No, saying this:
means you think you can coach better than Belichick.
You're assuming motive for keeping the starters in, which is your first mistake, and you're assuming that Belichick hasn't let his players mess around for record's sake in garbage time before. Does "Doug Flutie Drop Kick" ring a bell?
Leaving Brady and Moss in to try to catch their records while locking down the playbook to keep the scouts in the dark makes perfect sense if you look back over Belichick's tenure at New England. If Brady, Belichick or McDaniels were pissed about anything, it's that the offense wasn't able to execute vanilla plays (i.e. pad stats) with success against the inept dolphins anymore.
Let's put this another way:
In the first half of the Steelers game, the Pats offense 'struggled' and the game looked tight. Then they come out in the second half and suddenly light the Steelers up as if they were a JV squad. Do you forget the virtually effortless march Brady led with pass after pass after pass to Welker that the #1 defense in the league (then) couldn't even slow?
In the Jets game, Brady repeatedly ignored open receivers, heavily favoring Moss, while giving Maroney more rushing action than he's had in weeks.
In the first half of the Dolphins game, the Pats light them up. Then suddenly Brady, Belichick and McDaniels, masters of taking what the defense gives and the architects of the greatest offense ever, mysteriously can't get it done against the worst team in the league.
Stallworth has been almost completely ignored for weeks.
Do you still not get it?
The Pats have been toying with their opponents.
The play-calling hasn't been inconsistent, predictable or any other nonsense along the spectrum. It's been extremely calculated per-game and with an eye on the overall season. The Pats have viewed these games as practice and a means of deception.
The Pats have gone games doing nothing but their 2 minute drill. They have spent games doing nothing but going 4 or 3 wide. They have run 50-50 rushing/passing games. They have played games where they passed all but twice in over 50 plays. They have played games where, suddenly, Maroney is the amazing rusher we hoped he would be and carried the team to its win. And now you've got games where Brady is "impatiently" forcing the ball to Moss in triple coverage while patiently taking 3-4 seconds in the pocket to do it.
Frankly, I think the Patriots executed blowouts in their first 8 games to prove to themselves and everyone else what they were capable of, to squash the "Spygate" garbage and to establish a mystique of being invincible. I think they did the same thing to the Bills to get their edge back off of a bye. Since then, I think they've been intentionally playing down to their opponent's level while practicing far above it.
I think the only game that caught them off-guard was the Ravens game and that was probably in large part because they had no reason to expect a sudden return of the Ravens injured key defensive starters or that suddenly their offense would have sensible game plan and that their inept QB and OC/HC would be able to execute it.
Remember the Brady -> Moss -> Brady -> Gaffney gadget play? That was supposed to be used for the Ravens ("The Ravens Special"), but they never got a chance to use it according to Gaffney. That play assumes a very inexperienced, undisciplined or just plain bad secondary, or a defense without an effective pass rush. That's exactly what the Ravens had for most of the season with Chris Mcalister, Samari Rolle and Trevor Pryce injured and exactly what they don't have when at full strength.
That was the only game the Pats were in a very real danger of losing.
Looking back on the season as a whole, I think even the Colts-Pats game was to do "just enough to secure the win" and leave the full Colts-Pats playbook closed until the AFCCG. Think about it, the Pats keep it tight for most of the game, then score 14 points in less than 3 minutes on consecutive, perfect drives that make the Colts look like fools at their own stadium? Where did that come from all of a sudden? Make no mistake, the Colts are by far the Pats most lethal opponent. But the Colts didn't play the real 2007 Pats until 50 minutes into the game.
This is what Dungy meant last year when he said beating them in the regular season meant nothing because 'everyone knows they're a completely different animal in the playoffs.' This is why the players and coaches give up nothing to the media. This is why the Pats have some of the most bizarre roster rotations and player position rotations in the league. This is why the Patriots were practicing in pads this past week. This is why Belichick says the regular season and records mean nothing. This is what Belichick means by one week and one game at a time.
He wants his players, the fans, the media and the opposing teams focusing with tunnel vision on one game and one team at a time. Meanwhile he's been building a team that can win any game in any manner at any time. And that's why he's one of the best to ever coach the game.
