As always, Belichick and Brady took cold, hard stares at the results -- as captured in this ESPN writeup:
"There's obviously a big gap between us," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said.So . . . where do the Patriots go from here?
Drew Brees made the Patriots' defensive backs, who had been thriving lately, look like a bunch of XFLers. He bombed them for five touchdowns, something that has never been done to a Bill Belichick-coached team.
"They were better than we were in every phase of the game," Belichick said in the postgame news conference. "I don't know any other way to put it. They were better coached. They played better on offense, defense, in the kicking game, they covered better than we did."
Belichick punctuated his response with incredulity at the questions about how his team failed to compete.
"They were obviously the better team," he said. "You guys had to see that. You were at the game."
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5 comments:
This is the first time the Patriots got whupped this year, right? Hopefully they learned something from it. They need to strap on their shoulder pads and go after it again next weekend.
The good news is the Saints are an NFC team. If we meet them again this year it'll be int he Super Bowl and I like our chances the 2nd time around.
Before there was even a snap this season, in response to the Seymour trade, I stated on this blog that the Pats had made the decision to play for 2010/2011. The reason obviously being the impending work stoppage, year of no salary cap and subsequent retooled CBA.
Then the 4th and 2 play came and we all debated percentages and mathematical formulas for a week. But at the end of the day what that play taught us was that Belichick knows his defense and knows they aren't very good AND that he did this to the defense AND he's ok with that because he's playing for the future.
That all being said, one game is one game. I don't think the Pats are that bad of a team, I think they lost momentum and confidence right around the mid-point of the 1st and it went downhill. If that game is played in Gillette they probably still lose, but not in such a devastating way. In reality the Pats that will show up in the playoffs are the ones that were in Indy.
Can that team beat all the AFC North squads? Yes.
Can that team beat Indy at Indy? Yes.
Can that team beat San Diego at San Diego? Yes, as long as Norv Turner exists.
Will they? I have no idea, and neither does Belichick. But 2009 was a rebuilding year with young talent and people tend to forget that as the season progresses.
Jim/Kyle - well said.
As you know, I'm the eternal optimist so in spite of the beat down New Orleans put on New England last night, I still have faith that with a little luck and a weak remaining schedule, we CAN make it to the big dance. One thing that does give me hope is the regular season game the Pats played in 2004 against Pittsburgh. For anyone that doesn't remember that game, NE was riding a 21 regular season game win streak and came in and got trounced in the city of steel (final score of 34-20 was deceptive as the game wasn't that close).
The reason why that game feels analogous is that the Pats ended up winning the remaining 6 games on the schedule and then faced Pitt again in the AFC Championship game. The score of that game was 41-27, Pats (and the game wasn't really even that close). The Pats of course finished the season by squeaking by the Iggles in the Super Bowl.
In fairness, one of the main differences between Pitt/NE '04 and NO/NE '09 is that the Pats were without Corey Dillon and Ty Law in the 1st Pittsburgh game. However, I'd argue that having Fred Taylor back, a non-patchwork O-line and 5 more games of experience under the belts of the secondary can't hurt. Plus, never underestimate the silent fury of Belichick 2nd time around (hello NY Jets).
Disappointing, yes. A season killer? Not necessarily. I say, bring on Miami!
Aaron, thank you for the optimism, it is helping me out of my malaise. You hit on a really important point and I can't believe I, the former offensive lineman, forgot. Last night was the worst performance by our O line in quite some time, and not anyone's fault, it was exactly what you said, "patchwork". Those guys get healthy and back to the positions they are comfortable in and Brady gets an extra second...which may be exactly the "luck" you are looking for.
I agree with what all of you have said here. Not a season-killer, plenty of time to learn from this & then wreak havoc in the playoffs . . . and anything the Pats get this year is a bonus, anyway.
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