Patriots - Biggest Collapse in Conference Championship History

[NYCPatsFan]

Given the heat-induced fatigue (I wonder why our coaches never anticipated that, especially given the Colts' penchant for doing anything) and the fact that many players were not 100% fit (like Faulk) and some did play in key plays in the second half (like Colvin and Hawkins), I am not viewing this as a collapse.

I am glad that ProJo voiced their concern if this is Brady's last SB. Hopefully this will be enough to get TB fired up for a few more SBs.

 

[The Dog]

The fact of the matter is Brady lost the game for the Pats. He didn't make any big plays when they needed him most. He more often than not threw the ball short when the needed more yards. Go back and look at the 3rd down conversion rate in the playoffs. It was atrocious. The fact of the matter is Brady was carried by the team in the past. That is no longer the case. Now Brady needs to step up, and he isn't good enough.

 

[jcdavey]

The fact of the matter is Brady lost the game for the Pats. He didn't make any big plays when they needed him most. He more often than not threw the ball short when the needed more yards. Go back and look at the 3rd down conversion rate in the playoffs. It was atrocious. The fact of the matter is Brady was carried by the team in the past. That is no longer the case. Now Brady needs to step up, and he isn't good enough.

only real difference aside from the massive blown lead , with the chargers and colts game is, one marlon didn't have a clue about ball security after an int, and the other marlin did

brady throwing ints on late 4th qtr drives is rare yet it happened in consecutive weeks and now 3 times in brady's last 4 playoff games (and 2 of the times , sealed losses), marlon mccree (with a huge assist by troy brown) basically allowed the pats to allow the colts to get to the sb....it's sickening.

 

[richpats]

The fact of the matter is Brady was carried by the team in the past. That is no longer the case. Now Brady needs to step up, and he isn't good enough.

What a joke. Remember the Oakland playoff game? How 'bout SB36? Or SB38? Or the '04 AFC title game in Pittsburgh? Or the final drive against SD?
I seem to remember him "stepping up" on those occasions.

I wonder if anyone thought he wasn't "good enough" when NE was up 21-3.

 

[WestPat]

The fact of the matter is Brady lost the game for the Pats. He didn't make any big plays when they needed him most. He more often than not threw the ball short when the needed more yards. Go back and look at the 3rd down conversion rate in the playoffs. It was atrocious. The fact of the matter is Brady was carried by the team in the past. That is no longer the case. Now Brady needs to step up, and he isn't good enough.

you are a bloody idiot...that's all!

 

[The Dog]

Against SD he was awful. He was constantly completing passes on 3 rd down far short of the needed yards. He had happy feet all day. He got saved by Troy Brown. In the other games to which you refer he was carried by special teams td's and defensive td's not to mention the magic foot of Adam. Yes it is true brady can lead the team to big fg's just not td's. Get your heads out of your butts and look at reality. He stunk against Denver last year, SD and Indy this year. Why? Because he was asked to do more than he had to in the past and he just isn't that good. All he can do and ever did is manage a game.

 

[richpats]

Against SD he was awful. He was constantly completing passes on 3 rd down far short of the needed yards. He had happy feet all day. He got saved by Troy Brown. In the other games to which you refer he was carried by special teams td's and defensive td's not to mention the magic foot of Adam. Yes it is true brady can lead the team to big fg's just not td's. Get your heads out of your butts and look at reality. He stunk against Denver last year, SD and Indy this year. Why? Because he was asked to do more than he had to in the past and he just isn't that good. All he can do and ever did is manage a game.

So what does that make Manning? He only racked up a signature playoff performance this past week!

 

[Born in the Bronx]

Against SD he was awful. He was constantly completing passes on 3 rd down far short of the needed yards. He had happy feet all day. He got saved by Troy Brown. In the other games to which you refer he was carried by special teams td's and defensive td's not to mention the magic foot of Adam. Yes it is true brady can lead the team to big fg's just not td's. Get your heads out of your butts and look at reality. He stunk against Denver last year, SD and Indy this year. Why? Because he was asked to do more than he had to in the past and he just isn't that good. All he can do and ever did is manage a game.

Wow! The Dog puts the smackdown on TB.

Just out of curiosity, are you a Pats fan, The Dog?

 

[jcdavey]

Against SD he was awful. He was constantly completing passes on 3 rd down far short of the needed yards. He had happy feet all day. He got saved by Troy Brown. In the other games to which you refer he was carried by special teams td's and defensive td's not to mention the magic foot of Adam. Yes it is true brady can lead the team to big fg's just not td's. Get your heads out of your butts and look at reality. He stunk against Denver last year, SD and Indy this year. Why? Because he was asked to do more than he had to in the past and he just isn't that good. All he can do and ever did is manage a game.

that's crazy talk, his wrs are crap compared to what they used to be, any qb would suffer with reche as your #1 wr, hell the fact brady got NE as far as he did makes him the best qb in the nfl.

 

[everlong]

Givens and Branch both had 2+ drops each in the Denver game. Brown fumbled, faulk fumbled, Vinitieri missed a FG, Brady threw two picks but one Bailey made a great pick, the other was a desperation pass. Brady was not the issue in this game.

If you wanted to say Brady was the problem the SD game was probably the one. I've never seen him miss so many open receivers. The talking heads keep talking about the chances the Chargers missed but Brady missed both Gaffney and Watson for TDs and a bunch of other passes were off target.

The play calling in the second half of the Colts game was very suspect.

If you took away Harrison and Wayne (who are better than Givens and Branch to begin with) and gave Manning Caldwell and Gabriel then added Gaffney half way through the year what type of numbers would he have put up and how far would have the Colts gone?

Not very far at all.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Let's see, the Pats forced two fumbles in the second half, both recovered by the Colts. The one would have gone back due to the penalty, but without the penalty help recovering one would have pretty much sealed Indy's fate.

Smells like a total collapse allright, pretty close call for an Indy team playing at home against a flu ravaged club with two cross-country flights under it's belt. Indy won the game - life sucks and you prepare for the draft.

The Patriots collapse like this happens so, so often! I think the record was 66-1 or 67-1, when leading in the 4th quarter. Now it has declined to 66-2; They were missing 5 Safeties and two LBs. They just ran out of players when Hawkins and Colvin went down, and Wilfork had cramps. No Nickle was possible, No Dime was possible, No 4-3 was possible either.

That leads to the 7th LB trying to cover a TE, and stop the run...

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

Funny, some Colts trolls over at PP are calling it "The Comeback" of the ages

http://www.patriotsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21130&perpage=15&pagenumber=1

As dumb as it is to get into a "troll fight", I couldn't help it. Some want to paint this as an "All Manning" comeback. How ridiculous.

Anyway, after getting over the shock of it all and was able to process it, it seems that ALL of the troubles and difficulties we had this year came to to roost at the worst time.

From Meion leaving us in a lurch at the WR position with his antics to injuries/sickness in key spots, to aging LBers. Seems that towards the end of the year, elevated play in key areas seem to paint over some of these glaring weaknesses and made us forget a bit. TB was playing with no better than a 3's and 4's at WR (Gaffney could be a high#2 in time) and all year he's made the very best of it. The average age at LB is what, 64? We brought like 27 DB's into camp and ended up fielding - hell, I don't even know who in that last half).

Bottom line, we made a hell of a run but, it was straight uphill the whole way. The AFCC game did exactly what you would expect. Expose weakness and deficiencies of a particular team, which we all knew we had. Damn if we didn't almost do it.

we game them alot, they took it and exploited those weaknesses. That part giveaway, part takeaway. not all of one or the other.

 

[frankiesfly]

I guess it took a few days to sink in, but the Patriots were up 21-3 and Brady had the ball at midfield.

Brady and the offense also had the ball and the lead with around 3.00 minutes left and they were unable to run out the clock.

I greatly respect the Patriots, but I wonder if this loss will have any lingering effects. Sometimes bad losses are the harbinger of bad things to come. I wonder how we will all look at this loss 10 years from now. It's the biggest collapse in conference championship history, but will it be one of those defining moments that changes the whole direction of the franchise?

John Freidah (in today's Providence Journal) has the sick feeling that Tom Brady has played in his last Super Bowl.

I dont see the pats not making the playoffs as long as Bb and Brady are on our team. I can almost defenitly promise a superbowl victory next season. Look at all the crap we went through this year and we were still contenders. Next year we will be hungary. We're still above the rest of the leauge if you ask me, and will be for the next 3-5 seasons.