This should not shock anyone; defense will always win championships

[ATippett56]

Re: This should not shock anyone

Put it this way, that Pat Chung fake punt would never have occurred in the past. Now that's youth for you.

That play changed everything!

 

[RobertWeathers]

Re: This should not shock anyone

At the end of the day, there were too many injuries for the 2010 New England Patriots to overcome:

Offense
Stephen Neal (starter)
Nick Kaczur
Kevin Faulk

Defense
Leigh Bodden (starter)
Ty Warren (starter)
Ron Brace
Brandon McGowan
Jonathan Wilhite
Mike Wright

Special Teams
Stephen Gostkowski

Only ones that mattered...

Stephen Neal (starter)
Ron Brace
Mike Wright

We have no idea how the others would have impacted the game because they never played this year on a 14-2 team. Except the ones on my list, the ones that did play but got hurt, their replacements played better.

 

[ATippett56]

Re: This should not shock anyone

Only ones that mattered...

Stephen Neal (starter)
Ron Brace
Mike Wright

We have no idea how the others would have impacted the game because they never played this year on a 14-2 team. Except the ones on my list, the ones that did play but got hurt, their replacements played better.

Gostkowski was a huge loss on kickoffs since it affected field position.

The Wilhite loss as the team's nickel cornerback was huge since Darius Butler was a defensive liability wherever he lined up in the defensive secondary.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Re: This should not shock anyone

Gostkowski was a huge loss on kickoffs since it affected field position.

The Wilhite loss as the team's nickel cornerback was huge since Darius Butler was a defensive liability wherever he lined up in the defensive secondary.

Noted on Gost. His replacement was perfect on FGs and PATs while Gost was mucking around a bit. But I would concur that they missed the kickoff distance.

You overrate Wilhite. He was a minor upgrade over Butler which isn't saying much.

 

[The Dynasty]

Re: This should not shock anyone

Noted on Gost. His replacement was perfect on FGs and PATs while Gost was mucking around a bit. But I would concur that they missed the kickoff distance.

You overrate Wilhite. He was a minor upgrade over Butler which isn't saying much.

Agreed to an extent. I think maybe if Ghost was kicking for the Pats BB would have tried the 51 yard FG yesterday. Overall Graham did a good job kicking FGs and PATs, but Ghost was missed on kickoffs.

I agree with what you said on Wilhite. I think Butler is actually better.

 

[ATippett56]

Re: This should not shock anyone

You overrate Wilhite. He was a minor upgrade over Butler which isn't saying much.

The nickel cornerback is another defensive position upgrade needed for the 2011 New England Patriots.

 

[The Dynasty]

Re: This should not shock anyone

The nickel cornerback is another defensive position upgrade needed for the 2011 New England Patriots defense.

I dont know. Bodden and McGowan will be back and only help the secondary. You can move some guys around. I think you dont really need to add any new faces to the secondary.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Re: This should not shock anyone

Saints were the exception not the rule.

2006 Colts say hello also.

That's two teams in the five years since officials were instructed to call penalties on defensive backs more tightly (i.e., the Polian rule). A once in a million helmut catch from making that three teams in five years that fit that mold.


While that may not make this trend the 'rule', it can't be so easily dismissed as the exception either.

 

[bluepatriot]

Re: This should not shock anyone

seems like pats always thrived in the underdog role....

can we be underdog next year then?? add in a rodney type of player would be even better...

 

[upstater1]

Re: This should not shock anyone

seems like pats always thrived in the underdog role....

can we be underdog next year then?? add in a rodney type of player would be even better...

The Patriots did have home field in 2003.

 

[Mike in 333]

Re: This should not shock anyone

There shouldn't be anyone surprised by how the defense played yesterday. For as young as they are and factoring in the injury situation they played probably as well as they have all year. We know the other team is going to get big yardage and score points that's why we're 27th or whatever in the league in defense. Our success has been in being able to score more points on offense and maybe picking up a few on defense. Without the offense getting it done yesterday we were pretty much in the same situation as in the Cleveland game. The big missing piece on defense was not being able to force Sanchez to make mistakes and not being able to force turnovers, aside from that this is our defense.