Adversity

[PatsFanInVa]

Well now there’s literally no room for error. If we lose again, it’s off to the wild card round. Belichick doesn’t do well in the wild card round. That bye is crucial to winning.

You're more likely to win if you have the bye. You're more likely to win with HFA. So I hate to minimize the importance of either. Making the task harder is not a good idea.

However, the playoffs are not lost when one plays in the wild card (or one week afterward, to satisfy the trend students.)

The playoffs are lost when you lose a playoff game.

This solves nothing really. It is just the reality that gainsays your thesis sentence. I still agree that it is far, far preferable to win out (as it was before losing in Miami.)

 

[PatsFanInVa]

& now I'm really gone

 

[XLIX]

Who looks like a championship team? Frankly, no one looks dominant.

I was thinking the same thing. I give KC credit for winning their games and running away with the #1 seed, but they have looked quite a bit more mortal these past few weeks. ****tsburgh is squeaking by Oakland (EDIT: whoops! maybe not....), but that's nothing to be proud of. Houston lost.

 

[XLIX]

In Brady's career, the Pats in the playoffs are 19-3 at home vs. 3-4 on the road (and 5-3 on neutral fields). They've won 8 straight at Gillette since their last loss. The past 5 years can be summarized as "they make the Super Bowl if they have home field, but lose in the AFCCG if it's on the road".

Obviously there's a lot of correlation vs. causation and sample size issues there, and any trend can be broken with an especially good or especially bad run, but I can't get on board with the idea that it matters only a little.

Here's a disheartening correlation: For all the greatness the Brady/Belichick team has had, they've never made the Super Bowl without a first round bye.

(Granted, there have only been 3 times they played in the WC round, but still.....)

 

[aluminum seats]

OK, bright side alert.

The fact that Kansas City won is actually a good thing. Let’s hope they run the table. They will be seen, rightly, as the alpha dog in the AFC this year. So if and when the Pats go to KC, there’s no pressure on them, they will be the underdogs. I like Brady and Belichick and the Pats in that scenario. Let’s get there and see.

Bright side part 2...

This ending was HORRIFIC. But teams have had horrific endings in Super Bowls and playoff games and championships and all kinds of things.

This was a horrific ending of a game that ultimately might actually mean nothing. Consider it possibly a bullet dodged..the Pats have had their embarrassment, and if they win next week, it may mean pretty much nothing.

 

[Redman443]

Well the Steelers lost

 

[dannydyn]

This was an extremely tough loss. No doubt the pats haters are having a *********** over it. If just 2 or 3 things go differently, we win the game but it is what it is.

When Championship teams face adversity, they power through it and come out stronger. The 2014 team (who also lost to Miami on the road) faced plenty of it, especially after that infamous game at Arrowhead when many were saying Brady was done.

We were on to Cincinnati then, and now we’re on to Pittsburgh. It’s going to depend on if these veterans can put this behind them and focus on winning everything else- because if we win out, we will be the #2 seed which most teams would do anything to have.

I’m confident this group can return to championship level football like we are accustomed to seeing.

Rant over

The problem I'm having with this 2018 team is their moronic ability to lose to all the teams they should beat .... Lions, Jags, Titans, and now the Sushi.... UN-****ING-BELIBRABLE!

 

[dannydyn]

Brady. Checkmate.

Can he play Safety?

 

[LivinLovin&Breathin_Brady]

It's crazy. Last week you would thought they had ironed out all of the issues.
But then they come back in a tidal wave of WTF's.

This team has no consistent identity.

It's very frustrating for any fan that has their emotions invested in this team.

And I guarantee EVERY fan on this board appreciates, and loves what this team and organization has done for this fanbase over the years.

They are stumbling a bit now, and we don't like it.
It sucks to lose. Being a perennial winner or loser...losing sucks.

...and then we get up and go to work and deal with REAL issues.

True.

The offense remains to be suspect and the Defense looks pretty consistent to me. Sure the D had a bad game this week, but they've been pretty consistent all season. The offense is suspect because they do not have a reliable running game to take pressure off of Brady, so I suggest we lowball Kareem Hunt into the RB position. We ain't beating nobody in the playoffs with the current RB crew, or Gronk who runs like a 500 lb woman. Believe that.

I been telling y'all for a hot minute now, Sony Michel is trash and cannot play when defense are expecting him to run. It's the difference between a scrub and an Adrian Peterson, or a Lawrence Maroney and a Corey Dillion. We need a running back, ASAP, or the problems will continue.

Thankfully, most of the good defenses won't be heading to the playoffs.

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

True.

The offense remains to be suspect and the Defense looks pretty consistent to me. Sure the D had a bad game this week, but they've been pretty consistent all season. The offense is suspect because they do not have a reliable running game to take pressure off of Brady, so I suggest we lowball Kareem Hunt into the RB position. We ain't beating nobody in the playoffs with the current RB crew, or Gronk who runs like a 500 lb woman. Believe that.

I been telling y'all for a hot minute now, Sony Michel is trash and cannot play when defense are expecting him to run. It's the difference between a scrub and an Adrian Peterson, or a Lawrence Maroney and a Corey Dillion. We need a running back, ASAP, or the problems will continue.

Thankfully, most of the good defenses won't be heading to the playoffs.

I saw what you did there. Touche.

Well, I still think this Defense is night and day, From home to on the road,
Just from a guy sitting on his couch, contributing nothing more than a very in depth opinion.

It's very hard to keep up with experts around here.
I'm ashamed. Really

 

[QB12]

This team doesn’t have the ability to prove their mental toughness, since sadly, it doesn’t exist.

You’re starting to annoy me.

 

[reflexblue]

This was an extremely tough loss. No doubt the pats haters are having a *********** over it. If just 2 or 3 things go differently, we win the game but it is what it is.

When Championship teams face adversity, they power through it and come out stronger. The 2014 team (who also lost to Miami on the road) faced plenty of it, especially after that infamous game at Arrowhead when many were saying Brady was done.

We were on to Cincinnati then, and now we’re on to Pittsburgh. It’s going to depend on if these veterans can put this behind them and focus on winning everything else- because if we win out, we will be the #2 seed which most teams would do anything to have.

I’m confident this group can return to championship level football like we are accustomed to seeing.

Rant over

This was the worse regular season loss i can remember going back 44 years.

 

[reflexblue]

I've replayed that exact quote in my head at least 10 times during games this year. If there's a similar kind of documentary about the 2018 season, I think it will prominently feature some very telling, very similar quotes.

This just doesn't seem like the kind of team that'll will its way to wins like they did in the SB years. I could see them on the losing side of a 28-3 comeback more easily than on the winning side. Hopefully I'm just overreacting to the last month of games and they prove me wrong starting next week, but I'll be pleasantly surprised if they do

I don't think this team has been right since the jimmy g trade, Somethings off

 

[Jackson 2]

This stupidity already happened once this year - if Trubisky throws the ball one yard further.

But, he didn't. And if one guy makes the tackle on the last play today, but he didn't. We can play that "if" game all day long, but it means nothing.

 

[Gronk]

I’m not usually one for hyperbole or grand prognostications, but if this team doesn’t come out breathing hot ****ing dragon fire in Pittsburgh next week then they truly are toast. They don’t even necessarily need to win to impress me - but they do need to look like they want to smash some ****. This week would have been a very “meh” win (Miami struggles notwithstanding) given how poor they played 2nd half. Now it’s a loss that is the turning point of the season and they need to go get some.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Can he play Safety?

"My husband cannot throw the ball, catch it, and play safety." - Gisele Bundchen

 

[The Brandon Five]

Not sure shooting yourself in the foot qualifies as “adversity”.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I was thinking the same thing. I give KC credit for winning their games and running away with the #1 seed, but they have looked quite a bit more mortal these past few weeks. ****tsburgh is squeaking by Oakland (EDIT: whoops! maybe not....), but that's nothing to be proud of. Houston lost.

KC has NOT run away with the 1 seed. LAC can still catch them. Also, KC can still lose to LAC and Seattle. If we both go 12-4 and are atop of our respective divisions, NE gets the tie breaker.

 

[Kdo5]

I've calmed down. This was ugly and shocking a loss as you could possibly ask for.

We are on to Pittsburgh. If the team has it in them to contend for a title, they will go down there bounce back and finish off the season 12-4 with the #2 seed.

Win a home playoff game and pull it off on the road. It's far from unthinkable. If we lose to the Steelers it is a different story.

 

[XLIX]

KC has NOT run away with the 1 seed. LAC can still catch them. Also, KC can still lose to LAC and Seattle. If we both go 12-4 and are atop of our respective divisions, NE gets the tie breaker.