New England Chicken Littles

[pheenix11]

I've long since stopped trying to determine the best way to enter the playoffs. Rested, balls to the wall, playing well the last month, playing like crap the last month. I've seen examples of teams doing it each way and there's still no predicting what you get in the playoffs.

The only time I can honestly say I've felt let down by the Pats in the playoffs was 2010 against the Jets.

Sure 2007 was soul crushing but being perfect is a tall order and anything can happen in one game. But 2010 they had HFA and pissed it away and were one and done. Other than that they've battled and been competitive and frequently gone deep. I have confidence that Belichick will have them ready regardless of how this injury riddled last month ends next week.

 

[luuked]

The '13 World Series doesn't happen if Deus' logic would have been applied. You give the ball to Brady no matter what. Look what they did in the snow at the end of the game in Denver. Without Gronk.

Go 3 & Out to start overtime?

Seriously the way you guys cant understand going with percentages would make you horrible, horrible poker players.

 

[livinginthe past]

All these crying. whining, chicken little threads would hold a little more gravitas if the authors would actually take the time to start some positive threads once in awhile instead of just showing up to post negative criticism of the best franchise in all of sports.

I can't say I agreed with quite a lot of what the coaches did yesterday - but I have the intellect to realize that cherry picking pieces of the game-plan/decision making that didn't sit right with me is ridiculous if I don't acknowledge all the many, many good things this team and coaching staff do.

Understand that success is relative and not absolute and you'll be a lot happier instead of living your life through a sports team.

 

[brownj12]

So many people seem to be forgetting that once McCourty and Chung are back (both expected for the playoffs) the defense is essentially at full strength.

On the other side of the ball, White, and Martin's emergence means that when Edelman and Amendola return, the underperforming Lafell and Chandler become the 6th and 7th passing targets for Brady. Though they have been disappointing this year, that is an incredible amount of depth.

If the offensive line can improve to just being average this team still has to be the Favorite in the AFC by a long shot.

 

[RobertWeathers]

This team is winning the SB if the oline can be adequate.

 

[Nikolai]

All these crying. whining, chicken little threads would hold a little more gravitas if the authors would actually take the time to start some positive threads once in awhile instead of just showing up to post negative criticism of the best franchise in all of sports.

I can't say I agreed with quite a lot of what the coaches did yesterday - but I have the intellect to realize that cherry picking pieces of the game-plan/decision making that didn't sit right with me is ridiculous if I don't acknowledge all the many, many good things this team and coaching staff do.

Understand that success is relative and not absolute and you'll be a lot happier instead of living your life through a sports team.

That's exactly the point. The Game Thoughts threads and @patfanken's Idle Thoughts posts are some of the best reads after gameday because they know how to acknowledge the good, criticize what needs to be criticized, and make intelligent observations. I don't always agree with their thoughts, but it's a compelling and smart read on both counts. Hell, their reads are pretty much the only postgame things I read these days, and I used to read **** like MMQB.

And then there are those guys that only come out after we lose, like the "I don't care, I can't stand it" guy. Don't **** on the team and tell me it's constructive criticism.

 

[IllegalContact]

Didn't these idiots learn after the Chiefs game last year?

That was the last time I ever criticize this team

 

[Kontradiction]

This team is winning the SB if the oline can be adequate.

The OL has not been adequate in some time, RW. They need Edelman and Amendola back on the field to give Brady a quick outlet and mask the issues like they did after the KC game and all throughout 2014 and 3/4's of the way through 2015. It's no mystery why the OL has looked like **** since Edelman went down.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

but the gist of it was legit. Who doesn't try to score with 2 minutes left and 2 timeouts? I don't think that's ever been done before (Much like defering in OT). It's within reason to criticize the coach's decision on playing it safe rather than blindly following along like everything's hunky dory.

Who?

A team whose GOAT QB is being outplayed by a Journeyman (as the stats show) and getting sacked, hit or hurried every goddam time he drops back.

A team that has rushed for a total of 63 yards all day.

A team that still has a chance to win the game in OT if they can just get Gostkowski into FG range from better field position than the 20, which was the point of choosing to Kick in OT (you don't "defer" in OT of a regular season game since there is no other coin toss to which to defer), which Belichick has done at least twice in the past.

Belichick had no confidence in the ability of the Offense to move the ball more than 30 or so yards but he did have a D that hadn't given up a TD since the middle of the Third Quarter and that he was betting could hold the Jets to one and done in OT and get the Pats the ball back around the 35 or better.

It didn't work out, but it probably gave them their best chance of winning. If it had worked, it would now be part of the Legend of Belichick.

Look the facts straight in the face. If the Jets get the ball in OT and get an FG, the Pats have to take a KO and the ball at the 20 and then do what they only did twice all afternoon: kick a FG or what they only did once all afternoon, score a TD. It was a reasonable decision. One could argue that he might have gambled with the GOAT at QB, but he reasonably felt that it gave them the best chance of winning a game out of which he had held half his secondary.