You are paying too much attention to the hyperbole of "one of the worst."
The Pats don't have a good defense. We should know what a good defense looks like after what the Pats had earlier this decade yet we've been having the same discussion on this board for 3 years now. This isn't a good defense.
They aren't good enough to slow down elite offenses (see Indy or No) and have really struggled against mediocre ones at times (see Denver or Miami). They did hold up pretty well against offenses like Tampa, Tenn, or the Jets who are playing QBs who had no business starting NFL games that week.
The defense isn't the only issue on this team but I really find it crazy that a few days after Chad Henne and the Dolphins produce over 400 yds, go 12-22 on 3rd and 4th down, and drive down the field with the game on the line to win it that people would question those who say the defense is an issue on this team. And that is before you factor in that Henne's inaccuracy made the defense look better because he missed numerous wide open guys in the 2nd half.
Yeah, tell me about it. I started a rare thread on how we've had late leads of 17, 14, 10 etc this year, but the defense collapsed and blew it. Just because the offense can't always come back to get the lead in the 4th quarter like a machine doesn't mean it's all on them.
I can't believe that on a day when we had TD's in every quarter but the 4th (INT in EZ, left on the 5 yd line), Brady threw for 352, Welker had 167 receiving, and we even got Aiken involved--not to mention the 3 long balls to Moss,Welker, and Aiken himself, that everyone could blame the defense. 12 for 22 on 3rd and 4th + an average offense like MIA's is absolutely pathetic.
We are up there statistically in TOP, points scored, yards per game, etc---all on offense. Hell, at least we have various players performing up to their high standards on offense, multiple playmakers. When we won 2 out of 3 SB's we scored totals of 20 and 24, to me it's more than cut and dry, but to others, not so much. Having lost 3 out of the past 4 games, our defense was totally manhandled in every way in losses to IND, NO, and MIA.
What's worse, as respectful/polite as I've been to just about everyone, I actually got responses like "What planet are you on?" from posters whom I respected and thought highly of. I understand each person believes it's a different area of the team--but to act like it's not even debate worthy is just...asinine. I understand no one thinks Brady's human, and can't make mistakes, etc, but at least he's played decently and consistantly coming off a tough injury. The same goes for Welker and Moss, also a lot of the O-line. Execution obviously needs some work, etc, but at least the pieces are there. But if BB were to coach up the offense this week, what the hell would he really do, besides tell them to limit mistakes and execute better? It's not like a lot of their stuff is totally failing. On defense, it's totally the other way around. If BB had to coach up the defense this week, he'd certainly have his hands full as we have zero pass rush, average rush defense, and a sub-par secondary. I think that pretty much tells you everything right there, imagine if you had to coach up the offense or defense this week, who would you rather be responsible for?
On defense we either have first round talent playing, like Mayo, Meriweather, Warren, Wilfork, Chung, Butler,or MAJOR off-season acquisitions like Burgess, AD, Bodden etc---added with long-tenured vet talent like Green. I don't want to hear that our "defense wasn't supposed to be good this yr so we should be happy with what we have." That's a major copout if I ever heard one. We have major playmaking ability, supposed excellent (genius level) coaching, and a good work ethic. To me, there's not much excuse, like BB says 'you play with what you have.' Well, upper-tier management brought these players here, so they must've figured they could do well. Too bad It'll cost us a rapidly closing window of opportunity to win the SB, with guys like Brady, Moss, etc on offense.
