Please stop with the "But Collins would have....". It's embarrassing. What happened out there isn't anything that this team hasn't been showing with Collins on the team.
Part of this loss clearly rests with the coach/coaches. Look, it happens. Anyone who thought BB, as great as he is, doesn't make mistakes is silly. First up is their adjustment to the run game. The run D adjustment/improvement came too late. Same with the OL adjustment. The Patriots' offense was neutralized for too long due to a lack of sooner adjustment.
The end of half TD was appalling and a significant moment in the game. The Patriots had 8 guys in backwards leaning coverage yet the WR was WIDE open. I don't know who had the responsibility but that is a coverage that an also-also ran should be able to maintain. That was just awful awareness of the situation and the assignment.
When we tried the pass rush was ok - about what I'd expect. Wilson isn't to be blitzed with a careless approach. He's too elusive.
Patriots coaches think the coverage ability of their D is on the weaker end of the spectrum. They left the short to medium middle pretty open frequently. I understand that you don't want to give up big plays but when the totality of the game's path is going as it was, it was time to adjust. IMHO the adjustments came too late.
That was PI on the last play (you don't look back and you get almost zero slack for contact). However, that is how it is - refs don't make the advantageous call sometime. IMHO it was a bad call. Instead of over the head play why not to the outside shoulder of Gronk? No way that defender makes a play on it -- he was discombobulated and benefited from slowing down Gronk enough to disrupt the timing. Put that ball lower to the outside and it's pitch and catch.
Lessons learned hopefully -- move on from the silly talk of "if we just had Collins". The D was what it was and is what it is now with little variation. And when the O lags as it did last night the onus goes heavier on the D, a D that will be shaky against a good O.
