Second half improvement -- excellent Felger article

[shakadave]

Because Felger wrote it, there will be some disagreement, but I think this is an outstanding read. Especially the part about "practicing" against weaker upcoming opponents.

http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=166284

 

[brady2brown]

Yeah, I'm no Felger fan, but this article was pretty much on the money and insightful.

 

[Fencer]

I wonder what he meant by that takeaway stat he mangled (well, one guess is obvious, but you can read it for yourselves).

http://www.nfl.com/stats/teamsort/NFL/DEF-TURNOVERS/2006/regular?&_3:col_1=3&_3:col_2=9 has the actual season stats.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Felger wrote a fine piece.

What I wanted to talk about was Manning's Boasting, however. It is tasteless and not supported by the facts. His undefeated teams is the most flawed undefeated team I have ever seen! His team was held two points below its seasonal average. This was so in spite of the five turnovers that the Patriots yielded; a somewhat unusual occurrence. Yet the Colts won by a single score.

In a "normal game" his team would have given up at least two more scores. At the same time the Colt's could be expected to score less with the usual number of possessions instead of the additional five that the turnovers gave them. He was fortunate to catch the Pats with injuries in the secondary. Unlike last season where six DBs went on IR, only one is lost for the year. But two were dinged and unavailable for this last week's game, including two starters at Safety.

And then there are the scheduling advantages. Historically, teams playing the week after a Monday night game have an unusually poor record, especially the traveling club.

Manning won and there is no question the Colts are the best club this week. All hail Manning's win !!

I wouldn't give a plug nickel though for their chances to win the Super bowl or even get there though. The 2006-7 Colts have the distinct aroma of the 2001 Rams. Great offense and no defense. But those Rams could at least run and make SOME PRETENSE of having a Defense; these Colts have neither. Maybe the Patriots history withthe 2001 Rams will repeat. Recall taht they lost to the Rams by a single score in the regualr season due to turnovers; (remember Antowain's goaline fumble???) and then beat them in the playoffs.
:bricks:

 

[SVN]

Felger wrote a fine piece.

What I wanted to talk about was Manning's Boasting, however. It is tasteless and not supported by the facts. His undefeated teams is the most flawed undefeated team I have ever seen! His team was held two points below its seasonal average. This was so in spite of the five turnovers that the Patriots yielded; a somewhat unusual occurrence. Yet the Colts won by a single score.

In a "normal game" his team would have given up at least two more scores. At the same time the Colt's could be expected to score less with the usual number of possessions instead of the additional five that the turnovers gave them. He was fortunate to catch the Pats with injuries in the secondary. Unlike last season where six DBs went on IR, only one is lost for the year. But two were dinged and unavailable for this last week's game, including two starters at Safety.

And then there are the scheduling advantages. Historically, teams playing the week after a Monday night game have an unusually poor record, especially the traveling club.

Manning won and there is no question the Colts are the best club this week. All hail Manning's win !!

I wouldn't give a plug nickel though for their chances to win the Super bowl or even get there though. The 2006-7 Colts have the distinct aroma of the 2001 Rams. Great offense and no defense. But those Rams could at least run and make SOME PRETENSE of having a Defense; these Colts have neither. Maybe the Patriots history withthe 2001 Rams will repeat. Recall taht they lost to the Rams by a single score in the regualr season due to turnovers; (remember Antowain's goaline fumble???) and then beat them in the playoffs.
:bricks:

You may be very well be true but i think the colts deserve a little more credit than that. If the pats were undefeated with that defense wouldnt we hail it a s a great achievement ?
2 yrs back we used to win all kinda games with all kinda schedules with all kind of injuries , no we arent. Schedules are what they are..indy played on the road back to back against denver and NE. They didnt exactly play great either and left pts on the board. Do i think we can beat them ? Sure . But the final score etc is misleading. We won sooo many close games during the 21 game winning streak but we still feel good about that run ....Iam sure a lot teams are saying , if they did this and that they wouldve won....
Even the colts have had bad injuries this yr. Stokley is isnt even playing for this highly functional offense.
I hate the the colts as much as anyone can but credit to them , they have not lost despite all the issues they have.
History of the rams means not much IMO. We beat the colts 6 times and lost last 2 times. All are different cases in different times.
This is just my opinion.

 

[PatsSteve1]

Felger wrote a fine piece.

What I wanted to talk about was Manning's Boasting, however. It is tasteless and not supported by the facts. His undefeated teams is the most flawed undefeated team I have ever seen!

* Every team has flaws this year. I was at the Colts game and I thought right up until theball went thru Faulk's hands into June's the Patriots were going to tie it up and I thought if they just played a little better on O throughout they could have won the game. The Colts D isn't that good.
But that ball that went thru Faulk's hand in the SB years would have been caught or if that was the other teams pass, would have been caught by Bruschi. Our Patriots have struggled against tha best teams the last 2 years. They beat the Steeler's in week 3 but that was before they went on thier role. They lost to the Colts and Bronco's both years.
After the Vikes win(I went to that game too) I was hoping it was the start of a reversal of this "trend", but the loss to da Dolts after the earlier loss to the Horses would show against the top teams the Patriots are still struggling. Even though they had thier chances against da Dolts, when the Patriots were riding high they capitalized on those chances. Doesn't mean they can't get better. The question is do the Patriots currently have the players to pull off the same result the Steelers did last year when they went on thier roll. It's possible. The remaining schedule is:

Sun 11/12/2006 1:00 PM vs Jets
Sun 11/19/2006 1:00 PM @ Packers
Sun 11/26/2006 1:00 PM vs Bears
Sun 12/3/2006 1:00 PM vs Lions
Sun 12/10/2006 1:00 PM @ Dolphins
Sun 12/17/2006 1:00 PM vs Texans
Sun 12/24/2006 1:00 PM @ Jaguars
Sun 12/31/2006 1:00 PM @ Titans

The Patriots could win every one of those games and still not be overly tested if you believe the Bears are overrated and leave the team not tested by the best the rest of the year. The best teams are still in the AFC. Two years of losing to da Dolts, Horses and getting thumped by even the Chargers the last few times the Patriots have played them may mean the Patriots aren't quite a top team currently. I don't mean to sound doom and gloom, but it is what it is and we are what we are. Every team has flaws. Are the Patriots flaws more exploitable than the other top AFC teams? "Today" it would seem so. Give it to the Colts. They have beaten the Bronco's and Patriots on thier fields. That's what the Patriots did in thier Super Bowl years.