The bloodletting in Atlanta has begun

[Deus Irae]

Their offense was hopeless after the middle of the 3rd quarter (except for the 2 plays including the Julio miracle catch). The least they could have done for their team was to run time off the clock.

Atlanta couldn't run the ball in the second half. I posted the runs in another thread.

 

[IllegalContact]

Their offense was hopeless after the middle of the 3rd quarter (except for the 2 plays including the Julio miracle catch). The least they could have done for their team was to run time off the clock.

they tried........the pats were playing the run......even on both sack plays...in the 4th quarter, they had more negative run plays than positive ones

 

[TomPatriot]

We can criticize Bevel and Shanahan all we want. It's Monday morning armchair QBing in the end. In every game there are questionable calls by every coach, including BB, MP and JM.

Belichick coaches Brady but Brady audibles and has a pretty damn good idea what to do against a given defensive scheme. After nine years in the NFL, almost all QBs in the NFL can read a defense enough to audible. So why didn't Ryan do that? It's not that Ryan didn't know wha too do. I suspect the Pats D scheme didn't call for a run audible. That tells me the ATL O didn't execute, plain and simple.

Ok, I admit it. I just hate pissing on good coaches. Just hate it.

 

[Joker]

How about lousy owners?

 

[Pats2000]

That was a quality D we played. They stopped the running game, got pressure on the QB, pursued FAST, tackled well and forced 2 TOs. They disguised their coverage on the INT - Alford came off Edelman late and jumped Amendola's route. They are quite young and have good individual talent. Quinn probably impacts the D a lot - so the D.C. may not be a big deal. But I was impressed with their D. And they were missing their best cover CB.

That D was holding the **** out of our receivers. They played man coverage so well because they were grabbing jerseys left and right.

 

[PatsBoy12]

The BB interview with Chris Berman was insightful as far as what BB figured out by the end of the 1st qtr. WE gifted them 14 of their points so their O really wasn't that great and their D gassed themselves by going against what they were used to

I thought it was very interesting when BB talked about how he had the game figured out by the end of the first qtr...

 

[dafoe2016]

What was most surprising to me was all the pressure we let them generate on Brady and that Blount couldn't bulldoze that undersized Atlanta D Line. They made some plays when they needed to, but our OLine did not have a good day, almost cost us the game. When one of the announcers mentioned that Dwight Freeney hadn't had a sack since October before sacking Brady that night , that kind of summed up the talent on their line. They basically have one guy that can get to the QB.

That near pick to Beasley in the end zone where he threw Bennet out of the way and knocked the ball away with one hand should have been a run to Blount. Absolutely stunned by both those aspects of the game.

You can say what you want about Alford. All the holding, the fact that his pick 6 was a blown coverage. He came off his receiver well before the ball was thrown, Brady just didn't read it properly. Either way, he was a pest all night. Guy played his ass off. Was impressed. Thankfully he didn't finish a lot, but he seemed to be right there in a lot of plays.

 

[RIpats88]

I totally can see atlanta going the way of Carolina panthers and becoming a non factor next year.

 

[deroc5050]

Football is 60 minutes (plus OT!!!!). You didn't play a good game if you played well for 43 minutes then sucked as bad as humanly possible the rest of the way to lose.
I have not heard Atlanta's defense make the excuse that they were too tired to play. Why are Patriots fans making it for them?

I just get a kick out of a board where fans spent most of the season pissing all over the defense that ended up #1 in the NFL, and those same fans make excuses for a defense that can't stop a nose bleed to the tune of 34 points in 27 minutes. Cracks me up.
If this game were reversed, this board would be killing our defense and saying Matty P and BB should be fired.

If Atlanta didn't **** there pants and kicked a FG I am sure you would have a different outlook today. NE offense struggled for 3 1/2 quarters even there first touch down was highly contested and it took over 6 minutes off the clock.

It wasn't Atlanta's defense that lost the game. After New England tried the onsides kick and Atlanta went 3 and out it all started to spiral.

It also took perfect execution on and 2 2 point conversions on there 2 final drives of the game.

 

[Ring 6]

If Atlanta didn't **** there pants and kicked a FG I am sure you would have a different outlook today. NE offense struggled for 3 1/2 quarters even there first touch down was highly contested and it took over 6 minutes off the clock.

It wasn't Atlanta's defense that lost the game. After New England tried the onsides kick and Atlanta went 3 and out it all started to spiral.

It also took perfect execution on and 2 2 point conversions on there 2 final drives of the game.

Most pass completions ever allowed in a playoff game. (2nd most on any game)
Most first downs ever allowed in a playoff game. (8th most in any game)
8th most yards allowed ever in a playoff game, 3rd most in 29 years.
Blow a 19 point lead at the end of 3. Teams in that situation were 93-0 before Sunday.
Blow a 25 point lead.
Allow 4 TDS and a FG on 5 drives.
Allow more yards per drive and points per drive FOR THE ENTIRE GAME than the 32nd ranked defense in each category.

If you don't think that is bad defense you are either lying or not very intelligent.