Try to be positive for once

[sb1]

BB did a great job building up the defense. The D was crap in 2020 ok in 2021 but not good enough to hang with the better teams in the league as we saw late in the season and now looks like it’s pretty good in 2022 even with losses like JCJ.

Still could use more up front and another LB to handle mobile QBs and nobody is gonna mistake them for the 86 Bears but the needle is pointing up again on that side of the ball.

 

[aluminum seats]

this loss will never exceed the infamous loss of February 3rd 2008 when the Pats lost The Perfect Season to the NY Giants. That loss had me feeling badly for weeks after which I decided to never, ever, allow myself to feel that badly over a sport's team's loss again. Don't get me wrong. I was very disappointed, angry and experienced all the emotions of yesterday's loss.

I literally laughed as the play happened. I mean, you have to. And for good reason:

—This team is going nowhere this year

—More losses equal better draft positioning

Here’s what I think. A Bill Belichick coached Patriots team can still win a Super Bowl. But right now this team is poorly coached. Belichick at 70 is not Belichick at 50. At a time he needs more help, he decided to go with less. That was a poor decision.

Bob Kraft, correctly, has been hands off with Belichick, with rare exceptions. That has to stop. Kraft should not accept this product. He doesn’t have to dictate exact changes, just that there are changes. If Belichick refuses to do anything different then Kraft will have a decision to make.

Patricia, by the way, could have DEVELOPED into a good OC. I do think he’s a smart guy. It’s just absurd so much was given to him so quickly.

On Mac Jones, he may be ruined. I hope not. I think they may have psychologically wrecked him by the way they have, um, sort of cut his balls off, to a guy who maybe was a little soft to begin with. It started with the Buffalo wind game, and goes up to that horrible 3rd down weird rollout play Sunday. I don’t think he’s finished, but he is on life support. Again, GOOD coaching can fix it.

There’s talent on this team. The coaching has been awful.

 

[archstanton543]

It started with the Buffalo wind game, and goes up to that horrible 3rd down weird rollout play Sunday.

I agreed with your points up until this one. First, they won the Buffalo game. Second they were playing in historically windy conditions. I bet if a certain future HoF QB who played here for two decades was asked to do the same thing, people wouldn't think that BB castrated him. Third, (and this bears repeating) They. Won. The. Game.

 

[Triumph]

Im positive that Buffalo is beating the Chiefs in the AFC Championship. No way in Hates is KC winning in Buffalo after last seasons postseason game. Just watch, there will be a controversial call where KC will forever cry that they were screwed. The NFL wants Buffalo to be there in the Super Bowl.

Im fine with that too.

 

[aluminum seats]

I agreed with your point up until this one. First, they won the Buffalo game. Second they were playing in historically windy conditions. I bet if a certain future HoF QB who played here for two decades was asked to do the same thing, people wouldn't think that BB castrated him. Third, (and this bears repeating) They. Won. The. Game.

Yep they did win. And I might be wrong. Just a feeling I had.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

I agreed with your points up until this one. First, they won the Buffalo game. Second they were playing in historically windy conditions. I bet if a certain future HoF QB who played here for two decades was asked to do the same thing, people wouldn't think that BB castrated him. Third, (and this bears repeating) They. Won. The. Game.

Forget about the weather.

They won because they ran.

And the dead end march about protecting Eason/Bledsoe/Jones' ego? Crap.

 

[RobertWeathers]

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

The thing that was weird is it seemed like the offensive line issues almost disappeared when Zappe was starting. I don't know what they were doing differently but they need to go back to it.

They ran it (except 2nd half Bears) and he feels & escapes the pressure, and finds the open receiver.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

If he can’t play from behind with pressure he shouldn’t even be a backup QB in the nfl. Yes the defense couldn’t solve fields but that doesn’t explain why Zappe was benched

The Zappe guys criticize Mac because he can't play behind and then use it as an excuse for Zappe

 

[Pats1971]

I'm going in a different direction looking for positives about yesterday's loss:

Yesterday's loss of December 18th, 2022 is a loss that will go down in "infamy" because of the way we lost. However this loss will never exceed the infamous loss of February 3rd 2008 when the Pats lost The Perfect Season to the NY Giants. That loss had me feeling badly for weeks after which I decided to never, ever, allow myself to feel that badly over a sport's team's loss again. Don't get me wrong. I was very disappointed, angry and experienced all the emotions of yesterday's loss.

However, shortly after yesterday's loss, I immediately went to work to dump those sh y feelings. The way I look at it is owners, coaches and players get paid a 'pantload" of money to play a game that most of us could only dream about.

After my feelings following yesterday's game, I asked myself - How's my own game going? How's my family doing? How's my health? Do I have most of the positive things that I could reasonably expect to have at my age? Looking for positives in my own life can greatly diminish the feelings of negativity following a Pat's loss or any other team I might follow. Or most simply put, it's only a game folks.

I'm deep into the 4th Quarter of my own game and hoping for some overtime LOL. I've been a loyal Pat's fan for over 50 years. The Patriots are important to me but I'm fortunate to have many more things in my life that are more important.

Here is the thing about sports. Losses hurt worse the better you are. When you are 6-10, and you lose, you are over it in 30 minutes. When you are 17-0 and you lose, it haunts you for years. The worse the team is, really the easier it is to be a fan because the pressure goes down and every small positive is a parade.

 

[Pats1971]

The offense hadn’t found a rhythm, but we still should have won 2,3 more games. Yesterday what beat us was a blown hike to the punter, an atrocious call in the ez, and a freakin 50 yard return of a blown lateral.

Should have also beaten the Vikes, Mac threw for 382. And the Packers. And the Ravens too. At worst we should be 9-5 even with the offense the way it is.

Now lets go through games they should have lost....You are what you are. Bad teams are the ones that blow close games when they could win. Every team in the NFL is a play or two from having a bad record.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

The point here is that….for 19 years ….this team was a Dynasty and the team every other team wanted to “replicate” and learn from….and to beat the Patriots was a badge of honor ….or for many teams ….their Super Bowl. Then Tom Brady left. Bill Belichick has been a bit exposed once Tom left town if we are being honest. Bill’s decision making since that time has been EXPOSED. Sticking with Cam the Sham Newton all season despite EVERYONE knowing that Cam was done…was Part 1. It has gone extremely downhill this year with his “outthinking” the room again (See Cam Newton horribly failed experiment)…..by turning over the offensive playcalling to a marginal DC…..and Failed HC Fatt Matt Patricia and his water boy ….failed HC Joe Judge. Abysmal Failure by BB. So, getting back to your topic…..When times were great and Tom Brady, the GOAT was covering up a lot of BB’s warts (ie bad drafting, FA acquisitions, and arrogant and poor coaching decisions)….and WINNING SB’s……Almost EVERY FAN is gonna be POSITIVE minded and thinking that this team can DO ANYTHING…..or Beat Anyone. Why!? Tom Brady gave this team a giant set of balls and CONFIDENCE !!! And again….when times are good ……AND EVERYONE is positive and expecting Miracles….

Now this team and its coaching staff is a DUMPSTER fire…..led by BB…..who again has been exposed as a slightly above average coach….So fans understandably are PISSED and negative! …..What have YOU done for ME TODAY?????……Not YESTERDAY!!!! It’s like that in every other category in this world…..can’t blame fans of this team for being pissed….

Matty's no worse than the other OCs in the league. None of them knows how to commit to the run. Bill's a great coach.

I'm surprised and disappointed in the vets on this team. I thought Andrews, McCourty and Slater would fire everybody up, but they haven't.

On an engaged, fired up team, Belichick is invaluable. On a team that's not, Belichick is irritating and annoying, badgering everyone to not make dumb plays in an endless march of unhappiness. This team lacks focus. The players are on pins and needles. I felt we would lose on Sunday, I just didn't know how.

Thank goodness they lost. Those two laterals are unforgivable in an unforgiving game.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Zappe would have orchestrated a lot more TDs ….pretty confident about that

Another one of your insane takes. Like in '01 when they put Bledsoe back in and we finished below .500 and you said the Brady kid would have orchestrated a lot more TDs.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

The Zappe guys criticize Mac because he can't play behind and then use it as an excuse for Zappe

So you're not using the OC as an excuse for Jones?

 

[203Pat]

They ran it (except 2nd half Bears) and he feels & escapes the pressure, and finds the open receiver.

One of the things that has been driving me nuts about Mac is he wants to tuck it and run to early but while doing so he doesn't keep his eyes downfield.

 

[203Pat]

Matty's no worse than the other OCs in the league. None of them knows how to commit to the run. Bill's a great coach.

I'm surprised and disappointed in the vets on this team. I thought Andrews, McCourty and Slater would fire everybody up, but they haven't.

On an engaged, fired up team, Belichick is invaluable. On a team that's not, Belichick is irritating and annoying, badgering everyone to not make dumb plays in an endless march of unhappiness. This team lacks focus. The players are on pins and needles. I felt we would lose on Sunday, I just didn't know how.

Thank goodness they lost. Those two laterals are unforgivable in an unforgiving game.

 

[catent]

The Zappe guys criticize Mac because he can't play behind and then use it as an excuse for Zappe

The Mac guys criticize the offensive coaching and use it as an explanation for Mac’s poor play - telling us he deserves more time to improve his play with better coaching - but simultaneously tell us that Zappe’s 2nd half against Chicago (under the same coaches, btw) fundamentally disqualifies him from ever being a successful NFL QB. (Which is a really dumb opinion, btw, that a single half of struggles - as a rookie no less - means a player cannot be successful in the future).

Many people prefer one guy over the other and that leads to inconsistent analysis of the evidence/context based on that bias.

I don’t mind people having their guy and leaning one way or the other. What I don’t like is when folks discuss this situation in absolutes, particularly when predicting how this will play out in the future.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Wow, I guess I missed the part where people just say thanks for the reminder of this thread.

This the second time I've "lost my religion" this season.

A BB team doing what this team did in the final moments against the Raiders... is not something terribly familiar to me. Usually we take our best shot and you can argue anything innovative on a "you're the hero if it works, you're stupid if it doesn't" basis. But those are the "crazy" calls that "might just work."

This was a matter of two guys stealing an imperfect, if adequate, game away from a possible W and putting it in the L column. When Stevenson was unable to create the turnover through his own mistake, enter Meyers to finish the job.

We had the "cushion" of overtime, so this was urgency we did not need... a coin flip before the coin flip. On a team that supposedly takes ball security seriously.

I could go for seeing Strong and Other Harris as RBs and whoever is still alive at WR so players "get it," except the 3-month preseason is over now, and there is still a chance.

I was thrilled to read that it was two idiots acting on their own, according to the idiots... because if BB et al. are TELLING them to do that, just blow it all up.

Allllllll that said... kudos to the OP. Raider week's over. Until we're mathmatically eliminated there is no fun in rooting for your own team to lose.

I regard rooting for bad news to justify your ourlook as the lowest supposed "fan" behavior there is. It's more like being a fan of yourself, with a supposed patriots gloss on your misery. It goes...

- Being a fan of a team, noticing the good and the bad along the way, cheering them to win, dealing with losing...
- Being a polyanna fan, obliviously screaming everything is the greatest even whan 9 out of 10 things you mention are middling team aspects...
- Being an entitled bandwagon beyotch fan screaming everything should be the greatest evah and we should have all of it and crying when we lose
- Being a longsuffering "this is the year" fan like we had to be so long with both the Patriots and the Sawx, and that current bandwagoners think is purely funny when we see it in JETE fans
- 9 miles of shlitz

- people who are thrilled when things go bad for the Pats so they can complain about "fat Matt," "The coaching staff," "The wrong QB," blah blah blah.

I'll admit, my first sojourn in the land of the bolded (above) was when I saw Zappe take over from Mac, and how everything changed on a dime. Who knows, a couple of years from now, that might turn out to be the right call, and the rest of this season might just be the extended failed audition of Mac. But this is not that day. For right now, the decision being made, I prefer not to see guys trying to "prove" that they knew the right thing to do, the right amount of line before you cut bait, etc. Of course, what I "prefer" doesn't matter. Point is, give them Zappe, they'll be on to the 20 other firings that we must do before they'll admit they're just fantasy owners pretending to know better, and happy to see the team suffer to buttress their assertions.

/core dump.

That play on Sunday was just us saying "hey let's roll the dice." It reads as a lack of faith. What's missing is a Vader on staff to say he finds their lack of faith disturbing, when the emperor himself does not reach them directly.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

So you're not using the OC as an excuse for Jones?

Not using an excuse for anyone, just noting the irony.

 

[archstanton543]

Not using an excuse for anyone, just noting the irony.

Irony would be if Rham and Jakobi were known for saying "I never lateral the ball with no time on the clock in a tied game" and then did so.

This is just a bad series of events.