Offense, Not Defense, Let the Patriots Down on Sunday

[patsinthesnow]

I wonder what the score of this game would of been with the Broncos vs. the 2010-2012 Patriots. Would we of been able to pull off the 45-42 type win?

 

[Ian]

I wonder what the score of this game would of been with the Broncos vs. the 2010-2012 Patriots. Would we of been able to pull off the 45-42 type win?

I'll go a little more simply and say I wonder how this game might have played out at Gillette. Just goes to show you how important one game during the season may ultimately end up being. Wish they could have pulled out one of those other games...but what's done is done. They really had a tremendous year all things considered.

 

[Mack Herron]

Better to light a candle: Julian Edelman most improved and most consistent offensive player of the year showed up again yesterday.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

When the defense fails to generate turnovers, we lose.

 

[A man named Brady]

what we saw today was why the Patriots lost ever other playoff game in recent memory (aside from Gronk's injury), when it comes down to it, we cannot man up and just beat the guy in front of us. It is all scheming. If we can't completely outscheme you, we lose. We did not outcoach the Chargers in the 2007 AFC game, we just beat them. We can no longer win those types of games. Bellichek just admitted in the post game that Denver had too many weapons for us to match up with. So not only that, but also do not have the fire power to keep up with them.

This isn't like they have Gronk and Hern to take the pressure off. Gronk is injury prone, Hern is in jail and that leaves Edelmna. Boyce has shown nothing this year aside from speed.

 

[brdmaverick]

Forgive me if someone else has already brought this up, but why do we need to place blame in one spot here, it was BOTH the offense and defense that cost us.


Sure, the Broncos scored less than 30 points, but they won by doing EXACTLY what many here wanted us to do with the Broncos. Go on long scoring drives to shorten the game and keep Manning off the field.

That is what the Broncos did to us. They went on long scoring drives and kept Brady OFF THE FIELD!!! Sure, Brady wasn't doing much when he was on the field, but let's not pretend the Broncos scored less than 30 because of our defense, it's becuase THEY intentionally shortened the game. Our defense couldn't get a stop.

 

[brdmaverick]

I'll go a little more simply and say I wonder how this game might have played out at Gillette. Just goes to show you how important one game during the season may ultimately end up being. Wish they could have pulled out one of those other games...but what's done is done. They really had a tremendous year all things considered.

Yeah, I've gone down that path time and time again.

Why couldn't the defense make that fourth down stop at Miami, or Amendola catch that ball in the end zone?

Or why couldn't the ref stand by his pass interference call at Carolina?

But then I think, damn, we could have very easily have tied or lost to the Broncos, lost to the Browns, and lost to the Saints.

So at least it goes both ways this time. We were one small change from being the one seed, but also one small change from being the fourth seed.

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

If Brady makes those throws and we score points, the flow of the game would have changed IMO. There would have been a little more pressure on the Broncos Offense and our defense would have stayed on the sideline if Brady and the O extend their drives.

In a game that we needed to be perfect to beat Peyton, Brady came up short.

Very nicely put.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Can't just blame it on bad execution though.
The play-calling was just bad, especially a few glaring ones.

It isn't Mathew Slater's fault, and blame it on execution, when you call for a deep bomb to Slater who had 1 catch the entire year. That's just a terrible call.
It isn't Vereen's fault on the 2-pt play when you have an outside running RB try to run right up the gut of Denver's strength at their 2 DT's.

 

[supafly]

It was a huge concern of mine that their 7th ranked rush defense would quickly bring our running game back down to earth. It's one thing to have success vs the bottom 10 rush defense teams, where we were 5-0 this season, and something altogether different in facing rush defenses who were ranked 1-22, where we were 8-5.

On top of that, any advantage that we had vs their secondary also went down the drain due to our limitation of options in the receiving game.

I kept trying as best as I could, but I just couldn't see a shootout type victory again. We were going to have to somehow shut them down to the early 20's to have a chance, and even then we'd have come up short due to our offensive lack of weapons.

 

[LightSkinSmurf]

manning had the ball for 14+ mins for 2 drives. Brady missed some throws sure but there is enough blame to go around on the defense.they didnt touch manning on defense. Easy to blame the QB and offense.

I agree, its very easy to blame the QB and offense when they only have 3 points to start the 4th quarter.

 

[PatriotReign]

I can't believe this argument has cropped up again. After Superbowl 46 it's plan to see that in key games the defense can't get off the field. It's great that the D kept them out of the endzone most of the day, however Denver scored on nearly every possession while eating valuable time off the clock. This prevented the offense from ever getting into rhythm and proved to be a major deciding factor in the contest.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I can't believe this argument has cropped up again. After Superbowl 46 it's plan to see that in key games the defense can't get off the field. It's great that the D kept them out of the endzone most of the day, however Denver scored on nearly every possession while eating valuable time off the clock. This prevented the offense from ever getting into rhythm and proved to be a major deciding factor in the contest.

Broncos didn't have a long drive till the 2nd quarter.
Pats offense started 3 and out how many times, like 3 straight drives?
Completely abandoned the run after they tried to go right up the gut into Denver's run defense strength.

 

[Archeryaddict12]

I strongly disagree with this. Yes, the overall numbers were fine, it this was a very low drive game. The Pats allowed 1.66 points per drive this season. Against the Broncos without adjusting for the last drive where they kneeled, 3.25 points per drive. The offense was just under their average points per drive, 2.00 to the season average of 2.21. The defense allowed almost twice as many.

Now I'm not saying the offense was good, but the defense was deceptively awful.

Yep. Brady did miss a couple throws, but the defense didn't help. Essentially the Denver O kept Brady on the bench instead of our running game keeping manning on the bench.

 

[ATippett56]

I can't believe this argument has cropped up again. After Superbowl 46 it's plan to see that in key games the defense can't get off the field. It's great that the D kept them out of the endzone most of the day, however Denver scored on nearly every possession while eating valuable time off the clock.

The New England Patriots defense ranked 26th in first downs allowed during the 2013-14 NFL Season.

2013 New England Patriots Statistics & Players - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Yet, you are shocked about the New England Patriots defense's inability to get off the field?

 

[Nunchucks]

If the offense scores points, the Broncos have to run more risky plays which opens the doors for turnovers and incompleteness as well as longer drop backs by Manning. By not scoring points, the Patriots offense allowed the Broncos to take what the defense gave them. Play it safe and hold onto the ball.

 

[DSting]

BB's roster management philosophy seems to have a lot to do with playoff wins. I love how we're competitive every season. Injury bug? Next man up. He is well known for devoting more to the bottom third of his roster than most other franchises. That means we have great depth with solid players, and can withstand injuries to key players and keep on being competitive. But you can't have everything. What the Pats roster seems to lack is the statistical outlier, the four or five or six players who are electric, game changing players. The players who command lots of money, but who are the only ones who can do what they do. Downside to that type of roster management is that when a few injuries hit, the next man up is a huge step down. The upside is being able to beat the best. Can't have it both ways with current salary cap rules.

 

[Ring 6]

When the defense fails to generate turnovers, we lose.

When the defense fails to generate turnovers almost every team usually loses, us less than others.

 

[Ring 6]

If the offense scores points, the Broncos have to run more risky plays which opens the doors for turnovers and incompleteness as well as longer drop backs by Manning. By not scoring points, the Patriots offense allowed the Broncos to take what the defense gave them. Play it safe and hold onto the ball.

Why would Denver have done anything differently on offense. Every single thing they did worked. We were not even competitive on defense.

 

[goheels22002]

Reading this thread, it is as if the Denver Broncos had nothing to do with the futility of the Patriots defense and offense. The Broncos dominated both sides of the ball in the biggest win they've had since John Elway. My hat is off to them.

As far as blaming the offense, I usually come down hard on the offense when they turn the ball over and give the opponent a short field. That did not happen. We can quibble about the play calling, but there were only a couple of plays where the Denver defense didn't step up and do their job to stuff a run, defense a pass, make a tackle or pressure the quarterback. Denver was great on defense.

The Patriots defense did not step up on lots of plays where the receivers were wide open, running backs slipped through to make it 2nd or 3rd and short yardage, and there was no pressure on Manning all day. Give Manning or Brady a clean pocket and they'll pick you apart, which is what happened. The Denver offensive game plan was to keep Tom Brady off the field, and they succeeded. One has to imagine the Patriots went into this game to do the same to Manning and could not.

That said, I firmly believe this is a very different game with Kelly and Wilfork in the middle of the line, Jerod Mayo calling the defensive alignments and covering ground against the run or pass, Brandon Spikes bringing the wood, and Aquib Talib on Demariyus Thomas for 4 quarters. That is 5 starters on IR or unable to play due to injury.

Several people said in the week leading up to this game that this was where the injuries would be exposed and they were. The Patriots were playing with house money. I do not cast blame. I tip my cap to the Broncos, and am grateful for a terrific season.

As far as next year is concerned, the biggest positive is the amount of playing time and big game experience all the rookies, new free agents, and second year guys got as they filled in. The Patriots will add four to six rookies over the summer and some new free agents. Those guys will be joining a deep and experienced team who entered the off-season as the 2nd youngest in the NFL.