Post Game Thread- Pats at Lions

[Fatmancryin]

If this offense is to hard to get for new WR coming in then simplify it a little.

Gordon could have helped this week and Coleman could have helped last week.

I have never seen a Patriot team look this disinterested and play with 0 urgency.

People will call me crazy but I do wonder if the Super Bowl loss and benching of Butler has some lingering effects.

I think what Brady/Gronk said about working hard and not being put in the best position to win is having some lingering effect with the players.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

And what was with the force feeding of Michel? I like the kid but why?

He didn’t have a preaseason.

 

[FCB02062]

Many of us on this board have seen this coming for awhile. A team can't consistently whiff (through injury or ability) on high round draft picks like the Patriots have and expect to be a good team. You can't blow high draft picks on guys like Cyrus Jones, Duke Dawson, Jordan Richards, Dominique Easley, Aaron Dobson, etc.

Last night just tied a little bow on what this Patriots team has become. After Miami they will have Edelman. Perhaps vs Miami they will have Trey Flowers and Chung back. But, really, are we holding out hope for the season based on a 32 year old slot receiver with a rebuilt knee and a safety who's a day late and dollar short 50% of the time in coverage?

BTW, Jordan Matthews had 2 catches for 21 yards yesterday...which is more than Patterson and Doresett combined last night...

 

[iapatsfan]

No one’s saying it isn’t.

The problem is, the offense is just as big of an issue currently as the defense, in case you haven’t been watching.

They scored 10 points against the Lions and Brady had no one to throw the ball to because they were doubling Gronk and Dorsett.

You can add prime Lawerence Taylor and Deion Sanders to this defense and that still doesn’t remedy the issues of the opposite side of the ball.

I don't know how the offense could be bad. Small slow RBs + over 30 lacrosse player at WR + an OL that can't run block = Offensive Success doesn't it?

 

[Kontradiction]

People will call me crazy but I do wonder if the Super Bowl loss and benching of Butler has some lingering effects.

I think what Brady/Gronk said about working hard and not being put in the best position to win is having some lingering effect with the players.

I don't think it's that crazy of a thought at all.

 

[Triumph]

I wish Collinsworth would shut up about missing Chung, Flowers and the others. He makes then sound like Ed Reed and Bruce Smith not playing.

Its nothing but excuse making and I have my doubts that those guys would have made that much of a difference.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I don't think it's that crazy of a thought at all.

me either, Brady gave up last night, and I think that is the first time I have ever seen that.

Think about it, you train all year, bust your butt, and then BB benches Butler, you put up 33 points in a Superbowl and don't punt, and you still lose by 8! (and it wasn't even that close).

BB the coach needs to pick it up, unfortunately BB the GM has left the cupboard bare.

 

[iapatsfan]

As bad as the Lions are, and they are bad, can anybody think of a positional group (outside of QB and TE) where they don't have more talent than the Pats?

 

[Tunescribe]

At least the Celtics will be good and could challenge Golden State and the Sox are playoff contenders.

What does any of that have to do with the Patriots, last night's game or this thread? The Wayland Ladies Auxiliary Croquet Team is in a run for the playoffs as well and is about as relevant.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

As bad as the Lions are, and they are bad, can anybody think of a positional group (outside of QB and TE) where they don't have more talent than the Pats?

Detroit is a talented team on both sides of thr ball. I knew the defense was going to struggle with their receivers, but I expected more from the offense.

The team looked better last week against Jax. They showed some fight at the end at least.

 

[patsinthesnow]

 

[Coolade2]

NFL football analysis...

Hmmm.. Lions moved ball . Scored . Pats did not move ball. didn't score. Fascinating.

Was this a quasi- gift win for Matty P.?

That's my takeaway. Vanilla variety vagueness.

 

[iapatsfan]

Detroit is a talented team on both sides of thr ball. I knew the defense was going to struggle with their receivers, but I expected more from the offense.

The team looked better last week against Jax. They showed some fight at the end at least.

How the team "looks" is irrelevant. This team has very few guys who have ever been good NFL players, and the few they do have are aging rapidly.

 

[ivanvamp]

Edelman and Gordon might help. A 32 year old coming off a torn ACL and a drug addict who hasn't played more than 5 games in a year since 2013 are hardly sure things.

Edelman looked terrific in camp. Gordon might do nothing, might not even make it past this week, but he might be a HUGE addition. Wild card there. But Edelman alone will help considerably. The ACL thing is overrated. He looked very quick and agile during camp.

 

[iapatsfan]

We have the Bears 2nd round pick in the 2019 draft. Anybody want to take bets on which pick ends up being higher, the Pats or the Bears?

 

[SHOWTIME15]

At the end of the day you have to blame Bill for the debacle so far. The team was worse last night than it was last week against the Jaguars. Hard to believe, but under Belichick the Pats have always looked better after a loss. The coaching staff has always kept this team in games - last night NE was never in it. Against Jax they still had an opportunity at the end. The pats got back into it with a TD to James White and then the defense proceeded to give up another long TD drive.

 

[ivanvamp]

Moves to be made:

- Move Hightower to DE, where his speed is more of a fit, and he could become Ninkovich 2.0.

- Trade Malcolm Brown for a LB with speed and coverage skills. Maybe someone like Zach Vigil from Washington, who graded out as one of the better pass defenders at LB in the NFL last year, but isn't a starter on the Redskins.

- Promote Valentine from the practice squad to take Brown's place.

- Sign Bashaud Breeland, CB. Breeland failed a physical in the offseason but I'd at least bring him in for another look. They checked him out in August so there was at least some interest there. He can play.

- Sign Eric Reid, S. He's just 26. He's really good. The anthem thing is clearly an issue for NFL owners but my goodness, the guy is a good player and is young still and the Patriots need help at safety. Both he and Breeland are good players.

These are moves that the Pats can afford to make and I think would make the team significantly better in the aggregate.

 

[Observer]

How so? I mean, what’s changed from last year that would lead you to believe that Bill Belichick is ruining morale three games into the year? He’s reinstated Guerrero’s privileges, and has given both Brady and Gronk more money. Hell, the guy has twins playing in the secondary. You can’t have twins when you’re destroying team morale, right?

I think he’s made some questionable personnel decisions, when coupled with injuries, are showcasing our weaknesses on both sides of the ball.

Its just something I have observed as a by-product of the way Belichick has been running the team, especially lately. Of course this is all a subjective thing so I won't get into my detailed thought process but here are just some of my general impressions:

1. "You play to win the game" and "Put the team in the best position to win" are a couple of the ways in which we like to think about Belichick but he did not do that in last years Superbowl. Apparently he was playing not to win but to stick to some principle that is above and beyond the game. I haven't heard any player or even any coach come out and ardently support that decision of benching Butler. Belichick did not do right by the team - and by team I don't mean the uniform with the flying Elvis, I mean the collection of 53 humans that play the game.

2. Through thick and thin Brady has always exemplified the "Patriot Way", which while nebulous can loosely be translated as "do what Belichick tells you to do and don't trash talk to the media". There was a lot of chatter of dysfunction between Belichick and Brady that many of us (myself included) tried to minimize. The fact is that Brady chose to not participate in optional offseason activities. For a random player to do so is perhaps not a big deal. For Brady to do so is a big deal.

3. Now we hear that they were about to trade Gronkoski to Detroit in the offseason. And Gronkowski himself confirmed it. Note he said "Brady is my quarterback." He did not say "The Patriots are my Team".

So we have a situation where it seems to me that Gronkowski is playing for Brady, Brady is playing for Gronk and perhaps Kraft and Belichick appears to be playing for his authoritarian principles but no one appears to be playing for the Patriots. Belichick has hurt this team at a psychological level.

 

[iapatsfan]

Moves to be made:

- Move Hightower to DE, where his speed is more of a fit, and he could become Ninkovich 2.0.

- Trade Malcolm Brown for a LB with speed and coverage skills. Maybe someone like Zach Vigil from Washington, who graded out as one of the better pass defenders at LB in the NFL last year, but isn't a starter on the Redskins.

- Promote Valentine from the practice squad to take Brown's place.

- Sign Bashaud Breeland, CB. Breeland failed a physical in the offseason but I'd at least bring him in for another look. They checked him out in August so there was at least some interest there. He can play.

- Sign Eric Reid, S. He's just 26. He's really good. The anthem thing is clearly an issue for NFL owners but my goodness, the guy is a good player and is young still and the Patriots need help at safety. Both he and Breeland are good players.

These are moves that the Pats can afford to make and I think would make the team significantly better in the aggregate.

Keep Hightower off the field. He's shot.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Moves to be made:

- Move Hightower to DE, where his speed is more of a fit, and he could become Ninkovich 2.0.

- Trade Malcolm Brown for a LB with speed and coverage skills. Maybe someone like Zach Vigil from Washington, who graded out as one of the better pass defenders at LB in the NFL last year, but isn't a starter on the Redskins.

- Promote Valentine from the practice squad to take Brown's place.

- Sign Bashaud Breeland, CB. Breeland failed a physical in the offseason but I'd at least bring him in for another look. They checked him out in August so there was at least some interest there. He can play.

- Sign Eric Reid, S. He's just 26. He's really good. The anthem thing is clearly an issue for NFL owners but my goodness, the guy is a good player and is young still and the Patriots need help at safety. Both he and Breeland are good players.

These are moves that the Pats can afford to make and I think would make the team significantly better in the aggregate.

Guys who didn't even go through a training camp, are not going to help this team anytime soon.