Tough division games

[sb1]

I don't think you can look at a comfortable win and say it was a close game because the score was close at halftime.

The Patriots were beating the Chiefs 27-21 after 3 quarters in week 1 last year and the result turned out to be very different than that.

As they say, scoreboard.

 

[tasmlab]

All this reminds me of the 2007 week 15 game against the then 3-11 NY Jets.

The media was asking Kraft if he was going to upgrade the score boards so it could accommodate a NE score of over 100.

Final score: 20-10.

I think some fans (like me) are surprised when these mostly bad opponents show up at all, field a few professional NFL players and make a game out of it when they are supposed to just roll over in the presence of New England Patriots. Our own expectations probably add in to either point being argued here.

 

[PatsDeb]

A game is 60 minutes long.
We did not lose to buffalo last year. We beat them by 20 and 21.

My bad. We haven't lost to Buffalo since the 4th game in 2016 (when we basically had no QB as Brady was suspended, Jimmy G was out and Jacoby played with one hand). It was Miami we lost to last season, 27-20. But my point still stands. It oftentimes takes until the 4th quarter for the Pats to pull away from their division rivals.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

I don't think there is any questioning the level of dominance within the division for so many years.

That being said, a 27-13 win on the surface appears like a comfortable win but the eye test reveals that it was more competitive than the final score indicates. Does that infer it was a tough game? I'm not sure. In my opinion, they let the Jets hang around longer than they should have but as AJ points out, it is a 60 minute game.

I've always preferred to see them play in tougher games regardless of the opponent. They publicly acknowledge how they need to play better (penalties, red-zone, 3rd down, etc.) which is always good for a team but more importantly, games that are close in the 4th conditions them mentally which ideally helps them in the playoffs.

Critics of Brady who have declared their personal agenda like to look at final stats or specific throws and declare his demise or at best average play but when the chips are down and you need that money play, show me a QB that plays better than Brady.

To me in infers that it wasn’t necessarily a tough game, but us shooting ourselves in the foot with numerous penalties and continuing to struggle in the redzone allowed NY to hang in there longer than they should’ve. You can make a case that the jets are one of if not the least talented teams in the NFL, especially on offense.

 

[PatsDeb]

I don't think you can look at a comfortable win and say it was a close game because the score was close at halftime.

The Patriots were beating the Chiefs 27-21 after 3 quarters in week 1 last year and the result turned out to be very different than that.

As they say, scoreboard.

That win wasn't all that comfortable, at least to me. The Pats looked shaky, except for Sony Michel, until the 4th quarter.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

That win wasn't all that comfortable, at least to me. The Pats looked shaky, except for Sony Michel, until the 4th quarter.

That’s because they did look shaky, especially offensively in the first half. Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

 

[Ring 6]

My bad. We haven't lost to Buffalo since the 4th game in 2016 (when we basically had no QB as Brady was suspended, Jimmy G was out and Jacoby played with one hand). It was Miami we lost to last season, 27-20. But my point still stands. It oftentimes takes until the 4th quarter for the Pats to pull away from their division rivals.

The 4th quarter counts. And we won by an average margin of 17 points.


FYI in those 13 games we outscored the opponents 7-3 in the 4th quarter.
So we on average led 23-10 after 3.
And the average score at half time was 16-7.

 

[Ring 6]

That win wasn't all that comfortable, at least to me. The Pats looked shaky, except for Sony Michel, until the 4th quarter.

They win by 2 TDs, allowed 13 points, moved the ball at will, only stopped by penalties.

 

[PatsDeb]

The 4th quarter counts. And we won by an average margin of 17 points.


FYI in those 13 games we outscored the opponents 7-3 in the 4th quarter.
So we on average led 23-10 after 3.
And the average score at half time was 16-7.

No one's saying the 4th quarter doesn't count. We're saying a lot of Pats' division games are close until the 4th quarter. You are the one who started the argument that the Pats' division games aren't tough. A lot of us think they are, at least until late in the contest. As usual, you have your opinion and the rest of us have ours.

 

[Ring 6]

That’s because they did look shaky, especially offensively in the first half. Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.

I’m the second half the offense went
15 plays 71 yards FG
4 plays 75 yards TD
10 plays 80 yards TD
On the first 3 drives. Game over.

 

[Ring 6]

No one's saying the 4th quarter doesn't count. We're saying a lot of Pats' division games are close until the 4th quarter. You are the one who started the argument that the Pats' division games aren't tough. A lot of us think they are, at least until late in the contest. As usual, you have your opinion and the rest of us have ours.

All of the facts are behind mine.
As usual I challenge the commonly held misperception and no one wants to have an open mind.

Score after 3 quarters of these 13 games.

38-17
13-10
34-0
27-14
21-14
28-10
23-3
10-27
23-13
24-3
31-0
12-6
20-13

So in 13 games after 3 quarters we trailed once.
We were ahead by less than 7 twice
We lead by 7-10 3 times
We lead by 11-17 once
We lead by more than 17 6 times.

3 times in 13 games we didn’t lead by at least a td.

Please tell me how that is “tough” competition.

Oh and we outscored then 90-38 in the 4th quarter.

 

[ashley]

They win by 2 TDs, allowed 13 points, moved the ball at will, only stopped by penalties.

If there was ever an uncomfortable two touchdown win, the game against the Jets was it.

 

[Ring 6]

If there was ever an uncomfortable two touchdown win, the game against the Jets was it.

That makes no sense to me. There was literally zero chance they were losing that game.

 

[TB_Helmet]

All of the facts are behind mine.
As usual I challenge the commonly held misperception and no one wants to have an open mind.

Score after 3 quarters of these 13 games.

38-17
13-10
34-0
27-14
21-14
28-10
23-3
10-27
23-13
24-3
31-0
12-6
20-13

So in 13 games after 3 quarters we trailed once.
We were ahead by less than 7 twice
We lead by 7-10 3 times
We lead by 11-17 once
We lead by more than 17 6 times.

3 times in 13 games we didn’t lead by at least a td.

Please tell me how that is “tough” competition.

Oh and we outscored then 90-38 in the 4th quarter.

Exactly. You can't just look at 2 or 3 close quarters and call it a tough game.

What if the Pats go up 14-0 in the first quarter and then are outscored 20-17 the rest of the way, and win 34-17. You wouldn't call that a tough game by any means. But it's essentially the inverse of what happens in some of these division games. There are three 'tough' quarters and one blowout, it just happens to be in the fourth. My guess is if you take the distribution of point differentials across every quarter you'll see that most of them are pretty close each game, and one or two are blowouts for the Pats.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

I’m the second half the offense went
15 plays 71 yards FG
4 plays 75 yards TD
10 plays 80 yards TD
On the first 3 drives. Game over.

No ones saying we didn’t eventually put the game away in the 4th.

Honestly if we had cut the penalties down in the first half we would’ve put the game away sooner instead of being tied midway through the 3rd against an inferior opponent.

 

[Ring 6]

Exactly. You can't just look at 2 or 3 close quarters and call it a tough game.

What if the Pats go up 14-0 in the first quarter and then are outscored 20-17 the rest of the way, and win 34-17. You wouldn't call that a tough game by any means. But it's essentially the inverse of what happens in some of these division games. There are three 'tough' quarters and one blowout, it just happens to be in the fourth. My guess is if you take the distribution of point differentials across every quarter you'll see that most of them are pretty close each game, and one or two are blowouts for the Pats.

And more than half the time they are leading by over 10 points at the end of 3 any way.

This thread will now die though because people dont like seeing facts that conflict with their impressions.

 

[Ring 6]

No ones saying we didn’t eventually put the game away in the 4th.

Honestly if we had cut the penalties down in the first half we would’ve put the game away sooner instead of being tied midway through the 3rd against an inferior opponent.

It was an easy win.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

It was an easy win.

An easy 2nd half once we stopped getting in our own way. Hence my original point about playing down to the jets for 2 1/2 quarters before the offense cut down the penalties and had success in the redzone.

 

[Kontradiction]

It was an easy win.

You should tell the team that if they let you within 500 yards of the place. Judging by everything they've said publicly, both in the lead up to and in the wake of the game, they didn't think it was an "easy" win.

 

[Ring 6]

An easy 2nd half once we stopped getting in our own way. Hence my original point about playing down to the jets for 2 1/2 quarters before the offense cut down the penalties and had success in the redzone.

That’s not playing down to the jets, that’s committing penalties.
It was an easy win. A game is 4 quarters not 2 1/2.