How Many Games

[mgteich]

How many regular season games would we have won last year if the defense played really, really well, kinda what you hoped out of this year's defense before Seymour left?

 

[Ryan]

I'd say 13. The Colts game and the 2nd Jets game probably would've been wins. Those games weren't entirely the D's fault anyway, but if a couple of plays had went the Pats way they would've won.

I'm not sure what to think about the 3 other losses because they were blowouts. If the D played really well then I guess Miami, SD, and Pitt wouldn't have scored as much as they did, but then again, the offense wasn't playing well at all in any of those games either, especially the Pitt game.

So 13 wins seems about right.

 

[stinkypete]

kind of a toough question to ask given we haven't seen the 2009 defense in real game action yet. i don't think this defensive unit will be significantly improved, but i'm going to take it on faith that this year's unit wouldn't have coughed up that thursday night jets game.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

this is a hypothetical question wrapped inside of a "what if" wrapped inside of a "who knows?"

But because it's a rainy Saturday and I'm tired of talking about Seymour, I'll take a crack at it.

Of the five games the Pats lost last year, three were by 25 (first fins), 20 (Chargers) and 23 (Steelers) points. So I'm going to say that even if the Defense had played "really well" (once again, hypothetical, "what if" and "who knows" what that means) and held the opposition to 17 fewer points we still would have lost those games.

The other two losses were by three points each (Second Jets and Steelers). So, if the defense had managed to give up three or better fewer points in each of those games we would have had a chance at winning each of them.

Playing this like a probability game, then, I'd say it was 50-50 that we would have won one of those two closer games (once again under a hypothetical, "what if," "who knows" scenario) if the defense had played "really well," whatever that means. However, I note that I regard that analysis as practically worthless.

Otherwise, I think this thread suggests that it's really, really, really time for the season to begin...

 

[Jared]

As long as the defense isn't cover your eyes awful, the offense is more than good enough to win 13-14 games. Look at mid-2000s Indy for an example of this being done on a consistent basis.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

How many regular season games would we have won last year if the defense played really, really well, kinda what you hoped out of this year's defense before Seymour left?

This is a loaded statement.

Some of us are not convinced that Seymour was getting much push at the LOS anymore and are not uncomfortable with some fresh legs in the line up.

I still expect this defense to big good once they gel. And in 2011, I expect us to have a top five draft pick.

As far as what our team would have done last year if they were a better team? Seems kind of hypothetical, no?