Just wanted to remind everyone...

[TomPatriot]

Do you disagree?
What does 2 weeks mean? Like you think admitting they stink right now is rooting against them and ignoring it is rooting for them?

They played poorly against the Dolphins in Week 17. They were undermanned by any standard and they won't be in two weeks.

You seem to think past play is indicative of future play, even accounting for the injuries.

Here is how confident I am that they will win. I will make it fun for you. Assuming Brady is healthy enough to play, they are going to win in two weeks. No matter who they play. BOOK IT. If I am wrong, you can laugh at me and I will join you. But I won't be wrong.

 

[RayClay]

I cant wait until we win in two weeks and i can call out all crying fans, but im sure you will just say that we will blow it in the AFCC game.

They'll say they knew it all along, just like always. I'm just happy Brady wasn't washed up and our winning days over after Kansas City 2014, a worse loss than any this season. And we didn't have significant injuries. An our OLine was never going to improve, because they were the worst ever.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

[RayClay]

Are you arguing they didn't try to win these games and now they will try? If so, they are no longer the Patriots we know. Does the other team try in the playoffs too?

I think you're trying way too hard.

You're up against a team full of positive thinkers.

 

[Ring 6]

I think you're trying way too hard.

You're up against a team full of positive thinkers.

I'm not up against anyone.
You are the one who said the 2007 Patriots looked worse going into the playoffs than this team, so I think you should admit you aren't prepared to discuss reality.

 

[Ring 6]

They played poorly against the Dolphins in Week 17. They were undermanned by any standard and they won't be in two weeks.

So you think the Dolphins are better than the team we put on the field yesterday by a wide margin?
What makes you think we are getting back guys who couldn't play yesterday? There is no certainty in that.

You seem to think past play is indicative of future play, even accounting for the injuries.

The way a team is playing is the best indicator of how they will play next time out. Do you disagree with that?

Here is how confident I am that they will win. I will make it fun for you. Assuming Brady is healthy enough to play, they are going to win in two weeks. No matter who they play. BOOK IT. If I am wrong, you can laugh at me and I will join you. But I won't be wrong.

What are you talking about? I want them to win. Having someone who is ignoring everything that has happened on the field guarantee a win isn't making me feel any better.

You act like I am trying to convince you they will lose. I am trying to discuss the state of the team. The fact that the state sucks doesn't make me not want them to win any bit less. It's just frustrating to try to have a discussion with people who want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend everything is great.

I guess this just isn't a place to discuss the team, but a place to display emotion.

 

[Ring 6]

'Very Worried' Rodney Harrison: Teams 'No Longer Afraid' To Face Patriots

 

[RayClay]

I'm not up against anyone.
You are the one who said the 2007 Patriots looked worse going into the playoffs than this team, so I think you should admit you aren't prepared to discuss reality.

I said the 2007 were coming off 16 wins in a row, you could not have a better winning streak and they lost.

I sincerely hope you don't have a couple bad days at work and just give up on life.

I also noted that, no matter how negative posters, media, etc. are, the Patriots of BB and Brady are totally positive thinkers, able to put bad losses behind them and use 2 weeks to the optimum. They simply don't worry about the past, they are winners.

I'm getting that you think they should have sent out everyone who wasn't disabled and run plenty of crossing routes and drop backs, so we could risk even more injuries to gt the all important home field advantage [which I think we get when the Bronks lose to the Steelers anyway].

I disagree. I'm pretty happy to not have a major injury, even though it meant not going all out on our offense.

 

[RayClay]

So you think the Dolphins are better than the team we put on the field yesterday by a wide margin?
What makes you think we are getting back guys who couldn't play yesterday? There is no certainty in that.


The way a team is playing is the best indicator of how they will play next time out. Do you disagree with that?

The Patriots have an amazing record after a loss. The way a team is playing that day is the best indicator of how they played that day against that team.

You want to take a hobbled team and pull out all the stops hoping they play like a team with it's 2 top receivers and it's 2 top RBs healthy so they can win the last game before the playoffs and possibly get more injuries.

It's one game...It's one game.

 

[ivanvamp]

Never forget that the 08 Cardinals got shlacked by us 47-7 near the end of the season that year. Even the 09 Saints lost their last three games of the regular season.

Work needs to be done, and if things don't change from the last couple weeks they will be one and done for sure. But in the playoffs, things can change and anything can happen.

Honestly, how will we all be feeling if the Patriots get healthy and come out and wreck their divisional round opponent 38-17?

I think everyone - fans, media, "experts", everyone - would suddenly believe the Pats are once again favorites to win it all.

And they'd be right.

And no matter their opponent, I think something like this is quite possible.

 

[Ring 6]

The Patriots have an amazing record after a loss. The way a team is playing that day is the best indicator of how they played that day against that team.

You want to take a hobbled team and pull out all the stops hoping they play like a team with it's 2 top receivers and it's 2 top RBs healthy so they can win the last game before the playoffs and possibly get more injuries.

It's one game...It's one game.

The 2015 Patriots just lost after a loss, again, so they are actually 1-2 after losses.

If we have to 'pull out all the stops' to beat Miami, we are done anyway. I would have liked to see them try to score points. Yesterday the week before that, the last month.

Please explain how the gameplan yesterday stopped them from getting more injuries? If that were the plan why not put Garapolo in and not hand off 12 straight times? If that were the case why kick in OT? If that were the case why not try to score before half in other games with 2 minutes left and timeouts?

You are rationalizing that the team looked like crap on purpose. It looked like crap because its a bad football team right now, and its coaching staff is making it worse.

 

[Ring 6]

Honestly, how will we all be feeling if the Patriots get healthy and come out and wreck their divisional round opponent 38-17?

I think everyone - fans, media, "experts", everyone - would suddenly believe the Pats are once again favorites to win it all.

And they'd be right.

And no matter their opponent, I think something like this is quite possible.

I'd love it.
But I haven't seen anything in a long time that tells me if could happen.

You do understand that the coach of the team has spend a month instructing his offense that trying to score is more likely to hurt the team that help it.

 

[Ring 6]

I'm done with this. Trying to discuss where the team stands when people just want to ignore it is pointless. I want them to win the SB more than anyone, so rather than try to discuss and understand what needs to happen, I will just pretend we are 10-0 again and anything can happen, and hope that the team magically overnight starts playing 180 degrees differently.

 

[Clonamery]

I'm done with this. Trying to discuss where the team stands when people just want to ignore it is pointless. I want them to win the SB more than anyone, so rather than try to discuss and understand what needs to happen, I will just pretend we are 10-0 again and anything can happen, and hope that the team magically overnight starts playing 180 degrees differently.

Good.....you are just fear mongering anyway.

 

[Ring 6]

Good.....you are just fear mongering anyway.

No I am trying to assess the team heading into the playoffs.

 

[TomPatriot]

So you think the Dolphins are better than the team we put on the field yesterday by a wide margin?
What makes you think we are getting back guys who couldn't play yesterday? There is no certainty in that.


The way a team is playing is the best indicator of how they will play next time out. Do you disagree with that?


What are you talking about? I want them to win. Having someone who is ignoring everything that has happened on the field guarantee a win isn't making me feel any better.

You act like I am trying to convince you they will lose. I am trying to discuss the state of the team. The fact that the state sucks doesn't make me not want them to win any bit less. It's just frustrating to try to have a discussion with people who want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend everything is great.

I guess this just isn't a place to discuss the team, but a place to display emotion.

No, the Dolphins are not better than the team on the field by a wide margin. I said the Patriots played poorly in week 17.

I read somewhere that Vollmer, Jones, Hightower and Edelman (who has been practicing for three weeks) were all projected back for the divisional round. So I am assuming they will play. I'm not sure about Coleman. Siliga obviously will play.

Yes, I disagree that how the Pats played the last game, a week 17 game they didn't have to win and were playing with key players injured, is not the best indicator of how the Pats will play in the divisional playoff round.

Everything isn't great. But it isn't a disaster either. The problems I see can be corrected, especially on offense. I view games in context and I don't think the next game will be played at the same level as this one.

 

[Bartmac36]

Are you arguing they didn't try to win these games and now they will try? If so, they are no longer the Patriots we know. Does the other team try in the playoffs too?


Huh? The road team is 6-14 in Conference Championship games the last 10 years. How is that not important? How is that not a factor in moving on?

You do not know they will be back or ready or anywhere near 100%. They will be added to an offense that is more dysfunctional than it has been in many years. We may need the HFA to win a game with these deplete team. We could have run a regular offense yesterday and tried to beat a crappy team. If we can't beat Miami or the Jets on the road, doesn't that tell you HFA is important?
I guess you are just a guy who says we didn't get it so it must not have been important.


I would rather have played all healthy players and get HFA. I would rather have run a regular offense with whoever was in there. I would rather be home for the AFCCG but if I couldn't I wouldn't want to head into the playoffs with an offense that looks worse than the Browns right now.
I would have used this game to get my offense in sync and keep them home.

Having a football player play football doesn't mean he is going to break and not be able to play again.

You are right, the ideal situation is being the best team in the league with home field advantage and all of your players healthy. Unfortunately that hasnt been the case during the second half of the season so they have had to do their best to manage the situation. You can argue they have messed that up too but thats why they have two weeks to reset and get back to basics.

Im not arguing what I would LIKE to see out there from this team, I agree completely that I don't like the offensive approach over the last month. What I am arguing is that I don't think that this is the best its gonna get from here on out. I dont agree with what theyve done, but I can absolutely see why they have taken the half conservative/half serious approach to these final games.

They have too much still to focus on and play for to be putting all their eggs in to the basket of beating the 5-10 miami dolphins two weeks before the real season starts.

 

[Absurdly Metro]

Tom Brady: Patriots Will Be 'Different Team' In Two Weeks For Playoffs Opener

Tom Brady appears to believe they'll be a "different team in two weeks" than the one we've been watching since about Thanksgiving. Since I don't really know much more about football than what I see on TV and read on here, I'll defer to Tom's opinion and try to keep my hopes up that the team will flip the proverbial switch in time for another SB run.

 

[Whitt25]

I'm done with this. Trying to discuss where the team stands when people just want to ignore it is pointless. I want them to win the SB more than anyone, so rather than try to discuss and understand what needs to happen, I will just pretend we are 10-0 again and anything can happen, and hope that the team magically overnight starts playing 180 degrees differently.

Not to be a ****, but it doesn't matter if you pretend we're 10-0 or not. It doesn't matter if we discuss and understand what needs to happen for them to win. We're not the coaches. It doesn't matter who's pessimistic or optimistic on here. The game needs to be played by the guys on the field, where anything can happen. So, you're free to disagree all day, all 2 weeks, and think we don't stand a chance. Keep the mindset. Have fun with it. Whatever.

 

[patsfanincleveland]

I'm not counting them out, they are in the playoffs, and must be beaten to be out.

What I am saying is every characteristic of a BB team that would make you confident just isn't there right now. Nope, never count out a BB team, do your job, next man up. All of those things are rhetoric right now. They just spent a month being the anti-BB team, playing like they were scared and/or just didn't care.

Week 4 and December/January are not the same thing.

My fear is that BB has put himself in a position where his strengths won't matter. He mentally eviscerated his offenses confidence and let players sit out and watch his team get beat by a laughing stock. Blown out in fact. There is so far to go, I don't know if even BB can do it.

Before anyone makes any broad pronouncements.......it should be remembered that this team has been to 2 Super Bowls and four AFCCG's over the past four years.

They have played A LOT of football. By it's inherent nature, football isn't designed to be this way. The physicality makes it "parity" bias.

In the end, a rested healthy team will win.

 

[TomPatriot]

You do understand that the coach of the team has spend a month instructing his offense that trying to score is more likely to hurt the team that help it.

This really is way over the top. It's one thing to say that the offense has been less effective during the last six weeks or they have played more conservatively the last two weeks, but you seriously think this team is not trying to score?