Not that you all wanna here but anyways....

Let me start off by saying, I am not incapable of making a negative comment about TB. I agree that he is not what he once used to be. Its just that I dont think he is the main reason for our offensive collapses in the 4th quarter.

There are many variables involved in this process. First and foremost Bradys blindside protector for his WHOLE career retired last year. Mankins has been hobbled all year and we've had some young inexperienced linemen in there which def. effects execution down the stretch where you have to man up. These guys havent really done it together. Gronk and Hernandez have been hurt all year and Gronk inparticular has been really in pain every game I hear.

The other part of the offense I believe is still coming is the closer...Which I believe will eventually be Vareen. Did people just forget that Faulk is no longer here and how much of a factor he was in the 2 minute drill and being Bradys security blanket?? I believe Vareen will eventually fill this role and be very dynamic. You can tell they want to integrate him more but they are using him early so he can settle in but we saw early in the Jets game what he can do. They need to speed up his growth and get him in there in crunch time as LBs cant cover him and he can break outside in the run game if they stuff the middle.

 

Now as far as the defense I dont really have all the answers because there is a lot of questions but watching MNF last night I heard Gruden say something that stood out. The Bears were on defense on 3rd down and Gruden said "The Bears have 4 new subs on the Dline and are ready to get after it"  and BOOM, Stafford is sacked within a couple seconds.. and I got to thinking. ...you know what the Pats DO NOT rotate their Lineman....EVER!  I can recall thinking to myself last year that Vince played a lot of snaps. He is a big dude and he and Kyle are in there ALL GAME! along with the others. Only when Love got hurt did I get to see another lineman Deaderick come on but where is our depth??  I mean I know Vince is important but if we have no other lineman that can play why keep em? We are probably collapsing in the 4th due to our lineman playing all game and having nothing left to rush the passer. Only wrinkle we have is bringing on Cunnignham as a DT  in passing situation but never have we made wholesale subs or given a guy some rest and I think B.B. needs to chill with that and let some guys rest up for the 4th. Now Vince wont make excuses and im sure he wants to be out there every play but its dum if u ask me... I mean there is plenty of time in passing downs for him to rest up.

 

McCOurty plays all special teams along with starting. We have noone else to return kicks??

 

Oh well thats my 2 cents. I think subbing Dlineman on D and not having the same horses on offense combined w/ no Faulk and a new coordinator with something to prove and Brady looks like he is declining. The only thing im willing to admit is that he sometimes look for the big play instead of taking what the D gives him and I put that on B.B. He knows his defense s*cks and asks T.B. to score every drive and I think TB feels that pressure to score to win because our defense is a doormat.

 

Also, scrap the Cover 2 zone...I dont mind cover 3, but cover 2 is poison for this defense... thats all

 

Thoughts?

This post has been removed.

In response to Mighty2013's comment:

Not the dreaded killer rabbit!

I really don't understand our secondary.  There seems to be no middle ground.  Either they are in excellent coverage or a guy is wide open.  This past Sunday I felt like every pass from Sanchez was either a checkdown because of good coverage down the field or a pass to a wide open receiver.

I think everytime Arrington was targeted his guy was WIDE open.... thats the weak link right now..

Doesn't seem to matter who it is. When the Pat's are in cover 2 the reciever seems to find that soft spot between the corner and safety.

It is hard to tell but either the corners aren't getting a deep enough drop or the safeties are playing to deep for that coverage.

In response to pcmIV's comment:

The question could be on any play where a guy is wide open... How good was the Pass Rush on that play? If they had no or little rush was the guy wide open after 3 or 4 seconds if so it is on the pass rush not DBs.

to keep it short...

I think with Josh coming back has really been the problem.  Seems like he wants to make his own mark on the offense and they are still trying to find what that is.  He tries to get too cute sometimes and then when it doesn't work he goes vanilla and gets to predictable.  I think we gave him too much credit for last time he was here.

On D, they need to play more man, I hate the big holes the zone creates.  Also it seems like Vince could rush the passer more, instead he seems to drop back a lot into what looks like short pass coverage.  Give that stuff to the LB's and rush Vince hard every passing down.

On paper I like this team but they just don't look like they have it together out there.

As an outsider looking in, I see a team that plays not to lose, not a team that takes risks to make sure they win. When they are behind late in the game, they pressure the QB on D and blitz and take some chances. On O they push the D and make them react to their plays and also they take what the D gives them. Short passes, runs whatever the D thinks they will do they do the opposite.

When we are ahead we play it safe and this allows our players too much time to think and not just react, this makes them slow and predictable.

BB and coaches need to call plays that will allow people to use their hearts and emotion to make a play and win the game. I think the D and the Dbacks play worst when they are trying to not make a mistake, instead of trying to force an error....

I would like to see them play 60 minutes as if they were down 2 touchdowns, no matter the score.

The intensity and passion seems to be missing....

Brady is just fine in late crucial drives if he isn't getting sacked, having balls dropped or having receivers take unbelievably stupid penalties.

good assesment bilbo. I would also like to see the D be more agressive. Nothing worse than a passive secondary. it only takes one second of indecision to get burnt and thats why with a young group u play agressive. It takes a veteran group to play bend but dont break and thats why those guys are lost back there. B.B.'s problem is he knows too much. He studies offenses and tries to cover everything and ends up exposing more for us. I remember when we used to be able to tell early in a game what the Pats were taking away from the offense and now it seems like they just give up everything to anyone open. Weve lost our way on defense and still win games here n' there but for years WE HAVE NO IDENTITY ON DEFENSE and its really showing now..

if there is no pressure on the qb, the qb can make any secondary look foolish, espescially a secondary like the patriots'.

Aliens?

In response to pcmIV's comment:

In response to SCH81's comment:

When have they ever been "excellent" in coverage?

 

To all:
SCH81 can't post in the "Your post" area like the rest of us, so you'll find his posts in the "Headline" area.