Excellent Breakdown By Bedard Of The AFCCG Loss

[chevss454]

He goes into specifics as to what went wrong and who was at fault. One thing that bothered me was Cole defending Boldin. I couldn't understand why the smurf CB was defending him. Finally after the damage was done Wilson was brought in but it was too late. He mentions that and a lot more in this studied unemotional look at the loss.

http://www.boston.com/sports/footbal...03I/story.html

[patfan64]

Excellent analysis.

I hate losing these big games.

I heard Shaugnessy on WFAN yesterday saying that the Pats are hurt playing in the weakest division in football. 6 layups a year doesn't make them tough down the stretch.

He also said that cupcake matchups in the playoffs against Denver last year and Houston this year didn't help. Last year's Ravens game could have gone either way (and probably should have gone to Baltimore according to Dan).

This team is still a great team and I hope they address the secondary and need at WR in the offseason.

[HSanders]

Wow that was an excellent read, thanks Chevss. I agree on Wilson. I was thinking it was like starting Tracy White vs Fletch in SB 46.

[midgar8784]

Originally Posted by patfan64

Excellent analysis.

I hate losing these big games.

I heard Shaugnessy on WFAN yesterday saying that the Pats are hurt playing in the weakest division in football. 6 layups a year doesn't make them tough down the stretch.

He also said that cupcake matchups in the playoffs against Denver last year and Houston this year didn't help. Last year's Ravens game could have gone either way (and probably should have gone to Baltimore according to Dan).

This team is still a great team and I hope they address the secondary and need at WR in the offseason.

Playing in a bad division does not make you worse, you either are or you are not a team ready to win it all. I did not know that the 12-4 Texans were a layup. Well the Arizona game should have went to us this year, and then we would have had first seed which means we would have played the ravens a week earlier so the sign would not have been up therefor not inspiring Ray and we win....

[mikiemo83]

Originally Posted by midgar8784

Playing in a bad division does not make you worse, you either are or you are not a team ready to win it all. I did not know that the 12-4 Texans were a layup. Well the Arizona game should have went to us this year, and then we would have had first seed which means we would have played the ravens a week earlier so the sign would not have been up therefor not inspiring Ray and we win....

i need to read this later but this guy is good.

True middy but tough opponents make you a tougher team. The physicality of it all is what the patriots miss. Not just physical toughplayers but mentally tough. Bruschi, Harrison, Law, Seymour, Cox, Willie Mac.... A. Smith and Clock killin' Dillon all had something this Boy Scout troop is missing. Maybe Talib brought a street tough mentality more than just his ability to cover. Tough teams have swagger. Brady is one of the toughest SOB's but looks like a model. The Oline has Mankins & Connolly. The defense has potential but after Vince and maybe Mayo who? Spikes? Complimentary inside 3/4 lb- tedy Johnson type not a true 3 down guy.

Team needs to punch people in the mouth, I tougher division would breed that mentality.

[midgar8784]

Originally Posted by mikiemo83

i need to read this later but this guy is good.

True middy but tough opponents make you a tougher team. The physicality of it all is what the patriots miss. Not just physical toughplayers but mentally tough. Bruschi, Harrison, Law, Seymour, Cox, Willie Mac.... A. Smith and Clock killin' Dillon all had something this Boy Scout troop is missing. Maybe Talib brought a street tough mentality more than just his ability to cover. Tough teams have swagger. Brady is one of the toughest SOB's but looks like a model. The Oline has Mankins & Connolly. The defense has potential but after Vince and maybe Mayo who? Spikes? Complimentary inside 3/4 lb- tedy Johnson type not a true 3 down guy.

Team needs to punch people in the mouth, I tougher division would breed that mentality.

The Patriots play 10 teams outside the division, I mean how many "good" teams are there actually in the league? I mean this year in the regular season, we played both teams in the superbowl, and 6 teams in the playoffs...not sure it helped.

[chevss454]

You'll never guess who wrote this very good article that puts this season into perspective.

Patriots lost, but they didn't fail The opposite of success in sports is not necessarily failure, as one local radio talk show host argued yesterday. That is only true if you don’t truly understand success and failure.
Failure, NFL-style, is Scott Pioli in Kansas City, not Bill Belichick in New England. It is Mark Sanchez in New York, not Tom Brady in Foxboro.
How about we get some perspective here, folks?



The Patriots, though defeated on Sunday, did not fail. The 2-14 Jacksonville Jaguars failed. The Patriots lost a football game. It’s not the same thing.
The opposite of success in a league as highly competitive and utterly unforgiving as the National Football League is defeat, but there is a vast difference between defeat and failure, at least some of the time. One of those times was Sunday night at Gillette Stadium.
Clearly Belichick and the Patriots were defeated by the Baltimore Ravens and whether you like it or not, it’s not because Wes Welker dropped a pass or Brady played fecklessly or Belichick chose punting over pugnaciousness. They lost because the Ravens are a better team.
How can such a blasphemy be uttered about an offense that put up a league-leading 557 points? How can one postulate that a team led by Ordinary Joe Flacco is better than one directed by Tom Terrific?
Simple. The Ravens are 2-0 this season against the Patriots, that’s how. The Ravens beat the Patriots on their turf and they beat them on their own turf. They beat them in a high-scoring game and they beat them in a low-scoring game. How many more ways do they have to beat them for people around here to stop denying the undeniable: If you lose to a team every time you play them in a given year, the other team is better.
Styles make fights and any time you face the Ravens that’s what it is, and when the Patriots are in that kind of fight their offense often comes unglued.
That’s the nature of offense . . . and defense.
Just as Joe Frazier would always give Muhammad Ali hell and Muhammad Ali would always defeat George Foreman and George Foreman would always knock out Joe Frazier, styles determine most fights’ outcomes. This year the Ravens had the style to beat the Patriots.
Frankly, they beat them last year, too, were it not that Lee Evans decided to start his victory dance before securing the victory and a kicker named Billy Cundiff stubbed his toe. Yet technically the Ravens weren’t better last year because they lost their last game. They may not be better next year either, but this season a team built around the thing that travels best in sports — defense — twice squared off with the Patriots and twice left with its collective hand raised.
If you beat someone every time you face them, you are many things. Inferior to that opponent is not one of them.
But there is a larger issue being debated at the moment, and that’s whether or not the Patriots’ season was a failure because their final game was a defeat. From this perspective that is as ridiculous as arguing a team that beat you every time it played you isn’t better than you are.
Unless you are a child or a football coach, just because you lost your last game in a given season doesn’t mean you failed. It may leave you feeling empty and disappointed. It may lead you to wonder what went wrong, and if you are not careful it could convince you that, as a friend of mine argued yesterday, “They’ll never win da Supahhh Bowl again wid Brady at quarterbaaaack!’’
My response was concise. “They sure won’t win one without him.’’
Brady had a tough day against the Ravens and he’s had days like that before. He had less than optimum performances in two Super Bowl losses against Baltimore’s NFC clone, the New York Giants, as well. As we said, styles make fights.
But to argue that a 12-4 season that ends one game from the Super Bowl makes you a failure is the kind of thinking that led the San Diego Chargers to fire Marty Schottenheimer in 2006 after a 14-2 season. How’s that worked out for them?
It is the response of a spoiled child, which a generation of Patriots fans have become. If you were, say, 15, in 2001 you’d be 27 today. In that time you’ve seen your team play in seven conference championship games and five Super Bowls. You’ve grown up thinking it’s your birthright that the Patriots hold the Lombardi Trophy, even though it’s been eight years since they last did it.
Sustained success results in one of two things: thankfulness or arrogance. It breeds appreciation or entitlement. Only you can decide where you fit but understand this: The 2012 New England Patriots didn’t fail to do anything but win their last game, a fate they will share with 30 of their peers by the end of Super Bowl Sunday.
In the NFL there is only one winner but that doesn’t mean there are 31 losers. Unless that’s the narrow way you want to look at it.

http://bostonherald.com/sports/colum...hey_didnt_fail

[HSanders]

Let me guess..."BB and the Patriots" "won't win a SB w/o TB?"=Borges.

[midgar8784]

Originally Posted by HSanders

Let me guess..."BB and the Patriots" "won't win a SB w/o TB?"=Borges.

If Borges wrote that the Patriots will not win a SB without TB, that would be the one of the only things I have agreed with him on in awhile.

[Roberto71]

I think people are over analysing....

Pats should have beaten the Cards and the Seahawks. They were a kick from beating the Ravens in Baltimore remember and in the SB last year were done by another Manning freak drive.

The NFL is insanely competitive with some of the best athletes in the world playing and some seriously talented coaches. That the Pats have been so consistent in a league that tires it's best to handicap the most successful teams via the draft etc, it's an astonishing success story.

Could things be better? Of course, things can always be improved. The teams needs a bit of bad ass at safety and an overall meaner edge in defense and also a genuine deep threat at WR. But there's precious little else you can say they need to do...

BB has taken a team that would 3 SB's with a team in it's prime, saw a truck load of players then retire or leave and yet in that rebuilding phase, he's kept the team compiling winning seasons year after year...

The AFC East is also not that easy...Yes, this year wasn't great with the other 3 teams, but the Jets prior to this years circus were a real threat, the Bills have been steadily improving and the Dolphins even are getting their stuff together now. This year we had to face the NFC West and the AFC South as well as facing the Ravens and Broncos. Hardly an easy season.

Next season we have to tackle the NFC South teams AND the AFC North....

It's never easy....Ravens, Steelers, Bengals, Saints, Falcons, Bucs...all good teams.

[midgar8784]

Originally Posted by Roberto71

I think people are over analysing....

Pats should have beaten the Cards and the Seahawks. They were a kick from beating the Ravens in Baltimore remember and in the SB last year were done by another Manning freak drive.

The NFL is insanely competitive with some of the best athletes in the world playing and some seriously talented coaches. That the Pats have been so consistent in a league that tires it's best to handicap the most successful teams via the draft etc, it's an astonishing success story.

Could things be better? Of course, things can always be improved. The teams needs a bit of bad ass at safety and an overall meaner edge in defense and also a genuine deep threat at WR. But there's precious little else you can say they need to do...

BB has taken a team that would 3 SB's with a team in it's prime, saw a truck load of players then retire or leave and yet in that rebuilding phase, he's kept the team compiling winning seasons year after year...

The AFC East is also not that easy...Yes, this year wasn't great with the other 3 teams, but the Jets prior to this years circus were a real threat, the Bills have been steadily improving and the Dolphins even are getting their stuff together now. This year we had to face the NFC West and the AFC South as well as facing the Ravens and Broncos. Hardly an easy season.

Next season we have to tackle the NFC South teams AND the AFC North....

It's never easy....Ravens, Steelers, Bengals, Saints, Falcons, Bucs...all good teams.

This....