There's no "me" in Team

[SEA_Pat]

Okay, the letters are there, but not in the right order. It's similar to how teams win in the NFL in a way.

We might look back at the end of the year and say that the Patriots won yesterday because they finally found their identity as a team. We focus too much on individual players. Teams are forged through adversity. Look at the Packers last year, they lost more players through injury than any other team. It brought them together and made them believe they could beat anyone. The Giants this year are playing the same way.

This IMHO is part of the so-called "Ewing Theory", where guys know they have to step up because a key player is lost to injury. Then they start playing more selflessly and with higher intensity and effort and build real trust with their teammates.

That's the story of all of our Super Bowl teams, guys overachieving by buying into the team concept. We kind of lost that when the hardcore veterans of those years moved on or retired. I think we may have found it last night.

 

[randomk1]

We beat an overhyped team that we beat earlier in the year. Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

This soft schedule coming up has me a little bit worried for some reason.

 

[mgteich]

There is no "I" in "team".

Okay, the letters are there, but not in the right order. It's similar to how teams win in the NFL in a way.

We might look back at the end of the year and say that the Patriots won yesterday because they finally found their identity as a team. We focus too much on individual players. Teams are forged through adversity. Look at the Packers last year, they lost more players through injury than any other team. It brought them together and made them believe they could beat anyone. The Giants this year are playing the same way.

This IMHO is part of the so-called "Ewing Theory", where guys know they have to step up because a key player is lost to injury. Then they start playing more selflessly and with higher intensity and effort and build real trust with their teammates.

That's the story of all of our Super Bowl teams, guys overachieving by buying into the team concept. We kind of lost that when the hardcore veterans of those years moved on or retired. I think we may have found it last night.

 

[Section103]

Encouragement...

"Who knows who will be playing where, but I know one thing. These guys are tough, mentally and physically," Belichick said of his players. "They'll stand up to the challenge and give their best. That counts for a lot. The game's not too big for them." - Bill Belichick post game press conf. 11/13/2011

This quote struck me last night given what I recall of Bill's woes during 2009 as seen on 'A Football Life'. Bill lamented the team's inability to listen to him, do what it needed to do to win and to play mentally tough. This year, it seems that although the results haven't always been there, Bill believes in this group's ability to play tough and improve as the season progresses. I hope he's right.

 

[RayClay]

Post 1 and 2 are both correct. We had a signature win, but this team has far to go to match the focus of the 2001 squad, or the veteran well oiled machine that emerged in 03 and 04.

Great lesson to the frontrunners (where'd they go?) who complained about a 14-2 season in a transition year and wanted an all star team of high draft picks regardless of the chemistry problems now and in recent years.

Those veteran leaders didn't come from nowhere, they were forged across two different coaching regimes and Super Bowl eras (a 1997 good effort, no cigar). Throw in an incredible FA veteran leader with a chip on his shoulder (Rodney) and you get a dynasty, or at least as much of one as you ever get in this sport.

I too am concerned about the "easy" games on the horizon. If the team thinks like the fans (I doubt it) we are in big trouble.

That was a game plan win on defense, much like the ones where we moved Wilfork around last year. It does not compare to the defenses we had in years past that could do anything and do it well.

A lot of talent in the front 7, though if healthy. The secondary should be quite a circus all the way, but we've done that before too.