Patriots Beat Themselves in 34-31 Loss to Bills

I have stayed away but Marima is awesome with links so she is THE best news source for Pats stuff and it kept me around lurking. Don’t expect anything after this either.

2 things about today that need mentioning (one very obvious):
The refs won this game for the Bills. Those 3 phantom penalties for 46 yards (including negating an INT) were absolutely preposterous. “Hands to the face” = WRONG. “Illegal contact” = what contact?!. “Pass interference” = Brown was looking at the ball and the Bill ran into him AND it was short and uncatchable. Then, that was topped by the final bills drive where they stalled calling a replay for like 10 seconds (even though no TD was called), reviewed it and then apparently wanted to give the Bills a full playclock and restart the game clock forcing Bill to take a timeout arguing (i’m assuming on this, I’d LOVE to hear the explanation). Then AFTER that, there was a possible fumbled snap where offsides was called on Logan Mankins.. who was on the bench… with no real effort at correction. Give it to the Bills for playing pretty solid and getting good bounces but c’mon.

2. Playcalling – Every play was a dead giveaway because you only had one TE. You could literally watch him and know where the play was going the whole game because we only had 1 TE on the roster. No fakes, no play action magic, the Pats were hamstrung by injuries and strange roster decisions. BOB called a damn good game to get anything going at all and I can’t blame Brady too badly for those INT’s.. he was basically throwing at 8 or 9 people every time.

Two positives though, Bill will use this as a great motivational tool. And the Jets lost(game is still on, but basically over). Defense needs to get healthy and TFB won’t repeat this performance anytime soon. We’ll be fine.

Also: Brady had a stinker of a game and only lost by 3
Sanchez had a career high game and lost by 10

If that makes anyone feel better

Just please, nobody mention the Red Sox.

The clock would have kept running so he had to call a time out. He was upset because Fred Jackson made it into the end zone (before they overturned the call) with 1:56 or so left on the clock. However, the next play happened with 1:43 on the clock. Belichick was upset over the fact that :13 seconds passed on the clock without him having the ability to call a time out and stop the clock.

Welker and Gronk. Obviously, they keyed into that. Where were Branch, Ocho, and Edelman? Until Aaron is back defenses are going to clamp down like they did in ’09 when all we had was Wes and Randy.

Another bright spot is Stevan Ridley looking like the best early-down RB option on the team. Limited touches for him, but he made the most of them. If he gets more playing time the running game might get us somewhere.

I’ve defended Ocho, and I think he deserves credit for working hard and trying to get acclimated here. But he should be very worried if he repeats some of his mistakes. I don’t think it’s out of the question to think the team might look at his production at the bye week and make a decision about keeping him. This was his game to break out and he really disappointed.

Gary Guyton was in Fred Jackson’s zone when he caught and ran the ball to the goal line at the end of the game.

* Team never established a running game
    * Patriots lost the turnover battle with Tom Brady’s four interceptions
    * The Patriots were killed by penalties on both sides of the ball, a total of 8 for 93 yards.
    * The Patriots couldn’t rush the passer – at all
    * Straight bad luck – sometimes, as they say, sh*t happens.

Establishing the run game wasn’t necessary. They came out ahead and what they were doing was clearly working.

The penalties didn’t seem to be that big of a deal to me.

Rushing the passer wasn’t what caused us to lose the game.

I agree about turnovers and bad luck. Its sickening that they had so many chances, even despite all the mistakes, to come out and win. If they had won we could say they made it through what will be one of the most terribly played game of the season and come out with a win.. but now all we can say is that it will be end up being one of the most terribly played games of the season.

I appreciate the Pulpiteers so much more after reading the Pats ESPN blog comments.

Just think of the joy this game brings Callahan and Borges.

..On to Oakland.

…4 INT’S by Tommy, not good. We should not have even been within 3 points with our QB throwing 4 INT’S.

What can you do but suck it up and get ready for Oakland.

We have not lost 2 in a row in a long time if I am not mistaken?

you could be one of us Dolphin fan!

just no continuity …. comes down to coaching.

Sucks the Pats lost, awesome the Jets lost. Crazy the Bills are in first in the AFC east. Lot’s of season to go..

It’s unlike watching any other team, in it’s precision, execution and most times, it’s domination.

But it’s just about the time we all look at this team realistically, and know that if Brady has a poor day – forced by opposing defense or bad luck, such as today – this team is no better than an average NFL team.

Since Tom returned in 2009, which is right around the time this team morphed into an all-pass, forget about running and defense, team, NE is 8-11 in games Tom doesn’t finish with a 100 QBR or better. That’s what the Pat’s have become. Does that suck? No, not in my opinion. As I already said, I love watching this offense. Does it pretty much disclude the Pat’s from winning another SB in Tom’s time? Yeah, probably.

1- Welkers production was nothing short of amazing, but it was also scary. I was having flashbacks of 2009 with Brady forcing passes to Welker and Gronk (Moss) instead of anyone else on the field. Herndos absence really showed the glaring lack of depth at WR. Ocho has a brief camp, preseason and 3 games to figure out the playbook and still doesn’t get it (even under scrutiny). If he doesn’t get it soon, they need to give him the boot. They did just fine without someone like him last season.

2- BB has to start doing conventional stuff for once. Having Ridley go out there and play well just to put an unproductive Lawfirm in to do nothing was just baffling. Also, with a 21 point lead, start working the running game if you’re uncomfortable with it instead of having Brady throw the ball 45 times when he doesn’t need to.

3- This goes without saying, but their defense is just bad. I watch BB on the sidelines on “A Football Life” complaining to Brady that he can’t get the players to play how he wants them to. I blame none other than BB. He has all but wiffed on draft day for the last 5 years with the exception of 2010. Mayo and Chung are the bright spots. This goes back to conveentional football. Use the picks on physical specimens instead of trading down to pick up undersized/unathletic players based on their smarts. The defense isn’t improving and they can only count on Brady to carry them for so long.

It’s one loss, blah, blah, but these games really bring to light why I still don’t think they’re a legit SB contender at this point. It’s pretty bad when any team can consistently drive the ball all the way down the field in 4-5 plays against them.

It’s early, they’ll be fine… but there is quite a bit of room for improvement.

Also, Fred Jackson has been one of the most underrated players in the NFL. The Bills need to reward him with a new contract.

While Chad’s drop was really disappointing, and we don’t know yet how that will effect him in the future mentally. The fact that he was open on the play is a good sign that he can’t still make plays from a physical stand point.

So in a way, i still view this game as a positive for him.

McCourty must have tendencies that other coaches have picked up on and are taking advantage of them.

The Patriots may have been charged with that TO because Belichick got feisty with the refs. Seriously wouldn’t surprise me if that’s what happened.

Also, I see the questionable call comment concerning the Bills’ defense. The Patriots were the beneficiaries of quite a few of those in the first half. It’s football and humans are still overseeing the rule book on the field.

If you find this loss difficult, imagine how it must have felt for Bills fans to expect this feeling following the previous 15 games.

It’s a great team, these Patriots. Today they faced an opponent that fights best after it’s catastrophically wounded.

Anyway: fantastic game and I can only hope the rematch is as meaningful for both teams.

Not an excuse, but the defense isn’t healthy. The whole team is banged up for that matter. It is hard to pull talent together when you have a lot of turnover going on. 22 roster moves have been made since cut down day. Per Mike Riess. I did not witness the game as I was out today. But this is only one game. And yet this is a tough stretch for the Patriots to be injured like they are. Guys are still learning their roles on defense. Learning a new scheme. And trying to fill the holes by injuries. A difficult combination to overcome. Chad is now on notice. I wasn’t particular about getting him to begin with. But I am still holding out hope that he will contribute positively to the offense at some point and time. But I’m ready for Taylor Price now. I am also ready for the team to act like Tom doesn’t have to win it all by himself as well. If your defense is having trouble stopping them, protect them. Run the football. Don’t be afraid to take the ball out of Tom’s hands and have confidence in your running game.

Bills won and it’s not like they have 0 talent, they have a lot of talent. It’s not like the Sea Hawks came in. and it was a close game with lots of stupid penalties, picks, and a lot of hurt players sitting on the side lines.

Just think we lost one game, and i’m happy it was to the Bills. Please Bill kick the Jets ass.

Also there are a lot of teams out there with tons of talent that are in really bad shape Eagles (Vick hurt), Chicago (suspect OL QB sacked 11 times in two games), Colts (no QB), Giants (depleted everything), Steelers (almost lost to the team with no QB), and a few others are living up to past reputations. The amount of points being put up this year is having Defenses across the NFL on their heads.

Pats need to work on pass rush, i’m worried the only game changer that was brought on board is Andre Carter.

i’m happy for the cards we got dealt you don’t always win i never want another 16-0 regular season.

That is all.

and weak pass rush. We are not a SB contending team at all with the way in which we operate. Like i mentioned in a different thread earlier, we will win about 13 games or so, but so what? 13 wins should get us a bye, and then what? Lose again at home, because of the aforementioned factors? There is not one player in our secondary that is a true playmaker or shut down defender. Its sad, because like many others i figured McC would’ve been further along than he currently is. Maybe, just maybe this is who/what he really is. RaID may be a nice player, but far from proven. he like Bodden, can’t stay healthy it seems. Cunningham and some of the other defenders can’t stay healthy either. Price needs to step up now if/when healthy. Raiders saw what Brady did with his tunnel vision to G-Force and Wes. They will game plan for it. Not to mention their running game, and the fact that i won’t be at all surprised to see JC have a career day on our defense.

on NFL Gameday Final. To paraphrase, “Tom Brady has been carrying this defense through games for years, covering for their mistakes. Now, we have a once in a blue moon occurance where Tom has a bad day and needs the defense to carry the game for him. Just one stop, guys. Just one big play. And can they do that for him, after all these years? No. That’s just sad.”

Pretty much sums up my frustration perfectly.

and BB is suppose to be a defensive genius?

Know what I saw? Blue sky. It was still there, despite all evidence to the contrary.

So what happens now? We come out next week expecting Brady to play like Brady, because that’s what he’s shown for 140 of his 150 career games.

But on the next play, Ryan Fitzpatrick made a bad decision and thew another bomb to the end zone in double coverage as pressure was applied. Josh Barrett intercepted the pass, but a Sergio Brown pass interference not only negated the turnover, but gave the Bills the ball at the one yard line. Fred Jackson punched the ball into the end zone on the next play to tie the game at 24.

one of the worst calls i have ever seen.

is how much stock we really put into these early season games, given the practically non-existent offseason. We’ve seen defenses struggle mightily almost uniformly across the league. Heck, the vaunted Jets’ defense gave up as many points to the mediocre Raiders’ offense as our supposedly atrocious defense gave up to the league-leading Bills. The Steelers defense looks to be a shade of last year’s AFC-leading squad, yet almost nothing changed between January and now.

I told myself before the season started that these early weeks would be strange, and that November and December games would never be more telling than they will be this year. I still think that’s true, and I think it might help everyone “digest” this loss a little more easily if they think about it from that perspective, instead of Chicken Little’s perspective.

Bummer that we are already out of them, huh? It feels like there have only been a few games this season.

over this, not at all. I agree with, as has already been said a lot, that if TFB threw even one less INT, we’d have won the game. Truth. The sky isn’t falling yet, and we’ve got a lot of season to go.
Now, with that said, I am NOT going to give the defense a pass here. We have a real problem, and that problem is that for the past three games, we have allowed three different QB’s (some pretty good, some not-so-much), to put up Peyton Manning-like numbers. That is not how you win ball games. It’s how you lose ball games, especially in the postseason. Pass completions have to be prevented by either attacking the QB or taking away his receivers, preferably both. Right now, we’re not doing either, and that worries me.

i would rather lose playing physical football, than win arena style. They have been bad for 5 years, and despite everyone who watches the games stating the obvious, management acknowledges nothing. Very frustrating. They need a pass rush, because they do not have one.