The Blame Thread - Offense/Defense/Coaching/Brady

[NickOGS20]

Definitely don't think we want to get into the mindset of blaming or singling out any one area (not that what we do/who we blame has much effect I guess), there's problems right across the board and they're all contributing to what looks like a bit of a malaise right now.

 

[mb6592]

When it's equal parts QB, the offense and the defense - it's got to be the coaching.

 

[stcjones]

I voted coaching first and foremost as the primary reason why this team is struggling.....the defensive schemes are one of the PRIMARY reasons why we lost the superbowl in 2007 (see Hobbs getting left on an island against Burress)......and are one of the PRIMARY reasons why we are sucking azz right now......it all starts with BB and he has been abysmal in his coaching and inability to make adjustments the past few years. I am hopeful that Kraft will encourage him to secure SEASONED vet OC and DC personnel in the offseason. He obviously can not do it all himself.....and hiring these promoted ball boys and equipment managers isn't getting it done.

 

[abejarano12]

It's not an option but the whole team is to blame coaches too.
They need to remember that there are two halves in a game!

 

[PatsDeb]

I chose coaching because offensive playcalling cost us this game. If we took the FG at the end of the 1st 1/2 and did not try to come away with the "big play" on more than 50% of the plays, esp. the one to Moss in the endzone, we would have won.

 

[patsfan-1982]

i have to say that BB has kinda lost he's mind this year lol

why dose he keep going for it on 4th down its crazy and on the road in miami you dont take the FG ?

but the truth is its just not a very good team we where looking for them to go 14-2 and win a SB they will be lucky to go 10-6 and make the playoff's and there is all was hope for a playoff run

 

[Lurks_All_Day]

It's really rather simple: Plain vanilla offensive play-calling. So predictable, my 11-year-old knows what the Pats will do before they break huddle. Defenses have little to worry about against our Patriots of 2009, especially in the second half.
The goal-line run play today, where the half-back stood watching with Brady, is sickening.
Aside, Chris Collinsworth is an epic dootch-nozzle.

 

[juny]

My vote is for coaching. I don't see much change in schemes and play calling since the beginning of the season. Seems like the same things keep burning this team all season.

 

[Fencer]

For the sake of keeping this place from looking like it's melting down, let's restrict this discussion to this one thread until at least tomorrow. Please place your vote in the above poll, and once everyone calms down and we can have a rational discussion about each of these areas maybe I'll be a little easier to get along with at that point...but right now it's just madness on here.

I don't blame everyone for being disappointed - but let's try and keep this place somewhat sane. Otherwise it's going to be an even longer week.

So here's how this will work: please restrict yourself to ONE POST in this thread of where you feel the problem is with this team, along with why you feel that way. I will post a new thread on the forum for each category based on the BEST RESPONSES in this thread to start discusssions so we can break it down further.

The poll is broken; it only allows for one choice.

Brady has been playing as a good but decidedly unclutch QB. And guess what -- the team's results are similar to those of a similar team under Cassel.

The Pats get out-gameplanned a lot more than they out-gameplan other teams.

The defense is ... unreliable.

And probably everybody else can be blamed as well.

 

[WhiZa]

I voted coaching too. The Patriots have more depth then most teams, they just can't use the players correctly. Look at the Colts who have UDFA's starting for them and performing like veterans. There is something to be said about having your coaches come in with NFL experience and then staying with the team 10+ years.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I chose coaching because offensive playcalling cost us this game. If we took the FG at the end of the 1st 1/2 and did not try to come away with the "big play" on more than 50% of the plays, esp. the one to Moss in the endzone, we would have won.

That's not playcalling, deb. It's a head coaching decision on every team in the league... Belichick is signing off on Kraft paying Randy $9M per which among other things makes the decision to throw the ball rather than run it a pre determined, philosophical one.

Brady deserved better weapons than Reche Caldwell and draft busts and street jags. However the pendulum can swing too far in the other direction as it may have in 2007. Tom has always said that how they score doesn't matter to him as long as they do. It would seem since 2007 there is an institutional bias here towards scoring through the air. At first it was fun. But now it's a struggle. And you have to wonder why they keep at it unless there remains an institutional determination to prove it can work. And maybe it can if you have multiple weapons that function on a par, like say Brees. But here we seem to be down to two and only one of them tends to beat the odds most weeks.

 

[Xplicit]

Faulk handoff on 3rd and 8! nice call!

 

[Feep50]

I was looking for D: All of the above!

8-8 Patriots season...... Nice to come back to the pack huh?

 

[Hardboiled]

This offense only scored 7 points in the last 3 quarters.

I wouldn't even give the offense credit for the last touchdown. Freak play. Intercepted for more often than not.

Today

• No pass rush
• Brady's poor decisions
• Bellichick's poor decisions

I'm used to the first one, but the last two are troubling.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Coaching's been a problem all season long IMO. People don't want to admit it. But the 2009 Patriots are the most disorganized, lethargic Patriot team since 2000. In 2002 we just didn't have the talent. This year we do, and nothing to show for it. Lack of adjustments, lack of rhythm. That falls on the coaches.

 

[mgteich]

The offensive coaching is answer for me. When has so much talent been so wasted?
===============================================================
THE DEFENSE
They are what they were expected to be. They are a young, inexperienced, improving defense who is a top 10 defense or close. Miami scored 22 points against them. They gave the ball back to the offense plenty of time this season only to lose so many times now. The only game the defense didn't keep under control was the game against New Orleans. And even then, the mistakes by the offense didn't help.

THE OFFENSE
The talent is there, much better than in the Super Bowl winning years. As was posted, the change happened in 2007. All of a sudden this is a pass-only team, depending on the long ball, with an offense geared to produce great stats. The offense just doesn't seem to be able to finish games. We have blown more 2nd half leads this year than in all the rest of the Belichick era.

The talent is there. We have a great QB and great receivers. Even Aiken was open for 2 TD plays, one of which Brady couldn't get to him. Aiken has played pretty well. Today, he was drawing double teams! Watson and Baker are arguably the best pair of TE's we've had under Belichick. The running backs are better than some years, but not as good as when we had Dillon. The offensive line is our best in decades.

COACHING
First, the team doesn't play with heart. They blow leads. They look aweful in road games. And they are unprepared to play a weak Miami team, even after a loss.

Many don't like the defensive coaching. I think that we could do better than Pees, but he is doing well having a top 10 defense, given the talent and experience that he has (and given that had Seymour taken away).

The offensive coaching is the worst I've ever seen for the patriots, certainly the worst since the Krafts took over. Where are the screen plays? Where are the reverses? Where are the short passes to the running back out of the backfield? Where are the short, medium and long passes to the tight ends? This offense seems to wants to win everthing with big long plays by Moss and Welker. Moss doesn't have to hug the sideline! What happened to the rest of the playbook? Is there any doubt that a West Coast offense with the occasional long pass would be much better than what we have seen?

This team may be constructed like the colts teams of the decade that we seem to hate so much. However, those teams succeeded when their top receivers were double teamed. They (and we) had so many more weapons than two top receivers.

The patriots have won the Super Bowl with poor offensive lines, with poor running games and with poor receivers. Belichick must be very frustrated to have given Brady all that he has and still see the offense perform as it has.

And I must say something about our co-Offensive Coordinator Tom Brady. I think he likes the long-ball offense. I think that he has trained O'Brian so that O'Brain and he are on the same page as well as Moss and Welker. Yes, ultimately the fault is Belichick's.

 

[Rob0729]

I chose coaching because offensive playcalling cost us this game. If we took the FG at the end of the 1st 1/2 and did not try to come away with the "big play" on more than 50% of the plays, esp. the one to Moss in the endzone, we would have won.

The thing is I can point to about a dozen things that cost the Pats the game.

- The fact that the Pats couldn't stop the Dolphins on third down for the first three quarters
- Brady's ill-advised pick in the endzone where he should have just thrown it away. And I blame Brady and not the play call on that pick. The play may have been designed that way (although it looked like a hot read to me), the play is either Moss beats the defender off the line and get a jump on him or throw it away. Brady chose to throw it anyway.
- Soft prevent zone crap at the end of the first half that gave the Dolphins 3 points
- Some really bad offensive play calling
- No pressure on Henne all day makining him look like Manning or Brees

The list can go on and on. To say the play calling cost the Pats the game is giving the players a free pass because they deserve just as much the blame as the coaches.

 

[Brady_12]

I voted Brady. IMO he's the single biggest reason we've lost most of our games. Turnovers, especially in the red zone, will kill you every time.

When he's right -- and I think he will be next year -- the only other thing this team needs to get back into "elite" status is a pass rush. IMO.

 

[Rob0729]

THE OFFENSE
The talent is there, much better than in the Super Bowl winning years. As was posted, the change happened in 2007. All of a sudden this is a pass-only team, depending on the long ball, with an offense geared to produce great stats. The offense just doesn't seem to be able to finish games. We have blown more 2nd half leads this year than in all the rest of the Belichick era.

The talent is there. We have a great QB and great receivers. Even Aiken was open for 2 TD plays, one of which Brady couldn't get to him. Aiken has played pretty well. Today, he was drawing double teams! Watson and Baker are arguably the best pair of TE's we've had under Belichick. The running backs are better than some years, but not as good as when we had Dillon. The offensive line is our best in decades.

I still disagree that this team got pass happy in 2007. I have posted several times before that 2002 still holds the record of the highest passing percentage of any year with Brady at the helm and the only year the Pats passed over 60% of the time. Even this year, it is currently 58.3% of the time the Pats pass.

The fact of the matter is this is a passing league and only a very small handful of teams run as much or more than they pass anymore. I am not in love with the play calling this year, but the increase in passing has more to the changes in the league than people want to admit.

 

[mgteich]

I think that you need to be a little careful with 2007 stats. A lot of the running came after we were well ahead in games.

I still disagree that this team got pass happy in 2007. I have posted several times before that 2002 still holds the record of the highest passing percentage of any year with Brady at the helm and the only year the Pats passed over 60% of the time. Even this year, it is currently 58.3% of the time the Pats pass.

The fact of the matter is this is a passing league and only a very small handful of teams run as much or more than they pass anymore. I am not in love with the play calling this year, but the increase in passing has more to the changes in the league than people want to admit.