I'd like to see us be a bit more conservative with a lead

[GrogansArmy]

Until we get our injured players back.

I know hind sight is 20/20 and BB/TB/JM/MP have more football knowledge on the tips of their pinky nails than I ever will in my life. That said, the past two weeks we've lost games by which we were up by 14 -- games I believe we would have won had we proceeded with a more conservative approach.

Lately it seems when we get a good lead we try to go for the 'nail in the coffin'. Normally I'd be all for it, but with all our injuries it just seems that we would be better off playing it conservatively and bleed the clock. I know our running game isn't all that, but it seems we give up too easily on it and are willing to put it all on TB. No one else I would trust of course, but there's only so much he can do with so many new people.

Back when we won 2 out of 3 could you ever see BB being so aggressive with a lead? Our D was great back then but our Offense wasn't that great so we were fairly conservative. Its almost the same now, our Offense with all the injuries isn't all that great, but our D is quite good so I think we should be more conservative in our play calling and rely on the D to make the stops... at least until our players return from injuries.

 

[The Brandon Five]

I'd settle for "not needlessly risky", never mind "conservative".

 

[GrogansArmy]

Just kinda blows my mind that the past two weeks we've lost twice while leading by 14.

20 yrs ago, heck, even 10 yrs ago a 14 point lead pretty much meant game over usually. Perhaps its the whole emphasis on making it easier for offenses to score that makes the coaches feel like they have to keep the pedal to the metal no matter how big the lead.

 

[woolster22]

The half time calls in both games have been odd. Trying to hedge their bets with calls that could gain while playing to run the clock. Either or. Either fahckin or. Run a 2 minute drill, or take a knee. One or the other from the get go. If you aren't confident to come out passing for the score, play the damn clock to punt. Otherwise, lose that slow ass walk to the play and group bs while deciding which option to go. JMcD is slowing the 2 minute drill down getting cute. Let Brady fahckin run it and GTFO, or bleed the clock to punt.

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

We went 3 and out a few times in the 4th quarter running the ball against Denver. We were trying to play conservately / kill the clock, and our lack of a running game was completely exposed. Hopefully we can turn this around because with all the injuries to our receiving corps, our running game is crucial.

 

[DarrylS]

IMO BB is underestimating the talent of this team, do not have the depth of skill players to recover if any of this fails.. case in point the last two games, in his egalitarian structure of how this team is built and the mantra "do your job", it seems to be falling short with the talent available..

Not criticizing BB, just that he does not have the personnel available if anything fails in this much less than conservative play calling..

 

[convertedpatsfan]

I thought we were too conservative in the Broncos game. Up 14-7, 2:07 left on the clock, ball at the 20, pretty much run out the half.

I think this is pretty selective memory. Don't forget Brady driving down the field against the Rams while Madden is going on and on and on about being conservative and playing for OT. And BB has always been more aggressive than most when it comes to going for it on 4th down.

Obviously there were mistakes. Clock wasn't managed well to end either half of either loss. The OL really was terrible in hindsight. And there were a ton of penalties and drops and bad run fits and poor decisions by Brady.

But I don't think we should be more conservative. And I don't think we've ever been that conservative.

 

[RayClay]

Well, by punting we lost the 14 point lead. Should we not punt?

 

[Angelpats]

By being conservative at the end limited the time we had to come back. If that punt worked it would have been genius. I'm glad they did it, it's good to be in attack mode. What we should worry about is throwing deep to players that can get no separation. That and catching the ball or fight for it at least.

 

[RayClay]

I'd rather see us try an onside kick with a downside of 20 yards in the opponents end zone than have Brady spend the game heaving 50 yard bombs into triple coverage.

Best scenario is a mix of runs and efficient passes moving down the field but sometimes, realistically,that's notgoing to happen. The team's beat upand tired and that includes the qb, Oline and a depleted receiver corps whose best options are rusty from injury layoffs.

sometimes as a coach [assuming for Belichick] you look at your team and assess that you need to steal a game. We've done it many times before. Brady and the rest can suck it up for a heroic two minutes but I'm guessing BB thought they likely would gradually succumb to a fresher, very motivated, team. Nothing noble about going down fighting, it's a loss either way.

By the same token, changing the way the other team has to play offense by making it a 3 score lead, is still a win, even if you're running on fumes trying to hold that lead.

A win's a win. I agree with Belichick's philosophy in this game, with this out of sync, tired team.