This was never going to be a great season

[PaulThePat]

The Jets scored 24 points.. it's not like they dropped 40 on us.

It felt like they did, or should have. We know the O-Line and skill players are either not good enough or not "yet" good enough, but the D was being pushed around too. My only positive memory of the game is Drake's completion on the last play and Berringer's punts.

 

[Real fan 02]

It felt like they did, or should have. We know the O-Line and skill players are either not good enough or not "yet" good enough, but the D was being pushed around too. My only positive memory of the game is Drake's completion on the last play and Berringer's punts.

That game was bigger for the Jets than it was for us. Yes you always want to beat division opponents. However we've been beating the Jets for years.. even we were just as bad as them. The d and the offense just didn't have it that game.

 

[1960Pats]

were you sleepless after the seattle game

Only if he was in Seattle.

Use to be straight up Veruca Salt with the winning and wanted it all. Post Brady has been an adjustment but sort of learned to just take what you get with each game and the element of surprise.

During all the winning it sometimes felt like looking at each game as just trying to get that weekly checkmark and moving on, and thinking way ahead to what the end of the season would look like.

Have tried to learn to eat **** and like it these last several years. After all, occasionally things go slightly better than expected and you get to eat a piece of corn in it!

A few Thanksgiving's ago I watched my son's new bride eat corn with chopsticks.

 

[1960Pats]

I find it interesting that people laugh at the destiny the Pitt is locked into with how Tomlin keeps them at 8-9 wins but are upset that Pats have bottomed out and hope on Maye becoming something

I only laugh at Pitt because the Pats have owned them for so long.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

Maybe. Certainly feels like we had a better car in recent seasons but kept crashing it or going down one way streets. This season were in a clown car where the doors blow off and everyone laughs, but perhaps we're at least heading in the right direction, even if slowly and painfully. Still need to be better because Thursday night was a flat out embarrassment.

I like the analogy, nice work. It is going to be a bumpy ride, as long as the car gets into the garage at the end of the season without blowing the engine it will be ok. Instead of giving everyone a sense of calm, winning the first game generated unrealistic expectations. Games like Thursday happen, especially with an inexperienced team. Facing this kind of adversity is a good test/learning opportunity for Mayo and AVP. Often times we learn more from failure than success. The pain of losing this way to the Jets will be worth it if the team is able to regroup and play like games 1 & 2 for the next stretch.

 

[Ring 6]

Let me rephrase. I don’t want to lose but for me it feels like there’s a plan. I can deal with some losing since I was already spoiled with a lot of winning. I’d rather win than lose but there’s nothing I can do to change the current situation. The team has sucked for the last few years but all we can do is hope Maye is the guy or the team are going to be doormats for a long time. Do you think Maye is the guy?

What plan?

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

"I'm OK with losing, we weren't supposed to win this year anyway." "I was fine with losing last year." "I had plenty of winning over 20 years." "Maybe next year we can at least be mediocre." Blah, blah blah ...

Seriously, WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??? The Patriots have been severely mismanaged to the point of becoming a league doormat and THIS is how you feel? It's sad to see fair weather fans in the making, truly sad.

Losing sucks, it never should be considered "acceptable" regardless of circumstances. Elliot Wolf has done a crap job making this roster competitive and should be held accountable along with the Krafts and everyone else. SMH.

We’ve been a losing team 3 of the last 4 seasons, coming off a season where we were the 2nd or 3rd worst team in the entire league so maybe folks have just grown used to it.The standard hasn’t been that high here for years neither have the expectations. The hope is we can get back to winning football in due time but its not going to happen overnight

 

[Real fan 02]

I like the analogy, nice work. It is going to be a bumpy ride, as long as the car gets into the garage at the end of the season without blowing the engine it will be ok. Instead of giving everyone a sense of calm, winning the first game generated unrealistic expectations. Games like Thursday happen, especially with an inexperienced team. Facing this kind of adversity is a good test/learning opportunity for Mayo and AVP. Often times we learn more from failure than success. The pain of losing this way to the Jets will be worth it if the team is able to regroup and play like games 1 & 2 for the next stretch.

I like to call it overaction. Just like when we won it was great feeling no doubt. But still as slight over reaction. I have a balanced approach. What the team has shown I the first 2 games I summize is what they really are. The Jets game was just a cumlimation of Murphys law.

 

[Ring 6]

That’s 17.6% of the season. The good news is it’s very hard to look worse than we did against the Jets

Not really. We will have the same players and coaches in the rest of the games.

 

[Ring 6]

I like to call it overaction. Just like when we won it was great feeling no doubt. But still as slight over reaction. I have a balanced approach. What the team has shown I the first 2 games I summize is what they really are. The Jets game was just a cumlimation of Murphys law.

They beat a team that always stinks week 1, has their #2 out and their #1 just showed up from a hold out 2 days before and we lost to a mediocre team with a brand new coach, Geno Smith and their best player out.
We played a decent team at somewhat need full strength and weren’t competitive. The jets exploited what the film showed in the first 2 games.

 

[mgteich]

If the team makes significant progress in developing and evaluating the present roster. identifying core players and seeing to Maye's development, I'll regard this as a successful season. I don't care what the record is except insofar as it might demonstrate progress in these areas. Progress to date has been disappointing, but with so many new elements in the situation, and given how dismally low the team had fallen under a failing GM and HC, maybe that's not surprising, so I suppose patience is justified. The matter on which there has been a clear failure calling for immediate action is the utter failure of Wolfe and his group properly to develop a rational strategic approach to player acquisition, resulting in an offensive roster so lousy that Maye's development and the development of the offense overall has been crippled. Wolf has played a significant role in developing the roster over the several years during which that roster has declined. Keeping him on was a lazy mistake on the Kraft's part, one which they ought to remedy asap. Absolutely nothing is gained by waiting on this.

I think that our lousy roster is one player away from being almost average. Consider the current roster with Alt starting at LT.

 

[Ring 6]

That game was bigger for the Jets than it was for us. Yes you always want to beat division opponents. However we've been beating the Jets for years.. even we were just as bad as them. The d and the offense just didn't have it that game.

How was it bigger for the 1-1 Jets than the 1-1 Patriots?
Are you saying 3 weeks in the team isn’t motivated to win?

 

[Ring 6]

I think that our lousy roster is one player away from being almost average. Consider the current roster with Alt starting at LT.

You are joking right?

 

[Ring 6]

This is something to keep an eye on going forward. A bigger departure from the previous regime “it starts with me, we have to coach better, we have to play better” Covington blames the players, says it wasn’t Xs and Os essentially saying he called a fine game and the players ****ed up. If this turns into the season I think it may, the blame throwing and cya coud become an issue

"It was missed tackles, the things that we didn't do well to keep them on the field," Covington said. "It's not really what they did, it's what we didn't do to get them off the field -- whether it was a penalty, whether it was the missed tackles or whether it was a misalignment... It wasn't anything where it was X's and O's. It was really about catching, blocking, defeating blocks, tackling. That's what it came down to, really."

 

[Real fan 02]

They beat a team that always stinks week 1, has their #2 out and their #1 just showed up from a hold out 2 days before and we lost to a Medicare team with a brand new Busch, Geno Smith and their best player out.
We played a decent team at somewhat need full strength and weren’t competitive. The jets exploited what the film showed in the first 2 games.

I can definitely agree with that. Good post. What we showed on film is what teams will attack. It was definitely was a focus on trying to get the passing game going at leat they made attempts.
The offense isn't going to trick anyone. Yes I love the ground Game. But you need to be able to pass to run and ,run to pass. More deep attempts need to be made like the PI call Tyquan got. Personally next week with Deebo out, no CMC and I hear Kittle has a hamstring and may miss time. If the defense cannot keep ayuik and Jennings in check than I was wrong about the abilities of the defense.

 

[Tunescribe]

Let me rephrase. I don’t want to lose but for me it feels like there’s a plan. I can deal with some losing since I was already spoiled with a lot of winning. I’d rather win than lose but there’s nothing I can do to change the current situation. The team has sucked for the last few years but all we can do is hope Maye is the guy or the team are going to be doormats for a long time. Do you think Maye is the guy?

We'll have to agree to disagree re. tolerance for losing. Every team has a plan, but any plan with losing baked into it constitutes malpractice. I have no idea if Maye is a potential franchise quarterback, we can only hope.

We have to all step back and really understand that what we sustained for 20 plus season will NEVER, I can confidently say NEVER will be replicated in sports history again. Therefore we are a 4-13 team with the 3rd overall pick. This is what it will look like. Yes Thursday was a terrible game. However I believe the team is more of who they showed to be the first two games of the season. I don't really want to live in the could've, should've world. I believe the team is heading in a better direction now than the past few seasons we're we worsened each season. We know we have to get this line right and some pieces on offense and defense. Personally I feel Drake is the guy. Teams were willing to give up so much to us for him most notably Kevin O Connell who I believe is probably the 2nd best offensive minded coach in the league.

It's not about expecting to replicate the Brady-BB era, it's about maintaining basic standards of competency. This franchise should NEVER have slid to the point of potentially bottoming out. Wolf and Mayo = a huge gamble. We'll see what happens with them but I'm highly skeptical. I see absolutely no excuse for the farce comprising this OL and Brissett, let alone the collection of nobodies at WR. The Patriots have two good RBs, a decent little slot guy and a good tight end, that's about it offensively. The defense is good yet attrition already has exposed lack of depth. But, hey, we've got a solid punter and the kickoff team is super!

 

[KCSVEN]

Seasons not lost despite the team not being great.
How many teams they got left to play will score enough to make the game out of reach?
49ers, Jets, Buffalo(2X), Cardinals, Maybe Texans
The other games, with Tua out for Miami, don't have the offensive firepower where Pats are going to have to go away from the run first offense:
Dolphins (2X), Jaguars, Titans, Bears, Rams, Colts, Chargers (Only 3 of those are road games)

It's also likely one or more of the 6 good offenses struggles. There are a number of games the defense will keep them in while you hope the offense can get a healthy starting 5 and make some progress.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I think that our lousy roster is one player away from being almost average. Consider the current roster with Alt starting at LT.

Andrews is breaking down at Center and we have no RT. Does almost average = below average? So if we add Alt we are below average instead of bottom of the barrel?

Hope is not a football strategy.

 

[Triumph]

It felt like they did, or should have. We know the O-Line and skill players are either not good enough or not "yet" good enough, but the D was being pushed around too. My only positive memory of the game is Drake's completion on the last play and Berringer's punts.

The Jets will be tuned up when they visit Foxboro in a few weeks.

The 40 is coming.

 

[Ring 6]

I can definitely agree with that. Good post. What we showed on film is what teams will attack. It was definitely was a focus on trying to get the passing game going at leat they made attempts.
The offense isn't going to trick anyone. Yes I love the ground Game. But you need to be able to pass to run and ,run to pass. More deep attempts need to be made like the PI call Tyquan got. Personally next week with Deebo out, no CMC and I hear Kittle has a hamstring and may miss time. If the defense cannot keep ayuik and Jennings in check than I was wrong about the abilities of the defense.

I think our viewpoints differ because when i look at the roster and see what they did on the off season and the improvement/decline from last year, i saw many games like this coming and i think we overachieved the first 2 weeks. Most of what happened vs the jets was what I saw coming, awful OL, bad OC, a run defense, particularly front 7 that is a shell of the good defense we had, and a roster with severe lack of depth.

I think the 49ers offense is going to have a field day attacking guys like Uche,pharms, McMillan, ekuale, Hawkins out there. Those guys played over 200 combined snaps. We also threw Johnson, Pettit, Giles, dial, Ellis out there for a handful of snaps, meaning our depth is a bunch of guys who belong on practice squads. This defense is heading hard in the wrong direction.