Well that was... interesting. Some very questionable reffing calls today, but the Pats left 3 TDs on the board today with their red zone offense, they could have easily put this game away if they had converted a few of those opportunities. Gronk obviously carried the team today. The defense remains absolute garbage, but nothing new here. McCourty doesn't belong starting for an NFL team with his current play, but there's no one else, so we're stuck.

At this point just get a bye no matter how ugly the path, and hope for a favorable matchup.

looks like obrian was sticking up for underwood/calling brady out for a weak throw. brady accepted full responsibility post game and they were seen hugging.

brady was not sharp today, no doubt. still washington defense is pretty good and the pats are a drop or two away from throwing up 50. offense is clearly not an issue.

defense was loltastic by even patriot standards. wtf happened with mccourty? at first this year i assumed it was because they were giving him way more responsibility and heck maybe thats true...but he just gets pwnd way too much.

i really hope patrick chung is ready by the playoffs...that secondary is v bad.

also i generally give the refs leeway on calls but that andre carter RTP call seemed really really bad.

At first I thought carter hit him around the knees, and it seemed at least debatable whether he was in the process of being blocked, so I didn't think it was a totally horrible call. But I saw it a few times after the game, and he actually hit him in the hip area and then slid down to the knees.

They were saying after the game its because carter left his feet, which is not allowed when hitting the QB...?

Would have put the game away in the first quarter if McCourty hadnt committed that absolutely ******ed interference penalty on a 9 yard pass on 3rd and 18. Played better in the second half, but Jesus he's been terrible. Not sure which was a worse play that or the Brady INT when throwing it out of the end zone and kicking a FG ends the game 95% of the time.

Think three wins gets the bye, right (i.e. have tiebreaker over Houston?)

The Pats have to play Tebow next week.

Tebow isn't throwing an interception on the last play of the game.

it wont be close imo, Denver d is good but they wont shut down pats

level?

If there's a defense in the league that can make Tebow look like a competent passer, it's the Pats'.

I dont think the Pats coaches would mind if the Broncos decided to change things up and go pass heavy against us.

Believe it or not, Tebow's mechanics are gradually looking better imo. Decker and Thomas are fairly solid WRs. When your defense is on pace to give up the second highest yardage in the history of the 16-game NFL season, coaches should worry about every passing offense, even Tebow's.

Just an incredible game by the defense today. I mean, sure, they gave up a crapload of yards and points all game, but they didn't give up any points in the 4th quarter, and made the stop when it counted. That right there is the hallmark of a great defense.

Quoted for greatness.

After watching the Patriots all year, the things the Redskins do wrong just jump out at you. Gronk's first big play down the right sidelines was made possible because so many defenders were just standing around, sure that someone else would make the tackle. Then his huge 2nd TD up the middle was the same thing, the CB's and S's were cleared out, then stood on the sidelines and watched the hapless LB try not to get run over by Gronk.

And ewww, those referees today! One horrible call after the next, just about all of them going OUR way. Nobody is talking about the horrendous offensive PI call in the end zone on the final drive that negated the tying TD. The Brady/slide call was abominable, one of the worst calls I've ever seen. McCourtey was getting away with murder for most of the day.

Looks like I don't have to worry about whether or not Brady vs Tebow will be the network's featured game this week!

Lol, well done!

You beat me to it, Donkey. I was coming in here to write exactly that. The funny thing is that this clearly sounds ridiculous to anyone that watched the game but Toro was literally making this exact argument the opposite way earlier in the year.

Did they even show any highlights of the offensive PI call? I didn't see it.

There were a couple of calls that went against us as well that I thought were ridiculous. The roughing the passer on Carter seemed insane to me. He barely even touched his ankles.

The slide call was really bad though. No doubt.

And McCourty is not looking good as others have said. Not sure what's going on there.

I gave credit where credit was due for a clever and sarcastic one liner that debunked something that I said but in reality you guys are agreeing with me that the defense sucks balls.

Okay. Toro, I'm pretty sure no one has ever disputed that the defense is not good. The argument earlier in the year was that the defense had a good game but couldn't make a stop on the final drive so it negated the effort they put in the rest of the game. You agreed with that.

So, I would assume you agree that the defense played really well yesterday since they made the stop when they needed to at the end of the game.

the defense is not good, there is no doubt about that....but its not as bad as people think it is either. toro (and others) seems to be a guy who would think "winning is all that matters" which is a fine attitude to take....they then however think a defense that in only average in terms of what actually contributes to winning (points allowed) is too bad to win vs good to great teams. these two things generally dont jive to me.

anyway, the defense looked terrible...but i still dont know if dynasty was joking about the tebow joke. hes easily the worse throwing QB in the NFL and if there is one thing the pats defense does well its defend the run. *if* this game were not in denver i would think an ass-rape of epic proportions was in line. since it is in denver i see something like a 10-20 point win thats really never in doubt.

technically, yeah the d stopped them at the end but it took a questionable penalty that took a td off the board and then a flukey interception to do it. That's not exactly a good example of a team being able to make stops when they "have" to.

I was all for giving donkey credit for giving me a good jab but then you couldn't help yourself to pile on and now we are back into the same stupid semantics arguement.

I'll leave it at that I have grave reservations about our defense and that it will be our achilles heel in the playoff and will promise not to mention it again because the back and forth is kind of silly.

Just giving you a hard time, Toro. No reason to go back and forth again.

You're not as bad as Salva. I'm pretty sure he's not even an actual fan of the team.

Goodie, I'm getting a little tired of the personal call-outs. I couldn't care less if you question my fanhood or whatever, your opinion is of little interest to me, but let it go.

I think we're all sick of discussing the defense at this point. Even with Chung and Spikes presumably coming back soon, it's unlikely to magically improve come playoff time. But contrary to what Goodie and others might believe, I do think we can win with it.

Actually it's not what I believe, that's what you've said. Many times. In this thread no less.

Glad you turned around. I guess maybe you are a fan and do actually like this team. You must be just a negative person.

We should never be allowed to complain about this one, because it ought to be called The Tom Brady Rule.

Unfortunately, The Tuck Rule already claimed that title.

Yeah, I suppose I can buy that. I'll argue till the day I die that according to the actual "tuck rule" in the rule book, that play was called perfectly.

No bias here at all.