New England Patriots Discussion

[AntoinCD]

Originally Posted by Jvig43

I don't see how the 2nd seed is the minimum target since the Ravens and probably the Texans will take the top two. I see us staying right where we are with the third seed. I see us dropping another game or two as Matt said.

Eh, the Ravens aren' a great team recently after losing Webb and Lewis. Plus the play the Steelers twice, the Broncos and the Giants. Then they finish at the Bengals which isn't the easiest game. Realistically I see them splitting with the Steelers and losing to the Giants and Broncos.

Denver are the team I think is the biggest threat to the 2 seed and we have the tiebreaker on them

EDIT - To expand on my point about Baltimore, since squeaking past New England they have gone 4-1 which is obviously very good. However they played one good team and got blown out by 30 points. The 4 wins came against teams with a combined 6-19 and these wins came by a combined 22 points. Squeaking past Cleveland twice and KC isn't exactly great football. The Steelers have hit some good form, the Giants are always tough late in the year and the Broncos have been the most consistent AFC team the last few weeks

[descendency]

If we take 1 of 2 against the Texans and 49ers (and don't lose the other one too badly), I think we are in OK position. The rest of the games need to be won, though. None of those teams are that good. Indianapolis/Miami is the 3rd hardest team on our schedule.

They're borderline playoff teams in a year where the AFC is down.

[Babylon]

Originally Posted by Razor

He disappeared after the SB loss only to re-emerge shortly around the time of the draft.

Good guy. hope he's doing well. He made the best nfl fan base even better in here.

[Matthew Jones]

Patriots/Bills preview is up. I'm feeling pretty good about the game this week, even without Hernandez:

http://www.nepatriotsdraft.com/2012/...-week-ten.html

[AntoinCD]

Nice write up Matthew. I think the thing with Fitzpatrick and throwing outside deep, he really isn't very good and the Bills offense in general hasn't been good with the exception of the earlier Pats game. I really think the gameplan needs to be to clamp down on the RBs and Chandler and basically dare Fitzpatrick to beat them outside.

1 thing I need to say, and it is an indictment on this year's team. Despite havin a decent record and still being in position to get a high seed, every week makes me nervous. Last year I didn't get nervous before what should be regulation games, but this year I am

[Vaylor]

Good lord the defense was terrible today.

[AntoinCD]

We knew the pass defense sucked but by God the run defense was horrible today as well

[Razor]

As bad as the defense was today, Josh McDaniels was even worse. God I hate him....

[cmarq83]

Our linebackers are horrendous in pass coverage. Even Mayo who is usually mediocre in that area played awful today, and they couldn't tackle.

[AntoinCD]

Originally Posted by Razor

As bad as the defense was today, Josh McDaniels was even worse. God I hate him....

Ya know, with the exception of the drive of the goal line I actually didn't hate the play calling. I think Gronk should have been more in the plans but whatever.

Basically, Welker's huge drop at the start of the game would have been a TD. Then Ridley's false start after a TFL late in the game was such a killer. Punch the ball in there and it's game over.

And I'm going to say this and probably going to get **** for it, but the Patriots have the best starting combination of OTs in the league, hands down!!!

[Razor]

I completely agree about the OTs. They ******* rock. I just want some more depth there...

McDaniels didn't call a good game. Sure there were some drops and Ridley messed up with the false start. But I cannot fathom why he didn't go with more multiple TE looks. The middle of the field was just open for the taking.. Also, why do we insist on running on the outside when we don't have the speed for it? It's idiocy...

[cmarq83]

Also, big props to McCourty. The guy was finally clutch today.

[AntoinCD]

Originally Posted by cmarq83

Also, big props to McCourty. The guy was finally clutch today.

Yeah a few nice plays, however with Dennard having such a ****** game the pass defense still looked horrible. I actually thought Arrington played ok on his
side.

Also, what happened to Chandler Jones? He had a tremendous first quarter then just stopped playing?

[AntoinCD]

You know, looking for a silver lining in this messy game, the Pats have had two close games in the 4th in the last 3 games and won both. Sure neither should have gotten that close but they did. And both came on defensive stops as well.

Look we know this team is going to score points on most teams unless they have an off day, we also know the defense is going to get gashed by teams. However if they can make plays when they count then it's a good thing.

[Don Vito]

Lucky to escape with a W but I will take it

[AntoinCD]

Woooooooh, Aqib Talib can report today. Goodbye porous defense, hello 85 Bears

[FlyingElvis]

Let's not go crazy on the OT praise. The Bills have been making everyone look awesome on offense all season long.

A win is a win, so I won't complain. But there's always great competition in the playoffs and this team could lose to any good team.

I, too, see the same old nonsense in the play calling. Running the same play to the outside at the goalline instead of just ramming Ridley up the middle is dumb. Gronk's involvement still seems inadequate.

[cmarq83]

Originally Posted by FlyingElvis

Let's not go crazy on the OT praise. The Bills have been making everyone look awesome on offense all season long.

A win is a win, so I won't complain. But there's always great competition in the playoffs and this team could lose to any good team.

I, too, see the same old nonsense in the play calling. Running the same play to the outside at the goalline instead of just ramming Ridley up the middle is dumb. Gronk's involvement still seems inadequate.

Ridley, Gronk, and Welker. That should be our offense in crunch time. A simple out or whip route to Welker is an tremendously high percentage play. I don't know why we think a backshoulder throw to Lloyd, Woodhead from the I, or trying to hum the ball into Branch in the back of the endzone is better idea.

As you said running up the middle was tremendously effective especially with how we were using Gronk as a lead blocker. It made no sense to get away from that on the goal line.

[Jvig43]

I miss O'Brien

[Razor]

Originally Posted by Jvig43

I miss O'Brien

This times a million. I really struggled with O'Brien early on, but he evolved into a ******* great OC. McDaniels was great, but he's lost his magic... He needs that dominant outside receiver for his playcalling to be effective, and right now we don't have that player.

[Nalej]

I don't miss O'Brien. I see and hear him almost every day :)

[Jvig43]

Let me rephrase my statement to everyone not at Penn, the Patriots play calling misses O'Brien haha

[AntoinCD]

For as much **** as McDaniels gets, and some deserved, we still need to bear in mind this team leads the NFL in scoring by 3 points per game and in yards by nearly 30 yards per game. They haven't been clutch, however they shouldn't be in the position to need to be clutch. Scoring on average over 30 points per game should be a win every time.

And FlyingElvis I gotta back our OTs, it's not just this week against the Bills. Vollmer has been a top 3 OT this year, not just RT, and Solder has been nearly flawless since week one. When Brady gets pressured it isn't coming from the edges

[Matthew Jones]

Ray Edwards was cut. Sign Ray Edwards!

[cmarq83]

Originally Posted by Matthew Jones

Ray Edwards was cut. Sign Ray Edwards!

Do Not Want!

and I pretty much am for every veteran reclamation project that's ever been tossed around.