For all those who said we've gotten soft, today's game was typical of 03 and 04 Pats.
On offense:
Control the LOS with our OL. Pound the ball with the run and use play-action effectively.
Convert on key 3rd downs to keep drives alive.
Multiple formations to keep D off balance.
Make just enough mistakes to keep the other team in it (as weird as it sounds, this is true - we rarely blew anyone out in those days).
On defense:
Maybe not a lot of sacks, but a ton of pressure all day.
Only allowing the run in passing (3rd and long) situations.
Preventing big plays and forcing FG's (long pass to Smith aside, obviously).
Punishing receivers who go across the middle.
Good tackling (best tackling I've seen from this team in a long long time).
on ST:
Quality ST teams, allowing our team to control field position while giving the opponent little room for error).
Coaching:
Superior 2nd half adjustments (Fox and co. are a pretty good staff strategically, so this was nice to see).
Not saying everything is fine and dandy though. Moss had an awful game and Brady still has tunnel vision for Welker at times. We still can't find anything resembling a threat as a 3rd receiver. The offense still turns the ball over way too much. We still did give up a big pass play to Smith - can't do that against good teams). However, this did prove to me that somewhere deep down the Pats have it in them to be a dangerous playoff team. It better come out soon though...
On offense:
Control the LOS with our OL. Pound the ball with the run and use play-action effectively.
Convert on key 3rd downs to keep drives alive.
Multiple formations to keep D off balance.
Make just enough mistakes to keep the other team in it (as weird as it sounds, this is true - we rarely blew anyone out in those days).
On defense:
Maybe not a lot of sacks, but a ton of pressure all day.
Only allowing the run in passing (3rd and long) situations.
Preventing big plays and forcing FG's (long pass to Smith aside, obviously).
Punishing receivers who go across the middle.
Good tackling (best tackling I've seen from this team in a long long time).
on ST:
Quality ST teams, allowing our team to control field position while giving the opponent little room for error).
Coaching:
Superior 2nd half adjustments (Fox and co. are a pretty good staff strategically, so this was nice to see).
Not saying everything is fine and dandy though. Moss had an awful game and Brady still has tunnel vision for Welker at times. We still can't find anything resembling a threat as a 3rd receiver. The offense still turns the ball over way too much. We still did give up a big pass play to Smith - can't do that against good teams). However, this did prove to me that somewhere deep down the Pats have it in them to be a dangerous playoff team. It better come out soon though...