Well, think about this: -Chad Henne threw for 400 plus yds, and 2 Td's and ran for 59 yds -Colombo was not an issue -Did the Pats punt once>? -Reggie Bush looked great. -so did Fasano The defense was just terrible, shockingly so, no way anyone saw that coming, and the secondary did play poorly, but the entire D played poorly, before dumping it all on the Db's, there was no passrush, on a wholistic level the defense as a unit failed to perform.
I have to admit I was shocked that the defence was so bad.I still can't believe how the Patriots O line dominated.
I'm really not down on our defense as much as everyone else. There was definitely some chaos in the 2nd half when New England was running the no-huddle and there was the blown gamble on Welker's 99 yard TD. Brady's 500 yards was, IMO, 80% due to the patriots ability and gameplan, and 20% due to screw-ups by the defense. Not that I'm happy, but this is the best I've felt about a loss in a long time. If our offensive output shows what we saw last night consistently, this will be a fun team to watch (been awhile). Our defense will settle down.
I cannot figure out why they were so bad though, it was as if the entire D just came out flat and played like spectators. Doubt they play that poorly again, but MNF, at home, intra division game, and it looked like a scrimmage in terms of intensity
How about they, especially the secondary are overrated? that could have alot to do with it... Vontae Davis wow man....rough morning for that guy, he was repeatedly beat like a drum by scrubs.....
Billy B had a long time to game plan against us, and he handed Nolan a beating, Nolan had no answers for the formations and the hurry up, he was schooled in the coaching department.
Front page of nfl.com has a picture of (you guessed it) Tom Brady, but behind him, Cameron Wake is being held. Enraging.
They were not in shape, period. Don't care what anyone says. Huddle or no-huddle, sun or no sun.....in a 60-minute ballgame, you expected this defense to have more than 1.5 series in it. They consistently lost the 1-on-1 matchups up front, the tackling -- especially from the back 7 -- was atrocious and the secondary was bewildered and cramped up. That will happen when you're not in shape, though you'd expect to see a little more awareness in the secondary.
He needs to start lobbying the officials on field like others do. Its hard to tell from TV coverage, but I never see him showing any frustration to the officials about being held or no calls. Maybe he needs to start going down when being held to try and sell the call more, I know that's not his style because the guy is just a high motor player with pride in his ability, but hell, 10 free yards is better than not getting there because you're being held.
This is really well said Muck. The only issues with the defense I have are these--poor conditioning & poor tackling. The Patriots had a wonderful game plan and executed it perfectly. I mentioned also that this is what Patriots, Jets, & Bills fans must have felt all those years when facing Marino. You're looking for blame on players they're targeting, the scheme, the personnel team all this stuff. When, really, you're playing against one of the greatest players in the history of the game. Sometimes you've got to give credit where it's due and say, they flat out beat us. Not from what we didn't do, but from everything they did do. The conditioning was an issue all night and I hope that we aren't careless enough to wear Aqua again on Sunday. It does add a little value towards us.
There is no way I am putting this on the officiating. We got our butts kicked on defense and there is no getting around it.
I am not either believe me, but Wake gets held ALOT, and it isnt called ALOT.... It started last year...
Especially after Davis ran his mouth in the media about how great he and Smith are... Maybe he caught something from Crowder?
The gushing over Solder was uncalled for. There is uncalled holding in all NFL games consistently but it did seem as though Solder was holding Wake on nearly every other play. There was one play where Brady rolled out and Solder had his whole arm around Wake's neck. Wake had his hands in the air waiting for the refs to throw the flag and Brady just threw it away with no call. Keep in mind that Brady makes the NFL alot of money and it's in the league's best interest to keep him on the field. I'm not one to throw out a conspiracy theory but to say that the refs are not calling holding against the big money makers for the NFL is not a reach.
defense is going to be behind the first week or so, but I have faith in Nolan. we know this defense can perform well, they'll come around. if our offense continues to play like this, I'm satisfied. there's no shame in losing to the pats, they're a well oiled machine. If our d comes out next week and performs well, I'll give them a pass for week one. our running game worries me more than anything, but we won't be running into wilfork and haynesworth all season.
I'll be the first to admit that the defense came out flat and got beaten in MANY aspects of the game. NE was the better team. BUT...there were ALOT of blatant holds that didnt get called against wake. The "highlights" in the early part of the game showing Solder "beating" wake were all pretty borderline. I'd call at least one of them a hold, but in the sake of being objective we'll say they were clean. Nonetheless...it tells me you gotta start watching him as the game grinds on and players tire down. It didnt happen. There were multiple plays where Wake was getting turned around, wrapped up, etc. Even so - the rest of the line was failing to get any pressure. And I probably don't need to keep banging the drum about the secondary. We all saw that. I don't think the sky is falling. In fact, I'm pretty happy about the game overall just based on Hennes performance. One last thought - special teams still needs work. The average return on kick off was putting them near the 30, and us near the 15 I'd say. No good. Thats a big swing over the course of a game.
there is no other reason they lost so bad other than they put no pressure on Brady...simple as that...any QB will make plays in the NFL with that much time...
