The official Patriots vs Steelers game thread

[DocHoliday]

Re: The worst thing about today blowout

The defense has actually played extremely well in the red zone today. Excellent in the red zone.

The SCHEME outside of the red zone makes zero sense whatsoever. Some zany idea cooked up by Patricia with corners playing 10 yards off, both safeties deep every play, linebackers playing zone but leave the middle of the field wide open all the time.

This. I don't understand the defensive plan used today. HOWEVER - at the end of the day, they only gave up 23 points to the Steelers offense. That's not exactly bad considered this offense usually scores 30 a game.

I think this game was lost on our offense, and its inability to make plays when you don't have a schematic advantage, as we usually do. Our scheme makes our players look better than they really are, and when they don't have that - they get exposed.

People laugh when posters say we need a big strong WR. It's for games like this, when the receivers have to run through a wall of Steelers to get open.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Re: The worst thing about today blowout

The worst part will have to be listen to all the naysayers for the next week. Really, this was a bad game and them coming out flat inthe 2nd half was the worst.

I imagine having the bye week is a part of the issue. The team never quit, and that will have to be good enough for now.

 

[BaltimorePatsFan]

Does Ocho Cinco have BB's nude pictures or something?

 

[NEPatriot]

If he does not get banned everyone add him to your ignore list. He just wants attention. If nobody is reading or responding to his posts then he will go away.

Easier said than done!

 

[Guts]

Hey our D kept us in the game they held them to field goals in the second half(giving up alot of yards)...The O didn't show up today 200 something total yards not good.

 

[Disco Volante]

Re: The worst thing about today blowout

Losing by one score now equates to a blow out?

Interesting.

 

[Horace's Ivories]

Re: The worst thing about today blowout

Simpkin - not a blowout although it felt like one

 

[andrewgarrr]

Should have been a TD pass to Price at the top of the 4th quarter. Brady had time to set his feet and make a real throw to him. Poor decision by Brady.

 

[flasox27]

glad they lost to a team where this game could be a deal breaker to find out who has a home playoff game

What's so important about a home playoff game?

 

[PatsFan24]

They were totally outplayed in all parts of this game. Out coached also.

 

[NEPatriot]

Its 1 game , look at steelers game 1 people declared the steelers are done.Look at the Jags game last week. this is the NFL and steelers are a good team.

btw 6-1 against a good team is a crazy stat .Now we are 6-2 even that is a a huge stat.

so teams coming off the bye where 3-7 and we made it 3-8 lol.......

molden got benched for adams - that was horrible play.

Agreed it's one game. The problem I have is that our trends to lead to games like this against good teams. Why not let it all hang out and be aggressive?

 

[Beecke]

Can´t win them all.

Overall a really bad game and hopefully the Pats can learn from this game and correct a few things.

I am happy as long as we make the playoffs. All that regular season excellence and dominance hasn´t brought us anything the last few years, so I don´t care too much how we get into the playoffs, as long as we do and as long as by then we are a well-rounded team with a bit of balance to it on both sides of the ball.

 

[peterforpats]

Re: Some one with rose collered.glasses that this is just a bad game

We held their offense to 23 points.

It was our offense that couldn't make it work. Simms said it best - the Pats receiving core is almost surprised when they have contested throws. They get so many easy, schematic-induced catches that when they face a challenging scheme that doesn't give them the easy throws - they can't do it.

Defense wasn't amazing, but it did it's job and limited the Steelers to FGs when it mattered. The offense, as always, choked when facing the good defense. Smurf receivers can only do so much, especially when you can't hide behind a good scheme.

Kudos to the amazing offensive gameplanning we usually have - that's a luxury - but we can't depend on it every game. Sometimes your players just have to be superior, and this time - they weren't.

they gave up two tds, three fgs, and were on the field all day- the defense was not the problem. this offense has stalled, but don't scream how bad the defense was. i don't think it helped that vollmer looked rusty and was beaten all day.

 

[Mossed]

Re: The worst thing about today blowout

Don't judge me based on my username but this offense could really use a deep threat like Randy Moss. I know he's not what he used to be, but Ocho can't do a thing even with 1 on 1 coverage. Price could also be the answer, would've had a long TD if not for the pocket collapsing on Brady.

 

[andrewgarrr]

Re: The worst thing about today blowout

Losing by one score now equates to a blow out?

Interesting.

The Steelers doubled the Patriots in time-of-possession. The score line doesn't read blow-out, but the Patriots were outplayed in every facet of the game.

Patriots did well to keep it close, but it wasn't enough in the end.

 

[NEPatriot]

They were totally outplayed in all parts of this game. Out coached also.

Agreed. It usually happens against the better teams. We can be so conservative.

 

[DarrylS]

The best thing about this game is it is over...

Bodden missed 16 games last year, and was playing minimally this year.. so do you continue to wish and hope he will get better or move on?

You also do not what was going on beyond closed doors..

As bad as our D was, Bodden would not have made it better today with his injuries..

Maybe there is something to this bye week off thing..

 

[mcgraw_wv]

Re: Some one with rose collered.glasses that this is just a bad game

We held their offense to 23 points.

It was our offense that couldn't make it work. Simms said it best - the Pats receiving core is almost surprised when they have contested throws. They get so many easy, schematic-induced catches that when they face a challenging scheme that doesn't give them the easy throws - they can't do it.

Defense wasn't amazing, but it did it's job and limited the Steelers to FGs when it mattered. The offense, as always, choked when facing the good defense. Smurf receivers can only do so much, especially when you can't hide behind a good scheme.

Kudos to the amazing offensive gameplanning we usually have - that's a luxury - but we can't depend on it every game. Sometimes your players just have to be superior, and this time - they weren't.

time of possession statistics says your wrong

 

[PatsGirl2011]

What's so important about a home playoff game?

Honestly, I think I want this team to play on the road in the AFC championship. It will be less pressure, and no one will expect they will win.. The Jets/Giants game are both MUST win or else they can be in danger of losing the division.

 

[hovis]

Personnel is the issue. Guyton and Ihedigbo starting, Molden getting lots of PT, those guys don't belong outside of special teams and occasional reps at defense.

The Merriweather, Crable, Wheatley, Wilhite, Butler, Cunningham, Brace picks should all be solid contributors for our defense right now.

Couldn't agree more. The story of the game was the Steelers exploiting the Pats secondary all day long. Scheme-wise, I think BB did everything he could to "hide" the secondary weaknesses. Lots of soft zone coverage with the CBs 5-7 yds off scrimmage, except in the red area. As a result, Roethlisberger had tons of options underneath all day. We've seen the other side of the coin this year, when they were trying to jam WRs and getting burned. The issue is definitely a lack of talent.