SirAndrew

This board would crash if Duke Williams came in and played like Jerry Rice. Some on this board seem to have those dreams on a daily basis.

I don’t disagree with your thoughts on forth down, but I have a bigger issue with something else. When you’re up 4 points in Foxboro after getting a big stop, you don’t call a series of run, run, run. That seldom works in the NFL, unless you are trying to milk the clock. It was far too early in the game for that.

These young guys need reps. Josh Allen doesn’t need to sit on the bench before a big playoff game. They need to continue to learn. This isn’t a veteran playoff experienced team, they need the reps imo.

I thought the same during the game, but I’m not going to blame the Pats. They are trying to win, and I truly believe most guys want to be in the game (even with a head injury). It’s up to the NFL to ensure the player safety they preach so adamantly. If Edelman can suffer what appeared to be head a injury, and the Pats can game the system, then something is wrong with that system.

They could have been better, and I’m not a Daboll fan. However, the Pats D has been very good all season, and I’m not using this game to showcase why Daboll is a bad OC. To that point, I completely agree with you. Why is no one pointing to the fact that Brady went 26-33, and looked like the Brady of old? Brady has not been a good QB this season, and our D was destroyed by him. That’s the story of the game for me.

Good job by the offense. D needs to step up.

Is this real, or was this a NE thing? All is well though.

I didn’t know that was a thing.

None, but anything can happen, and it would make the last week of the season very exciting if we win this week.

I agree, but I think what you state points to the QB position meaning everything in today’s NFL. The best plans mean nothing without a QB in today’s NFL. Short term success can built upon being a complete team, but long term success is determined by whether or not you have a QB.

Beasley is a mess

These teams are evenly matched defensively. Allen should be the difference. You draft a first round QB so he can beat guys like Hodges. Time to prove it Josh.

I’m going with Hodges. It’s crazy how people are comparing Allen and Hodges like they are similar. Hodges was a third stringer, while Allen is a first rounder with out of this world talent.

Fair enough, you make great points. Money certainly doesn’t buy class, and being able to afford good seats as opposed to those who can’t doesn’t say anything about a persons behavior. I’m not on the older side at all, but I’ve just noticed I’m always surrounded by college age fans in the nosebleeds, and for whatever reason they are generally a crowd that gets on my nerves. I’ve seen stupid drunken behavior everywhere, and great fans as well. So I definitely agree with that.

I’ve sat in the nosebleeds in Buffalo a few times, and I’m just not into being around the younger crowd that inhabits the area. It’s naive to think that every fan doesn’t have different experiences. Just because you’ve have great experiences in the nosebleeds, doesn’t mean that others have. There’s also a difference between the upper and lower rows of the 300 section. The lower rows are great seats with many season ticket holders. The upper rows are generally a bunch of younger drunks who bought cheap tickets.

This is why it’s so difficult to maintain a great defensive team in today’s league imo. It’s tough to keep everyone together for a significant amount of time. That’s why the blueprint for success is taking advantage of having a great defense while developing a young QB. Eventually the QB who benefited from the great defense needs to become capable of taking over games. That’s why Allen’s development in the immediate future is critical.

I understand it’s difficult to regulate everyone who’s around a stadium in gameday, but’s it’s absurd the league can’t put better measures in place to prevent this. There was some interesting stuff in that article. Stuff like stealing play sheets out of the opposing locker room doesn’t seem like something that should be able to happen.

I think this true with many NFL stadiums. Heck, I don’t want to sit in the nose bleeds in Buffalo as a Bills fan.

For some reason I’m really picturing Eli retiring. Just my two cents with no evidence, but he seems like the kind of a guy who could be content letting the game go.

Yeah, what happened to Wentz being the next great one, and Pederson being a genius?

People worry about weak division champs getting home playoff games, I’ll take it a step further. The NFL needs to restructure the way divisions are setup. No one from the NFC East even deserves to be in the playoffs. The four team division with an automatic playoff birth for each champ is an issue.

Great points, and I agree that Daboll’s play calling is very erratic game to game. He seems to go from one extreme to the next. Ultimately, everyone needs to be better. Yesterday was a failure for everyone on offense. It really starts with the oline imo. I’ve been Daboll’s biggest critic, but we’re not going anywhere if we have games where the oline decides to stay home. Our offense will never function with them blocking the way they did yesterday. Even when we attempted to run the ball, we had defenders busting into the backfield two yards behind the line.

This^ I think the Duke love around here is crazy. Whenever we talk about needing a big WR, Duke is mentioned like we have Randy Moss on the practice squad or something. I’m trusting the coaches aren’t seeing much from him to make them believe he can contribute. However, what has Foster or McKenzie contributed ? Even if Duke doesn’t shine in practice, it’s clear the other two guys aren’t very useful, so why not give the big WR more of an opportunity?

Great information. Today was a huge moral victory for the defense imo. It reconfirmed they can shut down the best. I’m ok with preaching the moral victory to the defense, let’s just hope the same isn’t said for the offense.

I think we can slow down any offense in the league. When I look at our chances of winning a game, I simply look at the opposing defense. We stand a good chance of winning games where the opposition defense is weak, regardless of how good their offense is. However, we really struggle to score points against decent defensive teams.