PostGame Thread 2025 AFCCG OFFICIAL POSTGAME THREAD: We're on to the Super Bowl!!!

[upstater1]

It's a bit annoying that 80% of the discussion of the morning TV and radio talk jocks is on how Sean Payton supposedly blew it, that Denver lost the game more than the Patriots won it. Hey, it was 4th and 1 and the D made the stop. Then the D was smothering the rest of the day.

This seems to be par for the course these days, always find a way to second guess the losing team and claim that they beat themselves.

Yes, 100% I said this exact same thing. It was the 1st quarter.

Ryan Clark was absurd. He actually said there was no way the Patriots would drive 50 yards to do anything and that 10-0 could win it.

Absurd.

Did he just ignore the 2 long drives in the second half?

The Patriots had 2nd and goal on the 2 yard line, and they tried a trick play they evidently hadn't practiced enough. They also drove down the field again and missed a FG.

They are just patently absurd in their analysis.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Then Ian has to deal with one whole new thread for each of those wieners asking why they were kicked out of the GDT and yelling at the mods for being too sensitive and no fun.

10 downvotes ("Whiner" tag) and out you go. No mod intervention would be needed.

 

[upstater1]

Toughness matters. The NFL West is flashy, and I know this might not apply to Seattle, BUT Seattle hasn't played Patriots level toughness.

The Rams are a pattycake team.

Durden, Barmore, Milt Williams have to wreck things.

Seattle is not the 2007 Patriots but we need to do what they did to us in '07, and what we did to the Rams in '18. McVay consistently coaches soft teams. It happens over and over. They may be talented, yes Fiske and Verse are very good players, but they lack toughness. The worst Super Bowl in 30 years was the Rams - Bengals bowl of a few years ago, they played pattycake, didn't hit, and the execution of plays was pretty bad.

 

[1960Pats]

Agreed. I never go in the GDT. Mostly because idk how anyone posts and watches at the same time. Plus its like watching with my father in law, every not great play means they are the worst team in the history of team sports.

I stopped going to the GDT years ago.

As for father in laws. Before my wife and I were married 48 years ago I was visiting my future FIL (not a sports fan at all) and he asked me if I wanted to watch football. I said sure and joined him in the living room where he was watching the stock numbers rolling across the screen on some business channel. After watching a few plays with me he asked me what "downs" are.

Interestingly, my wife recently asked me that same question a few weeks ago.

 

[Kdo5]

\
I thought Berringer had a horrible game that started badly and then got worse. I can understand how the conditions affected the results, but as you pointed out, the Denver punter, was consistently excellent throughout the game. Berringer's kicking gave us poor field position most of the game and Denver seemingly just one or two first downs away from FG territory almost all game.

He was terrible and maybe with a better QB the Broncos could have taken advantage, even with the weather.

I’m not opposed to moving on from him in the offseason if there is something better.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

So, is Milt the only player on our Roster who has Super Bowl experience? I can't think of any others off the top of my head. I know our coaching staff has like 100 years of experience or something crazy.

 

[PlainOldEd]

I stopped going to the GDT years ago.

As for father in laws. Before my wife and I were married 48 years ago I was visiting my future FIL (not a sports fan at all) and he asked me if I wanted to watch football. I said sure and joined him in the living room where he was watching the stock numbers rolling across the screen on some business channel. After watching a few plays with me he asked me what "downs" are.

Interestingly, my wife recently asked me that same question a few weeks ago.

I'll be married 30 years this year, I knew she was the one when I had to work one Sunday and I came home and she was watching the game, and she knew exactly what was going on. Now our ritual is to watch the games alone at home, no distractions.

 

[rogerthat]

This year reminds me of 2001 more than anything.
1. 2nd year quarterback that was not expected to do anything.
2. Very likeable team.
3. Playoff weather games.
4. Players on the team in both cases that may not be considered great as of game time, but will ultimately (I believe) prove they were a lot better than most thought at the time.
5. Solid starting RB that most underrated.
6. Very well coached team.
7. Extremely physically tough team.

I'm confident that the Patriots will win the Superbowl.

 

[rogerthat]

Maybe its not exactly fair because Maye is a year older and all of the free agent signings, but how bad does Jerod Mayo look right now?

 

[DaBruinz]

There's a "Mute" button that allows you to immediately mute that person in that thread. It's safe to use specifically for this scenario since you're not placing them on any permanent ignore. That function is strictly thread specific and simply hides any further posts from that person for the remainder of the thread. Since those threads are closed when the game ends, it makes it pretty easy.

So if someone is overly negative or irritating, that button will make all posts disappear from that person for the remainder of that thread, but it won't affect any of the other threads and isn't something you'll need to maintain under any ignore list, etc. Not unless you put them on a "Forum-wide mute (meaning you won't see their posts elsewhere)", or you "Block" them.

I mentioned earlier that I had to use that a LOT on the supposed "knowledgeable fans" who came in whining, saying the team sucked, etc. What's hilarious is that several of them have been in here defending themselves and pretending like nothing happened.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

The best thing Vrabel/Khur did yesterday was when it started snowing they went pre-dominantly man coverage instead of zone, and started attacking in 1st down to set up 2nd and long.

Should have done that all game.

 

[festy1986]

oh that would be so nice. the GDT would be so much more enjoyable with all the negative Nancy chicken littles.

@Ian feature request: a second GDT with a one-way trapdoor into it from the main GDT, triggered by exceeding a threshold value of bozo or smh reactions. Let the negative folks inhabit their private bubble without spewing their toxicity onto those who want to share enjoyment in the GDT.

This is the worst post in the history of the internet.

Daddy Ian can you make a safe place for me so I don't have to read negative things about **** game olay in a game thread designed for live commentary on what's happening in real time. I only want a eco chamber of positive thoughts regardless of what's actually happening!

Holy **** that's weak.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

So, is Milt the only player on our Roster who has Super Bowl experience? I can't think of any others off the top of my head. I know our coaching staff has like 100 years of experience or something crazy.

Carlton Davis won with Brady in Tampa. I think that’s it.

 

[TheRainMaker]

That game had me sweating for a while. Denver's defense is really good and it seemed like every time the Pats caught the ball, they were immediately tackled. Pats had to fight for every yard.

Stidham's only good throw was on the 3rd and long where the Pats sat back and there was a busted coverage between Gonzo and Hawkins. It looked like Gonzo was passing his man off, but quickly realized Hawkins wasn't going to take over. Hawkins again was beat in coverage getting caught looking in the backfield on the TD.

Refs messed up on the Stidham turnover. Should've been a TD.

Loved when Gonzo baited Stidham late in the game for the INT.

Offense played better protecting the football.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

So, is Milt the only player on our Roster who has Super Bowl experience? I can't think of any others off the top of my head. I know our coaching staff has like 100 years of experience or something crazy.

There are 5 players with SB experience on the roster.

The two obvious:

Milton Williams
Carlton Davis

But there is also

Christian Eliss
Mack Hollins
Austin Hooper

 

[condon84]

Should have done that all game.

I think a mix is ideal that way you keep the QBs guessing. But from what I've noticed with our defense, when we give up big pass plays, it always seems to be when we are in zone and there's a blown coverage.

 

[DaBruinz]

\
I thought Berringer had a horrible game that started badly and then got worse. I can understand how the conditions affected the results, but as you pointed out, the Denver punter, was consistently excellent throughout the game. Berringer's kicking gave us poor field position most of the game and Denver seemingly just one or two first downs away from FG territory almost all game.

Ken - I mentioned earlier that Baringer had 8 punts. 5 in the first half and 3 in the 4th Quarter.

the 5 in the first half resulted in :
- -1yard return - LOS Pats 14. Result was tackle at the Den 41.
- Downed at Denver 23. LOS Pats 44
- 1 yard return - Denver 43. LOS Pats 15.
- Fair Catch at Denver 17. LOS 38.
- 8 yard return - Denver 49 - LOS Pats 18

Here are the 3 kicks in the 4th quarter.

4th quarter punts:
- LOS Pats 30 - 40 yard Punt to Denver 30
- LOS - Pats 7 - 26 yard punt to NE 33 <--- extremely bad shank
- LOS Pats 37 - 31 yard punt to Denver 32..

Part of me wonders if the 2 OOB in the 4th quarter that weren't shanks were intentional. Make sure that Mims couldn't get a head of steam and make people miss in crappy conditions.

The Pats held Mims to 8 total yards on 3 returns. On kicks where the LOS was inside the Pats 18 yard line. That's almost like a punter making sure he doesn't out kick his coverage..

 

[n1997y]

The 76 Pats were the best team in the league and got robbed by Ben Dreith.

Having SB teams in 6 decades means that the Pats were never the laughingstock that some here claim.

Damn you forgot last year already?

 

[The Gr8est]

Pregame we kept talking about the altitude causing fatigue for visiting players unaccustomed to the oxygen levels. And there was a lot of speculation that this is part of what helped Denver achieve many of its 4th quarter home comebacks this year and in past years.

Pats really did the best thing possible to counteract that yesterday:
- while they lost time of possession in the 1st half, they played predominantly zone coverage. The secondary was still fresh. They were then able to play man in the 2nd half without getting exhausted. And what really helped….
- the 9:30 second drive to start the 3rd quarter was huge. Pats completely dominated time of possession in the 2nd half 21:06 to 8:54. Defense wasn’t out there long enough to get exhausted, and keeping them fresh by how they played the first half helped allow the Pats to draw a lot of 3 and outs in the 2nd half.

Not only did they kill 9:30 and keep the defense rested, the Pats got the FG and game winning points.

 

[uknepatsfan]

Pregame we kept talking about the altitude causing fatigue for visiting players unaccustomed to the oxygen levels. And there was a lot of speculation that this is part of what helped Denver achieve many of its 4th quarter home comebacks this year and in past years.

Pats really did the best thing possible to counteract that yesterday:
- while they lost time of possession in the 1st half, they played predominantly zone coverage. The secondary was still fresh. They were then able to play man in the 2nd half without getting exhausted. And what really helped….
- the 9:30 second drive to start the 3rd quarter was huge. Pats completely dominated time of possession in the 2nd half 21:06 to 8:54. Defense wasn’t out there long enough to get exhausted, and keeping them fresh by how they played the first half helped allow the Pats to draw a lot of 3 and outs in the 2nd half.

That 9 and a half minute drive was absolutely critical. It took the wind out of Denver’s D and gave the Pats D time to rest. That drive to me was a back breaker because after that the Pats D was totally dominant.