Pats' concerning trend of D collapse during crunch time of crucial game. Why?

[RayClay]

Good post. So it seems that there is truth to BB going 'bend but don't break', particularly when holding on to a late lead. Chewed up nails notwithstanding, the success of this strategy is obviously apparent in the overall success of the Pats...so its a small price to pay I guess.

Sure. If the other team patiently puts together long drives and makes no mistakes, they didn't "almost win", they lost if they needed 3 scores but got two and ran out of clock, or possessions. Also, most teams can't put together long drives without errors and that means turnovers.

On the other hand,a long pass or two can put a team quickly in contention, with the momentum.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

A few clutch stops I can think of off the top of my head with playoff implications

Snow bowl game - needed a 3 and out to have a chance, stopped them on 3rd and inches or game over.

01 afcc - picked off kordelll to preserve 7 pt lead.

03 regular season at colts - willie Mac on the goal line - determined hfa

03 divisional - stopped titans from tying the game (3 pt lead so even fg range would’ve blown the lead)

03 afcc- stopped colts on final drive, protected 7 pt lead

2011 afcc stopped balti in the red zone, td would have lost us the game

Sb49- Malcolm Butler + several stops when trailing 10 and then 3

Sb51- kept atl out of fg range to keep it a one score game

17 afcc - stops Jax with a 4 pt lead

 

[SlowGettingUp]

with 4 downs instead of 3 it is very difficult to stop a team from moving down the field.

This!