This team is playng like a middle of the league team so far, the result of having a very talented offense, talented front 7 on de and poor coaching to this point.

imagine for a moment, if the jets staff had teh pats team and we had the jets players.

 

I think it is possible that we overrated the offensive talent. Don't all of the top teams have multiple weapons at skill positions? 

The defense is definitely a different issue. I think we all agree that the front seven is pretty solid, but with expection of Jones aren't they all better against the run? Is that the best stragety in a league where all but three teams pass more than they run (and almost half of the league passes 60% of the time).

"Talented front 7"

Who says this front 7 is talented. The front 7's talent is only on paper.

The front 7 only looks talented on paper because five of the seven players came in the first two rounds of their respective drafts.

In my opinion, this is a below average front 7. Why?

1.They can't cover intermediate routes. Mayo and Spikes are consistently beat in coverage.

2. They can't consistently pressure the QB.

 

This is a passing league. You need to be able to do at least one of those things. This team can't do either. Maybe 10 years ago this is a talented front 7. This is a below average front 7 in my opinion.

Keep in mind we did lose the 3 games by 4 points total. But it is hard to envision winning a SB with a D like this and a Jeckle/Hyde running game along with underacheiving receivers. But then, who is really elite? Every team has shown they can lose to a ho hum opponent except Atlanta, who has had a pretty easy schedule so far.

In response to dapats1281's comment:

I would not say they are below average. I think this front seven has some talent. I think Mayo, Spikes and Wilfork are top NFL talent versus the run...  Jones is the only guy out there who is a plus defender against the pass. 

If I were an OC in against the Patriots, I would have my QB audible to plays that force Mayo and Spikes into coverage every play until the Patriots had to take them off the field. As good a Spikes is versus the run, he is liability on passing downs.

In response to FrnkBnhm's comment:

"I think it is possible that we overrated the offensive talent. Don't all of the top teams have multiple weapons at skill positions? "

no. look at teh jets.

In response to dapats1281's comment:

agree on 1 and 2. however, i disagree we dont have talent there. yes we could add a stud coverage lb (most teams in the league dont have)

In response to BabeParilli's comment:

"Keep in mind we did lose the 3 games by 4 points total."

yes, that we should have wono easily if better called games.

add we should have lsot his game, but for the jets handing it to us.

In response to FrnkBnhm's comment:

cant argue with that

outcoached by lesser teams all year.

Jets 8-for-15 on third down and Mark Sanchez completed 68 percent of his passes when he came into the game as a sub-50 percent passer.  

after the game, Bill Belichick said, “I think we’ve improved every week” after a performance like that against a team that was totally outgunned? It didn’t seem rooted in reality.

if it's not sanchez, how many points do they beat us by.

stephen hill  drop. again more points.

In response to bredbru's comment:

The Jets are not a top team. Look at the top receivers on the Patriots, I think teams like the Falcons, Packers and Saints have similiar groups. Which gets to the next point, how much does have a better fourth, fifth and sixth option on offense really help?

I think the Pats have issues on both sides of the ball. I think the defensive issues much bigger than the offensive ones. The have been more pervasive for longer...

In response to FrnkBnhm's comment:

overrated gronk, hern, welker, ridley, bolden vereen, brady, fells, shiancoe on the bench till hes healthy, no. lloyd yes. usually great catches but no seperation most of the time.

 

offense problems 80% O.C.

offensive line needs some help too.

 

 

 

In response to FrnkBnhm's comment:

"more pervasive for longer."

points again to coaching

dennard and dowling not as bad as mcc and arr., so that was nice to see. tehy are actually able to compete for the ball at times.

In response to bredbru's comment:

I've never been a fan of BB's on the job training amateur yes men he puts in coordinator jobs. He just doesn't want to hire the best experienced guys for fear of less control I guess. So I can't disagree with this from you.

 

In response to BabeParilli's comment:

glad someone else sees it. it's an emotional shortcoming (of bb's)

I Believe in BB and I love his coaching style, but he has now built a very insular coaching staff that is like the old royalty families.... too much inbreeding. We use to come out of half time with a new improved game plan and make other teams weaknesses our strengths. Now we play the same throughout the game, try not to lose....

BB needs to instill passion and emotion back on this team. Football is an emotional game. We need the fire. We see flashes of this but when everything is trying to be controlled, you can't allow the emotional piece. BB needs to cultivate the emotion and let loose some of the control. Let players show emotions in interviews, let them play instinctually a bit and make a play, let them use their god given talent instead of applying a technique.

Good Skill + Good Coaching + Good Planning + Good Play Calling + Passion = success

Coaches and players need to stop playing to "not lose" and instead, play to kill the opponent. We are missing that passion and that fire on both sides of the ball. You have to allow people a little freedom to show they are champions. Every team has good coaches and good skills, they need passion and desire to push them over the top. Right now we are missing the passion and the fire. Coaches need to push back on Bill and take a few risks to win the game. Bill can't do it all because even if he is the best he is still only one person and eventually he becomes the gate that stops growth.

We have a system that provides wins every year and works well, we need to push it to provide excellence and championships. We need that edge back.

We did win yesterday , right? 

Can we focus on positive things?

 

You said so much with this thread's title.  Summed up the current idenity of this team well.  Yes, the Pats won yesterday. Barely- and once again let the opposition come roaring back in the 4th quarter. I know the debate will rage on- on who is literally dropping the ball. Offense/defense/ secondary/ oline/ pass rush/ and on and on.

Glad you added the coaching here. I have to say... there have been so may head scratchers on play calls this year- it's perplexing.  Forget the team finding their chemistry what on gawd's green earth is going on with coaching this season?

The Pats finally won a game without scoring more than 30--but they had to put up 29 to do it.
Yes, the offense could (and arguably should) be better, and is not cashing in the way we might want.
But really, when the offense has to put 30+ on the board every week to compensate for the defense, that's asking a lot.
Say what you want about Brady's skills, or what the offense misses out on, but with a porous defense that requires the offense to post at least 30 every week, the offense has to play like it's behind all the time.

This post has been removed.

Then let me correct myself--the team has to come up with 30 to win.

But it's not because the offense is allowing the other team to score that much.

The only issue with this team IMHO is a cpnsistent pass rush. Early in the game there was no pass rush and Jets moved the ball. Later in game when they had a pass rush they did not do as well. Pass rush always makes DB look good.

 

Question Did Ninkovich play in the first 3 periods? Man in the 4th and OT he looked like he got a dhot of adrennalin and played like a man possesed!!!!