Official Post Game Thread- Titans beat the Pats

[SEA_Pat]

Don't have the time to read through the whole thread, but three pages in and all I see is talking about WR and skill positions. Don't know if y'all watched the game or not, but...we got our azzes handed to us on both lines of scrimmage and that is what wins or loses football games. We had the OL as healthy as they'd been all season, and they were dreadful when it mattered; guys standing around ahead of the play while the Titan who had knifed through to tackle the RB behind the line of scrimmage was untouched. Roberts made a terrible choice on a key 3rd and 1 and that was the end of the FB/Sony combo for the rest of the game.

And on Defense? Don't even want to talk about it. I thought our thing was taking away the opponents' strength. Hadn't realized it was Tannehill's passing.

Couldn't even punt it within their 20 when we needed to. We lost on all the margins where we used to win.

We needed to reinvent ourselves on the fly and couldn't do it. We used to be able to.

Don't want to sound too negative, these games happen and we had run out of ideas toward the end of this year. There probably does need to be a shakeup in the braintrust; we need some fresh minds and ideas and the inevitable braindrain to other teams has taken its toll both in terms of our losing creativity and those other teams understanding what we're doing now that they're with the opposition. Not a surprise that the year ended with losses to former Patriot coaches and players. Dante is going to retire, and probably should given how badly they were exposed today. Josh will get a head coaching gig elsewhere, and that will be good too. Possible even BB sees the writing is on the wall and doesn't want to do a rebuild, just wants to sail around Nantucket. Life goes on.

What a ride, couldn't believe it when we won the first, never mind the sixth. No anger, small sadness. Father time remains undefeated. Love this team, and still will when we suck again as we did for most of my Patriot fandom.

 

[SVN]

Among other problems, this team wasnt able to capitalize opportunities, put games ahead, messing with other teams game plans by getting 10+ points ahead in the scoreboard. I wanted them to go for it instead of kicking that last FG. That would maybe put the Titans in a different position.

Just like Miami last week, they stayed cool as a cucumber and followed their game plan. When teams don’t get desperate against the Patriots they usually do better. The Pats have been able to win and control millions of games in the past just by doing that and capitalizing on the opportunities. This team wasn’t able to do that in any time in the past few weeks.

TD before the half from the 1 yrd line wouldve changed Titans playcalling. But hard to fault BB for going for 3 there . They couldnt punch it in from the 1 yard line 3 times . Hard to put faith on 4th down after losing 2 yards.

 

[NYCPATS4LIFE]

TD before the half from the 1 yrd line wouldve changed Titans playcalling. But hard to fault BB for going for 3 there . They couldnt punch it in from the 1 yard line 3 times . Hard to put faith on 4th down after losing 2 yards.

I was shocked that they didn’t try a QB sneak with brady there. We have seen it before.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

TD before the half from the 1 yrd line wouldve changed Titans playcalling. But hard to fault BB for going for 3 there . They couldnt punch it in from the 1 yard line 3 times . Hard to put faith on 4th down after losing 2 yards.

Yeah. I think that if it was 4th from the 1 or closer they’d have gone for it. But losing those two yards was a killer.

And still not understanding the lack of any play action attempts in that whole sequence.

 

[SVN]

Yeah. I think that if it was 4th from the 1 or closer they’d have gone for it. But losing those two yards was a killer.

And still not understanding the lack of any play action attempts in that whole sequence.

Ultimately the line needs to make a push for a yard.

 

[catent]

We had trouble scoring against trash teams, too. We were in bad shape from the moment Brown left the team. The defense just covered the offense's tracks and cleaned up our mess.

It was more than apparent in the games against the Giants, Redskins, and Eagles.

Oh, and against the bottom two WORST TEAMS in the NFL. How could ANYONE, in all logical circumstances, believe the Patriots offense could go into Baltimore or Kansas City and smash up on these teams when they couldn't even beat teams under .400...

One of which was AT HOME!!!

They struggled against bad teams in 2018/2019, too, and we know how that ended.

It’s a game-to-game season and they weren’t good enough today. To extrapolate more than that doesn’t make sense.

 

[Deus Irae]

They struggled against bad teams in 2018/2019, too, and we know how that ended.

It’s a game-to-game season and they weren’t good enough today. To extrapolate more than that doesn’t make sense.

How so? It's been clear, for months, that this offense wasn't up to the task, particularly on the road, and even more particularly if they were going to have to do it 3 times in the playoffs.

 

[PF_SU]

I was shocked that they didn’t try a QB sneak with brady there. We have seen it before.

The Titans were prepared for it. They filled up the gaps for the very purpose of stopping it. I was rather surprised that they went with conventional runs all 3 times and did not try PA or an end-around at least once.

 

[FCB02062]

Let this sink in...AJ McCarron led TWO TD drives vs Tennessee. McCarron didn't have Hopkins, Fuller or Stills...yet he managed to mount td drives of 75 and 85 yards vs the SAME Tennessee Defense that held Brady to one touchdown drive.
There were years when the Patriots had historically bad defenses in terms of yards per game, passing yards allowed, third down defense etc...but the defense would get a turnover or 2, force a fg or 2 and would hold good offenses to 24 or 27...and when Brady was still a top notch QB, he could produce 8 games of 30+ points as in 2013 throwing to Edelman, Amendola, Kenbrell Thompkins, Josh Boyce, Austin Collie... Gronkowski only played 7 games and was only part of three 30+ point games ..so without Gronkowski Brady put up 30+ five times in 2013...and they put up 43 vs Indianapolis in the division round...

The 2019 offense does not have an easy fix for 2020...this is the third straight season of declining production from brady.

When it comes down to it, you need to be able to convert third and 6 consistently. Why third and 6? Bc the D knows your passing and will defend your 5 pass catchers w 7 defenders. You need 2/3 guys who can beat man coverage and doubles inside the #s between 5-10 yards down the field. They had one this yr

If you don't have those guys the defense better only give up 10 ppg next season...

 

[NYCPATS4LIFE]

Let this sink in...AJ McCarron led TWO TD drives vs Tennessee. McCarron didn't have Hopkins, Fuller or Stills...yet he managed to mount td drives of 75 and 85 yards vs the SAME Tennessee Defense that held Brady to one touchdown drive.
There were years when the Patriots had historically bad defenses in terms of yards per game, passing yards allowed, third down defense etc...but the defense would get a turnover or 2, force a fg or 2 and would hold good offenses to 24 or 27...and when Brady was still a top notch QB, he could produce 8 games of 30+ points as in 2013 throwing to Edelman, Amendola, Kenbrell Thompkins, Josh Boyce, Austin Collie... Gronkowski only played 7 games and was only part of three 30+ point games ..so without Gronkowski Brady put up 30+ five times in 2013...and they put up 43 vs Indianapolis in the division round...

The 2019 offense does not have an easy fix for 2020...this is the third straight season of declining production from brady.

When it comes down to it, you need to be able to convert third and 6 consistently. Why third and 6? Bc the D knows your passing and will defend your 5 pass catchers w 7 defenders. You need 2/3 guys who can beat man coverage and doubles inside the #s between 5-10 yards down the field. They had one this yr

If you don't have those guys the defense better only give up 10 ppg next season...

You’re a clown if you’re putting this on brady. Go look at harry and sanu’s last 5 games. Dorsett sucks. Meyers got tuned out don’t know why. Worse at group since probably 2000. The 2006 offense looks good compared to these guys.

 

[Ross12]

Not being an ass but we've seen a lot less deleted.

What do you mean exactly? Less-egregious posts deleted?

 

[Quest4SevenHomie]

Assuming TB does not re-sign with Patriots. Which team would he go to?

Miami? Carolina? LA Chargers?

Unfortunately, JimmyG is Niners QB, otherwise it would be a story-book ending if Brady plays for the Niners ...

Why would he play for Miami or Carolina? Other CMC, what incentives are there for him there?

 

[RobertWeathers]

I am glad he did say "i would love to be back with the patriots buts not in my hands" explicitly. Didnt put BB or Kraft as the ones to blame if he leaves and just left it at that.

Yea no need to go there.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I would translate that as “only if I can’t find a good offer”. Or perhaps (more likely?) “only if I can’t convince Giselle otherwise”.

Possible.

 

[Triumph]

This loss could have been worse.

Vrabel kept pulling Henry out on 3rd down and whatever in the first half. I'm like thank you, because the Titans did not pick up the 1st down quite a few times. 2nd half and towards the end Vrabel stuck with Henry for the win.

 

[Triumph]

The Pats WRs do not get OPEN.

Edelman and White are the only 2 guys worth going into battle with.i have been preaching that fact since week 5.

Sony and the RBs are decent at best.

 

[TomPatriot]

One thing I would like to understand- NE had real trouble in a lot of short-yardage running situations. We generally do better with a bruising-type back for those situations. Why did Harris - a 3rd round pick never see the field? At some point it seems we could have used him. He was on the roster all year.

Harris isn’t really a bruising back. There aren’t many of those. But I’d still like to have seen what he could do.

 

[TomPatriot]

OL was unable to open a hole three times from the 1. Just one time successful would be helpful.

If you watch these three plays I think you’ll see that no one blocks the Mike and that looks like it’s by design. Evans was a huge problems on all three plays. Still, if Gronk and a healthy Dwayne Allen are on the field, that’s a TD.

 

[TomPatriot]

The worst season in recent memory. I expected them to win but the offense had no life in it, oh well. It's a new decade and its time to get with the time. This team is gonna need some major retooling.

It feels a lot like 2009.

 

[RobertWeathers]

If you watch these three plays I think you’ll see that no one blocks the Mike and that looks like it’s by design. Evans was a huge problems on all three plays. Still, if Gronk and a healthy Dwayne Allen are on the field, that’s a TD.

No question. While they did run the ball better when Wynn returned this was never a "running" team.

Here it is 7 hours later and it's amazing how after 17 games no one can say definitively what their offensive identity was.

Crazy