Pneumonic

Yet the Pats D gives up 3 less points per game (21.4) than the Broncos D (24.4) this season. Meanwhile the Pats O scores almost 14 points more per game than does the Broncos O.

That wasn't the case when McDaniels was the Pats OC last time so I can't imagine it being the case this time around. BTW, Schefter is reporting that McDaniels is going to NE as an AC and will be with the team for this years playoffs and will assist with film work and gameplanning activities. Interestingly, McDaniels Rams played Pitt, Cinci, Balt, Giants, GB, Saints and SF this year so Josh gameplaned already for these teams and will bring this added info to the Pats in case they happen to meet any of these teams in the playoffs.

Brady's the key as to why the offense doesn't miss a beat. But, many Pats fans will tell you that McDaniels is an upgrade over O'Brien, and Weis too. And if Lloyd comes as part of the package, imagine having to defend: Welker Lloyd Branch Gronkowski Hernandez

Especially if the next one is former Pats OC Josh McDaniels as many people expect. In fact, it'll be an upgrade. Further, should McDaniels re-surface in NE and bring with him Brandon Lloyd (Lloyd said he wishes to go where Josh goes), then the Pats offense will be ridiculous next year.

These drivers are playing RR each and every time they strap on the helmet and take these cars around the track to race. I'm surprised, but terribly relieved, more deaths don't happen. So sad that a father and husband is killed tragically due to a sporting event.

Every team in the NFL, besides the Patriots, are allowed to have a team cameraman on the sideline taping whatever they wish to tape. No $500k fine and relinquishing of a #1 pick involved since it's not the Patriots doing the filming

Win the turnover battle and make the Pats score 3's instead of 7's a couple of times and this game can be won.

If Brady was going to miss Koppen it would have been early on in the transition to the replacement guy who never even played OC before. If anything, the situation will improve now that the new guy has been coached up and gotten added game reps.

The problem with Merriman is he no longer has his stash of HGH after having it taken away from him at the Canadian border.

It's all well and good to devise an obvious gameplan in order to beat the Pats; it's quite another to actually be able to pull it off!

Oh, no. Big bad Brady is looking over at Fat Rexy during the game and mouthing off to him. What a meanie! Reminds me of what happens at primary and elementary schools these days when you see a clamoring of moms getting together and forcing their schools to stop all the fun that happens during recess. It's no wonder the kids of such people turn out to be wusses!

The Pats success is due to them being the best in the business at the 3 most critical spots; QB, HC and owner. Everything else is complementary. Tough, if not impossible, to copy this plan.

I heard Gloria Estefan gave Harbaugh the thumbs down!

Not sure where this fallacy comes from? In all of the Pats SB seasons the one constant on the OL has been Matt Light @ LT. But ask any Pats fan and they'll tell you he's been anything but great. Steady is a much better description. Dan Koppen has also been a consistent starter except SB 36. So, the two best Pats OL's in their dynasty years were Light and Koppen, not exactly upper echelon players. Beyond these two, you are looking at JAG's for OL .... Names such as Tom Ashworth, Greg Randall, Nick Kaczur, Bradon Gorin, Russ Hochstein, Joe Andruzzi, and Mike Compton.

Sorry, but this reads of a scorned fan. Or one that doesn't get to see Brady play much, if at all. Brady is putting up stats and securing records that may well place him as the best of all time. And this on an offense chalk full of no name skill players. The one time Brady had a top skill player (Moss), he set TD and scoring records that may well stick for a long time. Brady may be a lot of things but "horribly unimpressive" isn't one of them.

Also keep in mind that it's not just the drafted players that you must hit on to combat the Pats. Of the players on the Pats 53 man roster, 15 of them went undrafted. So, the Pats coach=up players like few other teams do.

Gotta play ball control against the Pats in order to keep Brady off the field. It's the only way to stop them on offense. Even Green Bay, with their defense which matches up very well against the Pats offense (two excellent cover corners and very good inside pass rush pressure), didn't do too well against the Pats offense when you consider that NE scored 24 points even though they had the ball for just 19 minutes of possession. The only reason the Pats didn't score more on offense was because their defense wasn't able to give them the ball more often. If the Bills can hold the Pats to similar TOP numbers (ie 2:1 ratio), and the Bills score 7's instead of 3's on offense, they have a shot at winning.

BB teaches his team to play a full 60 minute game - on both sides of the ball. And well he should .... they both get paid to play a full game. If BB then allows them to take plays off, no matter how far ahead they are, what does that do for his teaching methods? It jeopardizes it/ And the Pats almost blew a couple of late game leads this season because they failed to play a full 60 minutes of ball. Don't think that this didn't go unnoticed by BB .... as he's been emphasizing the playing of complete games since then as the Pats ramp up for the playoffs. And why shouldn't he, or any HC?

I guess I don't see the logic in the fact that people would expect an offense to stop playing balls to the walls when a game is well in hand yet they don't expect the same for a defense when in the same situation. Tell me. Do you feel that a defense should fight with all of its might to preserve a shutout 1/2way through the 4th quarter in a game when they are comfortably ahead by 35 points or should they lay down and allow the opposing offense to score?

I'm curious if you feel the same way when you see a defensive player continue to play light's out in an attempt to sack the opposing QB or intercept a ball or tackle a RB for a loss even when the game is out of hand? Or, would you be critical of a defender who, after catching an INT when his team is up by 3 TD's late in the 3rd, takes the ball back for a pick six instead of taking a knee long before he reaches the endzone? Also, wouldn't kicking a gimme FG, in lieu of trying for 6 (and giving the defense a chance to stop you from scoring, be more of a running up the score issue? Maybe they just wanted to even things out some since Manning gets to pad his yearly stats by placing in a cushy dome 8 times a season while Brady gets to play in crummy weather in places like Foxboro and Buffalo and New York.

The "running up the score" folks are the pu$$ie$ who also would take their ball if things didn't go their way. You know the crybaby types who would also complain if someone bumps into their kid in the schoolground instead of teaching the kid how to fight back and stick up for themselves. In the case of the Pats, Belichick is simply teaching his team of the importantance of playing a full 60 minute ballgame. Earlier on in the season the Pats let down in the late going and that's not something Belichick wants to happen again. But most coaches don't coach to the same degree of emphasis that Belichick does so you'll see the players of those teams complain like a bunch of crybabies.

Be careful when cherry picking that Pats/Ravens playoff game as the blueprint on how to beat Brady and the Pats. Not only was that a far different Patriots team back then but in that game Brady played with broken ribs. Key is to stop Brady from putting up mega points obviously. But that's easier said than done as witnesses by the upper echelon defenses Brady has dismantled this season. The problem is the Pats offense is built to morph in and out of different offenses week in and week out making it near impossible for defenses to gameplan for. This was the impetus for them trading away Moss; so that they'd be far less predictable and thus much tougher to gameplan for. Exploiting them on defense is much easier and likely will be until such time as all of that young talent Belichick has drafted gets acclimated on defense. It seems that is already starting to happen the last 4 or so weeks and almost certainly will continue to happen going forward. Add in what should be another significant draft haul next April and it's gonna be a serious upward battle to dethrone the Pats for some time to come. Well, for at least as long as Brady is under center and Belichick roams the Pats sideline in his hoodie.

But said blueprint is only good if Brady is hurt and not 100% as was the case in that game.

Best way to stop the Pats on offense is to throw off the timing of Brady and his receivers. You start by employing excellent cover corners who can stay with the quick receivers the Pats have in m2m. Zone won't work as Brady is too smart and will pick it apart. Next, you also have to be able to get pressure on Brady with just the DL. If you have to consistently bring in an extra defender from the backside then Brady is too smart and he'll make you pay. Always a step ahead of others, to counter these two actions, BB went out and drafted two, excellent TE's, Gronkowski and Hernandez, to allow matchup advantages for the Pats should opposing defenses actually find a way to implement the above two gameplans. These guys make matching up with the Pats damn near inpossible because having these guys allow a QB as smart as Brady to do the dictating on the field. With these TE's the Pats truly have the queen on the chessboard that causes the ultimate havoc. I think it'll be easier to try and outscore the Pats honestly. But, even that may become an exercise in futility as the Pats have injected a ton of high caliber talent to that defense, and are poised to possibly add a ton more thanks to having 6 picks in the first 3 rounds, including 3 of the first 33 picks. Give a fertile defensive mind like Belichick all of this talent and watch out!

Tough to be critical of the Pats D as it's chalk full of rookie and 2nd year starters who are just now getting the hang of things. Oftentimes they play like the youngest defense in the league that they are but, recently, they have been starting to jell. As I said the 08 draft was a dud but not just for the Pats, for all teams in general. That was just a bad draft. 07 might have been better had they not relinquished a 2nd and 4th for Welker and Moss. 09 class is starting to bear fruit. Chung was the starter and playing lights out until he got hurt. He's slowly getting back. Brace disappointed his first season but he's seeing starting reps in the Pats DL rotation this season along with Pryor. Butler's not been much more than a backup but has played better the last several games in the nickel sot where he's better suited. Vollmer has been a stud since day 1 and is the starting RT and a future pro bowler. Tate redshirted his first pro season recovering from a blown out knee but he's been a very dynamic player this season who is the teams 3rd wideout and a top kickoff return guy in the league. And Edelman just can't get out onto the field because he's got Welker, Branch, Tate, Gronkowski and Hernandez ahead of him in the pecking order but he's proven to be a very solid 4th receiver and a starting punt returner for them. That's 7 picks who are all contributing to the Pats winning ways. Granted none of these classes compare to the '10 class but that class might well end up being something truly special. The last two Pats drafts have produced 14 guys who have started this season for the 10-2 Pats.