Pats Went 1-4 to End Season. What Was The Cause of Implosion?

[Pats2000]

Pats need more speed on defense. They don't have the horses to keep up with all the fast players. Also they need a Vince Wilfork kind of nose tackle. Basically better athletes at the line and linebacker positions. They were getting blown off the point of attack every game for the last month. I dont know if that was guys getting hurt or just getting worn down by the end of the season, but that's where I saw the Pats fall consistently.

Offense is pretty good, we could win with this bunch. Mac needs to be better at getting to his deeper routes, he has guys open, but comes off then too soon to his check down. He'll get better at that in year two. So I think with minor tweaks this offense can be much better even with little personnel changes. It's more on Mac. Hopefully Smith makes s year two leap as well.

 

[Fatmancryin]

The coaching and decision making was pretty horrendous. I hope for starters Mayo goes. I don’t think he is as good a coach as being perceived. They had to know they lacked speed and sat Winovich and only played Uche 6 snaps. How do they both fall off the cliff so fast?

Roster management was pretty bad as well.

 

[sb1]

Not really man. They made the playoffs

I'd say they backed in to the playoffs. Finished 1-4 and none of the 4 losses were close. That's a collapse and that tends to get coaches fired if that happens to teams.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The team, especially the defense, just couldn’t hide its deficiencies anymore. I mean youve got miles bryant as your 3rd cb, honestly its amazing that our d even did as well as it did for that long.

I think judon’s disappearance was the main difference. Without him disrupting things up front this defense is essentially the sb52 defense with Hightower on ir and butler on the bench (since Hightower this year is essentially the crap we had behind van noy in 17). Your secondary is overall average at best and your run d /pass rush is weak. Barmore being limited and mills going out exacerbated that even more. We just didn’t have the personnel.

We need to add an impact player at each level this offseason. Look at what jcj, jonathon jones and hightower back did for the defense going from that game to 2018. We should have jones coming back but we need an outside cb, mlb, and preferably one more impact guy on the line to make this d legit. All this in addition to retaining jcj.

 

[Toofy]

Simple reason we had solid veterans play .. Brady, Gronk, Edelman, hightower, van Noy, mccourty , Gilmore , butler etc. In earlier years.

That number significantly reduced the last 2 years and the remaining veterans started getting old. Bill by being conservative went with ageing veterans like van Noy, Collins, hightower, mccourty instead of punting on Uche, Wino.

Now we lost a year where we could have possibly got them to grow into their roles .

The offense is not the problem. They have been able to fight out whenever given an opportunity. The defense flat out caved in when there was pressure .

Dallas , colts, bills (2 games), both dolphins game.

I hope we don't lose mcDaniels . His play calling might be blans but at least Mac's development did not get hindered. That's what we want from an OC in a rookie first year . Some soul searching into wr evaluation and defense coaching needs to be done. We need a new DC.

 

[Triumph]

No matter how bad the Pats defense played, they were always still ranked # 1. So the Pats cant be bad.

Despite Macs limitations, he was still in the running for OROY until the end. If a once in a generation WR like Chase didnt come along, Mac wins it. So, the Pats cant be a bad team.

 

[Ivan]

Looking at it from a purely analytical standpoint the reason they went 1-4 down the stretch was the Patriot fans who said mean things about the Colts blowing their 98% chance of making the playoffs with 2 games to go. But since most of those things were said after the regular season was over it was because the Colts knew we were going to say mean things about them. Accountability is a must in this situation, so I will take full responsibility for their losses, and the Patriots organization does not have to make any moves this off-season as it was all my fault. My apologies to everyone, especially the Colts.

 

[Ollie]

I don't think there was an implosion as we smashed the jags. We just played better teams where our mistakes and limitations were punished and exposed respectively. We are a middling level team with very specific weaknesses and a good team can take advantage of them. Our win streak was also matched by the D getting lots of turnovers.

 

[Kdo5]

Our whole offensive mindset this season just doesn’t equate to true success in the NFL. Teams can always load up to stop the run unless you have the likes of Derrick Henry. And we lived and died by the run with good but not great running backs.

Our defense was, again, a paper tiger. We dominated bad teams but just fell apart against true competition. Same story as 2019. Just like the run game, we were relying on a unit that wasn’t as dominant as we thought it was for stretches of the season.

We need an infusion of talent and better coaching. I’ll throw in a McDaniels criticism and ask why wasn’t Jonnu Smith involved in the passing game? I refuse to believe he was that bad where he was targeted around the same amount as guys like Dwayne Allen.

Lots of blame to go around. But the truth is…we were a decent team but they fooled us into thinking they were contenders during the middle part of the season which is why we are so disappointed.

 

[sb1]

The 2020 Pats were bad.

The 2021 team was all right. No real identity, nothing special or notable about them, tends to shoot themselves in the foot, they don't really suck at anything, not really elite at anything either but they're good at some things for sure - really just one of many teams in the league. Mostly well coached, has some good pieces to build on and also some real weaknesses in personnel that can be exploited with the wrong matchup and that's what happened in the last month. A one and done is fitting for the level of where we're at right now.

 

[Pats1971]

Our whole offensive mindset this season just doesn’t equate to true success in the NFL. Teams can always load up to stop the run unless you have the likes of Derrick Henry. And we lived and died by the run with good but not great running backs.

Our defense was, again, a paper tiger. We dominated bad teams but just fell apart against true competition. Same story as 2019. Just like the run game, we were relying on a unit that wasn’t as dominant as we thought it was for stretches of the season.

We need an infusion of talent and better coaching. I’ll throw in a McDaniels criticism and ask why wasn’t Jonnu Smith involved in the passing game? I refuse to believe he was that bad where he was targeted around the same amount as guys like Dwayne Allen.

Lots of blame to go around. But the truth is…we were a decent team but they fooled us into thinking they were contenders during the middle part of the season which is why we are so disappointed.

yeah I said this too. Even though I cant stand the idiot Bart Scott said something that made sense. Bill tried to turn back the clock and win with defense and run game and you can compete like that if you have good enough things in that area, but at some point your QB has to be special or its going to end in the way the game is played today.

 

[Satchboogie3]

It was less an implosion and more about facing good teams down the stretch. Heading into the Colts game, they had a stretch of beating up on terrible teams, the break of facing Tenn w/o DH, and eeking out a win vs Buffalo in the wind bowl. They were massively overrated at that point.

The pats were 7-0 vs teams with a losing record and 3-8 against teams with a winning record. Those 3 wins include a close win against Buffalo in with crazy wind that pretty much neutralized Buffalo's big edge, a good win against Tenn without DH (and when they weren't playing well, coming off a loss to Houston), and a close win again the 9-8 Chargers.

The last 5 games, 4 were against winning teams, 3 of which were playoff teams (2x BUF, Indy).

Looking at the stats, the Opponent averages the Patriots faced in 2021: 22.9PPG (16.5 rank), 22.8PPG allowed (15.4 rank), with 339 YPG (17.8 rank) and 336 YPG allowed (15 rank). The Patriots posted an average of 3.8 points and 15yds per game offense over what their opponent season averages allowed and -3.4 points and -18yds defense (negative meaning allowing less than their offensive average). So a little better than average.

In their 7 games vs losing teams: the Patriots posted 35.4PPG and 9.1PPG allowed. The average ranks of their opponents in PPG was 27.6 and 26 for offense/defense. The Patriots put up 9 PPG and allowed -8.7 PPG over their opponent averages.

in the 11 games vs winning teams: the Patriots posted 21.8PPG and 23.6PPG allowed. The average ranks of their opponents in PPG was 9.5 and 8.6 for offense/defense. The Patriots put up 0.5 PPG and allowed -0.1 PPG over their opponent averages.

The Patriots faced a cake-walk schedule, beating up on some of the worst teams in the league and got lucky a few times with their matches (key opponents out, weather, etc), and were average at best against teams with winning record.

7-0 vs sub .500 teams with an average record of 5-12
3-8 vs .500+ teams with an average record of 10.5-6.5
There's really nothing more to know. They were a vastly overrated team mid-season. They are what they are, a middle of the pack 10-8 team.

 

[SVN]

Credit to IceIceBrady for a great summary:
-----
"
In 2020 and 2021, their record in December/January against winning teams…the Patriots went into the end of season stretch at 6-6 and 9-4, expected to win or be competitive in each game.

2020
Rams 24, Patriots 3
Dolphins 22, Patriots 12
Bill 38, Patriots 9

2021
Colts 27, Patriots 17
Bills 33, Patriots 21
Dolphins 33, Patriots 24
(Postseason) Bills 47, Patriots 17

0-7 record
Average game has been a loss by 17.3 points.

My dad constantly chirps that:
A) The Patriots never get blown out.
B) Belichick is the best big game coach in football.
C) The Patriots always improve and are at their best in December/January."

---

These aren't the old Patriots. This is what it looks like with mediocre staff around BB.

So you why are you not asking for BB's head and always going "mediocre staff" ? According to you its his staff ,he hired and trained and picked.And he is the HC . So at least blame him if you want to .

 

[FCB02062]

4...I'll type it out...F.O.U.R.. of those teams watched the playoffs on the TV like we did this weekend. Indy lost to a team we hung 50 on. Its the NFL every week matters. But that is a ******ed list. Miami, Baltimore, SD er LA now, Oakland...I mean LV are not better rosters.

name 1 player on the Patriots that opponents must game plan for....I give you Lamar Jackson, j waddle, waller, Keenan Allen on those teams above....Pats have NOTHING that concerns other teams...the Pats have a roster that would be competitive in 2004

 

[p8ryts]

They just overachieved, but still thought they had a good chance to grab the #1 seed based on their schedule. They came back down to earth.

They need a game changing WR. Their group is pedestrian.

They need a star MLB and overall more team speed. They can’t defend mobile QB’s.

Better D line. They have been soft for many years.

This will be all hard to accomplish when the secondary is going to be a mess.

DEFENSE! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!!!!!!!!

 

[DropKickFlutie]

So you why are you not asking for BB's head and always going "mediocre staff" ? According to you its his staff ,he hired and trained and picked.And he is the HC . So at least blame him if you want to .

Because BB is the goat coach. Do you disagree ?

This is like 2005-2006 with mediocre staff around BB as well.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Late-season meltdowns becoming the norm for these Patriots

Curran: Late-season meltdowns becoming the norm for these Patriots

The Patriots used to peak at the end of the season, but in recent years they have wilted when the games have mattered most. As our Tom E. Curran writes in the wake of Saturday’s beatdown, the trend is troubling.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[TheRainMaker]

Because BB is the goat coach. Do you disagree ?

This is like 2005-2006 with mediocre staff around BB as well.

McDaniels isn’t going anywhere unless the offense starts getting worse. In fact, I think the reason he’s been so hesitant to leave is because he will be the guy when Bill steps down - your worst nightmare.

Defensively, we are stuck with Steve. Bill wants his son to succeed and climb the coaching latter, so I don’t see Bill taking away his responsibilities for another guy. Eventually, Steve will be officially named DC. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand it.

However, it seems like everyone wants the special teams guy gone.

 

[jmt57]

I'd say they backed in to the playoffs. Finished 1-4 and none of the 4 losses were close. That's a collapse and that tends to get coaches fired if that happens to teams.

I would agree - if it was a team on a downslide (such as Pete Carroll with the Pats, or Tony Dungy in Tampa) that appeared to underachieve relative to the talent on the team.

How many times has a team gone from missing the postseason to making the playoffs a year later resulted in coaches getting fired? The only one that comes to mind was a kneejerk reaction by the Chargers to fire Marty Schottenheimer, and they have never been as good since then.


You would have to consider the context. There was a rookie quarterback and more than the usual number of players in their first year with the team. Do you want the Patriots to be one of those franchises that fires everyone one year into a rebuild?

 

[DropKickFlutie]

McDaniels isn’t going anywhere unless the offense starts getting worse. In fact, I think the reason he’s been so hesitant to leave is because he will be the guy when Bill steps down - your worst nightmare.

Defensively, we are stuck with Steve. Bill wants his son to succeed and climb the coaching latter, so I don’t see Bill taking away his responsibilities for another guy. Eventually, Steve will be officially named DC. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand it.

However, it seems like everyone wants the special teams guy gone.

I think the defense over-performed given it was missing Jonathan Jones and had D-minus players in Godchaux and Bentley.

The offense routinely under-performed relative to the talent. Take away a couple beatdowns running up the score against the worst teams in the league and this offense was the weak link all year long. Had 3 total points going into the 4th quarter of the Buffalo game.

But yes, not fun when the nighmare increasingly becomes Patriot franchise reality. Imagine Norv Turner on the Redskins.