Injuries have just caught up to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fact

[marcus]

Actually for the Patriots to be 7-5 at this point, in my view is an accomplishment.

Every one of those players are trying the best. They are NOT underperforming. They are simply undermanned with quality players.

The losses of Brady, Adalius Thomas, Warren, Lamont Jordan, Maroney, Harrison and lack of a 2nd quality CB are just too much to overcome


Its easy to feel disappointed after last years incredible season...

but its just not their year, but still they are easy to root for.

 

[j00fek]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

cant dispute that

 

[Mack Herron]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

Yeah, all the turnovers and dropped passes were due to injuries.

 

[marcus]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

Lets just face facts..the Steelers are a much better team. They have a much better defense and have played a much tougher schedule and are simply better this year, period.

Some of those turnovers and dropped passes may have something to do with the Steelers.


They will be tough to beat

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

and we lost woods and welker today for at least part of this game

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

Even with the injuries we're still in this game without the drops and Slater's fumble. Also Light getting toasted for 2 fumbles can't really be pinned on injuries.

 

[smokin3000gt]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

Actually for the Patriots to be 7-5 at this point, in my view is an accomplishment.

Every one of those players are trying the best. They are NOT underperforming. They are simply undermanned with quality players.

The losses of Brady, Adalius Thomas, Warren, Lamont Jordan, Maroney, Harrison and lack of a 2nd quality CB are just too much to overcome


Its easy to feel disappointed after last years incredible season...

but its just not their year, but still they are easy to root for.

Come on man.. EVERY team in the league right not has bumps and bruises. ESPECIALLY towards the end of the season.

 

[tanked_as_usual]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

Come on man.. EVERY team in the league right not has bumps and bruises. ESPECIALLY towards the end of the season.

how many of the teams with a winning record don't have the QB that started the season for them?

 

[smokin3000gt]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

how many of the teams with a winning record don't have the QB that started the season for them?

Ben had a pretty good season as a back up, and I think Brady did too..

 

[reflexblue]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

Come on man.. EVERY team in the league right not has bumps and bruises. ESPECIALLY towards the end of the season.

Smokin3000gt does this mean your car is burning oil? Thy haven't made those in awhile.

 

[condon84]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

Yeah, we've been hit by injuries, but it's not like our pass defense has been hit by injuries and that's our worst unit. Harrison is out, but he was a liability in pass coverage. It's not like Brady or Maroney will be back there covering receivers. And before AD got hurt, he wasn't really being used as a pass rusher anyways. We could have Brady and Maroney back there on offense, but our pass defense would still suck. Every game will be like the Miami game where we had to outscore people and the margin for error wouldn't be that big.

Face it, BB took the risk this season when he let Samuel, Gay, and Wilson go and replaced them with Bryant, WEbsters, Sanders and the rookies. It's not working out and even if we make the playoffs and AD comes back, it's not gonna make a big difference in our secondary.

Our CBs play 10 yards off the receivers because they know they'll get burned for long gains if they stay too tight. Injuries or not, Hobbs and Oneil are below average CBs and they are killing us.

 

[Kontradiction]

As of right now, I would say that it's the lack of Adalius that's hurting us the most.** As I said in the other thread, our two rookies in the LB corps are raw. Deltha O'Neal is not the best cornerback in the league but not even Deion Sanders would have been able to stick with a receiver for 15 seconds in this defense. The pass rush NEEDS to improve or we'll see more and more 3rd and 15s converted on a regular basis.

** - This is, of course, excluding #12- the heart and soul of this football team.

 

[Lansdowne]

For perspective, here's the Patriots' Week 1 roster and depth chart.

Starter
Injured Reserve
Missed significant time and/or current IR candidate
No longer with team
Currently in Practice Squad
Promoted from Practice Squad/added to roster since Week 1

QB
Tom Brady
Matt Cassel
Kevin O'Connell
Matt Gutierrez

RB
Laurence Maroney
Sammy Morris
Kevin Faulk
LaMont Jordan
Heath Evans
BenJarvus Green-Ellis

WR
Randy Moss
Wes Welker
Jabar Gaffney
Sam Aiken
Kelley Washington
C.J. Jones

TE
Benjamin Watson
David Thomas
Stephen Spach
Tyson DeVree

OL
Matt Light
Logan Mankins
Dan Koppen
Stephen Neal
Nick Kazcur
Russ Hochstein
Billy Yates
Mark LeVoir
Wesley Britt
Lonie Paxton
Dan Connolly
Oliver Ross
Ryan O'Callaghan
Barry Stokes
Anthony Clement

DL
Richard Seymour
Vince Wilfork
Ty Warren
Jarvis Green
Mike Wright
Le Kevin Smith
Kenny Smith

LB
Adalius Thomas
Tedy Bruschi
Jerod Mayo
Mike Vrabel
Pierre Woods
Gary Guyton
Larry Izzo
Shawn Crable
Eric Alexander
Bo Ruud
Vince Redd

DB
Rodney Harrison
James Sanders
Ellis Hobbs
Deltha O'Neal
Brandon Meriweather
Tank Williams
Terrence Wheatley
Jonathan Wilhite
Lewis Sanders
Raymond Ventrone
Matthew Slater
Jason Webster
Antwain Spann
Mike Richardson

K/P
Stephen Gostkowski
Chris Hansen

 

[pats63]

for all the up and downs I think our team has played more than I(we) expected....today we were out played,coach and all the above....We will bounce back if not this year,but next....I will be always a fan no matter what...today it totally suck *****...GO PATS!!!!

 

[italian pat patriot]

i have to agree; now simply too many

be 7-5 is still an awesome season

without so many starters we are making a nice run

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

Re: Injuries have just caught uip to the patriots this year...not an excuse but a fac

Even with the injuries we're still in this game without the drops and Slater's fumble. Also Light getting toasted for 2 fumbles can't really be pinned on injuries.

No, the first one can be linked to Sammy Morris running right by Harrison (who had already beaten Light) without chipping him - it also didn't hurt Pit to have a 10 point lead late in the third quarter forcing NE to abandon the run. So a mistake on Special Teams and a mistake by the RB (my best guess given situational awareness should have suggested Pit was bringing the house - and recognized that Light was beaten) sets up the strip sack. The second strip sack came after Pit created an overload to the right side drawing Faulk to pick up a blitzer and leaving Light one on one with Harrison - again no run game involved with NE trying to play catch-up.