What could the Patriots have done differently last season?

[EJ Blitz]

not choke against the Jets.

 

[OldPatsfans]

There is plenty of "could have dones" but I think in hindsight the Jets exposed the Pats in the playoffs as a team not as good as their record. This was not the diverse, deeply talented roster typical of a 14-2 team. It is a roster in transition. The defense is very young and opportunistic but far from elite at this point in its development. The running game can compliment a dominant passing game but it can't win games if Brady struggles.

They won 14 because Tom Brady played at a level the league has seen no more than a few times in its history. With Brady at his normal, great, Hall of Fame level they probably are a 10 or 11 win team with this roster which is still pretty impressive for the Pats as the rebuild on the fly.

+1
I'm with you on bold face quote above. Exactly my thoughts. Even before the Jets loss, I thought that it took only one TFB off-day for the Pats to fall down to earth. Incredibly, it happened on the 1st playoff and vs the Jets. Couldn't pick a worse occasion to crap out.

 

[patsfan-1982]

if we are talking about players then it started 2 years ago not tradeing Seymour, would have made them a much better defense

 

[condon84]

Three things I think, any one of which the Pats beat the Jets:
Crumpler makes the catch.
No fake punt.
No Int.

Now some may say I am going OT here, perhaps. The question is about personnel.
My answer is the personnel was good enough. they needed one more play, one bounce, that is all.

The team was good enough, and in the end it was a tremendous job by BB and his people. I recall many folks predicting 10 wins, a tough rebuilding year.
Well, somewhere along the way it became like 2004 again?

The most enjoyable season in a long time.

The ballsy move of dealing Moss, reworking the O, while building a young D, and then finishing with the best record in the NFL. So I really can't point to anything and say, that was an error.


Little things, individual plays, bounce of the ball, a call,
a roll of the dice all add up.

They won 3 SB's by a FG. Adam misses, they might have none.
Samuel makes that INT, they have 4.


Colts after 21-3 halftime?
Potential 5.

Crumpler makes that catch, they could be facing the
cheezits today for number six. Small issue of Pitt in the way,
but my point is I can't find anything to criticize here.

They have been ultra competitive in a remarkable way.
I remember the feeling after the '85 Bears fiasco, that it would
never happen, to wonder what it would be like to have a dominant
team, like the Old Steelers, etc.

A few bounces, they are going for number 6 today.

The difference between 3 and 6 in personnel?
honestly, I have no idea. I think it is more based on events, a bit of luck, the bounce of the ball, at this level, at the level they have maintained, for ten years now.

Great post.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

+1
I'm with you on bold face quote above. Exactly my thoughts. Even before the Jets loss, I thought that it took only one TFB off-day for the Pats to fall down to earth. Incredibly, it happened on the 1st playoff and vs the Jets. Couldn't pick a worse occasion to crap out.

Well, almost, but I can think of one that would have been FAR worse.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Colts after 21-3 halftime?
Potential 5.

You could make an argument that that one was due to the flu.

Who knows what happens in 2008 if the Pats stop the JEST in OT. Cassel was playing as well as anyone in the league at season's end.

On the flip side, who knows what happens if Mo Lewis doesn't clean Bledsoe's clock in Week 2?

 

[BradyBranch39]

Not called the play that Brady's INT streak was broken on.

 

[RayClay]

Hindsight is always 20/20 but even at the time I think that the following was pretty obvious (but costly):

Sign Julius Peppers

Thread title should have been, what could they have done to change for the better. They went 14-2 and their playoff loss had nothing to do with not having Julius Peppers.

The only thing I think, for a team that ridiculously overachieved based on experience of their personnel, would have been to find an offensive athlete at WR or RB, or a couple D linemen that didn't get injured.

That's hindsight. Not throwing the interception, and Crumpler catching the pass is what would really should have been done differently.

At that point, the awesome Sanchez was the problem? I don't think so. with a healthy d line, we contain the run and the mediocre Sanchez without a long term 50-100 million contract for Peppers.

We can use that money to draft half a team and i hope we do.

 

[DarrylStingley]

The notion of halftime adjustments is completely overblown, IMO. You need to continuously be making adjustments as the game progresses. If you wait until halftime, it's too late.

Halftime gives you a chance if behind to stall momentum, regain focus and have a more calm environment to coach for the second half, but really you won't see anything at halftime that you can't pick up on in the half.

OK, point well taken MD.

Then I'll re-phrase. They could have had a coaching staff that was better able to make the necessary adjustments to what the Jets were doing during the game and at half time.

That the Pats staff didn't better deal with the man to man coverage is a bummer and I think contributed mightily to the loss.

 

[Tasco]

1. stick to your offensive game plan, that has been working for the first two drives (ended because of errors by individuals: Brady & Crumpler), instead of panicking...

2. run the ball more

talking strictly about the PO game...don't think we can really criticize anything of the RS...

obviously these 2 points lead to the question if our OC is the right one. Maybe his deficiencies were covered during the RS, because everybody was executing and we were always leading in games...

 

[NY10JETS28]

save the 45-3 game for the playoffs

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Great topic! Thanks.

There's a whole heckuva lot the Pats could have done differently last year.....and ended up at 10--6, which is where I had them in August and would still put them if we rolled back the clock. (And, BTW, Green Bay reminded us that there's "nothing wrong with 10--6.")

But I don't think there's very much the Pats could have done to do better last year. I think they out-achieved, over-achieved, super-power-achieved their underlying level of talent and stage of development thanks to a "Coach of the Year" performance by their HOF HC and an "MVP" performance by their HOF QB. (Hmmm...I wonder who got those awards?). Let us never forget how fortunate we are to have followed the Pats during the decade of Belichick and Brady and, now into the second decade.

The Playoff game wasn't as close as the final score, with the Jets hitting Brady over and over, leaving him looking hurt and bewildered on the sidelines and then making the plays they had to make (Holmes' catch, LT's long run). Meanwhile, the Patriots were unable to rattle Sanchez and either botched or could not make plays at critical times (early INT, dropped TD in the end zone, blown fake punt).

I won't go as far as others and say that the Jets "exposed" us, but they did show that, despite a bye week, the Pats weren't ready (for the second year in a row) to beat, in the Playoffs and not in the regular season, a playoff-caliber team firing on all cylinders, with a good game plan, which the Jets were and had.