Why not? Is there some reason that you think the Pats defense cannot play like they did yesterday and the offense can't get back on track?

Donk here's my problem. The offense sucked most of the game but when everything was on the line, they came through big time. The defense, not so much.

Yes. Those factors. Although it's hilarious that you say the offense will struggle against teams like Pitt/Balt/NYJ when last year, the Pats put up 36 at Pitt, 45 on the Jets in the second game of the regular season, and 30 on the Jets this season. So unless you think that the Pats have a worse shot at beating these teams in the playoffs than in the regular season (you know, since the playoffs are that magical wonderland), then I don't see how you can make that point.

I have been under the assumption that the Pats offense is somewhere between elite and best offense of all time. After the first couple of games, they looked that, and when you consider how much they improved as the season wore on last year, I don't think it was a huge jump. Then they started to struggle, and I just assumed it was variance. I don't think it's variance anymore. The offense is not nearly as good as we thought it was. My point is, if the offense IS as good as we think it is, 24+ points in two straight games is nothing for them. If you're sitting here saying that you knew the offense was going to crash and burn like they have in the last couple of weeks, then you are some kind of nostradamus, and really should make a career setting sports lines, because every book in the land disagreed with you.

I mean, they pretty much didn't show up for the first half and still came away with 20 points.

Who cares when they were? Would it have better to give up one of those TDs sometime in the first and another early in the 4th? They were probably gassed. They had just played the best 3.5 quarters that they've had all season, holding what FO had ranked the 5th best offense to 10 points (7 of which were due to an offensive TO), and then that offense made plays, they made some mistakes, and gave up some points. I mean, holy Christ, Baltimore has the best defense in recent memory, and they gave up 20 points to the Steelers, including 14 points in the 4th quarter. THE BEST DEFENSE IN THE LEAGUE.

They gave up 24 points to a really good offense. Sound the ****ing alarms.

There's like an x% chance the defense will play like they did yesterday and an y% chance the offense will get back on track. The chances both of them happen are really small. But the defense played like crap for 7 games and really good for one game. I think it's more likely that they continue to play like crap and that this game they just happened to play well. I don't know this for sure, but the evidence is on my side.

As for the offense, teams seem to have figured out how to handle them. I trust in Belichick and Brady to adjust eventually, but the days of 500 yard passing games and 40 points seem to be long gone. I hope I'm wrong.

Maybe the offense should have treated the first quarter like the game was on the line.

I think it's absolutely hilarious that you guys won't be satisfied until the Pats defense completely shuts out the Green Bay Packers.

The AFC East may only be getting one playoff team this year.

With Cincinnati at 6-2, Baltimore at 6-2, and Pittsburgh at 6-3, both Wild Card teams could come from the AFC North.

That should add extra hype to next Sunday's game against the Jets. A Patriots loss puts us in real jeopardy since the Jets will have the tie-breaker edge (currently better division record).

This is a much more reasonable post than you're blanket statement "neither or those things will happen". The thing is, that both don't have to happen. The Pats D played really well yesterday and the offense played relatively poorly and they still were VERY close to winning that game against a playoff caliber team.

All this team may need is a bit of run good to make a run in the playoffs. But, even if they don't get the run good, they might just get a stellar effort from the Offense or they might just get the type of effort they got yesterday from the Defense.

The bottom line is this team is clearly good enough to make a run this year. The last two weeks have not changed that.

fyp

remaining schedule for reference (so i don't have to keep googling it)

Sunday, Nov. 13 at New York Jets 8:20 PM ET WHDH NBC
Monday, Nov. 21 Kansas City Chiefs 8:30 PM ET WCVB ESPN
Sunday, Nov. 27 at Philadelphia Eagles 4:15 PM ET WBZ-TV CBS*
Sunday, Dec. 4 Indianapolis Colts 8:20 PM ET WHDH NBC*
Sunday, Dec. 11 at Washington Redskins 1:00 PM ET WBZ-TV CBS*
Sunday, Dec. 18 at Denver Broncos 4:15 PM ET WBZ-TV CBS*
Saturday, Dec, 24 Miami Dolphins 1:00 PM ET WBZ-TV CBS*
Sunday, Jan. 1 Buffalo Bills 1:00 PM ET WBZ-TV CBS*

Maybe, but after the Jets next week and one game against Philly, the rest of the games are very, very winnable games. They have Miami, Washington, Indy, Kansas City, Denver and Buffalo. Pretty easy schedule.

Next week is obviously the key game. And I'm not sure they necessarily need run good to beat the jets. I think they can beat them on talent and execution. It's gonna be a tough game though.

I agree next game is the key, as it will be tough to overcome a loss.

.....

Hyperbole?

I'm mad at Edelman. He fair caught two punts inside the 10 and fumbled away another.

no way Bengals make the playoffs it will be two teams from afc north and two from the east

with :19 left? It would take at least 4-5 seconds to run the play. Then, who knows? Maybe there's a fight for the football at the bottom of the pile, and it takes the officials 10+ seconds to sort it out and spot the ball. Clock could very easily run out on you in that spot. And God forbid you lose a few yards on the attempt. Now you have no chance to get the FG unit out there, and you need to super-rush to get another play off in time.

The only way to make certain you get two more plays is to call a pass on the first play. No coach would call a run there, let alone Coughlin of all people, who's second only to Norv on the list of conservative coaches.

At the risk of repeating myself, "No way on God's green earth..."

Wow, Cincy still has TWO vs PIT, TWO vs BAL, and HOU. Even the remaining CLE game is a rivalry game, nothing easy about it. AZ and STL round out their schedule.

Hope you enjoyed your first half, Cincy fans!

well what i said was "they won't and they aren't" which meant the defense won't and the offense isn't where they used to be. I think it's highly unlikely the defense performs the way it did last week, although obviously I would do backflips if they did. I think the offense has a better shot at returning to their form, but until it happens, I'm not going to hold my breath that they are as good as we once thought.

*shrug*

you weren't happy with letting up 17 points to an arguably top 5 offense. i'm not sure how much better you want them to be.

ELI,

yeah, we get it, you are convinced teams play differently in the playoffs. pats crush a team in the regular season and struggle in the playoffs. not variance!

I will at least admit that I forgot the Giants were without a bunch of their offensive starters. So the Patriots defensive performance was not as good as I'm making it out to be. Regardless, it was still really good.

Donk I get, you think this offense will score 24+ in back to back games in the postseason as a no brainer, something they have never done with Brady.

The defense played real good in the first half, and gave up 24 points in the second half. I shot 1 over par for 6 holes once too and was 8 over after 9.

We'll have to disagree. The defense was awful when the game was on the line and to me that's like getting good grades all semester and then flunking the final exam.

The problem with this analogy is that getting a good grade in a class is entirely on you. It's not a team game. There is no offense.

Listen, nobody here thinks an elite or even very good defense is coming out of that tunnel. What we are hoping for and expecting is that they will be average or above average, which they ABSOLUTELY were on Sunday. That SHOULD be good enough to win with the offense they have in place.

Basically, the defense did their job. If you're expecting the defense to win games for the Pats this year, you're going to be disappointed the entire season.

Therefore the loss on Sunday is on the offense. And to be honest, I'm not sure what the issue was. Brady did not play well and I don't know why. Makes me nervous going into this game with the Jets though.

Solid post Goodie. Idk why people still complain about the D. We all know it's not very good and it's very tiresome seeing the same complaints week in and week out.