition of Lloyd and a running game. Right now, hobbling Gronk and Hernandez are killing the offense, the strength of the team.

3. ...IF Mankins gets over his injuries.

4. ...IF the D's front 7 stick together, they'll eventually dial up the pass rush as we saw toward the end of the game. This was Hightower's first game back.

The Patriots' future is in their hands.

PS. I thought they came out flat today, from the beginning of the game. You could tell they were emotionally spent.

 

[deters]

we are in prime position to head into the bye week 5-3. If we can win next week in London, we can finally get some momentum going and use the extra week to get healthy and fix the correctable mistakes. :rocker:

 

[PatsFanInVa]

1. ...IF this secondary improves as much as last year's did as the season goes on. With no Sergio and Ihedigbo, it should.

2. ...IF Hernandez and Gronk come back into form and get over injuries, this offense will be dynamic again, especially with the addition of Lloyd and a running game. Right now, hobbling Gronk and Hernandez are killing the offense, the strength of the team.

3. ...IF Mankins gets over his injuries.

4. ...IF the D's front 7 stick together, they'll eventually dial up the pass rush as we saw toward the end of the game. This was Hightower's first game back.

The Patriots' future is in their hands.

PS. I thought they came out flat today, from the beginning of the game. You could tell they were emotionally spent.

PS, from what? Did I miss their wives all leaving them at one time? Seriously, did a coach die and I napped on it, something like that?

You can't be spent at the start of the game. CheezeandCrackers.

I'm not a chicken-little kind of guy at all, but I'm hoping this team has another gear. I can get behind a NY Gintz-style season, where the unimpressive team goes all the way. I'll jump any bandwagon. But right now this is a team that is exactly what the record says, 1 game above average.

Not saying they can't be great, heck, any Brady-QB'd, BB-coached team can be great. Just not seeing it yet.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Unless you are a diehard blind homer,there was nothing from this game that leads anyone to believe that the team is better or worse than it was before 4pm today.

The only thing you can get out of this game is.....

1) Gostkowski is still a kicker who can kick a good FG under duress
2) The team is now over .500


That's all folks

 

[upstater1]

PS, from what? Did I miss their wives all leaving them at one time? Seriously, did a coach die and I napped on it, something like that?

You can't be spent at the start of the game. CheezeandCrackers.

I'm not a chicken-little kind of guy at all, but I'm hoping this team has another gear. I can get behind a NY Gintz-style season, where the unimpressive team goes all the way. I'll jump any bandwagon. But right now this is a team that is exactly what the record says, 1 game above average.

Not saying they can't be great, heck, any Brady-QB'd, BB-coached team can be great. Just not seeing it yet.

Flat is flat. They've never been flat before? Against the Seahawks and Ravens they were sharp.

Another gear? No, the team is hurting on offense. Only the TEs can make it dynamic. The D is healthy and will come around.

We had McDonald and Thomas on the OL today. We need to give Brady more time.

 

[Calciumee]

Unless you are a diehard blind homer,there was nothing from this game that leads anyone to believe that the team is better or worse than it was before 4pm today.

The only thing you can get out of this game is.....

1) Gostkowski is still a kicker who can kick a good FG under duress
2) The team is now over .500


That's all folks

And Mesko is a bloody good punter!

 

[FirstAndGoal]

This team reminds me of 2009 without the internal friction...they just don't want it.

 

[LuthierJr]

Unless you are a diehard blind homer,there was nothing from this game that leads anyone to believe that the team is better or worse than it was before 4pm today.

The only thing you can get out of this game is.....

1) Gostkowski is still a kicker who can kick a good FG under duress
2) The team is now over .500


That's all folks

Brady led us into position to tie, and then to win. It would have been nice to see the offense put the game away when they should have, but he still stepped up when it had to be done.

 

[Ifleninwasawizard]

This team reminds me of 2009 without the internal friction...they just don't want it.

Yep, clearly, the offense comes up with a huge drive in the 4th quarter, and the D forces a huge turnover to win the game. I guess they just don't want it.

We beat a divisional opponent who lost to the 'best team in the AFC texans' by only 6 points last week. Oh yah, and it was with a completely makeshift secondary. Sure we didn't dominate but I wonder what it will take to make some people happy.

 

[FirstAndGoal]

Yep, clearly, the offense comes up with a huge drive in the 4th quarter, and the D forces a huge turnover to win the game. I guess they just don't want it.

We beat a divisional opponent who lost to the 'best team in the AFC texans' by only 6 points last week. Oh yah, and it was with a completely makeshift secondary. Sure we didn't dominate but I wonder what it will take to make some people happy.

A division opponent with a qb that didn't get over 50 % until today. An offense that was gifted a safety and a special teams TD....yeah, brilliant game. Keep counting on the turnovers. It's only failed 3 times in 7 games.

 

[upstater1]

Unless you are a diehard blind homer,there was nothing from this game that leads anyone to believe that the team is better or worse than it was before 4pm today.

The only thing you can get out of this game is.....

1) Gostkowski is still a kicker who can kick a good FG under duress
2) The team is now over .500


That's all folks

No one said the game was a revelation.

I think you missed the point.

 

[upstater1]

A division opponent with a qb that didn't get over 50 % until today. An offense that was gifted a safety and a special teams TD....yeah, brilliant game. Keep counting on the turnovers. It's only failed 3 times in 7 games.

And the Jets didn't benefit from Patriots blunders?

 

[jah]

This team reminds me of 2009 without the internal friction...they just don't want it.

They would have lost this game by 17 in 2009.

 

[FirstAndGoal]

And the Jets didn't benefit from Patriots blunders?

The Jets are nothing but blunders...so easily satisfied with playing that way to such a poor team.

 

[Nehalem]

We got the win, which means we have another week to get it together.

Overall they continue to disappoint in the 4th quarter.

 

[upstater1]

The Jets are nothing but blunders...so easily satisfied with playing that way to such a poor team.

Who is satisfied?

Is my OP full of satisfaction?

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Pinning poor performance - like prior losses - on lack of emotion or desire is just trying to brush what truly ails this team - or the simple fact that something or things does under a rug of convenience... I'd love to be a fly on the wall in practice and meetings these days. This team somehow finds ways to convince itself weekly it's correcting mistakes and rounding into form and has a great plan to underscore that when it's pretty obvious nothing could be farther from the truth.

I think this team needs an intervention... They emerged from a troubling (and one of the oddliest managed ever) pre season acting as if what we were seeing was just the inevitable meaningless working out the kinks. They weren't going to need a lot of veteran help, in fact they had little use for it. They had lots of youth and new ideas and potential talent that they were reluctant to risk losing, not to mention emerging talent they expected to pick up where it left off. Only it didn't. And Brady to Lloyd was being fast tracked to fruition like it was a fait acompli. Concerns about the OL were dismissed because lets face it, Scar always finds a way... They were looking ahead to life after Welker and Branch and even the feel good story of Woodhead. They had Lloyd and Edelman and three young backs and the market on TE depth cornered. On defense they had certainly upgraded the talent in the front 7 and it was showing up out of the gate.

This team used to pride itself on self scouting. And focusing on the task at hand, winning one game at a time. Somehow approaching the mid point of this season they seem oblivious to their shortcomings and unable to adapt or adjust an approach that clearly isn't working out remotely the way they anticipated. Perhaps because it was predicated on winning a game they may not get to. Hopefully over the bye not only do some players get healthier, but the coaching staff takes a good, hard look at it's own product on the field and itself and makes some adjustments to counter what has turned out to be some nagging issues in all three phases of this teams game. Can't do much about the talent you've assembled at this juncture. So all that is left is to figure out how to make the most of it. This is the time that Belichick used to reach outside of his in house inner circle to his extended circle of trusted friends and former protoges for input and a potentially fresh perspective.

I think the offense might benefit from coaches taking a step back from their game planning penchant and their plans for the future to work on figuring out what it is this unit can do best here and now. Everyone plays to matchups. Everyone doesn't spend inordinate amounts of time and energy attempting to dictate them via endless personnel groupings. Put your best players on the field and see what shakes out. The old do what we do best until someone stops us approach as opposed to the out thinking ourselves in the process of attempting to out think an opponent. It's kind of the less frenetic version of what we do in up tempo no huddle that seems to at least work better than the alternative to date.

I even think the defense would benefit from more of an adaptation to that approach. Figure out what we do best based on the talent at hand and see if the instincts that got them this far kick in. And perhaps consider approaching matchups by focusing on not just taking away what opponents do well but by being mindful of what we do best as opposed to forcing opponents into doing what we don't do well.

Just a thought. If they keep banging their heads against the wall across the board, I'm going to be a lot less optimistic. Brady needs to be able to answer the question does this offense have an identity. And it's defense has to find an alternative identity to the one with the worst secondary in the league.

Asked to describe his offense's identity after beating the Jets 26-23 in overtime on Sunday, Brady paused.

"It's tough to say," he said. "It's tough to say."

No team has scored more points, gained more yards or run more plays from scrimmage than the Patriots in the last two months, and their diversity helps make their offense so prolific. But as their losses this season have shown, there hasn't been one thing -- one set, one style -- that they've been able to turn to consistently in critical situations to put teams away.

"I don’t know," Brady said when asked if he was concerned about his team's unclear identity.

"I'm sure if you asked teams and they said 'Yes,' it would probably change over the next nine weeks anyway. I think you continue to go do the things you're doing well. You’d love to figure those things out in spring camps, but it really doesn't play that way. You have some teams that you play and situations that you face and players that are healthy or not healthy, and schemes that you run. And you boil it down to what you're good at.

 

[DaBruinz]

A division opponent with a qb that didn't get over 50 % until today. An offense that was gifted a safety and a special teams TD....yeah, brilliant game. Keep counting on the turnovers. It's only failed 3 times in 7 games.

GIFTED a safety and a Special Teams TD? That's funny because I could have sworn that the Pats FORCED he fumble because Greene was so worried about getting hammered by Wilfork that he didn't secure the ball since Vince was through the line in a flash. And the McCourty TD was a thing of beauty. His cut back outside is what fooled the Jets defenders.

This team has forced 16 fumbles (11 recovered) this season. They also have 7 Interceptions.

What has FAILED 3 times in 7 games is the offense being able to sustain drives in the 4th quarter, turning the ball over. For whatever reason. Be it lack of concentration by the receivers leading to drops, McDaniels trying to be too cute, or the O-line not giving Brady enough time or opening holes for the RBs.

Just 1 sustained drive in the 4th quarter of those 3 games and the Pats are 7-0.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

They get to the bye at 5-3 and come out looking more organized.

 

[upstater1]

Pinning poor performance - like prior losses - on lack of emotion or desire is just trying to brush what truly ails this team - or the simple fact that something or things does under a rug of convenience...

Didn't say anything like that. In fact, I said the opposite. I said they were sharp against the Seahawks and Ravens. So... where are you getting that?