Tag: New England Patriots (Page 38 of 72)

      Are the Patriots imploding?

      December 9, 2009 /

      Usually when a perennial Super Bowl contender loses two in a row, the players on said team rally together and forge ahead – especially when there are only four games left in the season.

      The Patriots are in the midst of a two game losing streak, find themselves only one game up on the Dolphins and Jets in the division and can’t win on the road. Instead of showing signs of sticking together, the team seems to be falling apart.

      Earlier this week, Tom Brady called out his team for not being tough enough. Today, ESPN.com is reporting that four Patriots – Randy Moss, Derrick Burgess, Adalius Thomas and Gary Guyton – were all sent home from Gillette Stadium for being late for an 8 a.m. meeting. None of the players will be able to participate in meetings or practices on Wednesday.

      Granted, the report also states that the players were delayed by weather and nobody can confirm how late the four actually were. But does that really matter? There are 53 players on New England’s roster and 49 of them were able to get to the meeting on time. I don’t live in the area, but I’m pretty sure New England broadcasts potential weather delays, so Moss and company don’t have a legitimate excuse for being late. They should have planned accordingly.

      In their last four games, the Pats host the Panthers, are at the Bills, are home against the Jaguars and are at the Texans. Those are four winnable games for a New England team that ranks second in the NFL in total offense and is scoring close to 30 points a game. But the Patriots are just 1-5 on the road this season and 5-4 in conference. They also have the makings of an average defense and they’ve gone from a team that excels in crunch time to one that flounders in it.

      Given that Burgess and Thomas haven’t shown up on Sundays this season anyway, it’s surprising that anyone knew they were missing in the first place. But the bottom line is that Bill Belichick had to send four of his players home today because they couldn’t show up on time for a meeting. What happens next is key. Will the Patriots rally together and forge ahead or will they repeat the same mistakes that have haunted them this season and stumble into the playoffs (or miss them altogether)?

      Will the Patriots miss the playoffs?
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      Brady calls out Patriots’ toughness

      December 7, 2009 /

      Following Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins in Miami, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady questioned his team’s toughness.

      From the Providence Journal:

      “I think we’ve got to find a way to play better football for 60 minutes, in all phases, and everyone has got to focus on what they need to do better. I think that’s the most important thing: being mentally tough to overcome adversity,” Brady said. “When things don’t go your way, you have to fight back. That’s a challenge for all of us. I think at times we do, and at times I don’t think we fight very hard.

      “We have leads in the second half and leads in the fourth quarter and we’re just not closing the game out when we have the opportunity to.”

      Not that I disagree with him, but this is coming from the man who complained to a ref when a member of the Ravens’ defense blew on his knee.

      There’s something fundamentally lacking with the way the Patriots play on the road. In their heyday, the Pats would jump out to a big lead and then step on their opponents’ throats. But now they keep their opponents in the game throughout by playing poor defense and turning the ball over offensively.

      On Sunday, Brady’s interception in the end zone late in the fourth quarter killed them. But the Dolphins still had to march up the field in order to score, which they did. Whether it’s a lack of toughness or not, the Patriots just aren’t getting it done on the road and that’s a troubling sign with the playoffs looming.


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      2009 NFL Week 13 Top Observations: Dolphins 22, Patriots 21

      December 6, 2009 /

      Here are five quick-hit observations from the Dolphins’ 22-21 upset over the Patriots in Week 13.

      1. Miami won this game in the second half.
      Good teams win games in the second half and while Miami’s record doesn’t necessarily show that they’re a good team, they are. The Dolphins held the Patriots to only seven points in the last two quarters, which came on New England’s first offensive possession of the second half. The Dolphins stone-walled the Pats from that point forward and rookie Vontae Davis’ pick in the end zone off Tom Brady gave Miami a chance to complete the rally.

      2. What finger injury?
      Before the game, commentators made a big deal out of Brady’s finger injury, but he played exceptionally well in completing 19-of-29 pass attempts for 352 yards and two touchdowns. He threw for more yards than Chad Henne, yet attempted 23 fewer passes. Of course, you can’t talk about Brady’s day without mentioning the interception that he threw to Davis that proved to be the turning point in the game. Davis made a great play, but it was a poorly thrown ball.

      3. Henne continues to step up.
      Even though Brady threw for more, Henne still passed for 335 yards today. He completed 29-of-52 passes and tossed two touchdowns, including one to Brian Hartline with under four minutes remaining. The 335 passing yards was a career high for Henne, who routinely picked on rookie Darius Butler and the rest of the inexperienced New England secondary. He looks more and more comfortable with each passing week.

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      NFL Week 12 COY Power Rankings

      December 6, 2009 /

      Just like Drew Brees, we have to give Saints’ coach Sean Payton love for the way his team manhandled the Patriots on Monday night. It wasn’t so much the fact that the Saints’ offense resembled an arena league team again, it was the way their defense made Tom Brady and company look terribly average—and of course, beatable.

      1. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—Once again the fact that Payton gave up a quarter million dollars of his own money to lure Gregg Williams to run his defense was a stroke of genius, because this defense is suddenly shutting people down. And by people, we mean guys named Brady, Moss and Welker.

      2. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—The bottom line is, no matter how much talent the Colts have, or how they have had to come from behind a lot lately, they still have a rookie head coach who is 11-0 and has already clinched the AFC South.

      3 Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—It’s positively mind-blowing to think that the Bengals are not only sitting in first place in the AFC North with a 2-game lead on both the Steelers and Ravens, but that they have run the table in their own very tough division at 6-0. Don’t think these guys won’t make some noise in January.

      4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—When you have guys named Favre, Peterson, Allen and Harvin making you look good, it’s easy to say anyone can be Brad Childress. But remember, he stuck his neck out to bring in half of those guys, so we prefer to use the words “borderline genius.”

      5. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos—We like the fire this guy displayed last week when he dropped the F-bomb on national TV, but we also like the way he has won at least 3 more games to this point than we all thought he would.

      6. Jeff Fisher, Tennessee Titans—We had to add one more name in here this week, because turning a team from 0-6 into 5-6 and a dark horse playoff contender takes more than sticking Vince Young under center.

      Honorable mention: Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals; Jack Del Rio, Jaguars; Wade Phillips, Cowboys; Mike McCarthy, Packers

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      NFL Week 12 MVP Power Rankings

      December 6, 2009 /

      Well, we can’t ignore what Drew Brees did to the Patriots on Monday night, can we? It doesn’t even really matter what Mr. Manning and Mr. Favre did. Oh, those guys are all bunched up here, but consider that in their biggest game of the season so far, the Saints’ Brees threw for 371 yards, 5 TDs to five different receivers, and zero picks in leading them to a 38-17 dismantling of New England in the Superdome. Yikes.

      1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—See above. Brees now leads the NFL in both QB rating (112.6) and touchdown passes (27). He’s even rushed for 2 scores for good measure. And oh yeah, the Saints are 11-0 and starting to think about Miami in February.

      2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings—Funny how Favre is not getting the love he should from sportswriters in the MVP conversation. Well that’s ridiculous, and you can count this writer among those who think he is extremely deserving. Against Chicago last Sunday, Favre threw for 392 more yards, with 3 TDs and no picks. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 24 TDs to 3 interceptions on the season, and his team sitting at 10-1 and in line for a first round bye.

      3. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Our apologies for dropping Peyton from #1 to #3 here, but he keeps flirting with disaster each week before bringing his team back. Sure, they are 11-0 just like the Saints, but we don’t feel particularly happy about those 11 interceptions so far.

      4. Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans—800 yards in the month of November. 800 yards. Are you freaking kidding me? Apparently LenDale White was not in uniform against Arizona last Sunday because of being late to a meeting. I think it was more like Jeff Fisher didn’t want to make the mistake of putting White in the game for any reason, so he kept the guy in street clothes. And how about this sick run by the Titans?

      5. Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers—His numbers are damn near close to the guy he replaced in Green Bay, Mr. Favre…a.k.a. #2. 3136 yards, 22 TDs, and just 5 interceptions. Imagine if Rodgers (44 sacks) wasn’t running for his life most of the time.

      Honorable Mention—Philip Rivers, Chargers; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Maurice Jones-Drew, Jaguars, Reggie Wayne, Colts; Cedric Benson, Bengals; Jared Allen, Vikings; Tom Brady, Patriots; Randy Moss, Patriots; Miles Austin, Cowboys; Vince Young, Titans; Andre Johnson, Texans; Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Darren Sharper, Saints

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