Idle thoughts - a requiem

[bedford1974]

There will be no more run

This was it

Sad and gut wrenching

AFCE will be better

 

[mihap]

5. The Denver Defense. - I have to say that was the best D I’ve seen thrown at the Pats in years. There were a number of times where Brady had plenty of time, but still couldn’t find anyone open.

You’d like to think that they were doing a lot of holding or some kind of nefarious thing to stop our receivers, but on most of the plays I saw mostly it was just good coverage and preparation. The Denver LB’s and DB’s were jumping on routes like they knew they were coming way to much.

During the first quarter, when the announcers, were ball washing Wade Philips, I was whining at the screen they should save their kudos for the refs, because they were the real reason the Pats weren’t converting 1st downs. It is tough to convert 2nd and 20. That was the refs, not Wade. However as the game went on, the expected adjustments never happened, or never worked. Brady rarely looked comfortable in the pocket even when he had time. Nothing ever looked like it was in rhythm The ball never came out on time as we have so often seen when things are going as expected

This should be Josh’s first priority this off season. Breaking down what Philips did and come up with an answer for next time. Believe me every DC of a team will will play next season will be spending a lot of time looking at this scheme and strategy.

On couple of times Denver rushed with onlz three and they were sucesfull, Wade didnt make the plan, that kind of defense pats played this year, but i dont remember the opponent. Was the second bills game or the jets, i forgot. Brady had serious trouble recognizing rush. ANd Broncos knew that our run game suck so they put players in coverage. ANd all the balls to Gronk edelman and few to White. Not exactly brilliant game plan, and if u pay monez to keshawn, that means that he should earn his money.

I am not angry about this game, i am more angry about Oline. I have bad felling about 2016 and this guys. Why tree jackson didnt play. Was he hurt. If not he is bust. And that is on BB. I really think that next year D will be great, but i am not sure about Oline.

ANd ofcourse special teams. Investing so much in them and that Philly game fiasco. They werent so good anymore.

 

[Kulko]

Thanks for the insights Ken true to the mark as always.

I still try to add my 2 cents even when they are not that different.

1) I admit I quit on this season sometimes during that philly game, when the next two guys went down. Somehow it was clear that sooner or later a game like this would cone, where would have needed a bit extra and there wasn't enough left on the rooster for that to come.

2) Seldom saw a game where the pats where so completely overwhelmed for a whole game and couldn't adjust a single bit. I am not so sure, how much is on brady, there is only so much directing you can do, when the DE is just 2 steps faster then the OT every other play. and when it happens on both sides its hard to use help from the TE either.

3) All these routes to White I kept wondering how many get converted to Lewis. That was definitely the biggest loss we had

4) What the hell did denver do that the only thing we ever tried where the White routes. I think this time our greatness snuck up on us, in the way that we always have a giuy open and are not used to just chuck it up to our playmakers, when everything else failed. Could have hardly ended worse than all these three and outs to white.

5) I had a bad feeling, when manning somehow managed to march down the field on that last drive and in the end it proved the winning points. after that we gave them nothing easy but they gave us nothing either.

6) What a way to end the longest XP Streak ever. Hope the idiots who blame Ghost for the loss wake up with a three month hangover at least.

7) While I understand the going for it on 4th and 6 it felt as bad at the time than it turned out to be. Since you need 2 scores to win the game and there was plenty of time left for a second try it felt to desperate at the time. The chance to score a two point play in this game never felt realistic.

8) In the end we played twice in denver. And both time good enough to win 8 times out of 10. Unfortunately both times it wasn't one of the 8 and so the season ends.

9) Seeing manning this season only made it more painfully obvious that Toms run has to end too, so lets hope he has 1 or 2 more in him.

and now have a nice holiday everybody.

 

[Tunescribe]

I admit I quit on this season sometimes during that philly game, when the next two guys went down. Somehow it was clear that sooner or later a game like this would cone, where would have needed a bit extra and there wasn't enough left on the rooster for that to come.

This rooster might have helped:

 

[Tunescribe]

Idle thoughts

Cheaters justice= today

Your Jets never will win a championship in your lifetime. THAT is justice.

 

[skinnydog]

It's very hard to go up against the leagues best pass rush with a mediocre to poor O-line, no running game at all, no outside threat, no deep threat etc. They struggled down the stretch and it all showed against Denver.

 

[Connecticut]

Thanks for your analysis as always. I always looked forward to it.

 

[borg]

Ken....enjoyed your 2015-16 "Idle Thoughts". Though many have tried to steal your crown, PFK .....still the undefeated champion of post-game venting/analysis. Well done.

I'm going to keep my post-game complaining short and sweet....

1) Years from now when emotion has faded and objectivity moves to the forefront, historians (lol) may use the term "collapse" when describing the reversal of performance 5/8's into NE's season....from 10-0 to 2-4 forcing the team to a road AFC Championship game. We PatsFans know the underlying truths that led to this reversal....but time minimizes explanations and excuses and your record is your record. From a march towards perfection to a team that couldn't beat a divisional patsy to secure home field advantage. The obituary will be short and not sweet.

2) Going into the season opener, I had 4 areas of concern...in descending order of worry....DB, OL, RB, WR depth......and my worries were justified in 3 out of 4 areas.
-DB construction, my biggest fear, proved to be a strength.
-On the other hand, my fears regarding the OL ...a grouping that never impressed me during the SB run in '14-'15, were justified. Even with Solder in the line up, the quick strike passing attack was a necessity given how little time the QB had......and Solder was a turn style at times. Cannon......I have never understood the coaches' love nor that contract. For 16 regular season games, D lines were in NE's back field whether it was a run or a pass. Epic fail....and both personnel and coaching need to be retooled.
-RB.......the fact that NE deployed a newcomer scat-back as their 3 down starter tells me everything about the neglect of this grouping. Lewis was a find......the rest was garbage and given the lack of $$$ and draft picks deployed for this grouping....it is little surprise BB kept looking to the FA market instead of his own roster for serviceable contributors. The neglect was obvious. I'm not discounting the impossible working conditions that a wretched OL created for RB's, but there is no starting caliber talent beyond Lewis.
-WR depth.......we have this discussion every year, nothing changes. Can't have everything in a salary cap world. Our little white guy water bugs get the crap beat out of them every game and Brady refuses to incorporate other WRs into the game plan. And yesterday the NE deep threat was the reserve 3rd down back. Seems a depth problem to me.

3) The offense played like a team constructed from the middle/bottom rounds of the draft....wonder why? This draft neglect will be rectified this offseason......I pray.

4) I give Ghost zero blame. NE had 46 minutes and 49 seconds after the missed EP to win that game. Just one bad play among dozens.

5) Sorry TB12 but you were off your game. Even before the hits started coming fast and furious, Brady was as inaccurate as I have ever seen him....and then it snowballed. How can fans blame Ghost and ignore three picks. My Brady fanboy blinders can only ignore so much. Get Brady a real O line so my inner-fanboy can shine in all its glory.

6) Despite great defensive performances by both teams yesterday, neither team is championship worthy in their current state. NE was 3-5 in their last 8 games with their most one dimensional offense in memory.

7) Carolina destroyed one old man QB last night and I expect a rout in two weeks. The only real question will be if Denver's coaches have the balls to bench the Forehead. May the winds gust in San Fran.

8) Since Goodell has zapped my draft joy.....I'll be a FA follower this year like never before. TB12 needs immediate NFL caliber help.

9) I so badly want to sign off PatsFans for the next two months but my addiction may be too controlling. Where else do I get to be a wise ass and not get beat up. Maybe I'll just lurk on the political board and battle the brigade of communists that own that board....it's terrifying.

Till next season.....the Drive for Five resumes

PS.....I'm crossing my fingers Goodell does a 180 just before the SB and gives back NE's draft picks. The SB hype will drown out the noise created.......I dream.

 

[1960Pats]

Thanks once again Ken for your FANtastic posts. Nobody does it better.

I remember being on a Jets board once where you tried to share some of your wisdom with them. Like the fools that they are they looked at you as a troll, in spite of your respectful thoughts. I tried to tell them they were wrong but they wouldn't listen. That was definitely their loss.

While I have you here I also wanted to bring up something that you mentioned in a post earlier this year about taking some shots downfield on long passes to LaFell. It became obvious to me after that that LaFell just doesn't go up and get passes, even from smaller defenders. Maybe the Pats can get someone like that in the future, but right now there isn't anybody.

It's amazing to me the way the Pats with Brady can come to life at the end of games, no matter how poor they look leading up to that point. They always seem to be able to move the ball at the end. Maybe not so much when they need to hold a lead, but when they're behind they're like that old Fed-Ex ad that says when it absolutely, positively has to get there. That's why I would have gone for the FG at the 6 minute mark.

The draft hasn't been on my dance card for some time now. I used to follow it very closely but got real tired of seeing Goodell forcing his phony hug on players that he'd just as soon screw over when they get into the league. Maybe some day some player will smarten up and just give him a normal handshake.

I mentioned in another thread here the remarkable record of the Pats with Tommy LomBrady at the helm, but I'd like to repeat it. In his 14 seasons as a starter he has only missed the playoffs once and has played in 31 playoff games. That's an average of more than 2 playoff games a year, including the one season when he lost out on the playoffs due to a tiebreaker.

I can't wait for the 2016 season to start. Even with the theft of our top pick the Pats will be as strong as they ever have been. Look what they accomplished this season with half the team missing. Amazing.

See you there.

 

[reflexblue]

Idle thoughts

Cheaters justice= today

**** off douche bag, denver is listed as being one of the all time cheaters. I'll be thinking of you watching them get annihilated by carolina in the super bowl.

 

[tasmlab]

Someone, either the Broncos D or Edelman himself, took Edelman out of most of the game. He's usually key to helping the o-line by being open quick.

I also think Brady needs the Kevin Faulk guy in the mix to help the line. He hasn't really had him this year after Dion went down.

 

[fair catch fryar]

There will be no more run

This was it

Sad and gut wrenching

AFCE will be better

THIS GUY

 

[buile]

There will be no more run

This was it

Sad and gut wrenching

AFCE will be better

I feel your pain... Please, please join me on the New Bedford bridge tomorrow, and we'll step off into the cold swirling waters together and end our mutual torment... If you don't see me, just go ahead without me!

 

[vyrago]

Great post as usual, Ken. I always look to you to make sense of the senseless, and to make me feel better after a loss like this, but truth to tell, we rarely have losses like this. We are so freaking lucky! Even when the Patriots get beaten, it's in a game most fans can only dream of getting to.

 

[zydecochris]

Thanks my friend.We've been here before. We've been to the top before also. Sometimes you get the bull, sometimes you get the horns

Well said, Joker.

Thanks Ken for your posts this year, they have been a wonderful wealth of information and stimulating thought.

 

[zydecochris]

8. My questions :

d. I really hope the team mounts an all out attack on getting that draft pick back. Not that I think it is key to our success, or anything, but that we were subject to an injustice and we shouldn’t just let it go.

I couldn't agree more. Keeping track of the draft (and BB's brilliance in it) is one of my favorite parts of the Spring. It is difficult to let go of this robbery by Goodell, it just really, really pisses me off.

Thanks for your posts this year Ken, I look forward to reading them soon.

 

[patfanken]

Just stopped by to thank those for there flattering remarks. They will definitely help me get through the next few weeks, when the sting of this loss starts to wear off.

The firing of the OL coach was the biggest surprise in my mind. To drop him this quickly can mean that they've been thinking about this for a while. That's surprising again, since he seemed to have done such a good job last season in cobbling together another fairly make shift OL after the Mankins trade. Now granted he only had one of those OLmen playing the same position he played in the that superbowl (Stork). Could it be that he wanted to go for some unknown reason? But if that were the case it wouldn't have been reported as a firing.

Still it isn't like he had a full deck to play with all season, and it seems like he was giving a very short leash after such a successful 2014 season. Very strange IMO. There has to be more to this story that just the bad OL play at the end of the season.

Now that I've had a few days to cogitate on this game, it didn't get any better. But anytime you lose a game by essentially a mixed extra point, there is never going to be one play or one decision to focus on.

On the other hand the last couple of days have been rather quiet and serene. I'm not listening to sports radio and probably won't until after the draft. I'm watching a LOT less TV, because often I turn it on just to check on what's happening in sports and wind up watching 4 hours and feeling bad about it. Any way I can almost hear what they are saying without turning it on, because the are so damned predictable. I imagine the blame game is in full swing right now and I have no desire to be part of it.

Just a couple of questions I would like to ask the community because I'm not listening. 1. Is there a mediot ready to ask why we lost that draft pick. 2. Do you think someone will pick up the ball and run with the injustice of the league's actions. 3. Has anyone asked Kraft or BB about their opinion of the loss of the pick?

Remember, like I said before, losing the 29th or 30th pick in the draft isn't going to be much of a factor when you consider who we have and what we KNOW will be coming back off the IR.. before we even start with our draft picks and FA acquisitions. But this is about the principle of the thing. Taking those picks is just as big an injustice as giving Brady as 4 game suspension.

 

[SVN]

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick on D&H: ‘I felt like we had control of the game, we just didn’t have control of the score’

* Belichick acknowledged that a quicker offensive pace could’ve helped slow the Broncos pass rush, but hinted that health wouldn’t allow it.

“I’d say that some of the things that we wanted to do, sometimes you’re just not able to do them for one reason or another,” he said.