That loss is on the coaches

captain stone said:

Bill should've then gone with a 52-yard FG attempt, though after seeing his choke-artist idiot kicker miss a chip-shot earlier,

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Blame Gostkowski for the PAT, sure. But you're way off base blaming him for the missed FG. The holder dropped the effin' snap and got it set so late that Ghost had to stop & reload. And even then it managed to hit the upright, which it had no right to do in that situation.

MrNathanDrake said:

• Stephon Gilmour not covering Alshon for the start of the game. Bad decision by the coaches. It cant even be debated as Gilmour pretty much shut him down once he started covering him.

• Benching Malcom Butler completely. Took a key player out of the game. Butler's heart and scrappiness was a huge part of our D. This gives the defense an excuse for losing before the game even starts. Terrible decision. Reminds me of that time Wes Welker got benched before the Jets game in the playoffs and we lost. Our D couldnt have possibly been any worst tonight. Belichick will always say "I did what I thought was best for the team" but he was 100% wrong on this one.

• No Blitzes all game? I'm so tired of seeing Eli/Foles/Flacco/Bortles look untouchable and have all day to pass on us. Meanwhile Brady gets hit late atleast once every series. Bortles started choking once we sent Corner blitzes a couple weeks ago. The Defense didnt touch Foles all day. Patricia and Belichick seemed content to let Foles stand back there and shred our D the entire game. At least make him feel a little uncomfortable and hit him. I dont get this at all.

• No Gronk in the 1st half. Say whatever you want about the coverage. When they finally went to him, he was unstoppable. I dont know how you go into the damn SB and not have Gronk as a major part of the gameplan in the first half.

• Blount > Gillislee. Said it at the start of the season and most of you attacked me. Horrible decision. That one is on Belichick.

• 3rd and 2 and you do a sweep with Cooks. Then kicking the FG... Then on the next series, it's 4th down and we run that trick pass play to Brady. This series screwed us from the start and our team looked completely lost. Why go for it on 4th down so far away from the endzone, but not just a yard away from 1st down in the redzone? I thought this sequence in the first half was terrible terrible play calling. We were playing catch up the entire game after this sloppy play calling by McDaniels.

Overall I thought this game was very winnable. This Eagles team isnt as good as the Seahawks team or even the Falcons from last year. I also think the Pats have let go way too much talent on defense over the past few years. Akiem Hicks, Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins, Chris Long, Jabaal Sheard, Logan Ryan, etc. Could've used some of that pass rush tonight. To be honest we were lucky we even beat Jacksonville a couple weeks ago.

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Everything you say is true.

Man seeing Butler melts my heart, poor guy deserved better man. Bill needs to be ripped a new one after his bs he pulled tides, just dispicable. I’d honest to god have very little issues if he was let go, that’s how horrendous this move was, unforgivable.

Wrath Mania said:

Yeah, I mean I understand some of those losses were going to happen no matter what, but this defense lost depth and talent in a short span of time.

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It's kind of understanable. Mayo got injured early in the season two years in a row. One year they went to the AFCCG and another they went to the Super Bowl. Revis was getting older and he had less than a year left. Browner was useless if you couldn't scheme him with a shutdown corner. Jones usually crapped the bed in the last half of the season. Wilfork was too old to justify his contract. Long is a good role player but that's it. Ninkovitch retiring.

But then you had stupid crap like Collins getting spite traded because he didn't follow orders enough and us almost losing Hightower and Butler in the off season last year. And them pissing off Butler by giving Gilmore the contract he wanted. Not keeping Sheard for whatever reason.

Some of it made sense, some was more questionable. But the reality is that it added up this year. This defense isn't deep enough to deal with Hightower not being there and it's certainly not deep enough to deal with Butler being out as well.

Coaching did a good enough job to scheme them really well, but they just can't deal with the talent mismatch the Eagles had. Period.

Absolutely, anyone who says the 5 SBs are on belichick should be forced to watch the 3 losesl from beginning to end, this whole dynasty has been Brady rescuing the team from stupid ******** that the coaching staff made happen. With an even remotely lesser quarterback, belichick is lucky to have two titles. He's the luckiest coach in the world that he's had Brady bailing him out for 17 years

lancerman said:

It's kind of understanable. Mayo got injured early in the season two years in a row. One year they went to the AFCCG and another they went to the Super Bowl. Revis was getting older and he had less than a year left. Browner was useless if you couldn't scheme him with a shutdown corner. Jones usually crapped the bed in the last half of the season. Wilfork was too old to justify his contract. Long is a good role player but that's it. Ninkovitch retiring.

But then you had stupid crap like Collins getting spite traded because he didn't follow orders enough and us almost losing Hightower and Butler in the off season last year. And them pissing off Butler by giving Gilmore the contract he wanted. Not keeping Sheard for whatever reason.

Some of it made sense, some was more questionable. But the reality is that it added up this year. This defense isn't deep enough to deal with Hightower not being there and it's certainly not deep enough to deal with Butler being out as well.

Coaching did a good enough job to scheme them really well, but they just can't deal with the talent mismatch the Eagles had. Period.

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At the very least, looking at last year's defense, should have kept Sheard and Long and found more answers for the LB corp--besides Hightower and KVN it's a disaster. The Gilmore signing and the fallout with Butler obviously came to a full head tonight. Gilmore improved and had a good game when they finally put him on Alshon. Still wonder if dumping Logan Ryan and pissing Butler off was worth it. Other things, like the misfire with Ealy, the DB Joneses to IR, Hightower to IR, and the dud year for Alan Branch also hurt a lot.

Either way last year's defense was classic bend but don't break but got the job done, and they had reasonable depth. This defense was held together with fly paper.

Wrath Mania said:

They hate their coach????? (that is, one current player and two castoffs).

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Hightower liking that is pretty telling, I've never questioned belichick before but make no mistake his ego cost is a super bowl tonight.

Who's "Stephon Gilmour"?

BradyFTW! said:

Hightower liking that is pretty telling, I've never questioned belichick before but make no mistake his ego cost is a super bowl tonight.

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Agree, sometimes coaches outsmart themselves, this is one of those moments, a fatal mistake in judgement costs your team a Championship. Butler is not only your 2nd best corner, he’s a good tackler, and the Pat’s D was atrocious at tackling last night. Stupid, egomaniacal move.

captain stone said:

I agree with everything here, although the Amendola-to-Brady pass happened on 3rd/5, not 4th/5. Bill should've then gone with a 52-yard FG attempt, though after seeing his choke-artist idiot kicker miss a chip-shot earlier, he probably figured that a long Brady-to-Gronk pass stood a better chance of succeeding. It might have done so too, had the protection (i.e. Shaq Mason, who had better games than tonight) held up.
However - and again the coaching is completely to blame - why the **** did Skippy call such a high-risk trick play on 3rd down? If he & Bill were thinking that this was 4-down territory, then why not just try to run for as much yardage as possible on 3rd down, then give themselves some options on 4th down? What a ****ing mess.

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Belichick understands what posters here refuse to: you can't rely on Gostkowski to hit a meaningful kick. Although apparently he'll have to cost us 3-5 seasons before posters here will recognize that

slash83 said:

Man seeing Butler melts my heart, poor guy deserved better man. Bill needs to be ripped a new one after his bs he pulled tides, just dispicable. I’d honest to god have very little issues if he was let go, that’s how horrendous this move was, unforgivable.

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Do we know this was 100% Bill's choice and not him listening to Matt Patricia?

BradyFTW! said:

Hightower liking that is pretty telling, I've never questioned belichick before but make no mistake his ego cost is a super bowl tonight.

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I want to find out more. Lot of rumors and conflicting reports right now. Kevin Duffy is reporting he wasn't benched, but demoted last week during practice and was still in some packages--I guess packages at the very, very, very back of the playbook, huh (this sounds like some lame damage control honestly). No doubt that players seemed, at best, preturbed by it. And I get that BB has made tough decisions before, i.e. Mankins and Milloy... but this was right before the Super Bowl. On a defense with zero depth against an offense that razed you. Just bizarre.

lancerman said:

Well that's what happens when you let go of

-Mayo
-Collins
-Wilfork
-Jones
-Browner
-Sheard
-Long
-Revis

All it takes is your new rookie defensive back getting injured to start the season and Hightower going down and you are having issues.

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Also, not re-signing Akeem Hicks but paying Alan Branch;

and not giving Kony Ealy a chance before the regular season even started;

topped-off, of course, by drafting pure, unadultered garbage...time after time after time after...

"it's 4th down and we run that trick pass play to Brady."

The trick play was on 3rd down.

Wrath Mania said:

I want to find out more. Lot of rumors and conflicting reports right now. Kevin Duffy is reporting he wasn't benched, but demoted last week during practice and was still in some packages--I guess packages at the very, very, very back of the playbook, huh (this sounds like some lame damage control honestly). No doubt that players seemed, at best, preturbed by it. And I get that BB has made tough decisions before, i.e. Mankins and Milloy... but this was right before the Super Bowl. On a defense with zero depth against an offense that razed you. Just bizarre.

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Bill may have lost the lockerroom because of it.

TommyBrady12 said:

Bill may have lost the lockerroom because of it.

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Could be the start of something. Hightower liking that post was very telling.

Butler is at the point of no return, Hightower isnt pleased and I am sure he isnt the only one, BB at the nba game.

Jlaff said:

Blount looks good in Philly because his line is blowing open huge holes for him. He wouldn't have got that here, that's why it made sense to go with a shiftier backfield.

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There’s just something about Blount's personality, at least as it comes across to us, that feels like he’s the kind of player who makes his teammates play better. He just feels like a winner. Combination of confidence, humility, humor, combined with a fierce competitive drive. I said this preseason here btw

slash83 said:

Man seeing Butler melts my heart, poor guy deserved better man. Bill needs to be ripped a new one after his bs he pulled tides, just dispicable. I’d honest to god have very little issues if he was let go, that’s how horrendous this move was, unforgivable.

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Maybe Butler was still recovering from the flu, maybe he was weak. If not, your analysis is understandable

Yuck.