Obviously the whole Taylor thing sucks. That is one thing.
But I am flabbergasted at just how many people are extrapolating the rest of the season based on one game when we have 10 other games that should be just a relevent as that one.
Somehow, now that NE didn't win by 20+ points Josh McDaniels sucks again, Maroney is garbage, the defense is a sieve and on and on.
Didn't NE just obliterate a Buffalo team that was also around .500 prior to the game? Didn't NE hold Indy to 20 points a few weeks ago? Haven't all other great teams played poorly against mediocre competition before? Didn't the same AJ Feeley that ripped NE's secondary do the exact same thing against the best team in NE's history with a far worse Miami team?
I'm all for critical analysis. Show me why WR X was able to come completely free and how it was really safety Y's job to watch for that route. Diagram how NE blitzed improperly prior to a 24 yard pass play. NE clearly played their worst game of the year.
But they still won. How in hell did we have any confidence in the 2003 and 2004 playoffs if we can't in this team? Shouldn't we have a little more perspective and let the next game happen before we decide that things were not just a bad day but harbringers of doom?
Sorry if this comes across as overly obnoxious, but I really am taken aback by the tone on Pats boards today.
Don't be sad (except for the Taylor thing which really stinks). I think a lot of the negative stuff boils down to two things: 1) everyone was expecting a blowout and when it did not happen, there was shock and 2) a lot of people did not like the Pats' game plan.
Put me in these categories. I have watched Philly play terrible all year (except for that one game where they blew out a defense-less Detroit) and expected we would come out smokin'. My expectations started to be met when Asante picked off Feely on the 1st drive and then took it to the house. Shockingly, however, Philly did not lay down and die like many other opponents this year once something went wrong.
Then, I just hated the offensive game plan. Even though I acknowledge it was successful (we scored on our 3 possessions in the 1st half), it exposed Brady to countless, and seemingly unnecessary, dangers of injury and pick-offs. It is a credit to him that he wasn't picked off, or worse, injured.
I was at the game and you couldn't even find Maroney on the side-line in the 1st half. At first we thought he was injured; then we thought he was in the doghouse; then we realized it was the game plan as they didn't even try to put Evans or Eckel in to run. At the back of my mind I'm thinking this is all some master plan by BB to make everyone believe (and the pundits are falling right into line on this, by the way) we have no running game so that when the playoffs roll around we will shock the h ell out of them when Maroney, et al. easily puts up 100+ on them. Maroney is not injured and was running well on the few (and I mean very few) plays they sent him in on in the 2nd half.
Any way, the only two things I saw that were really a problem, other than the play-calling (see above), were the on-side kick on which the Pats were TOTALLY unprepared, and the D's inability (hello, Randall Gay) to cover the mid-range crossing route over the middle. You gotta believe that BB will never let them live down the on-side kick thing, and that our proud D will not allow themselves to be embarrassed like that again. The Gost remains a nerve-wracker too, but at least we are pretty good at covering up his inconsistency with TDs.
We're mortal - that's it. I still like our chances going forward!!
