Success

I'm never so sure of myself that I disrespect or dismiss an opposing opinion. Your view may be just as good as mine, or a lot better. I appreciate the perspective. I'm curious how KC will fare if they go on to face the Rams. The Rams are kind of the team I'm talking about. It just always seems like if you have a great pass rush, it's a total equalizer against a superior QB.

I started this thread to hear the discussion. I'm not conclusive on it. But yeah - I'm still of the school of thought that defense wins championships. And even over the past 2 decades, I'd say that's been true much more often than not. I'm looking at a team that's built like the greatest show on turf, or like the Dolphins of the '90's. I think we need to put much more emphasis on building the D.

That's exactly what I'm thinking. It is TIME to build a championship defense, so our offense doesn't have to score on every position. This thread is about the idea that you can't have it all. You can't have amazing skill position guys and a fierce pass rush. You have to choose where to prioritize.

I look at teams like the '90's Dolphins. They put more emphasis on getting weapons for Marino, than on building a championship D. Welker & Edelmen were kind of afterthoughts. Guys that we probably don't know too well if they played on other teams.

With Brady retiring, it got me thinking of how the Pats were when he was QB there. We hate them, rightfully, but it's okay to look at success and try to figure out if what worked there could apply here now. The Pats blueprint was actually kind of simple: you get a franchise QB, and you build a big O-line to protect him, and a great defense to help him win championships. Because he's such a great QB, you put receivers way down the list of priorities, because he can basically make anyone a star. The only exception they really made was getting Moss. 1 time in a 20 year career. And it didn't get them a Lombardi. The opposite is what we saw w/ Marino, or even Stafford when he was w/ the Lions - the QB is so good, we have to get him the best weapons before other priorities. I love Diggs and the fact that we've put a high priority on getting quality wideouts for Allen. But is it necessary? Does a championship formula lie more in the counter-intuitive approach?

I can't care about this, really. It's a bad rule, and it's not the reason we lost the game. I thought the officials actually did a great job the whole game.

I don't think he really did. BB pushed the envelope on a lot of stuff, but I never saw Brady as being involved in that. The "deflate" stuff was nothing, imo.

The thing I'm looking forward to is 10 years from now, when they start talking about Allen as the potential GOAT. Pats fans are already salty about that debate.

Remember in "Lord of the Rings," when the dark tower in Mordor finally fell and the hobbits were pumping their fists in joyous celebration? Yeah, I remember that.

This relates to new conventional wisdom that I completely disagree with. I've heard countless times on twitter & elsewhere that you "have" to win a SB while your QB is on his rookie contract, or it's over. Your window starts to close as soon as soon as you have to pay him. Really? So, only QB's on their rookie contract have ever won a SB? If you manage the cap well, and draft well, your window can stay open as long as you have a great QB.

And half of the Pats fanbase just stopped watching football.

The Rams are probably a better team than us. Not that we wouldn't have had a great chance, but their D is fierce, and D usually wins championships. We were more of a one-man team this year, even in our good games. I'd love to see the D-line move up a tier next year.

People forget that HC's can learn just like everyone else. I'm sure Philly fans are watching Reid now like, "who is that guy?" McD has improved since he started, and will continue to do so. Honestly, I loved how he coached the 1st 59 minutes, 47 seconds of that game. He was aggressive for the most part, had a great gameplan, and let Josh be Josh. Our D liability was more because we don't have as good a D as we thought.

Honestly, it WOULD be nice to get one of these at home. I know we have to earn that, but all of the last 4 games have been in KC. I remember the Colts had the same thing w/ New England for awhile. They were always going up there. It'll shift. We'll get our share in Buffalo, and it will make a big difference.

We're going to go to multiple Super Bowls, imo. People always mention Marino's famous quote, but the situations aren't comparable, at all. Either we go to a few, or KC is going to go to 10 in a row. Not discounting the other good AFC teams & QB's, but it's going to be us & KC much more often than not.

We might feel better when the Rams' D-line is chasing after Mahomes like the Bucs did last year en route to a blowout win, and we realize that both Buffalo and KC were "greatest show on turf" kinds of teams with middlin' defenses.

Good for him. Maybe when the Pats drop to 3rd place in the AFCE next year, he can get another award.

I 100% disagree that there is a "massive difference." For starters, 3 timeouts vs. 1 is significant. And KC traveled roughly the same distance, in just a few more seconds. They were down to the NE 20 with just under 20 seconds left (had they had one of those extra timeouts that they did against us, they would have called one and probably won w/ a TD). The situations are almost exactly comparable.

Belichick actually gave up a very similar drive in the 2018 AFCCG. Mahomes went 50 yards in 18 seconds, 2 passes just like our game. The only difference was that NE won the coin toss. BB has had some head-scratchers. Not sure how many remember that he went for it on 4th & 13 in FG range in the '07 SB against the Giants. Benching Welker for the 1st quarter against the Jets in the playoffs, which probably cost them another SB chance. His defense against us in the 2nd regular regular season game this year was inexplicable, and he didn't adjust. And then his defense last week was absolutely terrible. He's a great coach - but not infallible.

I'm in full rationalization mode - but I think we would have had a very tough time w/ the Rams in the SB (I know they still have to beat San Fran). They have a pass rush, we don't. Defense wins championships, and theirs is better. They have a more balanced team - we have relied on Allen an inordinate amount of time. There was a reason for this, I think. When we do make it back to the SB (next year), there won't be that kind of doubt. We'll be the best team.

I plan to thoroughly enjoy every single second of the Patriots descent from dynasty to irrelevancy....

Bad rule anyway....

Honestly, it shows how good KC is also that we look back on a play or 2. No room for error in a game like that - for either team.

Quick - name a coach who hasn't made a big mistake.

That was probably my worst fear after the game, amongst all of the emotions - that 13 seconds would be "wide right" for other fanbases. But I can't really recall a game where there was such an outpouring of respect and admiration from the NFL world, and true well wishes that the Bills & Josh would get to the SB soon. Except for Patriots fans, who always seem to be salty & sad.