45 replies to this topic

[MantaRay]

Brady isn't showing signs of physical decline yet, but he needs to improve his playoff performances as of late. He is still living off the three rings, which buys him A LOT of currency (understandably so), but like I've pointed out, the last several games have been uneven and not great overall.

BB needs to bring in a defensive coordinator and let him run the show. Patricia is a puppethead. BBs Ds haven't gotten in done in a long time. I don't have confidence in him putting together a top-tier defense anymore, and the Pats need one, because after this postseason, I can't count on the offense to carry the Patriots to carry the team to wins like I can in the regular season. They need a new perspective to make this happen.

But they do have the personnel to keep status quo for a while (make the playoffs, possibly win a game or two before bowing out). A lot of other teams' fans would take what the Patriots have done over the past several seasons (a 16-0 season, two Super Bowl appearances, three AFC title games, and constant relevance), but like the Yankees of the 2000s, or the Braves of the 90s and beyond, when the prosperity doesn't result in titles, or not nearly enough of them, there's no shortage of fans from other teams waiting to let you hear about it.

I don't know if its Brady, or the fact that smart defenesive coordinators (typically in the playoffs) can take away his comfort zone.
I think it calls on the OC to make the half time adjustments, or prepare better agains the better Defenses. Brady' is already asked to win the game himself for the most part.

On the defensive side, I don't think BB has the horses, or has developed the horses to ride deep in the playoffs.

Since Seymour was traded, you have had no dominant pass rusher, which every Superbowl team needs to win.
Your linebacking corp is not as talented as when you had Teddy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel.
And you also haven't had the intimidating secondary without Ty Law and Rodney Harrison

You had a core that is gone on the Defensive side. It is still rebuiliding but you just don't have those dominant players anymore, that BB had the luxury of having to win his championships.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I don't know if its Brady, or the fact that smart defenesive coordinators (typically in the playoffs) can take away his comfort zone.
I think it calls on the OC to make the half time adjustments, or prepare better agains the better Defenses. Brady' is already asked to win the game himself for the most part.

On the defensive side, I don't think BB has the horses, or has developed the horses to ride deep in the playoffs.

Since Seymour was traded, you have had no dominant pass rusher, which every Superbowl team needs to win.
Your linebacking corp is not as talented as when you had Teddy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel.
And you also haven't had the intimidating secondary without Ty Law and Rodney Harrison

You had a core that is gone on the Defensive side. It is still rebuiliding but you just don't have those dominant players anymore, that BB had the luxury of having to win his championships.

I'm hopeful for this new crop, as far as the D goes. They're not there yet, but they seem to have improved somewhat. Unfortunately, the Ty Law-types are very hard to come by. This offseason is going to be key...Pats have in to go into win now mode more than ever...Brady will be 36 by next season's start. Re-building the D (which seems to be taking forever) needs to be fast-tracked.

[MantaRay]

I'm hopeful for this new crop, as far as the D goes. They're not there yet, but they seem to have improved somewhat. Unfortunately, the Ty Law-types are very hard to come by. This offseason is going to be key...Pats have in to go into win now mode more than ever...Brady will be 36 by next season's start. Re-building the D (which seems to be taking forever) needs to be fast-tracked.

I agree 100%.

[Devils Pride 26]

Cr, how about this for a comparison. Those devils teams post lockout until last year where they would be a consistent top four seed and have a great looking regular season and then became greatly exposed in the playoffs. That's how I feel about the Pats now. I don't think anyone has that great fear of them anymore.

[NJDevs4978]

The Pats DID get to a couple of Super Bowls though, and were a hair away from winning either. They're just not invincible at home anymore, they really don't have the 'type' of team built to win in January cold, though they took a step towards that this year by establishing Ridley and the other RB's as a threat. Still need the D for that, and like someone else said not having a deep threat at WR hurts too (not to mention not having Gronk yesterday).

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Cr, how about this for a comparison. Those devils teams post lockout until last year where they would be a consistent top four seed and have a great looking regular season and then became greatly exposed in the playoffs. That's how I feel about the Pats now. I don't think anyone has that great fear of them anymore.

The difference is a lot of those Devils teams you're talking about put up nice records, but poor goal differentials (for their record), and weren't terribly flashy in most years...they seemed to have to battle for a lot of their wins. The Patriots win a lot of games in dynamic, exciting style, as offensively strong teams tend to, and a lot of the wins come easy. Maybe too much so. But that's why the expectations persist, though as I've pointed out on multiple occasions, I've seen this team stumble enough come playoff time that a result like yesterday's no longer comes as a shock...I almost half-expect it at this point.

But yeah, they've now dropped three out of their last five home playoff games, and it was very nearly four. With this loss, the mystique is now 100% gone. There's no fear about going into Gillette anymore.

NJDevs4978, you are right, but when you've won three SBs, and the big guys who made their names in winning the first three are still there (with Brady still being a great player), they're going to hear about it from a number of sources when they don't get it done...the bar has been set that high. In time, people will step back and realize that 5 SB appearances and 7 AFC Championship games was pretty impressive, but because the three SB wins came first, the rest won't be good enough in many fans' eyes.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976, 21 January 2013 - 04:45 PM.