Pats 0-3 in last 3 playoff games

[ChesBay]

You guys are overreacting big time.

Despite what the media wants you to believe QB's are not pitchers. They do not get a W or an L to their name at the end of the day.

The Patriots went 14-2 this season BECAUSE of Tom Brady.

If the Pats had a power running game, and a defense that could get off the field Tom would never lose a playoff game.

B'more, not overreacting...just trying to solicit feedback in order to support/argue against any conclusions that could be drawn. In fact, I would suggest that having a "good" defense was a common trait for all playoff contenders....and especially the final 8 teams.

 

[ATippett56]

For a team that was rebuilding this year, the New England Patriots exceeded my regular season expectations. Even though this playoff loss to the Jets was bitterly disappointing, the New England Patriots lost the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball. I am looking forward to another banner draft by the New England Patriots organization this year.

 

[byfuglien]

The common thread I see among the QB's that won is their defense is a lot better. The Patriots had a much better defense a few years ago, and would never have had to rely on a crazy turnover differential to win 14 games. I think 2004 season was the year that the offense really started to take over due to a crazy number of injuries (Troy Brown was playing cornerback) and they won that AFC CG in Pittsburgh based on 41 points of offense, not anything particularly amazing on the defensive side.

You can't go back to that style though now PI calls that are made just because somebody sneezes. They need a defense that can get off the field on third down. If the Patriots had been even merely an "okay" scoring team this season, you would have seen a lot more games like today.

No doubt the offense underperformed big time, but even in a game like Green Bay where they had 24 points in 19 minutes of possession, it came down to the wire and hinged upon a turnover. This team was not going anywhere on a day when the defense had to step up and compensate the offense.

They actually got a pick six in that game, and shut down the Steelers offense pretty well. They gave up 20 points, which isn't bad. In fact, Brady only had about 202 yards passing, IIRC.

 

[Fahrenhype]

You guys are overreacting big time.

Despite what the media wants you to believe QB's are not pitchers. They do not get a W or an L to their name at the end of the day.

The Patriots went 14-2 this season BECAUSE of Tom Brady.

If the Pats had a power running game, and a defense that could get off the field Tom would never lose a playoff game.

Well the sun must be getting ready to explode and kill us all because I agree 1000%.

They wouldn't even have hosted a divisional game this year if not for the season Brady had. People questioning Brady the QB or BB the coach are out of whack. A more logical concern is BB the talent evaluator. Why is a bunch of young knuckleheads wasting challenges what we have for a defense?

They gave up 20 points, which isn't bad.

I'm pretty sure the game was 41 - 27, a complete flip of the Halloween loss where Ty Law went down. Either way, that was the season in which I stopped counting on the defense to win games. Wasn't really their fault that year anyhow.