I'll say it. I thought McCourty played well.

[Patriot Missile]

I don't get this at all.

One complaint is that Belichick blew the entire 2007 draft. Well, so did Smith. Belichick only hit with his first rounder in 2008, as did Smith (but Mayo is way better than Duane Brown). Smith had a great 2010, but Belichick's was better. Smith's 2011 draft included Watt and Reed, but also Harris who has done nothing. The only draft that Smith really did better than Belichick was 09, and that's mostly because he got Barwin after the Pats passed twice on him to get Butler and Brace.

Schaub was traded for from Atlanta in 07. Not totally blown.

 

[Sciz]

Schaub was traded for from Atlanta in 07. Not totally blown.

Yep, just noticed that. Welker and Moss help offset that though. So both bombed the draft, but were smart enough to trade away draft picks in the bad draft.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Maybe I missed something but you said you would rather have him drafting than BB.

You didn't miss anything. I did say I'd rather have him than BB.

 

[Ring 6]

The Texans are currently holding onto a #1 seed with their 3rd string QB and minus Andre Johnson and Mario Williams. There are very few NFL teams that could pull that off, and they're doing it because they have a lot of talent, a lot of depth, and finally some good coaching, on the defensive side of the ball.

In any case, I think you're missing the point of what the guy you were replying to said, as he very clearly separated Belichick the coach from Belichick the GM. You have failed to do that.

The Patriots are better than the Texans because of superior coaching and Tom Brady. From 2-53, on the roster, the Texans are a far more talented team, due largely to some exceptional drafting over the past couple of years.

And I'm usually one of the ones defending the Patriots' drafting on here. But in this case, I'd definitely agree that the Texans have drafted better than the Pats over the past 5 years, since Brady doesn't fall into that timeline.

I don't think that that means that Belichick has "lost it", though, or anything like that. IMO it's just a small sample size issue- you're evaluating entire philosophies based on a handful of selections. He could go and draft four future pro bowlers this offseason and I wouldn't be shocked.

I am not nearly as impressed with the Texans draft record as you are.
Nor am I in agreement that they are a better team 2-53 after a partial season of success in the worst division in the NFL.
We were 14-2 last year and the same 10-3 this year, and even though many fans want to believe thats just because teams lie down for us, and wait to get us in the playoffs and try I still think thats a pretty fair yardstick of the talent.

 

[Ring 6]

You didn't miss anything. I did say I'd rather have him than BB.

OK then. I will disagree, first because I would need to see some success and have it sustained to buy into replacing the builder of this dynasty with a guy who hasn't been at a playoff game he didn't need to buy a ticket for, and B I'm not that impressed with his draft choices.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

The Texans are currently holding onto a #1 seed with their 3rd string QB and minus Andre Johnson and Mario Williams. There are very few NFL teams that could pull that off, and they're doing it because they have a lot of talent, a lot of depth, and finally some good coaching, on the defensive side of the ball.

In any case, I think you're missing the point of what the guy you were replying to said, as he very clearly separated Belichick the coach from Belichick the GM. You have failed to do that.

The Patriots are better than the Texans because of superior coaching and Tom Brady. From 2-53, on the roster, the Texans are a far more talented team, due largely to some exceptional drafting over the past couple of years.

And I'm usually one of the ones defending the Patriots' drafting on here. But in this case, I'd definitely agree that the Texans have drafted better than the Pats over the past 5 years, since Brady doesn't fall into that timeline.

I don't think that that means that Belichick has "lost it", though, or anything like that. IMO it's just a small sample size issue- you're evaluating entire philosophies based on a handful of selections. He could go and draft four future pro bowlers this offseason and I wouldn't be shocked.

Far more talented from 2-53? I think you are being a bit dramatic. I agree that Houston has a lot of talent but they have a better TE (I believe they have a good one though)? Their Olinemen are all far better than say Mankins? Vince is far less talented than any of their interior Dlinemen? Last year's Mayo and McCourty are far less talented?

Anyone arguing BB has not had some drafting issues lately is not looking at it realistically (imho). However, keep in mind these two mitigating factors: 1) where the Patriots have been drafting for sometime (due to BB's success) versus Houston being at the top of the draft pecking order for a long time. Certainly a higher chance of success when you pick in the top of every round for many years. 2) BB's Patriots have routinely been less talented than their playoff opponents. BB, for better or worse - like it or not, has seemingly always put a higher premium on the 'sum of all the parts'....where he feels a no name can adequately fill part A or Part B to be a highly competitive team. He doesn't have a perfect record and the secondary this year (and last) is a fair knock on BB the GM. But let's see if BB the coach can make the sum of the parts be good enough.
Would the Patriots winning the SB this year be a bigger stretch than the 2001 Patriots beating the greatest show on turf? If it is it can't be by much.....

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

I was at work and only saw about 10 plays. 1 was in the 3rd when mccourty had that good coverage on that 3rd down pass. I actually saw a flash of once he once was..hopefully he can keep it up.

 

[patsfan-1982]

Donte Stallworth had 10 rec for 111 yards in 7 games befor he's 4 rec 96 yards, it was not Larry Fitzgerald that he shut down the second half of the game it was Stallworth a WR that has been a none factor all year for Washington, this was he's best game since he left the pats in 2007

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

You didn't miss anything. I did say I'd rather have him than BB.

You certainly have a right to that opinion, but as another poster pointed out, wanting BB replaced by someone who has yet to have any real success versus BB's track record of winning that few can match.....it's a stance that is hard to fathom. My suspicion is your unhappiness with the secondary is causing a knee jerk reaction. I, too, wish we had a better secondary. But the science of winning should never be based on correcting an avoidable failure by discarding the reason for multiple successes. The Patriots remain a very successful team and it is counter-intuitive to change those responsible for that continuing success. When a time comes that the bad GMing of BB equals poor game results, a change is then appropriate. Until such time, the imperfect mad scientist known as BB is a good thing at the helm of the Patriots.

 

[Sciz]

Donte Stallworth had 10 rec for 111 yards in 7 games befor he's 4 rec 96 yards, it was not Larry Fitzgerald that he shut down the second half of the game it was Stallworth a WR that has been a none factor all year for Washington, this was he's best game since he left the pats in 2007

For basically the last 3 quarters, he shut down the guy he was supposed to shut down. Hard to ask for anything more than that.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Donte Stallworth had 10 rec for 111 yards in 7 games befor he's 4 rec 96 yards, it was not Larry Fitzgerald that he shut down the second half of the game it was Stallworth a WR that has been a none factor all year for Washington, this was he's best game since he left the pats in 2007

I'm apt to give a little slack to the secondary on this game (which is not to say the secondary as a whole played well). Though I missed a few chunks of the game, what I did see was the Skins rushing game having too much success. Without looking at prior games statistics, this game appeared to be one of the worst rush defense performances in quite a while. Rushing success is going to make every secondary's job harder.

Using JAGs and offensive personnel in the secondary only has a chance of very modest success if teams aren't running successfully against us. If the defense plays rushing defense like it did today, it is going to be profoundly ugly against playoff opponents.

 

[cupofjoe1962]

Let's not put him on the plane to Hawaii just yet folks.

 

[Buchanty]

Not the best defense by any means, but it wasn't the worst out there on Sunday. Both the Giants and Cowboys missed assignments to give up touchdowns where the receivers were 15-20 yard open with nothing between them and the end zone. That both teams should provide such Xmas presents to each other made me feel a little bit better about our makeshift D.

As for McCourty, I thought he had a much better game than he has shown through the season. Not his pro-bowl level, but an improvement. His PI was a legitimate call but how often do you see upper echelon corners making the same sort of play? Sometimes it will get caught and others you get away with it. It was unfortunate that his INT was called back for the RtP by Carter, again one of those plays that doesn't always call a flag. Seemed to me that 3 of the Skins drives were helped by 50-50 calls, but then I do miss those 50-50 plays that don't get called.

I detect a strong sense of negativity on this board that I believe is there to mask a sense of disappointment in not having more emphatic victories. I suspect that this is the reaction of being spoiled by success. We don't just want the win we want to be exemplary in all 3 phases of the game. I love being 10-3, and yes we have challenges, but none that this team cant overcome. Most of all I like flying underneath the radar, which is hard to do when you share the best record in your conference. I applaud the doubters because they might convince our opposition to overestimate their chances.

 

[DarrylS]

It was obvious yesterday that McCourty has not fully recovered from his shoulder injury.. at times it looked as though his arm was just hanging there...

Idebeho(sp) looked injured as well..

 

[The_Riddler]

I agree, I thought he really picked it up. He was showing signs of some of the great things he did last season.

Speaking of McCourty and last season. I wonder if it would do him alot of good to dust off tapes of last season and review them. Reviewing film of his technique last season I think would do wonders for him.

 

[Rob0729]

It was obvious yesterday that McCourty has not fully recovered from his shoulder injury.. at times it looked as though his arm was just hanging there...

Idebeho(sp) looked injured as well..

Yeah, it is clear both are playing through shoulder injuries. People on the game day thread kill Ihedebgo every time he goes down, but I kinda give him credit that he is playing through a pretty significant injury. Maybe not something torn, but he is clearly playing with a lot of pain.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I thought that McCourty had one of the dumbest plays in yesterdays game, the only one worse was Brady's interception.

The Pats are up 14-3, Washington has the ball one their own ten yard line 3-18, they throw a THREE YARD SLANT (that's right a three yard slant on 3-18), and McCourty interferes with the guy!!!! STUUUUPID!!!!

Let him catch it, he isn't making the first down, they punt, the Pats get the ball and around midfield, ball game. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB. You can excuse getting beat deep, you can say that he is still hurt, but that play, at that time, really costs the Pats. Instead of what could have easily been a 21-3 lead, Its 14-10, and the rest of the game is a struggle.

That defense yesterday was putrid! Vince once again, was the only guy who stood out.

How many 40 yard deep in cuts can they give up?? They made Rex Grossman look like Peyton.

McCourty had a few decent plays, at least he was in the vicinity of some of the recievers, but he is still a long way off from the guy from last year.

(He did get screwed out of an int, that call on Carter was bogus)

 

[patfanken]

He took over for Casserly in 06

So it took a "mere" 5 years picking in the low to mid rounds of every draft to accumulate the talent he has to date. Well that's enough for me. Rick's a certified patsfans.com drafting genius.

 

[Rob0729]

I thought that McCourty had one of the dumbest plays in yesterdays game, the only one worse was Brady's interception.

The Pats are up 14-3, Washington has the ball one their own ten yard line 3-18, they throw a THREE YARD SLANT (that's right a three yard slant on 3-18), and McCourty interferes with the guy!!!! STUUUUPID!!!!

Let him catch it, he isn't making the first down, they punt, the Pats get the ball and around midfield, ball game. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB. You can excuse getting beat deep, you can say that he is still hurt, but that play, at that time, really costs the Pats. Instead of what could have easily been a 21-3 lead, Its 14-10, and the rest of the game is a struggle.

That defense yesterday was putrid! Vince once again, was the only guy who stood out.

How many 40 yard deep in cuts can they give up?? They made Rex Grossman look like Peyton.

McCourty had a few decent plays, at least he was in the vicinity of some of the recievers, but he is still a long way off from the guy from last year.

(He did get screwed out of an int, that call on Carter was bogus)

I don't know. McCourty clearly interfered with the guy on that play, but defenders get away with that all the time. The refs wouldn't have called that on Revis. They didn't call even clearer examples of PI in that game. I can't remember who it was (I think it was Gronk) but Brady passed to someone in the end zone and you could see the defender pull the jersey about six inches from the receiver's body. It was right in front of the ref and no flag.

McCourty was correctly flagged for PI and it was a bad play by him, but I disagree that it was the dumbest play yesterday. McCourty would get away with that 20-50% of the time depending on the ref crew. Besides, it is easy to say in replay that he should have done it one way, but in real time it is hard to make that decision. It wasn't like he tried to tie up the receiver's arm, it just got caught in contact. McCourty should have played that play differently, but it wasn't clear that it was the dumbest play on the field yesterday.

Also, you don't know that if McCourty played the receiver softer that he wouldn't have busted it for a first down. How bad the safeties played yesterday, there was no guarantee that they would have tackled him if he got past McCourty.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I detect a strong sense of negativity on this board that I believe is there to mask a sense of disappointment in not having more emphatic victories. I suspect that this is the reaction of being spoiled by success. We don't just want the win we want to be exemplary in all 3 phases of the game. I love being 10-3, and yes we have challenges, but none that this team cant overcome. Most of all I like flying underneath the radar, which is hard to do when you share the best record in your conference. I applaud the doubters because they might convince our opposition to overestimate their chances.

If this was December of 2001 and the Pats were 10-3, a vast majority of the posts would be positive.

This is what happens when the fan base is accustomed to having a decade's worth of Super Bowls, the best winning % in the league, the best owner, the best QB and the best HC. Anything else is sub-standard. Expectations naturally increase.

On the other hand, I do attribute some of this attitude to Kraft, BB and TB. They demand success and perfection. They make that known. So as fans, if leadership pushes themselves to perfection (almost did too), the fans feel in the right to demand it from the team.

I'm thrilled with 10-3. I'm not thrilled with yesterday's defensive effort but as we have seen, if a team gets hot in the playoffs anything can happen.

The question is, can this team get hot in the playoffs?