Post Game Thread - Pats @ Steelers

Houston @ Eagles next week - and Philly is now motivated

ChrisR2223 said:

D tackle may be a need

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D tackle, another MLB, and possibly a scheme switch to 3 DL. Just need a big fat anchor at nose tackle

I'm already mentally preparing myself for the crushing playoff defeat in the 1st or 2nd round. The lack of athleticism on offense is truly horrific. And Brady isn't playing lights out to bail them out like years past

Banjo said:

I'm already mentally preparing myself for the crushing playoff defeat in the 1st or 2nd round. The lack of athleticism on offense is truly horrific. And Brady isn't playing lights out to bail them out like years past

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Well, we certainly would not want you to be unprepared.

Guys, no need to worry, pitchers and catchers in 60 days for our world series champions... You know the Boston team then wins on the road (6-1 in post season)

patsinthesnow said:

Crazy

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So I really wasn't exaggerating when I said this was the worst run defense I've ever seen.

Yikes. How embarrassing. It's not like they're facing All Pro RBs either. Dalvin Cook, Kenyon Drake, Brandon Bolden, Jaylen Samuels. Did I miss anyone?

Banjo said:

I'm already mentally preparing myself for the crushing playoff defeat in the 1st or 2nd round. The lack of athleticism on offense is truly horrific. And Brady isn't playing lights out to bail them out like years past

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Same, I got over this loss quickly because I came to the obvious conclusion this year just ain't the year. This team just doesn't have it.

TBR said:

So I really wasn't exaggerating when I said this was the worst run defense I've ever seen.

Yikes. How embarrassing. It's not like they're facing All Pro RBs either. Dalvin Cook, Kenyon Drake, Brandon Bolden, Jaylen Samuels. Did I miss anyone?

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Not even sure what to say about that, other than pointing out how much of a need it was coming off of the pathetic performance in the SB loss. Not sure how they managed to get worse, but it’s their biggest team weakness in my opinion.

LightSkinSmurf said:

Same, I got over this loss quickly because I came to the obvious conclusion this year just ain't the year. This team just doesn't have it.

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Anything is possible and I’m still sticking to my prediction of an AFC title game loss, but things aren’t exactly lining up for them to even get there.

I think they’ll be a much improved team after this spring, though. In other words, its not over just yet.

KontradictioN said:

Sounds like the kind of posts Steelers fans would make after getting their asses whipped by the Pats. The refs weren’t good by any means but let’s not pretend like this team didn’t suck a fat one on both sides of the ball today.

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Except this was the most penalized game this team has ever had. Coincidence? Everytime they got rolling, a yellow flag would appear on some phantom penalty.

I mean I don't think it was coincidence. Maybe corporate had a meeting with the officiating crew about last year's botch job and made sure to increase the pressure and make it super uncomfortable for us with bogus penalties.

Except that, if we had legit personnal on this team, we would be able to overcome that. The 2014 defense should suffice.

If the run defense wasn’t so putrid I’d say they’d still have a punchers chance. But not with this D line. Not happening.

The Patriots lost because a win would have given the Colts the 6th playoff spot, and the universe will not allow the Curse of the deflategate liars to be broken. Sucks, but true.

Quest4SixHomie said:

Except this was the most penalized game this team has ever had. Coincidence? Everytime they got rolling, a yellow flag would appear on some phantom penalty.

I mean I don't think it was coincidence. Maybe corporate had a meeting with the officiating crew about last year's botch job and made sure to increase the pressure and make it super uncomfortable for us with bogus penalties.

Except that, if we had legit personnal on this team, we would be able to overcome that. The 2014 defense should suffice.

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Yeah it's a coincidence. NFL headquarters is not instructing the refs to call penalties on us in order to get us to lose. If that were true, it would be the biggest scandal in American sports history. It's so stupid when fans bring this up and are actually serious about it.

KontradictioN said:

He was actually streaking down the seam and open on the INT. Brady looked at him but didn’t throw to him. No clue why.

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Looking back at that again, they were all watching Tom and no easy throwing lanes. So Brady would have had to throw it over the top and possibly two guys could converge. The one looking out for Gordon and the one covering White.

A shame Brady didn't have just 1 more second of time. Could have passed it to Gronk.

robertweathers said:

...and you are a troll

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You know who is a troll? mcmurtry86

TB_Helmet said:

Yeah it's a coincidence. NFL headquarters is not instructing the refs to call penalties on us in order to get us to lose. If that were true, it would be the biggest scandal in American sports history. It's so stupid when fans bring this up and are actually serious about it.

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Well, I think you’re mostly right, particularly about the excuse making and paranoia, but then again, they did change the rules on the fly right before the SB, and the other team benefited from three different controversial touchdowns, so who knows?

I will say that while the penalties were troublesome, the play of the team is much more concerning. If Brady doesn’t make all of those poor throws driving in the RZ (including the prior pick), we win the game. It is what it is.

Joey007 said:

I respect it, Juju.

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The reply to his tweet tells me we shouldn't respect him.

supafly said:

Anything is possible and I’m still sticking to my prediction of an AFC title game loss, but things aren’t exactly lining up for them to even get there.

I think they’ll be a much improved team after this spring, though. In other words, its not over just yet.

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What’s the argument for this team to be “much improved”? They have only 20M to spend (15M if they keep 5M in reserve for 2019 in-season moves) and only 44 played under contract. They need to re-sign or replace their best DL and LT. They need to re-sign or replace Hogan and Patterson (each will cost 2-4M to replace). They need two new DT. A new TE or two. Need to re-sign Gordon.

On top of that, they have virtually no internal cheap young options at these positions. Wynn can’t be counted on given the nature of his injury. Sorry but Berrios or Valentine aren’t legitimate replacement options

The draft? Ignoring that the recent drafts have proven useless, you have almost 20 years of Belichick drafts which tell us most rookies will not contribute and maybe 1-3 will be rotational guys or guys who work into bigger roles by the end of the season. Expecting big improvements from the draft is laughable especially if a QB of the future is selected early or if the team goes back to the DB well yet again.

Where is this improvement coming from? The Pats don’t even have the cap space to maintain the status quo which is clearly a declining roster. Outside of wildly, hilariously overrating the impact of the draft, I don’t see how the team will see a big improvement. They look destined for additional decline if anything

I really wish Brady would have thrown it to White on the 2nd and 15 with 33 seconds left. Would have made 3rd down much more manageable and stopped the clock.

mcmurtry86 said:

What’s the argument for this team to be “much improved”? They have only 20M to spend (15M if they keep 5M in reserve for 2019 in-season moves) and only 44 played under contract. They need to re-sign or replace their best DL and LT. They need to re-sign or replace Hogan and Patterson (each will cost 2-4M to replace). They need two new DT. A new TE or two. Need to re-sign Gordon.

On top of that, they have virtually no internal cheap young options at these positions. Wynn can’t be counted on given the nature of his injury. Sorry but Berrios or Valentine aren’t legitimate replacement options

The draft? Ignoring that the recent drafts have proven useless, you have almost 20 years of Belichick drafts which tell us most rookies will not contribute and maybe 1-3 will be rotational guys or guys who work into bigger roles by the end of the season. Expecting big improvements from the draft is laughable especially if a QB of the future is selected early or if the team goes back to the DB well yet again.

Where is this improvement coming from? The Pats don’t even have the cap space to maintain the status quo which is clearly a declining roster. Outside of wildly, hilariously overrating the impact of the draft, I don’t see how the team will see a big improvement. They look destined for additional decline if anything

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They have 6 of the top 100 draft picks. That surely counts for something. It’s huge. They also have about 20m dollars in cap space available prior to making some moves, and it’s quite obvious that will happen.

They still have one of the best QBs in the game, even if he isn’t having that great of a year (judging by his usually high standards). His cerebral game can carry him another couple of years, especially if they give him some actual talent to work with and help with masking some weaknesses. Having a capable running game would go a long way.

Even if you upgrade 1-2 players on either side of the ball which shouldn’t be hard to do, next year’s team would probably have an excellent chance at going 12-4. I think we all realize that the future isn’t exactly looking rosy, but I disagree with the idea that a divisional or conference round loss this year automatically means that next year’s team won’t be better. In my eyes, this year’s team isn’t very good, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to see some improvements. For instance, the rush defense can only go up. Gronk has been invisible. That’s hurting us. Gordon should be in better shape, conditioning-wise. Some speed and youth at WR should help.

Perhaps you see holes in the idea of losing HT, DMac, Trent Brown, Allen, etc—whereas I see room for improvement and some potential to save a few bucks.