Is Steve Belichick part of the problem on defense?

[catent]

Yeah, the 24 yard completion on 3rd & 25 was hard to swallow. I'd have to see how the DBs were playing them, but if it's true they gave a ton of cushion, I'm not a big fan of that.

But again, hindsight is 20-20. If they get up tight on Lamb, he shakes Mills and gets upfield cleanly, they may score a TD, or gain considerably more yardage, and then we're bellyaching over a shorter FG attempt, or losing the game in regulation.

What stinks is that, yeah, if that kick was from 53-54+, it clanks off the upright or goes wide. Still, a 49-yard attempt by Zuerlein on the left-hash (which he really struggles on) isn't a gimme, and he nearly missed it. Am I happy they lost? No. Do I wish they had bowed their necks and that 49 yard FG was a 55 yarder? Yeah.

There were a lot of reasons they lost that game, though, and I'm not sure I'd put defense at the top of the list of reasons why. I identify turnovers (-2 differential for the game) as the primary reason they lost. I don't think anyone can name a winning football team that turns the ball over frequently. There are good teams that turn the ball over, but not winning teams. The Patriots are -5 TO differential for the season, and -9 if the Jets game is removed as an outlier.

Want to know why this team is 2-4, and not 3-3, or 4-2 ... or even 5-1? Turnovers.

 

[Froob]

It feels like Bill has checked out mentally and is just delegating everything to a weak staff, the Tampa loss was the only game where it felt like he brought his A gane to be honest, even though I didn't like 56y attempt at the end the rest of it at least felt something like a "real" Pats game.

Did he or did Tom just play poorly

 

[archstanton543]

I think so. I mean, if he's not doing his job well, who is BB going to fire? Mayo or his own son? I'll hang up and listen.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

This picture speaks a thousand words. I totally agree he should cut his teeth elsewhere. You know the Krafts are talking about this.

It's a tough one. I have no problem with helping out family but to an extent. Like get him him on board somewhere but is he one the best 50 defensive minds in the country?

Bill is flying this plane, captain of boat, driving with no co-pilot (Josh is in the back, sometimes yelling from the trunk) We absolutely need to help in the coaching ranks.

Back to Steve though. Again it's a pickle bc who would hire him? Bill has friends but no one is putting him in the position he's in now. Yea I'm sure he could get on somewhere but where and he most likely wouldn't have any security.

 

[Rob0729]

I still don’t think the defense played that bad. Their problem at the end of the game was that they were beat up and gassed. They were on the field for a majority of the game today. And for most of three and a half quarters they did a very good job keeping the Cowboys out of the end zone. Even the best defenses will crumble if it is on the field for most of the game.

In regulation, they only gave up 23 points to the one of the most potent offenses in the league.

And the Pats are still one of the better team in terms of points allowed. They have been a bend, don’t break defense this year. They haven’t given up many points in the red zone this year.

 

[archstanton543]

I still don’t think the defense played that bad.

You don't? 500+ yards of offense by the other team is bad no matter how you slice it.

 

[catent]

You don't? 500+ yards of offense by the other team is bad no matter how you slice it.

A lot of those yards came late, which leads to Rob's point that they were gassed, and they absolutely were.

I wouldn't say the defense played great, but I think they executed their role well enough to win. There were a lot of reasons they lost today. The defense could've been better, but so could have a lot of other things, and turning any one of those knobs may have led to a better outcome.

I still think turnovers are fundamentally one of the most important parts of the game (beyond the score), and is probably the stat that most closely correlates with winning/losing. The Pats were -2 today. Don't win many games against average teams when that's the case, let alone against good teams.

 

[FCB02062]

Why is it, when the pats played great on D, Bill gets the glory, and when they dont, people go after a coordinator?

when have they played great on defense? certainly not in the last 2+ seasons

 

[VrabelJr]

Our defense was stellar today considering how badly our offense **** the bed for 3 quarters in a row. We should have lost 56-21.

 

[archstanton543]

A lot of those yards came late, which leads to Rob's point that they were gassed, and they absolutely were.

Late or not 500 yards is not a recipe for winning.

 

[Rob0729]

You don't? 500+ yards of offense by the other team is bad no matter how you slice it.

We used to have this arguments back in the early 2000s. You don’t win with yards. You win with points. Again, the offensive not staying on the field had a lot to do with those yards and late points.

When the coverage started to really suck at the end of the game, the pass rush was gassed and a lot of the defensive players were going down with injuries.

When you are playing and aggressive pass rush against a high powered offense, you sustain it for long periods of time and when your defense is out there for ten more minutes than your offense in regulation, it gasses the defense.

The Cowboys got 120 of their yards in the last minute of regulation and overtime (and that is before the yards picked up and then lost on penalties) when the pass rush was shot and had nothing left leaving the DBs to hold their coverages longer.

I am not saying overall the defense was good. It was excellent at times. But it wasn’t as bad as people are making out to be. A big problem was the offense couldn’t stay on the field long enough to help give them a rest.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

You don't? 500+ yards of offense by the other team is bad no matter how you slice it.

Cowboys only scored 10 points by halftime. And take away Mac's pick6.

Look at the play by play. The Pats offense went 3 and out, 5 straight drives after halftime. That was terrible. Anti-complementary football from the oc. Defense ran out of steam.

 

[FCB02062]

500+ yards allowed and people are on here saying that the defense did a good job? are you serious? The defense had a chance to win the game and they failed again. Dallas punted once and people think the defense played well

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

 

[TBR]

If McDaniels is to blame for the offense and Steve for the defense, what do you think Bill is doing?

 

[Joker]

suppose we catch a break and win two games we seemingly had so far? we're 4-2...so, when you have a losing record every fan wants to fire anything and anybody to see if that magically improves the situation. I'm not going to pour animosity out on Steve B. Isaw the defense we came out in and immediately hated it because I thought it was a fool's errand...but at the half I had to admit the defense was playing the bend don't break soft zone a lot of us have despised for decades. Obviously, B.B. made the decision to play the soft cover 2 or cover zero or whatever the hell they're calling it these days. In retrospect, considering I thought this would be a slaughter, I really have no beef with the defense. I expected Dallas to put up 400 plus yards of offense and 6 TD's in regulation. They put up 550 yards but Dallas was TIED with us at the end of regulation.

No, I'm not jumping in on either side of the Steve B. debate. What is crystal clear to me after today is that this offensive line is NOT the O line everyone promised we'd have. Our biggest free agent acquisition hasn't even played and a 1st round pick from only 3 years ago looks cooked.WE should have punched the Dallas D in the mouth on our home field, instead we bunker down and give the kid 2 seconds at the most to throw what? 3 yard outs? Mac at one point in the 1st half was 11 for 12...for like 40 measly yards!! THAT is not winning NFL offense TODAY. If you want an argument start with the O co-ordinator. Not one or two but DOZENS of mystifying play calls today. McD is the one on the hot seat IMHO.

 

[Brotherblues]

Good point, I forgot about him. Whatever we are doing on defense seems to be working if you look at the scores, but we can't stop anybody when it really counts without penalties.

I don't think we had a single stop today that wasn't due to a penalty or the Cowboys just shooting themselves in the foot some other way.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

A lot of those yards came late, which leads to Rob's point that they were gassed, and they absolutely were.

I wouldn't say the defense played great, but I think they executed their role well enough to win. There were a lot of reasons they lost today. The defense could've been better, but so could have a lot of other things, and turning any one of those knobs may have led to a better outcome.

I still think turnovers are fundamentally one of the most important parts of the game (beyond the score), and is probably the stat that most closely correlates with winning/losing. The Pats were -2 today. Don't win many games against average teams when that's the case, let alone against good teams.

I think we're 5th in terms of giving the ball away. Idk I just mentioned it in my thread but somewhere around there. Like we're one of the 5 worst teams in the league in terms of giving the ball away. Just blows my mind, not something I expected but this is a young team, lots of moving parts. Definitely seeing the growing pains of that.

 

[amfootball]

If McDaniels is to blame for the offense and Steve for the defense, what do you think Bill is doing?

Thats the concerning part. Bill is checked out it appears delegating to his assistants. I am starting to wonder if he is upset about the way this off-season went down and the new collobrative approach. IDK

 

[Hawaiianpatsfan2]

I don't think we had a single stop today that wasn't due to a penalty or the Cowboys just shooting themselves in the foot some other way.

I can't help but feel the same way. In a way, I'm glad we lost. No need to get wins against good teams, whom really just shot themselves in the foot allowing us to stay competitive and eventually win. That just creates the narrative and belief that we are better than we are, in the short term only building false hope. In reality, its just reducing our draft placing and allowing scrutiny to get kicked down the road.