The Official Pats Ravens AFCCG Post Game Thread

[Armchair Quarterback]

Coming up small in a big game..........Again!

Another golden opportunity flushed down the ****ter.

Just WTF.....no emotion, no energy, flat.... where are our playmakers? Do we have anyone capable of playing big in a big game or is it Brady or bust? And in no way is Brady off the hook....Too many mediocre playoff performances lately.

Our best cover man goes out almost immediately a week after losing our best offensive weapon.

Our RB knocks himself out (and the team's last hope) with the game on the line. Although I still don't know if that was a fumble.


Too many dropped passes...... no one on defense capable of making a game changing play. Ty Law, Rodney Harrison and Willie McGinest aren't walking through the door any time soon.

I have no idea what the hell kind of game planning they did on either side of the ball. Ever notice the team beating the Patriots usually sticks with what they do best and don't try to reinvent the wheel. The game planning in the playoffs the last few years has been abysmal.

So congrats Baltimore for playing a very mediocre game against a team that couldn't give it away fast enough. In no way am I going to be following the SB hype or possibly even the game itself thanks the those whiny douchebags known as the Harbough brothers. And speaking of doucebags, screw Ray Lewis and his never ending pay attention to me tour.

2 SBs and 2 AFCCGs casually pissed away in the last eight years thanks to playing and coaching scared.

Rant over.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I thought Lloyd and the entire offensive line collectively both stood out as having excellent games. They really do deserve a commendation.

Welker was all over the place - put up a great stat line, but his drops were too costly for me to call it a good game, on the whole. Like it or not, that has become the trend with him. To his credit, it was probably because he's far more banged up than we'll ever know, but he is what he is, and what he is is a guy who will drop important passes that swing the momentum of playoff games.

As odd as it sounds to say, Talib hurt his FA stock today. If I'm the Pats, I'm not paying long-term money to a guy with character issues who, at 26, already had this much trouble staying on the field. For the money he'll be looking for, I'd rather have someone who can play 2 consecutive games without getting injured.

We can't rush the passer, we don't have any linebackers who can cover, and we can't cover very well. Realistically, the Patriots are 2 pass rushers and 2 solid corners away from having a defense that we can reasonably classify as "good". Yes, I realize that Jones and Talib were hurt, but that's the issue. If one player leaving can impact a whole phase of the defense that much, then it's a testament to how bad your depth is. The Patriots need better football players on defense. They need something on offense, too, but I don't even know what.

Hopefully the Pats will field a better team next year, because as good as the 2012 version was, they simply weren't good enough.

 

[Bella*chick]

We shot ourselves in the foot over and over again the first half. I don't even want to think about how many points we left out there.

Once Talib was out, the D tried its best but just couldn't do jack.

Tired of the injuries.

 

[deters]

belichick needs to get his **** together and fix this crap defense and get us some decent recievers.

horrible corners who are nothing more than glorified special teamers
horrible dl that can't pressure. everyone but wilfork and jones are poor
lb'ers that can't cover
poor safeties

we will never win another title with brady unless we get better at WR and improve this **** defense. belichick has had years to fix this problem but hasn't. wake the f up BB!

 

[Block "O"]

Re: C'mon Bill. Show a little class.

Yeah as much as it sucks, you have to do that interview.

 

[Fencer]

Re: After Talib went down, and Arrington took over, Patriots were done..

It annoys me how fans and commentators alike ignore this critical fact or use the inane "no excuses" mantra. Our defense sucked last year. We added two major difference makers--Talib and Jones. Jones allows Francis to kick inside and be disruptive on 3d down. Talib allows Dennard to play the other team's WR2 and allows ARrington to play the slot, where he excels.

Take those two guys away because of injury, and guess what? we have generally the same defense as last year. No surprise that they couldn't get it done.

On offense, Gronk and Edelman are explosive players. Replacing them with statues like Hooman and Branch is going to hamstring the offense. Big shock.

This team was good this year, just had some bad injuries to key, key players toward the end of the year.

Every team has injuries. In the Patriots' case:

QB -- healthy
RB -- pretty healthy
OL -- healthy
Receivers -- losing Gronk and Edelman was bad
DL -- losing Jones was unfortunate
LB -- pretty healthy, Fletcher notwithstanding
DBs -- losing Talib was bad; I won't mention Dowling as his absence factored into the Talib trade
STs -- pretty healthy

Anyhow, getting clobbered in the AFCC game with some bad injuries isn't the worst performance in the world. Indeed, there are only four teams with any claim to have had a better season than the Pats, and not all the claims are valid.

 

[Bella*chick]

Re: C'mon Bill. Show a little class.

Oh, who gives a damn? Who really gives a damn what Terrell Suggs or CBS or anyone of these jackholes think.

 

[zoostation]

This opinion will not be liked at all, but I am tired of watching these games KNOWING they are going to blow it. Its the same damn thing year after year.

Its time to start over. I appreciate everything Belichick and Brady have done for the franchise. But it just seems like this is the end point. We will never get back over that hump because there is no way to fix a broken philosophy. Belichick has bought into a finesse offense and a bend don't break D. These things don't get it done anymore. If you don't believe me look at the teams playing for the Lombardi in 2 weeks (which I refuse to watch BTW). Monster defense, high quality run games, tough receivers, ballsy coaches who go for the jugular. We have NONE of that here in NE. Call me "spoiled" if you like. But this will be the same result every year until our team philosophy changes.

Oh, and remember when Brady was just a "game manager"? I miss that Brady, he wasn't all hung up on being a superstar.

Not scoring a td before the half was horrendous, however saying BB is not a good coach is ridiculous. Patriots were 1 Gronk away from winning it all.

 

[BadMoFo]

Re: C'mon Bill. Show a little class.

Every coach does it. No one wants to do it, but it's part of being the leader of the team. I can see if we lost in the last seconds, or on some insane last-second play that no one saw coming, and he is still shell-shocked.

But we kinda knew this was over at the start of the fourth quarter, Bill should have had enough time to get his speech ready.

 

[Fencer]

belichick needs to get his **** together and fix this crap defense and get us some decent recievers.

horrible corners who are nothing more than glorified special teamers
horrible dl that can't pressure. everyone but wilfork and jones are poor
lb'ers that can't cover
poor safeties

we will never win another title with brady unless we get better at WR and improve this **** defense. belichick has had years to fix this problem but hasn't. wake the f up BB!

Gronk/Welker/Hernandez/Lloyd/Edelman is the best set of receivers in the league, or else close to it. Durability, however, is an issue.

 

[zipster9]

Pats don't win the game even if Ridley's fumble is taken back but, only explanation I have is maybe they didn't consider him down by contact? Because he kinda cept going there.

Ridley did not lose the ball until he was 1/2 way on the ground. It should have been down-by-contact, a blown call, IMO.

Yes, single play did not lose the game. Not his fault that he got clocked.

Have to give the Ravens credit on a good game plan. Don't give Brady the middle-of-the-field. Force him to throw deeper (which our WRs are not fast or deep threats).

We did not blitz Flacco much, which was a mistake in game plan. Flacco had all day to throw deep.

 

[BadMoFo]

Re: C'mon Bill. Show a little class.

Oh, who gives a damn? Who really gives a damn what Terrell Suggs or CBS or anyone of these jackholes think.

Obviously, you did enough to throw in your two cents.

 

[NYinFL]

Honestly people, they just lost two Super Bowls and just got dominated by the Ravens. How much more do you think Brady has left in the tank? He's done. He looked beat tonight. He didn't have the advantage of reviewing film of the other teams defense. A 6th rounder can do a lot with knowing the other teams defense. Now he's getting older as well... It's over.

 

[buile]

Re: C'mon Bill. Show a little class.

Why is Sharpe so butt-hurt about it?

Bill appeared sincere at mid-field. He gives credit to the opposing teams all the time. Class and sportsmanship is between the competitors, and he shows it.

The media is not one of the competitors, and I'm unsure why they feel entitled to demand interviews before players or coaches get off the field, before they have time to address their team at the end of their season, or what-have-you.

It's clear Belichick and the media are antagonistic, so in my opinion, their crappy relationship is better left uncommented on by the media itself, lest we invoke the "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

 

[PatsFanSince74]

we just don't have enough bad guys in the team , we need to be a physical team like the niners and the ravens and seahawks (monster mode is good) , talent only won't go far in such league .

spoken like someone who remembers the days of Rodney and Brewski. You are right.

 

[NSPF]

Sadly no excuses this time boys... Lost to what proved to be a better team.

 

[PATRlOT]

Re: C'mon Bill. Show a little class.

Terrell Suggs? LMAO. That guy should be the LAST one to start talking trash about ANY one or team.

I almost PUKED when I saw this guy without a helmet and mouthguard for the first time:

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Re: After Talib went down, and Arrington took over, Patriots were done..

The point is, without a good CB, secondary is not good. Cole, and Arrington are below-average CBs. How do you expect our CBs covering WRs that are fast and can jump-ball?

The other half of the problem is our DL could not pressure Flacco much during the 2nd half. Given that time, our secondary is exposed.

A fair point. Flacco played huge and the lack of pass rush didn't make it any harder. But the Patriots haven't been world beaters on the pass rush in quite a while - but still are usually successful. The Patriots' overall plan for victory relies heavily on a potent offense to keep the balance of the game in their favor. When the Patriots couldn't respond to the Ravens passing/TDs (when they couldn't put more points up in the first half), it put them into an area they don't encounter often or likely excel at.

 

[ensoul]

When Talib went down that was critical. At that point that pats had to be almost perfect and they were not. The defense was hanging on by a thread and the offense was not able to help them at all.

Watching the post game show on comcast. Some twitter poster made a great point. Their finesse offense is great in the regular season until they have to face a hard nosed defense in the playoffs.

 

[juny]

Ravens 4/4 TDs red zone trips
Pats 1/4 TDs red zone trips

^------- Ball game

13 first half points after dominating field position and TOP is not going to cut it and it didn't

Can someone explain the Ridley "fumble"?

Welker drop total momentum killer.