2016 NFL Playoffs

[2001mark]

9 hours ago, DG_Now said:

 

In a game of clock management, that's two major opportunities lost for the Falcons to have the clock work in their favor.

 

Falcons up 28-3, as countless have mentioned everywhere, the Falcons were essentially playing the clock, not the Patriots.  So yes, while the Patriots came back huge, & they legit earned it, it was the Falcons who failed to score 1 single more point, leaving that door open.  I realize there's a time & place to keep playing the way you got there in the first place, let alone delivered the 28 on the scoreboard in the game, yet champions make adjustments & finish.  

This loss will be bottled up for me along with several Atlanta Braves' 90's giveaways.  Not collapses so much as failure to execute closing the deal.

 

I pre-ordered my SB LI blu Sunday night via amazon.  Mic'd up is a great feature on it, as XLIX delivered.  March 7 release date.

[See Red]

I don't know that that's it, though.  The Falcons didn't lose that game because they played the clock and were content to hand the ball off until the it hit 0:00.  They lost that game because, on a 2nd and 11 from the Patriots ~25 yard line when running the ball twice and kicking a FG basically guarantees them a victory, they ran a passing play with a five step drop, took a huge sack and then, instead of salvaging their shot at a FG by running the ball on 3rd down, they tried to pass and got sacked again.

 

They didn't get too conservative.  I don't know what they were trying to do on offense, to be honest, but they outsmarted themselves in doing it.

[FinsUp1214]

2 hours ago, infrared41 said:

 

It makes perfect sense. Sorry that I misunderstood what you were saying in the original post. Thanks for clearing it up. 

 

Also, I think it's awesome that you're into baseball history. So am I. I do find it interesting (and really cool that you even know who he is) that you think Gehringer is underrated. It seems to me that his name is almost always in any conversation about the greatest second basemen of all time. But that's a conversation for a different thread. Or you can PM me and explain why you think he's underrated. Seriously, I'd really like to find out why you think that. 

 

No worries man! And that conversation sounds like a great one to have, you bet!  

[HedleyLamarr]

Watching "Inside the NFL" (because I'm a masochist, I guess)...Phil Simms pointed out that, had Freeman not whiffed on the block, that Robinson was wide open and likely the target on the play.  In that case, play call was good and the execution wasn't.  But I think this was the first play after Coleman went down.  Freeman generally isn't in there to block.

 

When you're at any game, you're pretty oblivious to the running stats because you're so transfixed on "good play, bad play, look at scoreboard".  I think the Patriots had just kicked the FG to make the score 28-12 and my wife said "Feels like the Falcons have barely been on offense for a long time", so I looked at the current stats and some tweets.  Didn't realize the Patriots had the ball like 9-10 minutes more, had run 30 more plays, had a decent advantage in yards gained, and that the Falcons offense went over an hour between snaps.  Now, 16 point lead, but that's when I realized how crucial it was to just eat clock and get it back to a 3-possession game.

 

But still, the coaching staff could have done a better job at realizing the situation.  Especially Quinn....as head coach, he has the power to override the play call and say "Hey, we need to do this".  Quinn, of all guys, should have known the value of running the ball, considering his previous Super Bowl encounter.  Going up two scores, as unsexy as a FG is, would have been huge.  I can't fault him for challenging the Edelman catch...best case scenario, the 1000 cameras in the place may find one angle where it wasn't a catch; worst case, it's a timeout for the defense to catch their breath.

 

Choke, meltdown....damn.  It's hard to get to the Super Bowl.  It's really hard to get a 25-point lead in a Super Bowl.  Incredible.

[BBTV]

Keep in mind their offense only scored 21.  It's not like they were doing that great.  It was foolish to try and play "their game" while up by a lot.  As has been mentioned, they should have been playing the clock.  Instead, they were snapping it with 20+ seconds left on the play clock in some cases.  

 

They were like the anti-Andy Reids.  That fat piece of trash calls a 5-minute 2-minute drill, while Kyle Shanahan practically tried to hurry the offense off the field so Tom Brady could get some more chances.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I think the play that really killed the Falcons was the one after the Edelman catch (I said Amendola above; I was wrong). I mentioned it above, but Edelman caught a 20-yard pass to the ATL 41 at 2:03. The clock stopped for the reply, whereas if it were just a catch, it would have gone straight to the 2-minute warning.

 

Instead, the Falcons were wondering just where the :censored: the game went, and Brady snuck in a 20-yard completion to Amendola to the ATL 21 and then it was the 2-minute warning at 1:57. At that point, it was basically academic.

 

But then again, looking at the drive chart, it's impossible to see how you can go from 1st and 10 at the NE 22 to 4th and 33 from the NE 45. Jesus H. No wonder the defense collapsed; how could you want to play after the offense screwed up essentially a golden situation for no good reason? It seems like, much like Seattle at SB49, they wanted the QB to be the glory boy. Brady won NE the game, but their running back had the most important scores.

[BBTV]

The replay was called by Atlanta - essentially they called a time out.  Really though, there's no escaping that - anyone would have thrown the challenge flag after that play.  That it benefited the Patriots was certainly a break, but it was all the Falcons doing (though as mentioned, everyone would have done the same thing.)

[2001mark]

1 hour ago, See Red said:

I don't know that that's it, though.  The Falcons didn't lose that game because they played the clock and were content to hand the ball off until the it hit 0:00.  They lost that game because, on a 2nd and 11 from the Patriots ~25 yard line when running the ball twice and kicking a FG basically guarantees them a victory, they ran a passing play with a five step drop, took a huge sack and then, instead of salvaging their shot at a FG by running the ball on 3rd down, they tried to pass and got sacked again.

 

They didn't get too conservative.  I don't know what they were trying to do on offense, to be honest, but they outsmarted themselves in doing it.

I've heard only one person via podcast (I've been playing with several) highlight that they had Matt freaking Bryant to boot something.  This wasn't Arizona v Seattle blunder OT, this seemed more Falcons in a way going Belichick 4th & 1 failure on the Colts afraid of not going all in.  

You nailed it though, Jones' catch & ball placement should've been ironclad, & they blew it.

 

Apples & bananas, yet I'll piggyback this post to tell the world I was about to smash my tv during the OT lob by Brady nearly ending up in a freak one hander INT.  

I was irate they were calling things like floaters to get cute.  I can't recall a Patriots playcall where I was so WTF in real time as that.  

[DG_ThenNowForever]

6 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

The replay was called by Atlanta - essentially they called a time out.  Really though, there's no escaping that - anyone would have thrown the challenge flag after that play.  That it benefited the Patriots was certainly a break, but it was all the Falcons doing (though as mentioned, everyone would have done the same thing.)

 

Yeah, good point. They had to do it, didn't they.

 

The poor, poor Falcons. And they had all of America rooting for them too.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Also, @HedleyLamarris the clear winner of this thread.  Anyone who can sit through a guy punch like that and still find the bright side is a hero.

[HedleyLamarr]

15 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

The replay was called by Atlanta - essentially they called a time out.  Really though, there's no escaping that - anyone would have thrown the challenge flag after that play.  That it benefited the Patriots was certainly a break, but it was all the Falcons doing (though as mentioned, everyone would have done the same thing.)

Like I just mentioned, the hope was that one of the many cameras in the place saw the ball hit the ground.  But really, it was a chance to kinda get two close timeouts for the tired defense.

[HedleyLamarr]

[2001mark]

How many ppl does Edelman throw cold water on with that sequence lols.  Jimmy G wants to dance, Jules shoots him right down lols.

0.22 insta gif meme classic

[2001mark]

 

[Unocal]

[Rant Alert]

 

I don't even care about my team next season.

 

The ONLY thing I want next season is ANYONE else winning the Lombardi Trophy but the RoboPats who once again suck the fun out of football. I'm rooting next year for whoever can beat New England, whether regular season or playoff. It has gotten to the point where the only thing that makes me happy is seeing New England lose.

 

Now, I don't give a crap about SpyGate or DeflateGate or WhatEver Gate. THEY WIN TOO DAMN MUCH. I mean, they basically make the AFC East a division where the other three teams might as well fold shop by October.

 

Last night was my boiling point- it's like every NFL fan and fanbase outside Boston/New England lost Sunday.

 

This Buffalo Bills fan is throwing in the towel on the AFC in 2017. Why should I get hopeful about my team before they losw twice as usual to Darth Brady? They have beaten him TWO times when he plays the whole game- heck, we practically are responsible for 20 percent of his wins/passing yardage/touchdowns.

 

And why should I bother getting hopeful about Oakland/Pittsburgh so THEY can get shredded by Insert Random Patriots Offensive Player Here in a meaningful game.

 

The Patriots broke this fan of an AFC team.

 

Year after year after year after year I've gotten more and more burned out having to see the seemingly never ending unstoppableness of the RoboPats. Last night was my breaking point.

 

That game was for me what the Steelers/Bengals WC game last year was for McCarthy. I can't take this (bleep) anymore in the All Foxboro Conference.

 

Spare me that greatest SB ever stuff- it was the worst SB I ever saw. I'd rather sit through Wide Right or 52-17 than the final 19 minutes Sunday night ever again.

 

I shall echo what McCarthy said after conference championship Sunday:

 

Quote

" I'm so fatigued by the Patriots. I find them so boring and they've kind of killed my interest in the NFL, among many other factors. Like if the Patriots can just plug in a lacrosse player at wide receiver and still win then what's the point in paying attention to the draft? What's the point of following an AFC team when the chances of advancing to the Super Bowl require a ridiculous amount of luck? It's like Belichick and Brady got bored with playing with good players because it was too easy so now they're playing on All Madden and seeing how far they can go with a band of tiny white wide receivers and nameless defense.  "

 

That's what kills me- we get all excited about the Coopers and Crabtrees and Julio Jones of the world yet it's the freaking lacrosse player at WR who has as many rings as Marvin Harrison. I mean, it's not like the '96 Patriots who had Coates and Curtis Martin and a lot of offensive studs.

 

We get all excited about the Khalil Macks, yet which defense prevailed? The nameless once without someone I'd consider a gamewrecker (Heck, they traded Chandler Jones who you could argue was a game-wrecker last year and already has a ring).

 

IT. JUST. FEELS. POINTLESS.

 

I'm through with caring about anyone in the AFC until Brady's gone. I'll glimpse somewhat at the NFC, but for now, you're gonna see a lot less of me on the 2017 NFL Season thread.

 

I say this not as an online persona- I say this as a frustrated football fan who recgonizes my team will never have their moment in the sun and our division blood rival having their cake and eating it too.

 

[End Rant]

 

 

 

 

[2001mark]

1st team to win a SB without making an extra point (PAT kick conversion of course).

They have a superstar receiver, yet Gronk hasn't played for weeks & weeks.

& their D lost Jamie Collins also.

 

 

[IceCap]

5 hours ago, SabresRule7361 said:

I mean, they basically make the AFC East a division where the other three teams might as well fold shop by October.

The Pats can only play who you put in front of them. It's not their fault that the rest of the AFC East can't compete. It's the fault of the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets. All three teams have proven that upper management is unable to build a competitive football team. That's not Tom Brady's fault. That's not Bill Belichick's fault. It's not Robert Kraft's fault. 

It's Terry Pegula, Stephen Ross, and Woody Johnson's fault. They've failed utterly to put together teams capable of not only beating the Patriots. They've failed utterly at consistently putting together teams that are good enough to beat even the middling teams of the AFC. 

[Kramerica Industries]

9 hours ago, HedleyLamarr said:

Watching "Inside the NFL" (because I'm a masochist, I guess)...Phil Simms pointed out that, had Freeman not whiffed on the block, that Robinson was wide open and likely the target on the play.  In that case, play call was good and the execution wasn't.  But I think this was the first play after Coleman went down.  Freeman generally isn't in there to block.

 

When you're at any game, you're pretty oblivious to the running stats because you're so transfixed on "good play, bad play, look at scoreboard".  I think the Patriots had just kicked the FG to make the score 28-12 and my wife said "Feels like the Falcons have barely been on offense for a long time", so I looked at the current stats and some tweets.  Didn't realize the Patriots had the ball like 9-10 minutes more, had run 30 more plays, had a decent advantage in yards gained, and that the Falcons offense went over an hour between snaps.  Now, 16 point lead, but that's when I realized how crucial it was to just eat clock and get it back to a 3-possession game.

 

But still, the coaching staff could have done a better job at realizing the situation.  Especially Quinn....as head coach, he has the power to override the play call and say "Hey, we need to do this".  Quinn, of all guys, should have known the value of running the ball, considering his previous Super Bowl encounter.  Going up two scores, as unsexy as a FG is, would have been huge.  I can't fault him for challenging the Edelman catch...best case scenario, the 1000 cameras in the place may find one angle where it wasn't a catch; worst case, it's a timeout for the defense to catch their breath.

 

Choke, meltdown....damn.  It's hard to get to the Super Bowl.  It's really hard to get a 25-point lead in a Super Bowl.  Incredible.

 

Two minute warning was coming,  though, so throwing a rash challenge  (:10 seconds ticked off from the catch to the stoppage to announce the challenge) was still a case of getting caught up in the moment and not showing the poise a head coach absolutely has to show in that situation. 

 

Wait, literally, three more seconds, and you get:

 

1) a stoppage of play 

2) a chance to let your video staff oversee all available angles (you can still challenge at this point)

3) likely realize the catch will stand

4) give the Patriots one less play to run before the two minute warning and, vitally, save that last timeout if you get the ball back in a tie game.

 

Atlanta has an excellent staff, btw. Saw plenty of their games and have many great things to say. But, you know, we're taught to sneer at the concept of "intangibles" because we can't make record of those things. Well, New England, from their staff to their players, never panicked or out-thought themselves on Sunday. At a certain point, Atlanta did. That experience of having been there before served the Patriots exceptionally well.

[Pharos04]

I have to say, I completely understand the frustration and exasperation of a lot of the Patriot non-fans that a lot of people are expressing here.  I really do.  As a baseball fan, in the 90s, constantly hearing about how the Yankees were going to another World Series.  that the Lakers were winning another NBA Championship.  or that the Bulls had won again.

 

I get it.

 

A lot of us get it. 

 

It's one of the reasons we're relishing it as much as we can and get thrilled like it's the first one.  Because you never know when it'll end.  And then it'll be the "glory days" of the Patriots Dynasty and how they'll forever be trying to get back to that pinnacle.  And they may never be here again!  I'm sure some of you would love that of course.

 

Regarding a couple of things:

You can't act like the Patriots plugging in Joe Schmoe from Wossamotta U is a new concept.  This has been going on for years now.  It's a distant memory at this point, but the 2006 season the Pats had no-name receivers and still made it to the AFC Championship Game! But then look what they did.  They corrected the issue and went and got Randy freaken Moss and well, next season was a perfect regular season.  It didn't work out in the long run but it was a crazy ride for a few years at least.

They succeed because they look for people who are going to work the hardest, who may not have the elite talent but are willing to buy into what Belichick is selling.  Moss was an exception because they knew they needed that extra oomph.  But other than that? A lot of them would be maybe 3rd or 4th string guys on other teams.  But they thrive here because it's a plug-n-play system.  And it's frustrating because it devalues other teams and fanbases who think they can just go buy a superstar and all the futility of the team will fade away.

 

As far as these claims that "you'll never watch the NFL again"...quit fooling yourself.  It's emotional and irrational to think that because a team that you currently despise won again that you're completely turned off from the sport that you have a vested interest in with another team.  Unless you're a fan of the Chargers where your team literally got ripped away from you, you still have something to look forward to in September.  June or July will roll around and the ol' war drums will start beating again and you'll be back watching again.  Yes you may only be watching to cheer for whomever has an opportunity to beat the Patriots, but you'll still be watching.  And there's that mysterious "Who Knows?" factor that your team could catch that break, or finally have all the pieces click, and make a magical run to the golden land (silver land cause the trophy is silver?).  That optimism is always there at the beginning of the season when everyone is 0-0 (with the Bills ontop of the AFC East due to alphabetical order) and it starts anew. 

 

And the whole "have no reason to bring up the years of futility" as a means to justify the enjoyment of the past 15 years? of course we can bring it up.  especially if we've lived through it. Because even though current events have nullified the record and such, the emotional aspect of it still exists.  the 2003 Red Sox still irks me with Aaron *bleeping* Boone and that ridiculous home run.  yes the Sox won the following year but I still remember feeling like crap the next day due to it.  Emotional memories don't just wash away with success.  It just balances it out!  the Patsies were the joke of the league for decades!  They almost left the Boston area TWICE!!! But recent history has cemented their place in the books.  And it's still awkward hearing that they are one of the Elite NFL franchises when not more than 16 seasons ago, as pointed out, they were 5-11 and didn't look like they were going to ever be much more.

 

So again, we get it.  A lot of us get it.  We understand it.  We understand there are bros and jerks and obnoxious a**holes who are the loud minority of fans that piss people off.  They piss us off too because many of us know where we were a ways back. But you can't help but admit that the past 15 years has been insane for the city of Boston.  Never has a sports town achieved such success from 4 of the teams in the area.  And likely won't ever again!  So enjoy the run Boston fans, and relish the hate Boston non-fans.  Cause someday it will be over and this will just be an era in the history.

[Sport]

32 minutes ago, Kramerica Industries said:

 

Two minute warning was coming,  though, so throwing a rash challenge  (:10 seconds ticked off from the catch to the stoppage to announce the challenge) was still a case of getting caught up in the moment and not showing the poise a head coach absolutely has to show in that situation. 

 

Wait, literally, three more seconds, and you get:

 

1) a stoppage of play 

2) a chance to let your video staff oversee all available angles (you can still challenge at this point)

3) likely realize the catch will stand

4) give the Patriots one less play to run before the two minute warning and, vitally, save that last timeout if you get the ball back in a tie game.

 

Atlanta has an excellent staff, btw. Saw plenty of their games and have many great things to say. But, you know, we're taught to sneer at the concept of "intangibles" because we can't make record of those things. Well, New England, from their staff to their players, never panicked or out-thought themselves on Sunday. At a certain point, Atlanta did. That experience of having been there before served the Patriots exceptionally well.

 

This is more of the Falcons coaches panicking in a big spot. 

 

Is it any coincidence that Tom Coughlin is the only guy to beat Bellichick in a Super Bowl? He didn't coach scared in 07 or 11 despite having the worse team. Everyone else got straight outcoached and/or intimidated into bad decisions or overthinking: Martz, Fox, Reid, Carroll, Quinn all lost the coaching battle to Bill Bellichick. Carroll's OC calling a pass from first and a foot. The Falcons coaches could've locked that game up 10 times if they'd just calmed down for a second.