Im already over the loss. Next year is the year.

[randomk1]

Says every team in the NFL.

Ravens and 49ers might be the two healthiest teams in the NFL

Outside of Alex Smith i don't know if the 49ers have lost a starter.

Ravens have lost Webb(who is a pretty good player)

 

[ivanvamp]

The Patriots got outplayed, it sucks but its what it is. At least it was tonight and not in the SB since they clearly weren't going to beat the 49ers at half strength like they were. Nothing we can do about that now so stop worrying about it.

Anyway, aside from Brady who will unfortunately get a year older, the rest of the team is young on both sides of the ball. Brady still has 3 to 4 great years left. Thats a fact, his strength has always been in football smarts. Never his legs (lol) and never his arm. That isn't going away.

With Ridley and Vereen (and Woodhead/Bolden depending on what happens there) the running game will be fully utilized. Its for real and its not going anywhere. The defense is 1 or 2 pieces away (perhaps an additional safety or defensive end) from being great as long as they resign Talib, which I suspect they will. A healthy Chandler Jones and Hightower will be an additional force on the defense. Seriously, go down the list on defense, everyone is young and signed aside from Talib.

On offense they need to resign Welker and I bet they do. Maybe the Pats can take a look at Greg Jennings to go opposite lloyd on the outside. With Gronk and Hernandez having a fresh start at health it can only get better on that end. The o-line is extremely young and an additional offseason will finally give them some continuity.

Basically people need to calm down and realize how good the Pats have it going forward. The AFC will only get weaker around the Pats (aside from the Texans who are a complete toss up at this point). The Broncos and Steelers are stagnating and this really is the Ravens last hurrah for a while. Look forward to minicamp in May.

PS: Id really appreciate it if this thread is not merged since all the other threads are currently ranting about the perceived downfall of our team.

Listen, barring a serious injury to #12, the Patriots are going to win the AFC East and be a leading contender to make the Super Bowl. This franchise is loaded and will be moving forward. They have lots of skill players on offense, the O-line is solid, and they have a great QB. The defense is young and improving rapidly.

They're going to win a minimum of 11 games, and quite possibly as many as 14. They'll be one of the best teams in the league again.

The only question is whether they can get it done in the playoffs. To do that, I believe they need to be healthy and play well. As we know from life in the NFL, it is not easy to have both of these things happening at once. Every team but one eventually loses in the playoffs, and the team that wins is usually the team that is healthy and playing their best football. Winning the title is REALLY hard to do because pretty much everything has to go right.

 

[ivanvamp]

Ravens and 49ers might be the two healthiest teams in the NFL

Outside of Alex Smith i don't know if the 49ers have lost a starter.

Ravens have lost Webb(who is a pretty good player)

And they lost Webb early enough in the year to groom someone to replace him. The Pats lost Gronk last year in the AFCCG, Carter at the end of the season, etc. In 2007 the Pats lost a couple of O-linemen at the beginning of the Super Bowl. This year, Gronk got hurt (again) last week, and Talib and Ridley were injured during the game. No time to recover, really.

Health is huge.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I truly believe the rebuilding phase will be completed this offseason and we'll be set up very nicely for '13 and '14. At least one ring.

The longer you stay in contention, the more likely you are to have stuff bounce your way when it matters. The Ravens this year are perfect proof of that. This isn't even their best team of the past 5 seasons but it will be the most successful one win or lose in the SB. They were pretty overmatched coming in and then Talib gets a hammy which completely changes our D, Welker drops 2 huge catches, Lloyd drops a key 3rd down catch, Brady and Hernandez make inexcusable clock errors before half to save them another 4 points, pick off a deflection, I could go on all day. They were due. That's not to say they didn't deserve it but they definitely benefitted from alot of breaks yesterday AND throughout the regular season. One of these years it'll be us, and like I said the team will only get better in the next 2 years if managed properly.

 

[ivanvamp]

I truly believe the rebuilding phase will be completed this offseason and we'll be set up very nicely for '13 and '14. At least one ring.

The longer you stay in contention, the more likely you are to have stuff bounce your way when it matters. The Ravens this year are perfect proof of that. This isn't even their best team of the past 5 seasons but it will be the most successful one win or lose in the SB. They were pretty overmatched coming in and then Talib gets a hammy which completely changes our D, Welker drops 2 huge catches, Lloyd drops a key 3rd down catch, Brady and Hernandez make inexcusable clock errors before half to save them another 4 points, pick off a deflection, I could go on all day. They were due. One of these years it'll be us, and like I said the team will only get better in the next 2 years if managed properly.

The Pats got a lot of breaks during their 3 SB runs, but haven't really had many lately (the Cundiff FG miss being the exception). But you're right - if you stay in contention eventually everything will break right for you. As fans, all we can ask is that they assemble the best team possible and that every year they're one of the better teams in the league. And that's exactly what they do, year in and year out.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The Pats got a lot of breaks during their 3 SB runs, but haven't really had many lately (the Cundiff FG miss being the exception). But you're right - if you stay in contention eventually everything will break right for you. As fans, all we can ask is that they assemble the best team possible and that every year they're one of the better teams in the league. And that's exactly what they do, year in and year out.

That's what I believe, we got so many breaks in order to win 3 in 4 years that things just had to even out over some time. Been saying one of these years it'll come back to us as long as we continue going deep into the playoffs. As many flaws as the team has, look at some of the recent SB champions and nobody can say they didn't have areas a great team could exploit. You just have to give yourself a chance and we do that year in year out.

 

[blackglass3]

You should migrate to a fan base that doesn't have to suffer any next year threads. Call when you find one. Most fan bases are subjected to decades of even approaching seriously competing. Ravens fans been waiting for 12 years...during which they attempted to scrimp on offense and the QB position...

We sit here every year, waiting and hoping for a D that hovers in the "good" range. And then every single season ends like the last one and not 2 hours later we get posters going "Yeah, but NEXT YEAR they are gonna be unstoppable". Doesn't it seem like we've done this same song and dance every January of February for a LONG time?

I won't be migrating to any other fan bases, but thanks for the offer. If you're tired of reading what I have to say, please feel free to put me on Ignore or petition Ian to remove me. But we are on an opinion based message board. I will continue to give my opinions when I see fit, and read others (including yours, usually) where I feel I can learn something.

 

[Rob0729]

I truly believe the rebuilding phase will be completed this offseason and we'll be set up very nicely for '13 and '14. At least one ring.

The longer you stay in contention, the more likely you are to have stuff bounce your way when it matters. The Ravens this year are perfect proof of that. This isn't even their best team of the past 5 seasons but it will be the most successful one win or lose in the SB. They were pretty overmatched coming in and then Talib gets a hammy which completely changes our D, Welker drops 2 huge catches, Lloyd drops a key 3rd down catch, Brady and Hernandez make inexcusable clock errors before half to save them another 4 points, pick off a deflection, I could go on all day. They were due. That's not to say they didn't deserve it but they definitely benefitted from alot of breaks yesterday AND throughout the regular season. One of these years it'll be us, and like I said the team will only get better in the next 2 years if managed properly.

I agree. The Pats went young this year shedding a lot of their older players like Koppen. This defense could make a huge improvement this next year since many players break out in their second year and Dennard, Jones, and Hightower all have the ability to become up to elite players. An entire offseason and training camp at safety will make McCourty that much better. The Pats have the cap room to fill in the holes.

I think the Pats were better this year than last and will likely be better next year than this year. It really looked like a reloading year especially with Belichick's aggressive moves in free agency and the draft. I think if the defense matures like it can, this team will have what it takes to overcome some of the things that killed them yesterday and the Super Bowl last year.

 

[BSR]

We sit here every year, waiting and hoping for a D that hovers in the "good" range. And then every single season ends like the last one and not 2 hours later we get posters going "Yeah, but NEXT YEAR they are gonna be unstoppable". Doesn't it seem like we've done this same song and dance every January of February for a LONG time?

I have no idea what you are talking about. Its sports...when you lose you look to next year. Heck, even when you win you look to how you can try to repeat next year. What is the alternative?

 

[DarrylStingley]

I wont be over this loss for a few months.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

I have no idea what you are talking about. Its sports...when you lose you look to next year. Heck, even when you win you look to how you can try to repeat next year. What is the alternative?

being a jets fan.

every year you lose

 

[blackglass3]

I have no idea what you are talking about. Its sports...when you lose you look to next year. Heck, even when you win you look to how you can try to repeat next year. What is the alternative?

Its not the looking ahead, it's the faux notion that things are FINALLY going to change next year and the D will step up and be good or the O will finally find a power running game. Until we get some outsider perspectives or some killer players, things are going to be the same for us: Great regular season, blown playoff games.

 

[jdwad246]

People need to get off the ledge. Getting to the AFC championship a year after the Super Bowl is a great accomplishment. In order to win a Super Bowl, a team has to be healthy, and the Pats were not. I felt that every player was at a slot too high. Welker is a #2, not a #1. Hernandez works best as their third option, not the second. Losing Gronk really hurt, especially when playing a physical team. They still need that WR that can stretch the field. A good defense will compress the middle, and make Welker and Hernandez pay for it when they catch the ball. I rally hope that Chandler Jones makes the second year leap, a good pass rush changes everything.

 

[The_Riddler]

I'm starting to wonder if giving 54 Million to Gronk and 30+plus million to Hernandez was a mistake. They are exceptionally talented, but when can they ever play at the same time?? This is the stage where you earn your money, and they just are either hurt or fail to deliver in this game. I dont care about those 3 TD games one of them has against the Buffalo Bills in October

At some point, you have to expect Gronk and Hernandez to be injured next year at various intervals based on their crappy durability history. I think the Pats should go into the offseason thinking this, and they need to get dirtier at the wideout position and inject as much talent as possible. Sign Welker, but if he must go, be creative and go all out and get a tall star WR via blockbuster trade. We would have to give up picks and some good players, but I would be all for that because Brady has one or 2 years left really of high level play.

This is the biggest need. A tall, stud WR who we can rely on during those times that Gronk and/or Hernandez get injured, because it will happen again going forward. This and a hard hitting safety. I think Gregory is a nice rotational safety, but he will never intimidate anyone or bring any kind of physical presence. One big, tough bone jarring safety to play with McCourty would change this entire defense.

 

[BSR]

Its not the looking ahead, it's the faux notion that things are FINALLY going to change next year and the D will step up and be good or the O will finally find a power running game. Until we get some outsider perspectives or some killer players, things are going to be the same for us: Great regular season, blown playoff games.

And yet people still had expectations that they should have won the SB this year. Crazy right?