DrDawkinstein

Held them to 240yds total offense, 14 points, 6 of 9 possessions 5 plays or less. And you put the larger percentage on the Defense? You guys really expect any team to hold another offense to, what, 0 yards just because they are going to run every play? Cmon.

So if not for the Offense sucking all night and losing the game for us, the Defense played a good game. Thank you.

And you got laughed out of that thread. But thanks for not even tagging me in your post.

This was my first reaction last night as well. However, we really dont know what defense was called or what his responsibilities were. Maybe they expected a run up the middle and his job was to crash inside. Probably not, but just saying, we dont know for sure.

Oh, so now YOU GUYS are discounting things like accusing us of "forgetting the long run". Nah dude, it's an NFL game. A game is a game. The Pats wanted to punt 6 out of 9 times, with 4 3-and-outs. Got it. Belichick really is a genius to come up with that game plan.

14 points and 240 total yards is a good D performance. I am right. Pats are happy because they won. That is all. If the Offense doesnt trip on our ***** all night, they are much more pissed about their crappy QB who cant be trusted to throw the ball.

I will absolutely agree with this. Our tackling was atrocious, and has been all year. Plenty of runs should have been stopped for shorter gains or even losses. Edmunds had a horrible night.

Bro you made up a strawman to accuse me of strawmanning. Way to inception that. Speaking strictly from a Defensive performance standpoint, 9 points and 14 points are good/great performances in the NFL. Everyone who knows football knows that.

People are obviously stuck in their feelings about this, no matter how irrational they are. Oh well. If what I laid out in the OP cant open their eyes a little, nothing will.

They didnt have better field position all night. We averaged starting at the 40+, they averaged around the 20. We have PLENTY of opportunities and possessions to tie or take the lead and came up with NOTHING. That's on the Offense. The D did enough to win.

And yet only 1 TD and a couple of FGs. If someone asked you before the season, "Would you accept limiting the Jags to 9 points, and the Pats to 14 points?" wouldn't you take that and our chances to win those games?

Not if they dont ultimately result in points, so I dont count a number of those plays as "bad". We still make a stop and force a punt, it's like they never happened. IMO. But I appreciate you keeping it to mostly scoring drives.

Yards and yards. A passing yard is 3 feet. A rushing yard is 3 feet. Dawson Knox alone, with his drops and drive-killing penalty, is more at fault for this loss than our entire Defense and all the rushing yards.

Did you miss where Alpha says "We gave up one TD on the day"? No one is discounting that play. Stop saying we are. It isnt a real argument.

Why do people keep saying this? No one has said to throw that play away. It's a total strawman. Stop it. Name 3.

I never said to not count that run. I'll fully count it. One. The defense had ONE bad play. Bills started at about the 40 yard line all night. They had at least 3 possessions to try to score and tie or take the lead. They failed. That isnt on the Defense. How did they not stop it when they held them to punts and 2 FGs for most of the night? If any NFL team keeps doing one thing over and over, they'll amass some yardage and success. The Pats are paid professionals too.

So they wanted to punt 6 out of 9 times, and only score 14 points all game. Got it.

So 3-and-outs on half the possessions is embarrassing. Got it.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/playbyplay/_/gameId/401326522 My source.

Is that a reasonable expectation when the other team never passes? Is it more reasonable to expect the D to generate a turn over, or for the Offense to score more than 10 points?

How were they surprised by it when they forced 3 and outs on over half the drives? 222 rushing yards sounds bad, but not when you consider the Pats total offense was 240 yards. Some offenses put up more yards in a half. We all knew the run was coming, so did the D, and they stopped it.

How about "The Offense couldnt outscore a team who threw only 3 passes, and scored only 14 points"? Do you think the Defense needs to shut out every team we play in order for fans to consider that they played well? Or at least well enough to win? Also, I'm not taking away the big play. THE big play. One play. The defense had ONE bad play. The offense had one GOOD play (the TD).

I guess if they dont let that fluke long run happen, they hold to another FG on that drive and the game ends up 10-9 Bills. Which is a step up from losing 9-6 to the Jags. But neither of those games are the Defense's fault when our O can't put up more than 10 points.

Patriots had 9 real possessions all game (not counting the last to kill the clock). They punted 6 out of 9 possessions. 4 of those punts were 3 and outs. The other 2 possessions were 4 plays and 5 plays. The only long drive they had resulted in a mere Field Goal. What more could the Defense have done? Punt (3 plays) Punt (3 plays) TD (3 plays) FG (9 plays) Punt (3 plays) Punt (4 plays) Punt (5 plays) FG (14 plays) Punt (3 plays)

Nah. Hero Ball is far more subtle. Hero Ball is going for unnecessary shots instead of taking what is there and living to fight another day (or set of downs). Hero Ball is on 2nd and 9 forcing a low percentage deep ball to Sanders which leads to 3rd and 9, instead of the open guy underneath for 5-7 yards and a much more manageable 3rd and short. Which he has done multiple times in multiple games. And Hero Ball is taking a shot at the end zone when all you needed was a 1st down. There was no need to be locked in on Davis who he knew was running a route to the end zone, and missing a blatantly open Bease because he wouldnt even look his way.