This was bad - This was very bad

[SoonerPatriot]

Again...how hard is it for people to understand we were playing without Rodney Harrison and Ty Warren, and for a decent portion of the game, Richard Seymour. What more can you ask of the D is you take these players away from it?! Gimme a break.

The only concerns about this team are on the offense and special teams, to put any of the onus of that loss on the D considering the personnel that was missing is ridiclous.

With all due respect, this is a loser's lament. In 2003, we were RAVAGED by injuries and still put together a 14-2 regular season mark with a ***** of a schedule. Same for 2004. Without Law and Seymour late in the season and in the first two playoff games, we won. The injury defense is a load of hooey. Time was, this team over came injuries. That hasn't been the case this season and last.

 

[Alk]

Again...how hard is it for people to understand we were playing without Rodney Harrison and Ty Warren, and for a decent portion of the game, Richard Seymour. What more can you ask of the D is you take these players away from it?! Gimme a break.

And how hard is it for people to understand that we were playing an inferior team and should have won whether those two were on the field or not? We weren't missing any of our offensive players, at the very least we should have been able to outgun that pathetic Jets offense.

 

[Smash-MouthD]

How many more times do we get to see Junior go for an Int to wiff and give up a first down, hey Junior stop celebrating and make a play. and it's painfully obvious we need more starters on kick coverage if we allow everyone to start from their own 40 or better there will be more of these days to come.

 

[BradyManny]

With all due respect, this is a loser's lament. In 2003, we were RAVAGED by injuries and still put together a 14-2 regular season mark with a ***** of a schedule. Same for 2004. Without Law and Seymour late in the season and in the first two playoff games, we won. The injury defense is a load of hooey. Time was, this team over came injuries. That hasn't been the case this season and last.

I wasn't making excuses for the loss - I was merely saying that blaming the loss on the D is absurd. Considering how badly the O and ST screwed over the D during the game with turnovers and bad field position, the fact that they only gave up 17 points considering their personnel is solid. Take away Hobbs downright awful play on the TD and it's even better.

 

[Oswlek]

Overreacting, most assuredly.

In a 16-game season, to believe that drastic a, shall we say, perception change is made in one game in early November, just doesn't make sense.

If you did not intend to sound pretentious you might want to reevaluate the way you communicate. If it was intentional, then so be it.

If you check my post history you will see that I am an optimistic, yet objective fan. For the most part I will look at the positive side and, while I realize that NE has (and has had) flaws, I have bought into the fact that they historically have improved over the course of the season. I am by no means a fan that just comes onto these boards to vent and stir up trouble.

However, as I have been saying in my prior posts, if NE's problems persist, I will have no choice but to admit that I can no longer overlook them anymore. Uncharacteristic mistakes only happen so many times before they become "characteristic".

I do not believe that NE is going to drop off the map. I still think that they will win 11-12 games and win the AFCE. Considering that NE probably just played their worst game since the Buffalo opener in 2003, it is unlikely that we will see a repeat performance any time soon.

But I cannot assume that they are just going to work things out any more. NE was phenominal against the Vikings, but they have been terrible since then. You act as if a game in November is meaningless, but that couldn't be further from the truth. First, it isn't one game, it is two bad games in a row. Second, NE players and coaches have always said that November and December will decide who is best, and so far they are failing that test.

Besides all of that, no matter how optimistic I am, NE deserves all the scathing words that I wrote after the game. They played a terrible, terrible game. Again, the lack of preparedness could have been written off earlier due to turnover, but it cannot be just waived off anymore.

 

[BradyManny]

Considering that NE probably just played their worst game since the Buffalo opener in 2003

That seems a little drastic to me. There were plenty of ugly, low-scoring games at Gillette in each of our Super Bowl years. In any one of those, if a single play goes the other way, we're on the losing end, and suddenly instead of a gutsy, Patriot-like, grinding win, we're ugly, inept losers. It's such a thin line, and yes, it's so easy to say "but they didn't make those plays yesterday and that's the difference".

We're just used to winning those types of games. Both of the last two games, I would've guaranteed Brady was going to come back and tie it up in the final minute. I was sure of it. If he does in either game, it's vintage Brady, vintage Pats, vintage home victory, etc, and we overlook the mistakes. Again, they didn't win, it's too bad, but I don't think yesterday is nearly as bad as it looked or felt.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

And how hard is it for people to understand that we were playing an inferior team and should have won whether those two were on the field or not? We weren't missing any of our offensive players, at the very least we should have been able to outgun that pathetic Jets offense.

Alk, with all due respect, every time I see your sig, first impression is that it is Belichick in a zero gravity ****pit or something. It creeps me out, man. And, of course feel free to tell me to go pound sand.

 

[Oswlek]

That seems a little drastic to me. There were plenty of ugly, low-scoring games at Gillette in each of our Super Bowl years. In any one of those, if a single play goes the other way, we're on the losing end, and suddenly instead of a gutsy, Patriot-like, grinding win, we're ugly, inept losers. It's such a thin line, and yes, it's so easy to say "but they didn't make those plays yesterday and that's the difference".

We're just used to winning those types of games. Both of the last two games, I would've guaranteed Brady was going to come back and tie it up in the final minute. I was sure of it. If he does in either game, it's vintage Brady, vintage Pats, vintage home victory, etc, and we overlook the mistakes. Again, they didn't win, it's too bad, but I don't think yesterday is nearly as bad as it looked or felt.

Games that I think are close to as bad as yesterday in the past three seasons:

Houston in 2003
Washington in 2003
Buffalo in 2003
Pitt in 2004
Denver in 2005
San Diego in 2005
Buffalo in 2005
Indy in 2005

I give the 2005 counterparts a little bit of a pass because they had some serious injury issues, but even then, most of those games were just defensive disasters, rather than a total game meltdown. I guess Pitt in 2004 might count, but even then NE put up 20 points passing against a good Pitt D when the pass was the only option. I guess it might be fair to say that the games against Washington and Houston might be up there, but both of them were on the road.

The thing is, even in all of those games, I never felt like NE was unprepared, and that is exactly how I feel right now. I realize that teams are not going to play great every week and wins will mask problems, but that is a new one for me post 2002. This is the reason why I put this most recent loss right underneath the Buffalo loss.

Edited to add that I had the same feeling at the mid point of 2002, and I wasn't correct. In hindsight it was just a lack of playmakers that doomed that team, and the same could be the case right now. I am not necessarily laying anything on the coaches, but unprepared is the best way that I can describe how it feels to me.

 

[ATippett56]

Games that I think are close to as bad as yesterday in the past three seasons:

Houston in 2003
Washington in 2003
Buffalo in 2003
Pitt in 2004
Denver in 2005
San Diego in 2005
Buffalo in 2005
Indy in 2005

You forgot the Miami Dolphins game in 2004 on Monday Night when Tom Brady threw four interceptions against a pathetic Miami Dolphins team.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

You forgot the Miami Dolphins game in 2004 on Monday Night when Tom Brady threw four interceptions against a pathetic Miami Dolphins team.

Wasn't it near the end of the season and everything was pretty much sewn up though?

 

[Oswlek]

You forgot the Miami Dolphins game in 2004 on Monday Night when Tom Brady threw four interceptions against a pathetic Miami Dolphins team.

I don't think NE played all that bad in that game. With 4 minutes to go they had a 28-17 lead on the road against a team that was much better once they removed Wanny.

Sure they melted down in the final minutes, but not every loss is because of playing terrible the whole game through. Not only that, but Miami had some amazing individual play, particularly by Taylor.

The Jets, by comparison did nothing all that well. In fact, I would have to say that Pennington probably played a poor game. Only a few of the Jets blitzes were really well timed, most were just your standard blitz with little surprises. The RBs made a few nice plays, but were average for the most part. Yet they still beat NE pretty handily. Even the Jet game plan was something like "I'm going to just throw the ball in the area of the WR and the defender and I'm going to assume that the defender will screw up". That is why this game leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth. NE was absolutely horrible on Sunday, and I am not using hyperbole in the least. They just stunk.

If the Jets play as "well" as they did this past week against Chicago, they will lose by at least 20. And yet they still handed it to NE on the road.