POLL: Should the offense have played more conservatively vs. Buffalo in the final quarter?

[Angelpats]

No, we have played conservative before and we lost and it was depressing. Would rather go out blazing but still end up winning. We should have had over 50 points if throws were a little better and less drops, but ifs, should haves, and could haves never happened. What happened most importantly is we won. We feel great when Brady throws a last second td so we should be feeling good today as well.

 

[Rhodey]

It appeared (to me) as though it was more of a team consistency thing; finishing the game. I won't say it, but...OK, I will...maybe, the Pats were cheating ; letting the Bills win and then changed their mind? (Yes, I am joking about the 2nd sentence.)

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Thank you for taking time to participate in this poll. Really enjoyed reading the different variety of views

 

[Wax Frog]

you've...telegraphed that you are sticking it up Rex's ***...

So he's gone from feet to Samuel Morse?

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

I had more problems with the low percentage and or bad plays on 4th down. You can run up the score without being stupid on 4th down. Get the first, then continue on as you were.

 

[TommyD4207]

Throwing deep on 4th and 1 with a QB who doesn't have a great deep ball is usually a dumb idea.

I wonder if those were audibles and not the calls Joshy made.

Banging your head against the wall trying to run the ball against a defense who's only strength is their defensive line is beyond pointless.

 

[Galeb]

I think the D playing conservative was a much bigger issue than the O not being conservative. Before the Pats D went soft, they were killing the Bills O.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I had more problems with the low percentage and or bad plays on 4th down. You can run up the score without being stupid on 4th down. Get the first, then continue on as you were.

This. The issue was not going for it.

A quick out to Jules, Gronk, Lewis, Chandler or DA was a better play call.

Maybe a fancy running play with Lewis on a pitch out to keep the clock rolling.

 

[XLIX]

Belichick doesn't coach scared. He's aggressive. That's one of my favorite things about his in-game management.

 

[IllegalContact]

replace bradley fletcher

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

BB (McD by association) isn't always thinking about the current play or even drive. They work the system according to the season and the competition they will be facing.

Teams now have to be more prepared for them to play this type of situational football (which plays to BBs strengths) and that will rquire more preparation or diluted preparation. I'm sure there are ways to probe how a defense is prepared to handle defending the offense and why we are an adaptive offense/defense more so than a this is what we do. We try to exploit schemes and hope people can execute their assignments.

 

[Kontradiction]

No. They were shredding the Bills in the short passing game when Brady was getting the ball out of his hands in two seconds or less. They were right to pass in the 4th quarter. My beef is the 4th down passing plays that ended up with Edelman, the deep man, being Brady's primary. I re-watched the game and the Bills didn't do anything different along the defensive front than most defenses do on 4th and 1. Brady has been wildly successful on sneaks and that was just an unneeded risk to take. They should have learned after it failed earlier in the game but, instead, they went to the well again. Other than that, the play calling was fine and ended up sealing the win.

 

[Dagg]

I voted other. Not really advocating running on short yardage per se but why not run on 2nd down on a few of those drives to burn valueable time. A 3 and out with all incompletes is like a 30 second drive.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Here's how TFB feels about Belichick's decisions...

Mike Reiss ‏@MikeReiss 1h1 hour ago
Light moment with Tom Brady. Asked who he ranks higher, the pope or Bill Belichick, he smiles, laughs & says, "In Bill we trust."

ESPN BREAKING NEWS: Brady to become heathen Protestant!

 

[mgteich]

The passing game is the way for the patriots to draw down the clock. Going 3 and out be running the ball twice and then chucking the ball downfield is not the way to draw down the clock.

It is easy for some to THINK that running the ball is conservative. When running isn't successful, the right description is not "conservative".

 

[TommyD4207]

Here's how TFB feels about Belichick's decisions...

Mike Reiss ‏@MikeReiss 1h1 hour ago
Light moment with Tom Brady. Asked who he ranks higher, the pope or Bill Belichick, he smiles, laughs & says, "In Bill we trust."

ESPN BREAKING NEWS: Brady to become heathen Protestant!

PopeGate.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

The passing game is the way for the patriots to draw down the clock. Going 3 and out be running the ball twice and then chucking the ball downfield is not the way to draw down the clock.

It is easy for some to THINK that running the ball is conservative. When running isn't successful, the right description is not "conservative".

So you're suggesting that Buffalo would've stuffed the run had we tried to hand it off?

 

[BelichickFan]

No, we had more chance to get a first down passing than running. Although we could have ensured clock movement by running we were more likely to have to give up the ball.

And my real answer is FTL (F*ck The League), run up the score, baby. Make them all pay for their sins.

 

[varjao]

Both 4th and 1 were head scratches, they could either punt or get the yard with a short pass or running, those calls made no sense, that why I think it was something different, I don't think it was running up the score, I think they had a comfortable lead and were practicing situational football in real game against an elite defense.

That almost bite them in the ass, so it was kind of an irresponsibility, but I'm ok with taking that risk, now they know they need to do better on 4th downs trying to catch the defense off guard.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I think TB will have a lot of chances to remember what happened when he went deep on fourth and one when they were up by double digits.

The ultimate vengeance is Home Field for all of January, winning SB 50 and forcing Goodell to hand over the Lombardi and the SB MVP trophy, not beating a team by an extra TD or so (except for Indy where I hope they go for it on 4th and ten and up by four scores with a minute to go).