Kontradiction
On my retirement tour.
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Personally, I'd say yes. The offense is missing only a flanker who is an actual deep threat, but is otherwise among the best in the league. The defense, however, has been another story throughout this season. Aside from Wilfork, Mayo, Spikes, and Chung, this has been an otherwise patchwork defense throughout the season. Yet they have made steady improvements in the playoffs and, arguably, won the AFCCG for us when Brady had an off day. No matter what your opinions on the defense have been (and most of you know mine), you can't deny that they have played steadily better in the two games we've had throughout the playoffs than they did in, say, November and December. In the regular season, the team allowed 411.1 YPG and 21.4 PPG. In the playoffs (granted, a smaller sample size, but you can feel free to take any two games in a row throughout the season and compare), they've allowed 322.5 YPG and 15 PPG. That's a difference of 88.6 YPG that correlates to the difference of 6.6 PPG.
On top of that, this is a new and younger team that only has 11 guys with Super Bowl experience on it. For the most part, a lot of these guys have been inexperienced with the stage of the playoffs (which is also a reason for blame when it comes to the Jets loss last year). Belichick and his staff have coached this guys up to be AFC champions with a very realistic shot of winning the Super Bowl if our interior O-Line can protect Brady. For my money, this has to be Belichick's best coaching job yet with the 2001 and 2008 seasons not far behind. Hopefully this year has the same end result as the '01 campaign did.
P.S. - Keep in mind I'm talking about Belichick as a COACH, not a personnel evaluator. Please keep your opinions about that aspect of his job out of this thread. And please specify why you do or don't think so after your vote. This, IMO, is an interesting debate.
On top of that, this is a new and younger team that only has 11 guys with Super Bowl experience on it. For the most part, a lot of these guys have been inexperienced with the stage of the playoffs (which is also a reason for blame when it comes to the Jets loss last year). Belichick and his staff have coached this guys up to be AFC champions with a very realistic shot of winning the Super Bowl if our interior O-Line can protect Brady. For my money, this has to be Belichick's best coaching job yet with the 2001 and 2008 seasons not far behind. Hopefully this year has the same end result as the '01 campaign did.
P.S. - Keep in mind I'm talking about Belichick as a COACH, not a personnel evaluator. Please keep your opinions about that aspect of his job out of this thread. And please specify why you do or don't think so after your vote. This, IMO, is an interesting debate.
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