Quinn's final conclusion similar to first: guys were gassed

[PatsFanSince74]

Don't forget, New England had a few long drives in the first half. Only got 3 points out of it. But those long drives softened the Falcons up a little bit.

That's why the UN is investigating! "Softening up" an endangered species? Crime against humanity!

 

[Koma]

It was obviously cheating, how naive of him.

Oh, they're getting to that, just give them some time. It too the Eagles and Panthers a decade to decide they didn't lose fair and square.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I try to bring a little bit of everything to the table. I'll tee up a poop joke next.

You mean, you're kind of like this Board's version of a quintessential Belichickian Special Teams Player?

 

[PatsFanSince74]

and that halftime, it was so LONG!
...

 

[patfanken]

The Falcons being gassed was one of the "common wisdoms" that came out of the Superbowl as an explanation of why the Pats were able to come back from such a deep deficiet. It certainly makes a lot of sense, of course. Having a defense that plays over 90 plays in one game would obviously be tired. BUT that doesn't explain why 3 of the Falcon's 5 sacks came in the 4th quarter.

It doesn't explain the consistent tight coverage that wound up being Pats completions anyways. And not just the Edelman catch either. The Pats WR's weren't suddenly running free in the secondary. The OL wasn't ripping gaping holes open for the Pats RB's to run rampant through. There were no 50 yd big gains or 2 minute TD drives.

In the Superbowl game I saw, the Atlanta defense was playing as hard in the 4th quarter as it was in the first. The reason the Pats won that game was because the Pats FINALLY started to execute their offense, not drop passes, win the 50-50 balls, and not miss open receivers.

It's not like the Pats could get to 90+ offensive plays if they hadn't been moving the ball fairly well in the first quarter. They just didn't manage to get many points for all that effort, because they didn't execute consistently to complete drives in the first half, like they did in the 2nd

Now I'm sure the fact that the Falcon defense was on the field for over 90 plays WAS a factor, but not the major cause that Quinn and the mediots would like you to believe it was.

In the superbowl game I saw, the Pats were making play after play where the execution had to be perfect for the completion to be made. Look at the Mitchell catches. All were closely contested. Look at the Hogan catch in overtime. It was so closely contested it could have been call PI. The same goes for Amendola's 20 yd catch. The exection on ALL those plays and more had to be PERFECT. Ergo, it was the Pats playing well, and NOT the Falcons D being gassed and playing poorly that won that game.

The other myth I think that came out of the game (and was pointed out earlier in this thread so well by Ice) was the criticism of the Falcons for not running more. As a coach its hard to call a run when the 2nd half run results were so bad. It is similar to the criticim of Carrol for not running Lynch on the one, when over the course of the season Lynch was something like 1-7 in that situation and the Pats were in a defense that outmanned Seattle if they ran inside.

Too often coaches get criticized for things that upon closer examination are not so obvious.

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

Belichick draws from experience that Super Bowls are not like normal games in that they are longer and more physically exhausting, (especially for the defensive line). The Patriots/Panthers Superbowl XXXVIII was one where BOTH defenses were totally gassed in the 4th quarter. It was a low scoring game for 3 quarters and then both offenses started flying up and down the field to the tune of 37 points. Belichick references that game from time to time as why he tends to activate extra defensive linemen in Super Bowls as opposed to regular season games.

Belichick took the blame for that being a close game due to mismanaging his roster and said that he learned from the experience.

 

[Wheelman]

Belichick draws from experience that Super Bowls are not like normal games in that they are longer and more physically exhausting, (especially for the defensive line). The Patriots/Panthers Superbowl XXXVIII was one where BOTH defenses were totally gassed in the 4th quarter. It was a low scoring game for 3 quarters and then both offenses started flying up and down the field to the tune of 37 points. Belichick references that game from time to time as why he tends to activate extra defensive linemen in Super Bowls as opposed to regular season games.

Belichick took the blame for that being a close game due to mismanaging his roster and said that he learned from the experience.

Do you have a source? I'm interested in reading or listening to it.

 

[PatsDeb]

If he said the following, I could take him seriously. Otherwise, LOL.

“First and foremost, I WAS GASSED, and I forgot to use the clock and play-calling to my advantage. Then, [t]he guys were gassed. We had never played in the 90s (snap count). We were not traumatized at all. You could tell there was nothing left in the tank. They would come to the sideline in the fourth quarter and nobody was talking because there was nothing left.”
_

“I won’t apologize for how aggressive we play and our style and attitude of where we’re headed. But I have learned from that experience.”

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

Do you have a source? I'm interested in reading or listening to it.

I'd have to dig around for it - it may have been on 3 games to glory Belichick breakdowns, WEEI interviews, or Education of a Coach???

 

[Wheelman]

I'd have to dig around for it - it may have been on 3 games to glory Belichick breakdowns, WEEI interviews, or Education of a Coach???

If you find it, let me know!

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

If you find it, let me know!

I'm pretty sure it was an audio recording because his tone sounded apologetic and I was thinking it's classic Belichick to be finding faults in his own coaching - after a Super Bowl victory. He was basically giving props to the players for bailing him out. LOL

 

[Uptown]

Three months and ten days later Dan Quinn's conclusion of the cause of his team's SBLI collapse is pretty much the same: they were gassed. Still after thorough film study same words get some new meaning.. (and no, he's not discussing the elephant in the room . simply playing the clock..)

Full article: Dan Quinn's explanation for the Falcons' epic Super Bowl collapse is 100% correct


quotes:

After a thorough review of the film, the third-year Falcons coach knows exactly why his team was unable to finish off New England: His defense was simply too tired.

“The guys were gassed. We had never played in the 90s (snap count). We were not traumatized at all. You could tell there was nothing left in the tank. They would come to the sideline in the fourth quarter and nobody was talking because there was nothing left.”
_

“I won’t apologize for how aggressive we play and our style and attitude of where we’re headed. But I have learned from that experience.”

He didn’t get specific, but said, “I could have made it easier on them with design (changes). I could’ve changed the scenarios.”

Oh, I'm sure he meant the DEF was simply deflated...

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Softening up" an endangered species? Crime against humanity!

The new head of the EPA is the CEO of Monsanto, so we're good.

Endangered-ensmaingered

 

[bbobbo]

quinn really meant that the falcons players were aghast at his atrocious play calling.
.

 

[Simpelton]

How many plays were the Patriots offense on the field for? Must have been way less than the Falcons defense.

Belichick did a better job rotating his people. He had more weapons than he was using on any given play and he was rotating people to keep fresh legs on the field. There's a reason that Danny Amendola got so much playing time late in the game, and it's because he still had fresh legs.

The only real iron men on the field were TB12, JE11, White, and the O-line. Everyone else was coming on and off. The big surprise in the endurance game was White, and it was the reason a lot of people wanted to give him MVP. He played most of the snaps for the entire game, that's damn rare for a third down back.

 

[XLIX]

It was obvious at halftime this was the case. As much as the Falcons were dominating the scoreboard, the Patriots had a solid lead in Time of Possession, which was crazy considering how lopsided the score was.

 

[Thelonious]

During the game, BB sees problems and does something about them, whether it's two minutes into the game or 59 minutes. When the best thing to do is nothing, he does that. It's weird that so simple a scheme for making decisions doesn't occur to other coaches. They always seem to let problems go on too long, until it's too late actually to do something about it, or they just don't see the problem because they're busy doing...something. It always looks so simple when you watch the work of somebody surpassingly good at what they do. BB's mind is complicated, for sure, but he's pretty adept at simple too.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

If I remember correctly, Alex Mack is the one calling protections out for the o-linemen. And the backup didn't know how to do it? or wasn't good at doing it. Or something.

I hadn't heard that, but it's very possible that it had to do with calling out protections. Still, though, the team had two weeks to prepare for this and must have known that playing on a broken leg was probably going end badly. I can't imagine their backup center, after practicing with them all year, didn't know the offensive protections as well.

Report: Falcons' Alex Mack to play Super Bowl on broken leg

 

[CheekyDave]

Have not visited this site for a month, just wanted to say, this is one after another in a series of great observations, posts, and break downs.

 

[Wheelman]

I hadn't heard that, but it's very possible that it had to do with calling out protections. Still, though, the team had two weeks to prepare for this and must have known that playing on a broken leg was probably going end badly. I can't imagine their backup center, after practicing with them all year, didn't know the offensive protections as well.

Report: Falcons' Alex Mack to play Super Bowl on broken leg

Well we're so used to BB preparing for every situation we have to remember not every HC is that smart.