Stilla's rant

[Stilla]

So this draft has concluded, and as usual BB is scrutinize about the picks. It was even claimed that BB's son has had more influence on this draft, than even the great Ernie Adams. If you want conspiracy, it's more likely that Ernie has more influence over players selection than even Bob Kraft.
Lets forgo a little history from 2012.
1) The Patriots ranked first in the league with a turnover margin of +25.
2) We had 20 interceptions. Our opponents had 9
3) We forced 37 sacks, our opponents had 27.
4) We forced 30 fumbles, our opponents had 12.

We are winning in statistics that mean the most. Add that we had 444 first downs, (best record,) and scored 557 points (3rd best.) and let's not forget the butt fumble. (classic nfl play that will forever live on.)

People boast like we witnessed a failure of a season on defence. I agree that I would love to see a 3 man front, a more aggressive play book, and a leading pass rusher. But we dominated the turn over ratio, with our team. Those DBs and Lb are pretty oppertustic.
Lets add that we are one of the youngest teams in the league. Um, we went to the afc championship last year and we were in the superbowl the year prior. I would say that's a quick team rebuild from the days of Teddy and Harrison.
How about giving our team the benifit of learning the NFL system. We are so young, it's amazing that the stats above are even true.

 

[Pewsterbaby]

That's a rant in your book? Man, talk about mild-mannered. Mus' be Amish er sumpthin'. Ya want sum edge, gimme call.

 

[Brady2Moss]

As BB would say, stats are for losers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t-r2HASo5M

 

[Stilla]

If you could rewrite what I said so it offended people, then I would enjoy it greatly.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

So this draft has concluded, and as usual BB is scrutinize about the picks. It was even claimed that BB's son has had more influence on this draft, than even the great Ernie Adams. If you want conspiracy, it's more likely that Ernie has more influence over players selection than even Bob Kraft.
Lets forgo a little history from 2012.
1) The Patriots ranked first in the league with a turnover margin of +25.
2) We had 20 interceptions. Our opponents had 9
3) We forced 37 sacks, our opponents had 27.
4) We forced 30 fumbles, our opponents had 12.

We are winning in statistics that mean the most. Add that we had 444 first downs, (best record,) and scored 557 points (3rd best.) and let's not forget the butt fumble. (classic nfl play that will forever live on.)

People boast like we witnessed a failure of a season on defence. I agree that I would love to see a 3 man front, a more aggressive play book, and a leading pass rusher. But we dominated the turn over ratio, with our team. Those DBs and Lb are pretty oppertustic.
Lets add that we are one of the youngest teams in the league. Um, we went to the afc championship last year and we were in the superbowl the year prior. I would say that's a quick team rebuild from the days of Teddy and Harrison.
How about giving our team the benifit of learning the NFL system. We are so young, it's amazing that the stats above are even true.

You can definitely argue that the reason for the high interceptions was because teams knew they had to throw the ball 50 times for a chance to outscore Brady. How many games has the defense really stepped up with a turnover against a good team when it mattered most?

I can recall so many times during the championship years when the defense won games. Whether it was a pick-six, a huge stop, a forced fumble, they would always come up big with the game on the line. The new Patriots defense plays its worst when the pressure is on. Two minutes remaining up by 4 on the road? Forget about it. No chance. The offense scores under 20 points? Roughly a 20% chance that we win the game. If the offense doesn't come out and bury the opponent, we typically lose the game, unless it's at home against a slug.

And beyond that, we've had it incredibly easy against opposing QBs the last few years. Next year: P Manning, Roethlisberger, Brees, Ryan, Newton, Flacco, Dalton, Schaub. Eight good quarterbacks on the schedule that are capable of beating us. We've been incredibly lucky to play the likes of Sanchez, Henne, and Fitzpatrick twice the last few years. I sure hope this team learns how to shut down passing games before the window has closed.

 

[nabwong]

Seriously, this D, even with all the statistics, is not a dominant D like the 49ers or Seahawks. Those teams bring pressure every single down. We on the other hand, don't or can't. I'm not sure which of the 2 is true. At least, we couldn't do it without talib.

 

[randomk1]

How's the winning the turnover battle been in the playoffs?

 

[reflexblue]

That's a rant in your book? Man, talk about mild-mannered. Mus' be Amish er sumpthin'. Ya want sum edge, gimme call.

Must be Ben Stilla

 

[Kontradiction]

How's the winning the turnover battle been in the playoffs?

Not very good, but they were shutting down the Ravens up until Talib leaving the game. Combine that with the non-existant pass rush plus the slow LB's, and the Ravens were able to get on the move. With health (which almost never happens for the back end of the defense) and an actual pass rush that's capable of not letting the quarterback watch "Gods and Generals" before having to look for an open receiver, we should see some improvements made with or without the turnovers. Belichick finally realized you can't have a defense that allows a ton of yardage and hope for turnovers or a red zone stop in the playoffs and is trying to do something about it. Good on him. He actually disagreed with what a lot of people around here were trying to sell back in 2011.

 

[DaBruinz]

Seriously, this D, even with all the statistics, is not a dominant D like the 49ers or Seahawks. Those teams bring pressure every single down. We on the other hand, don't or can't. I'm not sure which of the 2 is true. At least, we couldn't do it without talib.

Which is why he put the last line in. Our defense is so very young with the exception of Wilfork. They are learning and should get better. Yet, people on here whine and complain and such and don't give them the credit for what they did accomplish.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Not very good, but they were shutting down the Ravens up until Talib leaving the game. Combine that with the non-existant pass rush plus the slow LB's, and the Ravens were able to get on the move. With health (which almost never happens for the back end of the defense) and an actual pass rush that's capable of not letting the quarterback watch "Gods and Generals" before having to look for an open receiver, we should see some improvements made with or without the turnovers. Belichick finally realized you can't have a defense that allows a ton of yardage and hope for turnovers or a red zone stop in the playoffs and is trying to do something about it. Good on him. He actually disagreed with what a lot of people around here were trying to sell back in 2011.

Agree on both points. The Achilles Heel of BB's scheme is that elite playoff caliber offenses did not make those "mistakes" his scheme was predicated on exploiting. And a major reason they did not was ample time for a cool QB to progress on his reads rather than being under pressure to loft the ball out there. Also, the better RZ defenses were easily able to defend the aging smurf corps in the RZ with Gronk disabled. All points addressed somewhat in FA and the draft. Remains to be seen just how effectively.

 

[randomk1]

Not very good, but they were shutting down the Ravens up until Talib leaving the game. Combine that with the non-existant pass rush plus the slow LB's, and the Ravens were able to get on the move. With health (which almost never happens for the back end of the defense) and an actual pass rush that's capable of not letting the quarterback watch "Gods and Generals" before having to look for an open receiver, we should see some improvements made with or without the turnovers. Belichick finally realized you can't have a defense that allows a ton of yardage and hope for turnovers or a red zone stop in the playoffs and is trying to do something about it. Good on him. He actually disagreed with what a lot of people around here were trying to sell back in 2011.

My point exactly.


PS. Don't be knocking Gods and Generals. That and Gettysburg were great.

 

[Kontradiction]

My point exactly.


PS. Don't be knocking Gods and Generals. That and Gettysburg were great.

I'm not knocking it. It's just an hour and a half too long. Flacco watched that and "Heat" back to back in the AFCCG.

 

[GoWhalers]

Damn I love that butt fumble play. That one is right up there with the Leon Lett play.

One day in the future I'll be watching ESPN Infinity on my Google 3D glasses and that play will be shown in an NFL bloopers montage. I will drink my Soylent Green and smile.

 

[tonyto3690]

Our defense did well in the regular season because we played inferior teams, worse quarterbacks, and it just wasn't playoff football. We got turnovers.

In the playoffs it's a completely different game and those turnovers don't happen nearly as frequently. The problem with our defense is that it is reliant on turnovers to get stops. It can't just go out there and beat down an opponent and force 3 and outs like the Niners and Seahawks can.

And again in the playoffs, when the turnovers weren't handed to us, we got lit up, our offense was forced into 90 yard drives every series to score, and (consequently didn't score as much). People are dumb and like to claim WELL WE ONLY SCORED 17 POINTS.

The reason we only scored 17 is because we weren't getting gimme turnovers at half field like in the regular season (among other things).

We need to improve our defense. We can't rely on Mark Sanchez to give us 5 turnovers in a game against the Ravens, Niners, Packers, etc.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Look at the bright side. Our defense made Sanchez look decent to good at times (like those shots we occasionally have in golf). In turn this made Rex think he was better than he was and they extended his contract.

So, in the end, our porous defense nailed the Jets :rocker:

 

[Stilla]

I think it was a shock to everyone here that we were a top seed in the AFC the last two years.
If you look at the loss to the giants in the second SB. No one outside of NE fans had picked NE to win. We were picked to loose by almost every sports writer.

If I recall, sports writers spoke about how if there was ever a chance for any other team to win the afc east it was the 2010, 2011 seasons. Well that story came and it was long lost in 1 year.

It should be said that our team has over achieved. Not that we failed. Look at other young teams, none of them have a record that outshines our record. Do we have the ground work laid to pave way for future success? Yes.
Are there teams which tried to win the afc east, and got burned so bad they are rebuilding yet again? Yes.

We have a good team,we might over achieve, whats wrong with that? I think it says we are awesome!