SUPER Wildcard Weekend Game Patriots @ Bills Gamete Thread - Saturday 8:15 PM

Obviously the defense couldn't have been worse in that game. It's even more disturbing to think they had game film to make corrections from the prior drubbing. You've got to look at coaching and game prep as a major culprit there. Whoever is calling the plays, it all falls on Belichick senior. It's his team, his roster, his defense, which looked entirely putrid twice vs your primary obstacle to any future success.

Or maybe look closer at personnel available. 1 starter CB + backup Bryant + Ross and Bausby from PS and the street, 1 starter MLB with a bum knee, Bentley went down in the 2nd qtr., Judon not right since Covid, Mills out with Covid, Dugger played well, DMac tried to cover up too much.
Not enough horses to play Man coverage.
LBs can't cover to play zone properly.
Front 4 couldn't stop the run.

Add it all up and it's a recipe for disaster.


View: https://twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1483228193758883845
 
Or maybe look closer at personnel available. 1 starter CB + backup Bryant + Ross and Bausby from PS and the street, 1 starter MLB with a bum knee, Bentley went down in the 2nd qtr., Judon not right since Covid, Mills out with Covid, Dugger played well, DMac tried to cover up too much.
Not enough horses to play Man coverage.
LBs can't cover to play zone properly.
Front 4 couldn't stop the run.

Add it all up and it's a recipe for disaster.
What are the excuses for week 16?
 
What are the excuses for week 16?

It may not fit your narrative but the Pats defense was a shell of what it was earlier in the season especially at CB, LB and S positions.
Take any team, when it loses 3 of its 4 CBs and a S, that team won't be able to compete. Simultaneously toss out or diminish by injury 3 of the best 4 LBs and that team is in serious trouble. The Patriots had Joejuan Williams and Myles Bryant starting at CB in a playoff game against a top 5 QB. What did you think was gonna happen?

Week 16? Similar issues only we had S Jalen Mills playing CB2 for us.

It's easy for superficial fans to look at poor results and not see the reasons for those results. It's easy for haters to see poor results and point at reasons as being "excuses".
Which one are you?

Here's a better question you should be asking. How did the Jags hold the Bills offense to 6 points in mild weather? Chances are you don't know that answer.

Here's your answer.
The Jags used Cover 2. Yes, that's right! Dungy's old fashioned Cover 2!!
They had a healthy starting secondary to play that coverage and allow their healthy starting LBs to be downhill players. All eyes were on Allen.
6 points.

The Pats didn't have their players healthy. Open your eyes and you will see.
 
Last edited:
Obviously the defense couldn't have been worse in that game. It's even more disturbing to think they had game film to make corrections from the prior drubbing. You've got to look at coaching and game prep as a major culprit there. Whoever is calling the plays, it all falls on Belichick senior. It's his team, his roster, his defense, which looked entirely putrid twice vs your primary obstacle to any future success.

Yup, after hearing you say Belichick is garbage for the 1000th time I'm coming around... Get rid of him now and let the Adam Gase era begin... :suicide:
 
Or maybe look closer at personnel available. 1 starter CB + backup Bryant + Ross and Bausby from PS and the street, 1 starter MLB with a bum knee, Bentley went down in the 2nd qtr., Judon not right since Covid, Mills out with Covid, Dugger played well, DMac tried to cover up too much.
Not enough horses to play Man coverage.
LBs can't cover to play zone properly.
Front 4 couldn't stop the run.

Add it all up and it's a recipe for disaster.


View: https://twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1483228193758883845

Oh you didn't hear? Yeah, apparently the coof is also Belichicks fault and it's his fault that players caught it and his fault that it took too long to recover...
 
So Steve Belichick was calling the defensive plays, I wonder if he's been doing it all season or just recently?
Pretty sure it was all season. If you go back to the Tampa game which was week 4, Bill credits him after that game with calling the plays.
 
It may not fit your narrative but the Pats defense was a shell of what it was earlier in the season especially at CB, LB and S positions.
Take any team, when it loses 3 of its 4 CBs and a S, that team won't be able to compete. Simultaneously toss out or diminish by injury 3 of the best 4 LBs and that team is in serious trouble. The Patriots had Joejuan Williams and Myles Bryant starting at CB in a playoff game against a top 5 QB. What did you think was gonna happen?

Week 16? Similar issues only we had S Jalen Mills playing CB2 for us.

It's easy for superficial fans to look at poor results and not see the reasons for those results. It's easy for haters to see poor results and point at reasons as being "excuses".
Which one are you?
I don't know. Label me as you wish.

It's just a fact that every team deals with injuries and COVID issues. The Titans lost Derrick Henry midway through the season and still got the top seed. No team has been hit with as many injuries as the Buccaneers and they finished with the best record record in the league and an MVP candidate.

At full health for both, the Bills are a better team than the Patriots, perhaps much better. The coaching staff has no answer specifically for Josh Allen. So the main reasons for the poor results vs the Bills are their personnel is better and they're outcoaching Belichick & sons.

Here's a better question you should be asking. How did the Jags hold the Bills offense to 6 points in mild weather? Chances are you don't know that answer.
Who cares? is my answer. It was a one-off fluke midseason. Allen's worst game of the season. The Jaguars are an awful team either way. The question that matters is how can the Patriots slow down Josh Allen? Because he just led 13 scoring drives out of 14 (the one stop at the NE 1) including 9 TD drives in a row.

Yup, after hearing you say Belichick is garbage for the 1000th time I'm coming around... Get rid of him now and let the Adam Gase era begin... :suicide:
I didn't say he's complete garbage. The coaching and game preparation vs the Bills in the last three contests that weren't played in a wind storm were complete garbage. The Bills averaged 39 points in those three games, that's not good.
 
I don't know. Label me as you wish.

It's just a fact that every team deals with injuries and COVID issues. The Titans lost Derrick Henry midway through the season and still got the top seed. No team has been hit with as many injuries as the Buccaneers and they finished with the best record record in the league and an MVP candidate.

At full health for both, the Bills are a better team than the Patriots, perhaps much better. The coaching staff has no answer specifically for Josh Allen. So the main reasons for the poor results vs the Bills are their personnel is better and they're outcoaching Belichick & sons.


Who cares? is my answer. It was a one-off fluke midseason. Allen's worst game of the season. The Jaguars are an awful team either way. The question that matters is how can the Patriots slow down Josh Allen? Because he just led 13 scoring drives out of 14 (the one stop at the NE 1) including 9 TD drives in a row.

Every team deals with injuries. Agreed. And when a team is decimated in their defensive backfield and LB corps with only 1 healthy body in each, most casual fans would think that team might not do so well against a top 5 NFL QB. Understandable, no?
At full health the Pats were 1-0 vs the Bills.
With diminished health the Pats were 0-2 vs the Bills.
The day McDermott outcoaches BB will be a cold day in hell.

I don't care about the Bucs and their injuries as they relate to the Patriots and our injuries. Why bring them up? There's a separate forum for them.

The Titans used 91 different players, most in the NFL, this year because of injuries. Vrabel did a masterful job keeping that team together.

Let's see how the Bills offense does against a team with healthy DBs and LBs. They didn't do so well against the Jags but you choose not to acknowledge that little fact.
 
The day McDermott outcoaches BB will be a cold day in hell.
Belichick has the better career resume obviously but it seems fairly certain that McDermott outcoached Belichick in that wild card game. The Bills scored a touchdown on literally every drive. The first half alone they drove 70, 80, 81 & 89 yards for touchdowns. The team simply was not ready to complete, that's on the coaching.
 
The Titans used 91 different players, most in the NFL, this year because of injuries. Vrabel did a masterful job keeping that team together.
vrabel is 100% coty....for their sucess despite this. and he has no elite qb a position which we are told is the singular predictor of success.
 
Belichick has the better career resume obviously but it seems fairly certain that McDermott outcoached Belichick in that wild card game. The Bills scored a touchdown on literally every drive. The first half alone they drove 70, 80, 81 & 89 yards for touchdowns. The team simply was not ready to complete, that's on the coaching.

You missed this part...

when a team is decimated in their defensive backfield and LB corps with only 1 healthy body in each, most casual fans would think that team might not do so well against a top 5 NFL QB. Understandable, no?
At full health the Pats were 1-0 vs the Bills.
With diminished health the Pats were 0-2 vs the Bills.

Let's see how the Bills offense does against a team with healthy DBs and LBs. They didn't do so well against the Jags but you choose not to acknowledge that little fact.
 
Belichick has the better career resume obviously but it seems fairly certain that McDermott outcoached Belichick in that wild card game. The Bills scored a touchdown on literally every drive. The first half alone they drove 70, 80, 81 & 89 yards for touchdowns. The team simply was not ready to complete, that's on the coaching.

You can have the best, most innovative game plan in the world but if you don't have the personnel for it, and/or the team on the field don't execute, we end up seeing what we saw on Saturday.
 
You can have the best, most innovative game plan in the world but if you don't have the personnel for it, and/or the team on the field don't execute, we end up seeing what we saw on Saturday.
However, the game plan was far from the best, most innovative on Saturday.

You missed this part...

when a team is decimated in their defensive backfield and LB corps with only 1 healthy body in each, most casual fans would think that team might not do so well against a top 5 NFL QB. Understandable, no?
At full health the Pats were 1-0 vs the Bills.
With diminished health the Pats were 0-2 vs the Bills.

Let's see how the Bills offense does against a team with healthy DBs and LBs. They didn't do so well against the Jags but you choose not to acknowledge that little fact.
I read it. I'm not buying the Patriots lost that game due to injuries. They've gotten completely smoked by the Bills in the last three losses... excluding kneel downs: 3 games, 22 drives, 17 TD's, 3 FG's & 2 punts. That's epic domination.
 
However, the game plan was far from the best, most innovative on Saturday.


I read it. I'm not buying the Patriots lost that game due to injuries. They've gotten completely smoked by the Bills in the last three losses... excluding kneel downs: 3 games, 22 drives, 17 TD's, 3 FG's & 2 punts. That's epic domination.

We have no way of knowing that since the output on the field was terrible, which was my point.
 
We have no way of knowing that since the output on the field was terrible, which was my point.
Wait, what?? Sure the "output" was pathetic but why are we giving the coaching staff a pass on game prep, strategy and play calling? Belichick's a genius for all of the above against the Rams in SB 36, right? Maybe all the credit needs to be shifted to the players?
 
Wait, what?? Sure the "output" was pathetic but why are we giving the coaching staff a pass on game prep, strategy and play calling? Belichick's a genius for all of the above against the Rams in SB 36, right? Maybe all the credit needs to be shifted to the players?

Where did you read that the coaches are getting a pass? I surely didn't say that.

If you ever watch a Belichick press conference after a loss he's the first to put the blame on himself and the coaches. "We need to coach better, we need to play better, and we need to perform better". Does that ring a bell?
 
Where did you read that the coaches are getting a pass? I surely didn't say that.

If you ever watch a Belichick press conference after a loss he's the first to put the blame on himself and the coaches. "We need to coach better, we need to play better, and we need to perform better". Does that ring a bell?
Belichick's press conference are an exercise in redundancy.

I think it's evident the game plan lacked innovation on Saturday. You seemed to be saying the players were mostly at fault. The team didn't play well for sure but they also looked entirely ill-prepared for the game. And there were no in-game coaching adjustments that amounted to anything positive.
 
Belichick's press conference are an exercise in redundancy.

I think it's evident the game plan lacked innovation on Saturday. You seemed to be saying the players were mostly at fault. The team didn't play well for sure but they also looked entirely ill-prepared for the game. And there were no in-game coaching adjustments that amounted to anything positive.

I'm not an expert and I didn't sit in the team meetings, but in my eyes as a fan I saw a defense that was outmatched. The secondary couldn't stay in front of their man, the LBs were out of position and the DL couldn't generate pressure or get off their blocks on the run. Plus missed tackles everywhere on the field. The caveat here is the fact that several players were missing, which may have made a difference. The fact is the Bills were the better, more talented and possibly more prepared team and it showed.

I can't say much about the game plan because if they ran Cover 3 or cover 2 or man with a robber or match zone or man with a spy, it was getting shredded regardless... so what else should they have tried according to you?
 
Back
Top