PostGame Thread 2025 OFFICIAL POSTGAME THREAD: Patriots fall 29-13 to the Seahawks

[SVN]

I'm ****ing heated that Drake through that into into triple coverage on a jump ball throw when it was totally unnecessary.

You was driving. You had 8 mins left. You had plenty of time to score, kick and play defense to get the ball back for a game winning drive.

Once you was in they gotta throw mode it became immensely more difficult for him.

Yeah. he panicked and became greedy. an experienced QB or team would know that what has happened is done, just need to win the next 8 mins.

 

[jal]

Guys - stop the Drake hate. We've seen Mahomes (who is an all-time great QB already) get absolutely dominated and look like a deer in the headlights MULTIPLE times in the same situation. Peyton, Drew, Aaron Rodgers, all of them have gotten goobersmacked when their o-line turns into a sieve and they get hammered constantly. They all see ghosts then, it's been true of football for all time.

We had both poor protection and no receivers who could get open quickly and consistently. Once your QB is rattled, they are going to start missing guys even when they do have time. It's always been true.

We badly need to upgrade both our offensive line and our pass catchers. And yes, it sucks that we drafted Will Campbell at #4 and it's not clear if he's even a competent LT. I do think he's been clearly worse since his injury but frankly he also got absolutely dominated by folks like Myles Garett BEFORE the injury. Giving up a sack to elite defenders - yeah it's gonna happen. But becoming a turnstyle that is giving up pressure on 50%+ of obvious passing situations is just not tenable. I'm hoping he was hampered by the injury and this isn't what he is but it's probably the biggest question mark we have going forward.

Wilson is even worse, as he has been frankly bad all year. It's not even a question mark for me - he cannot be your starter at Left Guard next season. Period. The right side of the line is better but even Moses and Bradbury are just OK starters at best. This entire line needs upgrading.

On the pass catcher front we have some more optimism but clearly lack high end difference makers. Diggs is fine as your #2 or #3....he ain't a #1 at this point. He or Henry (or both) probably need to be shipped out to make room for a clear difference maker if one becomes available (is AJ Brown still a difference maker? unclear).

At the end of the day we still lack talent and depth in multiple spots. I wouldn't draft for need - draft for Best Player Available and configure around that. We just need more blue chippers. Right now we have Gonzalez, Williams, and Barmore on defense. On offense only Maye would truly qualify (maybe Owenu).

We probably won't be so lucky on both the health and schedule front next year. It will likely be a step back in the regular season. But if we can acquire some real blue chip talent this next few offseasons we can stand a real chance to contend for the duration of Maye's rookie deal. After that, hopefully Maye becomes a real deal HOF QB going into his prime years and we will be contenders for another decade. If not, then we are back to land of mediocre.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

They have a **** ton of holes that need correcting.

Right now they have $40M in free cap space, so there's only so much they can do.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

We badly need to upgrade both our offensive line and our pass catchers. And yes, it sucks that we drafted Will Campbell at #4 and it's not clear if he's even a competent LT. I do think he's been clearly worse since his injury but frankly he also got absolutely dominated by folks like Myles Garett BEFORE the injury. Giving up a sack to elite defenders - yeah it's gonna happen. But becoming a turnstyle that is giving up pressure on 50%+ of obvious passing situations is just not tenable. I'm hoping he was hampered by the injury and this isn't what he is but it's probably the biggest question mark we have going forward.

There are four potential issues that could explain Campbell's drop off (in no particular order):
* His injury
* The rookie wall (even with the time off, he's played more games than he ever did in a season in college)
* Playing next to another rookie also potentially dealing with both of those factors
* Physical limitations, some (but not all) of which can be fixed

The combo of Campbell/Wilson/Bradbury needs to be changed. I don't know what the best upgrade is given their draft picks and cap space, but my guess is it's more likely to be Campbell/[new guard]/Wilson than [new LT]/Campbell/Wilson.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

Pathetic. Just Pathetic. Maye and Josh should be ashamed, that plan was a fkn disgrace.

 

[ViperGTS]

Pathetic. Just Pathetic. Maye and Josh should be ashamed, that plan was a fkn disgrace.

It's the kind of offensive effort in a SB that gets someone fired to be honest. If JMD wasn't so revered, he'd be on the chopping block. Thats how disgraceful it truly was.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

Fkn disgrace. Maybe next year.

 

[patman12]

Pathetic. Just Pathetic. Maye and Josh should be ashamed, that plan was a fkn disgrace.

You should probably include Vrabel, the entire OL, most of the WRs and Henderson too.

 

[festy1986]

Right now they have $40M in free cap space, so there's only so much they can do.

Dropping Diggs is gonna help.

But ya they're gonna have to hit on some draft picks.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

You should probably include Vrabel, the entire OL, most of the WRs and Henderson too.

Josh is in charge of it,
Vrabel is just hoping Josh isn't sleeping.
The ol were a bunch of ****ies, maybe marrone should be someone with an answer

 

[festy1986]

You should probably include Vrabel, the entire OL, most of the WRs and Henderson too.

Everyone failed except the defense. Including Vrabel, yes.

They repeatedly, drive after drive ran the same game plan over and over. Zero adjustments.

 

[ViperGTS]

I can't see Diggs being back next season. Pop needs to go as well. Problem is there isn't enough draft capital, nor free agency money to spend on replacements so they can't get rid of everyone.

They are kind of in a bad spot imo with the TE and WR room. Pearce isn't worth the dough he is gonna want and not much after that. I also think people are overselling FA and their desire to come to NE. Sure they made the SB but in reality they are a long ways from making it again and it's not like they are one or two pieces away. They are about 10 minimum.

 

[sambam94]

what’s frustrating is that if the offense could do anything, Donald was ripe for a pick or 2. JSN banged up, just needed the offense to do something. Maye looked bad, no awareness, just tried to run up the middle when pressured. Needs to know when to throw it away and avoid the sacks. Having said that, the OL needs fixing, they were horrible. The defense played well enough to win, if the Pats could have gotten an early lead, I think they would have won.

 

[slash83]

Time to reload this offseason, will be better next year.

 

[patman12]

Everyone failed except the defense. Including Vrabel, yes.

They repeatedly, drive after drive ran the same game plan over and over. Zero adjustments.

It was like a catastrophic cascade of failures. As soon as Drake knew the OL wasn’t giving him any time, he sped up and missed throws and when SEA backed off pressure, his mental clock never adjusted. The only time he really looked somewhat comfortable was the drive where the got their first TD.

 

[patman12]

Time to reload this offseason, will be better next year.

I don’t think they win as many regular season games but I do think they make the playoffs, if they manage the roster and see OL improvements.

 

[Guts]

All regular season Maye was making several jaw dropping throws downfield every game. We're talking just simply elite amazing throws 20-30, 40 yards downfield. Those plays were few and far between in the post season. Was it bc he was hurt as he said he took a toradol (guessing) shot or was it because he can't make plays against good defenses OR mcdaniels drilled it into his head so much to take care of the ball that Maye was gun shy. Or did mcdaniels just take the middle/ deep middle/perimeter game out of the game plan.
They won games all season with Maye slinging it downfield, passing on early downs... And mcdaniels turns the playoffs into the Stevenson show. Don't get it

In the postseason everything tightens up so you have to make difficult throws consistently and take care of the football. Maye couldn't do both
O line of course didnt help

 

[WhatJustHappened]

Drake didn't slide well, and got crunched 2 weeks ago...fkn stupid, SLIDE! This guy needs to learn, EOFS.
If Campbell was still hurt, he shouldn't have been in there.
I suspect he'll be having surgery this off-season, no chance he's right.

 

[stephens44]

The OL was way overmatched regardless of the "plan". You can't plan around a mismatch that involves putting your entire offense on the back foot. Campbell and Wilson were like JV kids playing Varsity all stars, no way to plan around that unless you adopt the "wind game" type of close formations and run 98% of the time hoping to break one.
Unless of course we had Stidham...

 

[Kargetina]

Yeah, this was devastating. Contrary to most people, this loss hurts me more than any aside from 2007, because after every loss in the playoffs with B&B, i was sure that we were going to be right back the next season. I have absolutely no optimism that this was the start of something, instead of a magical season with the worst possible outcome.

All these ''we're on the right track, it's only year two, etc..'' takes naively consider only an upward trajectory which is never the case in this league. 31 other teams are also striving to be better, and all have the same resources. There were so many things that went in our favor this year, from the schedule, the injury luck, key injuries to our opponents, to a good but not even close to an unbeatable Seattle team in the Super Bowl. The Cowboys won three titles in four years, and haven't been to the SB in 30 years. There's absolutely no guarantee we make it back in the next ten. This was the chance, and the entire offense couldn't have disappointed more. 0, ZERO, points through 3 quarters in a Super Bowl. I have no idea what contingency plans they had for the wide variety of issues that came up, but we saw no adjustments whatsoever. What Vrabel did was just as bad as Belichick benching Butler. It was obvious that Campbell is a game-losing liability, and he never considered replacing him, even for a drive, to see whether Lowe is less of it.

Most of the good will Maye gathered with his really, really good regular season, he threw out the window with this post season. The defense got his back for three straight games, we had two weeks of rest, great weather, all we needed was one good, regular season-like performance and he couldn't deliver. The more tape there was on him, the better the defenses adjusted, and the worse he re-adjusted to them. I was convinced that he will take this rare opportunity and produce a great performance despite his previous three games, but he just couldn't do it all playoffs long. He was timid, scared and indecisive in the first half, and yet he was somehow worse in the second. A fumble that cost the team 7, while down only 12, a terrible, terrible interception while also down only 12, and a complete inability to see the blitz on his right side that resulted in a pick six down 15. Every time the team had a chance to bring it back to a one possession game, he turned the ball over, with catastrophic mistakes.

He played like Goff did in 2018, always late with his reads, no confidence, turning the ball at the worst possible time and a sense of inevitability from the first drive to the last. Goff never came back to the big game, that was his shot against a beatable Pats team, and he blew it. While we're at that game, we had 3 points against the Rams through 3 quarters, looking clueless, so in the last two SB's with McDaniels as OC, we scored combined 3 points through six quarters of play. That says it all about McDaniels' game planning. As soon as the opponent does something out of the ordinary, like Seattle blitzing more than usual, McDaniels is like a deer in the headlights, like he never even considered this as a possibility. He prepared for the most likely strategy by the opposite defense and every deviation is a shocker.

I honesty envy the people who just brush off this loss, like we've lost a wild card game by getting there with a 9-8 record. I wish i was more optimistic, maybe i'll be in a few months, but right now, this looks like a squandered chance that doesn't come very often for a team that has very little elite talent, and almost none on Offense with the jury still out on Maye.