It’s Day 4 of the Patriots postmortem, an annual act of inspection and introspection submitted by the Foxborough Faithful after the season ends without the hoisting of the Lombardi Trophy, as it will for the eighth straight time.
The winter of discontent kicked off the moment the final second ticked off the Gillette Stadium clock last Sunday. Every aspect of the Patriots’ 28-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game, from the play of quarterback Tom Brady to the conservatism of coach Bill Belichick, has been debated, dissected, and lamented on sports radio, in bars, and around water coolers.
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It's also time for a thorough look at the entire coaching staff. That includes strength and conditioning.
Brady will be 36 in August I believe, the clock is ticking!
The offense, like you say, is basically fine. I'm not worried about us scoring points. But the major reason we've won ANY superbowls is defense, and since the old guard (Bruschi, Vrabel, McGinest) left/retired, we've been an offense-first team that can't win the big games. Look at the 2001 Pats - the underdog team going against the offensive juggernaut of the 2001 Rams and shutting them down, doing just enough to win. You don't have to score 50pts a game if you can hold the other team to 10. I would like a deep threat receiver, but that's about it on offense. The Pats and Brady were always better at short passing and YAC. We need a real, top-tier defense if we're going to win again. Our last three painful losses were all to shut-down defenses (Giants twice, Baltimore once).
As an aside, when was the last time Brady executed a game-winning drive with 1-2 min left on the clock? I feel like it's been way too long.
Yes, but in all of those losses, our defense certainly played well enough to win. it was our offense that got shut down. In other words, what works well in the regular season doesn't necessarily work well in the playoffs. We now prove this every year. To be a championsip contender, yes, we need a shut down big corner (maybe it's Talib?) and a tough, hard nosed safety that can cover, and maybe another pass rusher to compliment Chandler. On offense we would need a big, strong wide out that can make Gronk an even bigger threat, A running back that is more reliable than Ridley and I'll go ahead and say it, we ned to think about grooming Brady's replacement NOW. TB looked like a scared puppy out there against the Ravens and I've seen that look on him more and more lately in big playoff games. He's got three rings and a supermodel on his arm and he plays that way in these games now. I'd like to see a Kaepernick, Wilson or RG3 type QB that can open the field up. Most of all we need to grow a pair in big games and hit back when hit. The Ravens game was an embarressment.
I agree that the defense has many holes in the secondary, but is otherwise sound. We also finished I believed 9th or 10th best in the league on points allowed. Although they let up 28 points to the Ravens, turnovers created short fields and a tired defensive unit. All of the other playoff losses since 2006 have been because the offense was shut down by pressuring Brady, giving him lots of different looks and by hitting us with tough, physical playoff football. In all those games the defense played well enough to win. Look it up. The teams that have beaten us are like the team we used to be prior to 2006. We are no longer capable of winning playoff football games against tough, physical teams. We are built to win our division, score a lot against weaker teams, and fill the seats at Gillete Stadium. To make us a championship contender would involve a major overhaul of the offense more so than the defense, as crazy as that may sound.
Tweaking the roster, making changes here and there is one thing, but to say that the way or philosophy of the Patriots, aka Belichick is flawed or wrong-headed is another, and I disagree with Gasper on this point--because what has been the approach of Belichick has not been a failure, not when the Patriots have twice reached the Super Bowl and come within a play or two of winning the championship, i.e. being the "best" of 32 teams, and in almost all of the other years have won their division and mostly won at least one playoff game. If that is the definition of "failure" then every year 31 teams and their approaches are failures and I don't buy that, not to mention that overall during the last decade that would be to say that all 32 teams have been failures, to wit, to play in the NFL is to be a failure. Not in my book. Add some impact players on defense, defensive backs and pass rushers if you can, yes, and add, perhaps, a deep threat on offense, yes, but overhaul the overall approach, no. Is Gasper saying the Baltimore's approach is the correct one? Come on, Baltimore wouldn't have even been playing the Patriots in the AFL Championship if a Broncos defensive back or two hadn't made a colossal mistake. The Giants approach is the correct one? Hey, didn't they fail to even reach the playoffs twice in recent years? And so on and so on.
Need: Better pass rusher(s). Better pass defender(s). To think about a younger, more agile quarterback. There, I said it.
I use to hate Pollard who took out Brady a few years back then Gronk last season. Now he knocked Ridley for a loop. But I now wish the Pats had Pollard or a player like him.
Brady this year has led his receivers into far too many painfull hits in order to get rid of the ball. Brady has consistently thrown the ball low to an open Lloyd all year causing Lloyd to dive or go down in hopes of catching the pass. Wouldn't be surprised in the least to see Welker playing for the Ravens next year, he may live longer........ The errant passes are not an aberration, they have become all too frequent.........Time waits for no one.
Exactly! I kept fuming every time Brady threw to Lloyd because he never seemed be on target. In fact, I wondered if it was intentional, because Brady certainly was on target with some receivers, particular his running backs. Maybe he felt he could throw further from coverage to his receivers because, well, they were primarily receivers and not running backs? I thought about that, but without any evidence, it's just a thought, and maybe you are right. Brady is losing his passing edge. On the other hand, the Patriots did not rack up the points during the regular season because he missed most of the time.
I'm more concerned with Talib's ability to stay on the field (injuries) than his off-field escapades. He's a big risk.
Defense: Headed in the right direction. Like the pick of of Armstead from the CFL. He looks like he could have a Cameron Wake type impact. Resign Talib if the money is right. Obviously beef up the secondary, and a cover LB wouldn't hurt.
Offense: Let Welker go. I think having some new receivers to work with will benefit him. He's been weak on the deep ball for the last few years, and I don't think the loss of Randy Moss is the the only reason. Maybe losing his binky will force him to work on that aspect of his game. Use Hernandez in the slot, and you can still have two very productive TEs in Ballard and Gronk (once he's healthy). Let Demps return kicks.
This team is on the upswing. The defense is young and improving. The offense could shed a little age, and add a little speed. Mostly I think building the secondary, getting a little o-line depth, and drafting a good WR will handle the roster issues.