In response to wozzy's comment:

Eli completed 75% of 41 passes.  That kind of makes their poor running game with more rushes, irrelevant.  Too bad the D couldn't keep him to his yearly average of  63%.

Those 5 extra passes he completed with the 12% increase might have made the difference in helping the D to get at least 1 3 & out.  Maybe more...don't ya think???  That's why they won, in conjuction with being on the field for 2/3rds the game.

Oh, and they weren't that much poorer in running.  If memory serves me they got 2/10ths per yard, per carry less.  That ='s  7.2 inches less per drive. Not significant especially when you consider they only needed a couple of yards to score on their last drive or a yard or 2 to convert downs.

Oh and teams pass when they want to score quickly, are behind or don't trust their D to hold a lead.  See Cards game when they abandoned  the run in the 4th qtr after scoring 9 whole points during the 3+ qtrs they were commited to the run.  Or are you finally admitting they passed a bit more in 2011 because the run didn't work?.

The Giants passed on 61% of their snaps in the Super Bowl and ran on just 39%. Wozzy keeps talking like they went ground and pound, but they ran 43 pass plays to 28 rushing plays (and one of those rushing plays was Manning taking a knee.)  That pass-run ratio is the same as the Giant's regular season ratio and actually slightly more pass-heavy than the Pats' regular season record.  

I simply can't understand why a pass-run ratio that is bad for the Pats is good for the Giants.  Maybe Wozzy is just a Giants fan.  I'm beginning to think that's it. 

 

In response to prolate0spheroid's comment:

We ran 10 less times. What does that say for us?

Go ahead, defend it.

Wozzy hit it again. 100% right.

When the NFL takes out Running the Football, then I'll agree with that the NFL is a passing league. I said it many times, its a mirage. That Football is just Passing the ball.

You need both, and one helps the other.  You absolutely need to run the Football, even if it's not working.  Heck, I want 5 + yards a carry too, thats not how the NFL works. Tough to get 3 yards.

You need that deception, if not your 1 dimensional.

In response to TrueChamp's comment:

It says our offensive line was getting beat to heck by the Giants defensive line.  That was the real issue.  Number of running plays was a symptom of that, not a cause.  

 

In response to BabeParilli's comment:

I see babe is stalking me again with idiotic whining about everthing I say. What Brady's passer rating has to do with how well Ridley performs in the winter I don't know. I guess this is an example of his vast football knowledge that a cliche based person like me doesn't know. I guess running the ball in cold weather is a cliche and isn't any different from running in good weather.  You can cut the same on frozen icy turf as you can on warm dry turf. The ball doesn't get hard and slippery either.

Babe....Human beings breath air. Time for you to show your superior intellect and tell me they breath dirt. Breathing air is just a cliche. Anything to disagree no matter how stupid you sound.

Wozzy,

 

Why do we try with these guys? We have brought back balance. Tommy had a tough time acclimating to being under center again for the 1st time in 5 years but that is over. Prepare for dominance. I even think we will run on Seattle despite their massive run stuffing front 7. At this point I would say the Pats are match up proof on offense. Been a long time coming! Go Pats...

In response to BabeParilli's comment:

Funny the Giant's runningbacks ran poorly in last year's Super Bowl, worse than ours in fact, but they still won?  That team kept running despite being held to fewer yards per carry and won.  Kind of shoots holes in that doesn't it.  Play action only works when the run is a threat, team only have to pass if the run isn't working.

Wozzy,

 

Why do we try with these guys? We have brought back balance. Tommy had a tough time acclimating to being under center again for the 1st time in 5 years but that is over. Prepare for dominance. I even think we will run on Seattle despite their massive run stuffing front 7. At this point I would say the Pats are match up proof on offense. Been a long time coming! Go Pats...

Imagine that! Planning your offense around the opponent's defensive strenths and weaknesses! It's a good thing Babe is here to tell us share his vast storage of new insights!

And then there's this gem..."In two of the three games we have played Brady threw more than 40 passes because the running stank."

If it weren't for Babe I never would have known you can have a 3 and 2 record by playing only 3 games.

Peyton back in the day could rip off 40 yards in the air like nothing.  That's a passing game, and it didn't particularly help Indy's D, except the D was much happier with a 21 point lead because they knew passes were coming.

BB built the Patriots around a dink and dunk passer, Brady, quick little receivers like Welker and Edelman, and huge targets like Gronkowski who don't have to be open 40 yards downfield.  So, the Patriots actually have two running games, one with the familiar running back, and the other where Brady zings in lots of high percentage short passes and then the receivers rack up wonderful yards after the catch.  Either way, the defense has to accept that an offensive lineman is likely to be downfield pancaking their free safety, and free safeties weren't made for that kind of constant punishment. Then when someone on the defense wears out, Brady picks on his substitute.

One great future predictor of a win is the number of running plays added to the number of successful passing plays in the first half.  Just throw out the incompletions and sacks. 

By throwing eight yard passes all day, the Patriots smash down the opponent's defense into hamburger (89 offensive plays in one game against Denver!). 

In response to glenr's comment:

Thanks for pointing out the misstatement. You get a gold star for that. Always the stickler for grammar mistakes, typos, spelling errors and all other inadvertent miscues others just let slide, aren't you Rusty? I repaired it.

 

Breaking news: Some here think you keep running no matter what the opponents defensive strength is. I know it's basic football, but then why don't some here learn to live with that fact.

In response to TrueChamp's comment:

We ran 10 less times. What does that say for us?

Go ahead, defend it.

In response to prolate0spheroid's comment:

It says our offensive line was getting beat to heck by the Giants defensive line.  That was the real issue.  Number of running plays was a symptom of that, not a cause.  

 

[/QUOT
You mean the offensive line that  is regularly voted top 5 in the league? The offensive line that just paved the way for 500 rusing yards, except plus Matt Light, a healthy Mankins, and a healthy Volmer? 

In response to prolate0spheroid's comment:

It says our offensive line was getting beat to heck by the Giants defensive line.  That was the real issue.  Number of running plays was a symptom of that, not a cause.  

 

[/QUOT
You mean the offensive line that  is regularly voted top 5 in the league? The offensive line that just paved the way for 500 rusing yards, except plus Matt Light, a healthy Mankins, and a healthy Volmer? 

I watched the game, here's how I remember it...

4 punts for the Giants, 3 for the Pat's.

2 turnovers by the Pat's offense, one of which resulted in points for the Giants, Giants had zero turnovers.

Eli 40 pass attempts, Brady 41 = same

Giant's RB's rushed 27 times / Pat's RB's 17 times = 10 more rushes despite less success

Giant's time of possession 37:05 to the Pats 22:55

If you don't think running the ball helped keep their offense on the field, control the clock, wear down and keep our defense off balance as well as keep Brady off the field than you're hopeless.  

The Giant's offense executed in crunchtime because our defense was exhausted.  Why?  

Our offense scored zero points in the 4th quarter.  Our D was on the field the entire 2nd half because our offense was anemic.  

The offense threw a pick to start the fourth quarter and on a first down play; the opposite of clutch.  

Despite that disastrous interception to start to the 4th our defense held the Giants forcing them to punt, our offense got the ball back two more times and did nothing until they dropped 3 straight passes to end the game.  Despite 3 possessions in the 4th the offense came away with zero points.

That's why they've switched back to a smashmouth offense, so they can get back to controlling the clock when need be, so they can execute a run or a pass under duress.  

The fact that the team is returning to it's old form is a testament to this and the fact that we're still arguing it is the dying gasps of the pass happy fantasy crowd refusing to acknowledge the obvious... they've been wrong for years.

 

 

In response to prolate0spheroid's comment:

One more thing -- running in the winter. Important since our most likely playoff games will be in cold weather outdoors. It also connects somewhat to your ball security question

In response to glenr's comment:

True. Cold ball...the thing is tough to grip in your hands, etc. We have a distinct advantage in that part of it though - our runners will be practicing in that weather starting somewhere in November. It doesn't mean they won't fumble, but it is a slight advantage over most teams and a huge advantage over a warm weather team.  

Wozzy,

 

Why do we try with these guys? We have brought back balance. Tommy had a tough time acclimating to being under center again for the 1st time in 5 years but that is over. Prepare for dominance. I even think we will run on Seattle despite their massive run stuffing front 7. At this point I would say the Pats are match up proof on offense. Been a long time coming! Go Pats...

In response to wozzy's comment:

Do you see the Gints had 10 more plays and 16 more minutes on the clock to score?

The pick to start the game was an O-line breakdown.

Eli completed 75% of his passes, because........?  Is he the bestest or was he playing aginst the Pats practice squad?

O scored zero points in the 4th which consisted of 2 whole flippin drives.  The Gints scored in both of theirs.  One of the Pats drive was 6 minutes and one 57 seconds.

The D was on the field for the whole game, not just the second half, because the D was enemic- not the O  The Pats averaged 2 minutes and 45 seconds per drive.  Do you know what they are averaging per drive at the moment.? ? ??  You might want to check that out before you  proclaim that running is the answer to keeping them on the field.

First downs are the key to keeping them on the field.  Those are usually achieved with execution and taking what the D gives you.   The Jints O was averaging 3+ a drive  and over 4 minutes for each one and they had a pretty easy job of it. Obviously.