Is anyone doubting the Patriots are the best team in football?

[Tomlinson21RB]

I admit its laughable but it's awful damn weird too. And I also had that thought...that they wouldn't play the same way again anyways so why lay down to see how they will come at you? But I do find it odd they all of a sudden go from damn good to damn brain dead that quick. It got to the point where it's like "Are you trying to lose?".

As far as double coverage...Andre is good enough that he can get open or will catch it anyways. They didn't double up much on the two guys who were the biggest threat. Not everyone can be doubled up for sure. But force Brady to throw to his lower tier guys at least. Welker should have had two guys strapped to his ass the whole game. They seemed way more focused on blitzing every damn play. I guess I just don't understand how you can go from a sound plan to this crap. As a person who has watched every one of their games this year...I have to say this game and the green bay game seemed awful inconsistent with their normal strategy. That's all I do know really.

So everyone says the way to beat the Pats is to hit Brady, but to do that you need to blitz. Now even though the blitz put pressure on Brady and he still got the pass off it's because the defense didn't double cover everyone. Which is it? You realize Welker had 3 receptions on 9 targets for 52 yards? Maybe they should have left Welker alone and doubled Lloyd who had 7 in 9 targets. Nah, leave him alone and double Hernandez who was 8 for 11. Forget that, stack the box and stop the run since the Patriots averaged 4.4 ypc (not including Mallet taking a knee) while Houston averaged 3.7 ypc.

What I'm getting at is that even if the Texans changed coverage, the Patriots are too damn stacked and too damn smart to let it get to them. Fine, drop back in coverage. They'll run through you. Giving Brady a ton of time in the pocket is just as bad as single covering his receivers. Somehow get to the QB and lock down the receivers and it's screen passes for days to Woodhead and Vereen.

It wasn't the Texans laying down. It was a good team going up against a far superior team and being systematically broken down in all three phases of the game. New England owned the best offense, defense, and special teams on Monday.

 

[markakis8]

So everyone says the way to beat the Pats is to hit Brady, but to do that you need to blitz. Now even though the blitz put pressure on Brady and he still got the pass off it's because the defense didn't double cover everyone. Which is it? You realize Welker had 3 receptions on 9 targets for 52 yards? Maybe they should have left Welker alone and doubled Lloyd who had 7 in 9 targets. Nah, leave him alone and double Hernandez who was 8 for 11. Forget that, stack the box and stop the run since the Patriots averaged 4.4 ypc (not including Mallet taking a knee) while Houston averaged 3.7 ypc.

What I'm getting at is that even if the Texans changed coverage, the Patriots are too damn stacked and too damn smart to let it get to them. Fine, drop back in coverage. They'll run through you. Giving Brady a ton of time in the pocket is just as bad as single covering his receivers. Somehow get to the QB and lock down the receivers and it's screen passes for days to Woodhead and Vereen.

It wasn't the Texans laying down. It was a good team going up against a far superior team and being systematically broken down in all three phases of the game. New England owned the best offense, defense, and special teams on Monday.

I wish I had a slow clap video for you here. Well said.

 

[nappyd]

So everyone says the way to beat the Pats is to hit Brady, but to do that you need to blitz. Now even though the blitz put pressure on Brady and he still got the pass off it's because the defense didn't double cover everyone. Which is it? You realize Welker had 3 receptions on 9 targets for 52 yards? Maybe they should have left Welker alone and doubled Lloyd who had 7 in 9 targets. Nah, leave him alone and double Hernandez who was 8 for 11. Forget that, stack the box and stop the run since the Patriots averaged 4.4 ypc (not including Mallet taking a knee) while Houston averaged 3.7 ypc.

What I'm getting at is that even if the Texans changed coverage, the Patriots are too damn stacked and too damn smart to let it get to them. Fine, drop back in coverage. They'll run through you. Giving Brady a ton of time in the pocket is just as bad as single covering his receivers. Somehow get to the QB and lock down the receivers and it's screen passes for days to Woodhead and Vereen.

It wasn't the Texans laying down. It was a good team going up against a far superior team and being systematically broken down in all three phases of the game. New England owned the best offense, defense, and special teams on Monday.

but they did force mallet into throwing a pick..

 

[predatorkj]

So everyone says the way to beat the Pats is to hit Brady, but to do that you need to blitz. Now even though the blitz put pressure on Brady and he still got the pass off it's because the defense didn't double cover everyone. Which is it? You realize Welker had 3 receptions on 9 targets for 52 yards? Maybe they should have left Welker alone and doubled Lloyd who had 7 in 9 targets. Nah, leave him alone and double Hernandez who was 8 for 11. Forget that, stack the box and stop the run since the Patriots averaged 4.4 ypc (not including Mallet taking a knee) while Houston averaged 3.7 ypc.

What I'm getting at is that even if the Texans changed coverage, the Patriots are too damn stacked and too damn smart to let it get to them. Fine, drop back in coverage. They'll run through you. Giving Brady a ton of time in the pocket is just as bad as single covering his receivers. Somehow get to the QB and lock down the receivers and it's screen passes for days to Woodhead and Vereen.

It wasn't the Texans laying down. It was a good team going up against a far superior team and being systematically broken down in all three phases of the game. New England owned the best offense, defense, and special teams on Monday.

They should have worried a lot less about the pats running game. The running game wasn't kicking our ass yards per carry be damned. You can't stop everybody. But you need to pick and choose better. They chose wrong. And horribly so.

 

[seahawks4ever]

New to the party but two things:

No defense can stop a completely healthy Patriots offense.

The Seahawks did.

and #2, holy crap, I think schmidtfan has reincarnated and become a Pats fan.

 

[markakis8]

New to the party but two things:



The Seahawks did.

and #2, holy crap, I think schmidtfan has reincarnated and become a Pats fan.

You claim you are new to the party so I'm assuming that means you didn't read the whole thread. If you had, you would've understood why I made the statement that you quoted.

The loss to the Seahawks is no different to their loss to the Cardinals or the Ravens. It was still the beginning of the season in the birthing stage of their new offense. Since their loss to Seattle, they've done nothing but blow people out of the water (except the Dolphins, but Brady did not have his A game that week) and without a completely healthy offense (either Hernandez or Gronk or Edelman have been out).

When Gronk is back and they have Hernandez, Welker, and Lloyd AND with their "pound-and-pound" running game? It just isn't going to be pretty for any defense. I'm very intrigued how things will turn out this Sunday.

Look, was I here previous years claiming how awesome the Patriots were? Even last year? No, b/c I never believed they were the best team in football. Making it to the Super Bowl last year was miraculous, in my opinion, b/c of their defense. The only reason they had a shot was b/c of Tom Brady. Their defense has improved and their offense is the best weapon in football.

I've never been confident about a favorite team of mine - even the 16-0 Patriots. I'm pretty confident Brady will get his 4th Super Bowl this year. Big words, I know. I will look like a fool if they don't win. But it's the risk I'm willing to take with this team.

And bragging about Tom Brady being the GOAT against Ryan Howard > Albert Pujols is not even a comparison.

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

New to the party but two things:



The Seahawks did.

and #2, holy crap, I think schmidtfan has reincarnated and become a Pats fan.

You're right. Holding this Pats team to 23 points is completely stopping them compared to the 35-42 they seem to routinely drop on teams. I think both the Seahawks and Patriots have both gotten a lot better since that game.

What's the deal with the two seattle corners that were juicing? Why didn't they just take the suspensions already and come back for the playoffs instead of appealing and risking being out playoff games?

In all fairness, it's no different than the Pats 4th string RB, 2nd string LB, and the CB they traded for. All juicing, but the Pats guys just did the suspension and moved on.

 

[markakis8]

You're right. Holding this Pats team to 23 points is completely stopping them compared to the 35-42 they seem to routinely drop on teams. I think both the Seahawks and Patriots have both gotten a lot better since that game.

What's the deal with the two seattle corners that were juicing? Why didn't they just take the suspensions already and come back for the playoffs instead of appealing and risking being out playoff games?

In all fairness, it's no different than the Pats 4th string RB, 2nd string LB, and the CB they traded for. All juicing, but the Pats guys just did the suspension and moved on.

Yeah and we have a DUI-murderer on our team now::facepalm::

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

Yeah and we have a DUI-murderer on our team now::facepalm::

Sort of. 10 snaps and onto the IR.

 

[markakis8]

Sort of. 10 snaps and onto the IR.

Oh really? I didn't even see that. I must admit, his TD catch was pretty impressive.

 

[seahawks4ever]

You're right. Holding this Pats team to 23 points is completely stopping them compared to the 35-42 they seem to routinely drop on teams. I think both the Seahawks and Patriots have both gotten a lot better since that game.

What's the deal with the two seattle corners that were juicing? Why didn't they just take the suspensions already and come back for the playoffs instead of appealing and risking being out playoff games?

In all fairness, it's no different than the Pats 4th string RB, 2nd string LB, and the CB they traded for. All juicing, but the Pats guys just did the suspension and moved on.

I don't know what exactly happened but heck, they had it in their system so in my eyes, they did something. They did something interesting IMO. Sherman appealed, Browner started serving immediately. Browner will be back for the playoffs. Sherman, if he loses, will not. I kind of wish they would have done it the opposite way but oh well.


Oh and markakis, to say the loss to the Seahawks was because of the birthing of a new offense...with an all-world QB, two excellent tight ends, and a system that has produced for a decade when they were against a rookie, third round QB who REALLY was being birthed into the Seahawks offense is nearly laughable. Come on, you really believe that?

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

I don't know what exactly happened but heck, they had it in their system so in my eyes, they did something. They did something interesting IMO. Sherman appealed, Browner started serving immediately. Browner will be back for the playoffs. Sherman, if he loses, will not. I kind of wish they would have done it the opposite way but oh well.


Oh and markakis, to say the loss to the Seahawks was because of the birthing of a new offense...with an all-world QB, two excellent tight ends, and a system that has produced for a decade when they were against a rookie, third round QB who REALLY was being birthed into the Seahawks offense is nearly laughable. Come on, you really believe that?

Yea, it wasn't really a shot at them taking something. I'm sure far more people are taking something on every team than get caught. I'm just surprised by the appeal that could affect eligibility for the playoffs.

I think both the Pats and Seahawks improved since that meeting. The Pats ended up losing by 1 point on the road against the greatest homefield advantage in sports. The question is if they were to meet again in the Super Bowl where it's a neutral field, do the Seahawks still win?

 

[Pinbreaker]

Yea, it wasn't really a shot at them taking something. I'm sure far more people are taking something on every team than get caught. I'm just surprised by the appeal that could affect eligibility for the playoffs.

I think both the Pats and Seahawks improved since that meeting. The Pats ended up losing by 1 point on the road against the greatest homefield advantage in sports. The question is if they were to meet again in the Super Bowl where it's a neutral field, do the Seahawks still win?

Depends on whether or not the Ref's allow them to and not give them bogus TD's...

As for the substance the Corners were taking.. Aderall.. There are other players in the league that have been using this as well..

Should be an interesting last few weeks especially when the 9ers come up here..

 

[seahawks4ever]

Yea, it wasn't really a shot at them taking something. I'm sure far more people are taking something on every team than get caught. I'm just surprised by the appeal that could affect eligibility for the playoffs.

I think both the Pats and Seahawks improved since that meeting. The Pats ended up losing by 1 point on the road against the greatest homefield advantage in sports. The question is if they were to meet again in the Super Bowl where it's a neutral field, do the Seahawks still win?

If I knew that, I'd be running my town wouldn't I?

I've seen good teams play bad, mediocre teams play well but I will say this much...It would not take until the 4th quarter for the Seahawk offense to wake up.

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

Depends on whether or not the Ref's allow them to and not give them bogus TD's...

As for the substance the Corners were taking.. Aderall.. There are other players in the league that have been using this as well..

Should be an interesting last few weeks especially when the 9ers come up here..

Are you talking about something the Pats got in that game or the Fail Mary in the Green Bay game?

Again, I don't care about the substance just about how they chose to face the penalties where one is allowing it to potentially rule him out for a playoff game or two. People don't really care about PED's in football like they do in baseball. I am sure that they weren't taking aderall.

 

[Tomlinson21RB]

If I knew that, I'd be running my town wouldn't I?

I've seen good teams play bad, mediocre teams play well but I will say this much...It would not take until the 4th quarter for the Seahawk offense to wake up.

All true, but have you seen this Pats defense since the Talib trade? It allowed them to play on decent cover corner, and move McCourty to a position that better suites him at safety. The numbers don't lie. I can't find the stat myself but heard it being discussed on the radio yesterday. The key defensive state in the NFL right now is defensive QBR. If you have a competent offense (sorry Arizona), and can stop a quarterback you're a good team. All the teams in the league that are good are at the top of the defensive QBR ranks, except the Pats at 21. If you only look from the Talib trade on they're 8th. If you take out the 2nd half of the Jets game when the Pats just stopped trying because they were up so much they'd be 3rd. I think it might take until the 4th quarter for Seattle's offense to get going if they meet again.

 

[westerngac]

its amazing that:

- he only has one auto'd RC
- Topps XXXX the bed and failed to issue a RC for him

????

 

[westerngac]

I don't care if they lost 3 games....look at their offense and their (slightly) improved defense. The don't have Gronk and they put up 49 vs the Jets......When Hernandez and Gronk are healthy in the playoffs, who is going to stop them?

Honestly, I've always been a die-hard Pats fan, since the rookie year of Bledsoe. The year they went 16-0 and lost vs. the Giants, I was nervous in the Super Bowl. Last year, I was STILL nervous in the Super Bowl b/c they barely scathed the Ravens and the Giants front line. This year, they look too dominant. The have clicked mid-season. Unless some NFC clicks later in the season (like the XXXXing Giants), I don't see any team challenging the Pats for their 4th title.

BTW, Tom Brady is the greatest QB of all-time and the only debatable candidate is Joe Montana. But since I'm biased, it's Brady.

Well, I'd bet there are quite a few doubters on the west coast right about now, wouldn't you?

 

[Junior Griffey]

Still a lot of football to be played. This game is just odd so far.

 

[wheeler281]

This post season is gonna be insane.