Pursuit of the Bye (1st Seed)

[uknepatsfan]

Denver will be the #1 seed in the AFC and will be tough for anyone to beat at Mile High.

The best the Pats can hope for now is to clinch the AFC East, really.

Denver has a championship level D and Bo Nix is no slouch either. They could win it all.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

1978: That year didn't end very well either... At All.

No shame in losing to the Bills, I believe we can take the rubber match in the playoffs if it comes to that. The Bills are full of themselves and the Patriots aren't.

For a division winning season, 1978 had several really, really lousy, sad days. Each of those six losses were terrible.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Denver will be the #1 seed in the AFC and will be tough for anyone to beat at Mile High.

The best the Pats can hope for now is to clinch the AFC East, really.

Denver has a championship level D and Bo Nix is no slouch either. They could win it all.

Unlike apparently everyone else, I have very high confidence in the Patriots' chances to beat the Broncos in Denver. History is the biggest obstacle, and we make our own history. The biggest major problem is McDaniels. He obviously did not object enough, or at all, to those ugly decisions in two miserable AFCCG losses there. I'm sure we'll lose if they only run the ball ten times all game.

The Broncos are over hyped and overconfident, and very beatable.

The Patriots are an excellent road team.

 

[PatsFan2]

Unlike apparently everyone else, I have very high confidence in the Patriots' chances to beat the Broncos in Denver. History is the biggest obstacle, and we make our own history. The biggest major problem is McDaniels. He obviously did not object enough, or at all, to those ugly decisions in two miserable AFCCG losses there. I'm sure we'll lose if they only run the ball ten times all game.

The Broncos are over hyped and overconfident, and very beatable.

The Patriots are an excellent road team.

Big one coming up on the Road Sunday Night.

 

[n1997y]

Denver only needs to lose one if the Pats win out.

I don't believe that is a true statement.

It was true when I posted it.

In fact it’s still true, but the Pats failed to win out when they lost to the Bills.

So now they need to win out in the remaining three games and have Denver lose two of their three remaining games.

 

[Ring 6]

They're better than we are right now.

We’ve won 10 of 11. They are a .500 team
Who lost 2 of their last 3.

 

[n1997y]

Apologies sir didn't see the date on that.

No prob. Your analysis was good. And it’s hard to keep track of when things were posted here. I’m just catching up after a couple of days away myself.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Oh hell. Denver needs to drop 2 out of 3, then I've got to go remove my "disagree" from UK's post

 

[Bill Lee]

Disastrous day, i was hoping at least Denver would lose too

Disastrous day, if you already decided we'd earned the #1 seed like Scott Zolak did before halftime.

For many of us, the disaster was two 4-13 seasons in a row with terrible coaching both seasons.

Perhaps more of a disaster this season was losing to a very beatable Raiders team before we found our footing, or that four turn-over game with PIT.

Bottom line, any season with 10 or more wins won't be a disaster in my book, and AFCE is still up for grabs.

 

[jdlboot14]

Here's a total head in the clouds, 4D chess, blatant homer take:
I was shocked at how casual Vrabel was after the loss. I'd assume he'd be pissed and salty at all his pressers about "blown leads" and "taking foot off the pedal", and "lack of execution", etc... But he was the opposite. Is it possible that Vrabel could have instructed the Coord's to call "preseason football" in the 2nd half? Like, he knew it could be problematic for this young team to blow out a SB favorite and win the division so early, and wanted them to have a fighters edge down the stretch - to prove the 60min nature of playoff football, and teach how to have a killer instinct... etc. I know it sounds crazy. But Vrabel had a sly air in his countenance on Sun night & Mon morning. I'm not saying he wanted to lose - but almost like he knew they didn't overly try to win in the 2nd half - from a scheme/coaching perspective. Look at the first couple drives - JMD calling reverses and double passes and RPO's. But in the 2nd half when we really needed 1 extended drive, they did nothing - very vanilla. And I know Allen can adjust, but our D was completely bottling them up the first half, and then 5 straight TD drives?
It's odd to me. And I know that staff is not stupid.
I'm the provocateur today to stir up all the fomenters.

 

[Gumby]

Here's a total head in the clouds, 4D chess, blatant homer take:
I was shocked at how casual Vrabel was after the loss. I'd assume he'd be pissed and salty at all his pressers about "blown leads" and "taking foot off the pedal", and "lack of execution", etc... But he was the opposite. Is it possible that Vrabel could have instructed the Coord's to call "preseason football" in the 2nd half? Like, he knew it could be problematic for this young team to blow out a SB favorite and win the division so early, and wanted them to have a fighters edge down the stretch - to prove the 60min nature of playoff football, and teach how to have a killer instinct... etc. I know it sounds crazy. But Vrabel had a sly air in his countenance on Sun night & Mon morning. I'm not saying he wanted to lose - but almost like he knew they didn't overly try to win in the 2nd half - from a scheme/coaching perspective. Look at the first couple drives - JMD calling reverses and double passes and RPO's. But in the 2nd half when we really needed 1 extended drive, they did nothing - very vanilla. And I know Allen can adjust, but our D was completely bottling them up the first half, and then 5 straight TD drives?
It's odd to me. And I know that staff is not stupid.
I'm the provocateur today to stir up all the fomenters.

silly.

need an extra layer of tin-foil hat for that one.

I think its just a number of "conservative" things/decisions happened (holding back Spillane for health reasons; not changing strategy soon enough [or maybe not recognizing the Murphy issue] on KO team; not wanting to jump in McD's **** when he went all pass-happy in 3Q; trying to just play contain on Allen w/o blitzing; saving a few calls-schemes for post season Jills re-visit; etc) and those individual (good?) decisions synergized into stupidity. But I seriously doubt there was some grand scheme to lose. HFA & an extra bye is too valuable**

( **although considering our boys have lost 3/7 [ almost 50%] at home; maybe he does want to be on the road for all his playoff games for some reason. )

 

[Brady to Maye]

Unlike apparently everyone else, I have very high confidence in the Patriots' chances to beat the Broncos in Denver. History is the biggest obstacle, and we make our own history. The biggest major problem is McDaniels. He obviously did not object enough, or at all, to those ugly decisions in two miserable AFCCG losses there. I'm sure we'll lose if they only run the ball ten times all game.

The Broncos are over hyped and overconfident, and very beatable.

The Patriots are an excellent road team.

Does history really matter now?

 

[n1997y]

Here's a total head in the clouds, 4D chess, blatant homer take:
I was shocked at how casual Vrabel was after the loss. I'd assume he'd be pissed and salty at all his pressers about "blown leads" and "taking foot off the pedal", and "lack of execution", etc... But he was the opposite. Is it possible that Vrabel could have instructed the Coord's to call "preseason football" in the 2nd half? Like, he knew it could be problematic for this young team to blow out a SB favorite and win the division so early, and wanted them to have a fighters edge down the stretch - to prove the 60min nature of playoff football, and teach how to have a killer instinct... etc. I know it sounds crazy. But Vrabel had a sly air in his countenance on Sun night & Mon morning. I'm not saying he wanted to lose - but almost like he knew they didn't overly try to win in the 2nd half - from a scheme/coaching perspective. Look at the first couple drives - JMD calling reverses and double passes and RPO's. But in the 2nd half when we really needed 1 extended drive, they did nothing - very vanilla. And I know Allen can adjust, but our D was completely bottling them up the first half, and then 5 straight TD drives?
It's odd to me. And I know that staff is not stupid.
I'm the provocateur today to stir up all the fomenters.

I think Vrabes is a realist. He can be salty at the refs while also knowing his team played sloppy football and earned the loss, in the second half. He knows how the locker room felt at halftime and probably recognized the team thought the game was already over no matter what he tried to preach to them then, and he knows he does not have to rub salt into that wound, the players all know it no matter what he says. His challenge now is to channel it and not let the mistake be repeated.

He needs to have a heart to heart with Josh about keeping the pedal to the metal until the final gun. That’s the one pace he does need to be pissed.

The next test will be whether they can play a full sixty minutes against the Ravens. Can they come out and seize control of the game in the first half they way they did against both the Giants and Bills, and then keep their foot on the gas and play the second half as aggressively and effectively as the first half? If they can do that it bodes well for the post season. If they lay another turd in the punchbowl they’ll be an early exit.

 

[TommyD4207]

I think Vrabes is a realist. He can be salty at the refs while also knowing his team played sloppy football and earned the loss, in the second half. He knows how the locker room felt at halftime and probably recognized the team thought the game was already over no matter what he tried to preach to them then, and he knows he does not have to rub salt into that wound, the players all know it no matter what he says. His challenge now is to channel it and not let the mistake be repeated.

He needs to have a heart to heart with Josh about keeping the pedal to the metal until the final gun. That’s the one pace he does need to be pissed.

The next test will be whether they can play a full sixty minutes against the Ravens. Can they come out and seize control of the game in the first half they way they did against both the Giants and Bills, and then keep their foot on the gas and play the second half as aggressively and effectively as the first half? If they can do that it bodes well for the post season. If they lay another turd in the punchbowl they’ll be an early exit.

Vrabel's demeanor all season has been really impressive, in my mind.
He's kept his eyes on the long-term all year long, and that's why he's not freaking out or melting down. It's a great lesson for a team who has had the 2nd most rookie snaps (and the only reason it's not more is because Campbell and Wilson got hurt).

"I told you what it took to be a championship-level team, this is what it takes"

It's entirely possible McDaniels was told to take the training wheels off and see what Maye had in a big spot. He's still gotta learn too. "We only ran the ball 3 times in the 2nd half", what did we have, 8 plays? 9 plays on offense, it wasn't a lot. Bad drop by Henry, Bills getting away with blatant holding, yeah, you gotta overcome that, and Maye needs to figure out what it takes.

Henderson's big run in the 4th quarter was so encouraging for me for the future. Blow the huge lead, talented kid makes a big play. Just a shame there were still 6 minutes to go.

 

[jal]

Denver has Jags, @Chiefs, Chargers remaining. We need to win out and they have to lose 2 due to Raiders tiebreaker (ugh). Probably ain't happening now that Mahomes went down but you never know. It's too bad Green Bay lost Parsons and Watson in that game which probably decided it (would've been close regardless).

However, this team just got a late season bye so from a health standpoint a bye probably isn't absolutely necessary, and if we can get on a roll before then and sustain that momentum in the playoffs then there's a positive from not having it. Obviously I'd rather have to not play a wild card game, esp. if it's the Texans (not likely - most likely the Chargers if we hold onto #2 seed). But you never know how this plays out....if the Jags can hold off the Texans for the division and win their #3/#6 matchup in Jax, it's possible we get Chargers in first round and Jags in second round, while Bills go to Denver. That's a much better road than hosting the Bills for your first playoff game in the divisional round.

Basically, anything can happen now. All we can do is try to keep improving and peak at the right time.

 

[PatsFan2]

Denver has Jags, @Chiefs, Chargers remaining. We need to win out and they have to lose 2 due to Raiders tiebreaker (ugh). Probably ain't happening now that Mahomes went down but you never know. It's too bad Green Bay lost Parsons and Watson in that game which probably decided it (would've been close regardless).

However, this team just got a late season bye so from a health standpoint a bye probably isn't absolutely necessary, and if we can get on a roll before then and sustain that momentum in the playoffs then there's a positive from not having it. Obviously I'd rather have to not play a wild card game, esp. if it's the Texans (not likely - most likely the Chargers if we hold onto #2 seed). But you never know how this plays out....if the Jags can hold off the Texans for the division and win their #3/#6 matchup in Jax, it's possible we get Chargers in first round and Jags in second round, while Bills go to Denver. That's a much better road than hosting the Bills for your first playoff game in the divisional round.

Basically, anything can happen now. All we can do is try to keep improving and peak at the right time.

The Chargers are playing Tough that might be a Game: if the Jaguars or Chiefs with Minshew pull an upset.

 

[mgteich]

No shame in losing to the Bills, I believe we can take the rubber match in the playoffs if it comes to that. The Bills are full of themselves and the Patriots aren't.

Yes, the Bills are full of themselves.

They think that they have a clutch QB who always gives them a chance to win.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Remember when the Pats kicked the crap out of the Jets on MNF in 2010? There was no way the Jets were going to come back to Gillette in the divisional round and beat them, right? Jets didn't let that bother them and beat the Pats.

While last Sunday was tough loss for the Pats, the Bills are dealing with their own problems themselves. They know deep down that if the offense can't run the ball, they are dead to rights because that's their entire offense. Also, the defense is going to give up 30 points.

The Pats may not even face the Bills again.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Does history really matter now?

The Patriots had a twenty year jinx in Denver comparable to the Orange Bowl. Belichick, save the regular season intentional safety game, thumbed his nose at it and paid the price, losing to inferior teams.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Denver will be the #1 seed in the AFC and will be tough for anyone to beat at Mile High.

The best the Pats can hope for now is to clinch the AFC East, really.

Denver has a championship level D and Bo Nix is no slouch either. They could win it all.

Denver also has the best OL in the league (ours will get there but it isn't yet)

That being said, with the Pats being undefeated on the road, they might be the one team to beat them at Mile High - though that altitude DOES impact one's play.