No shame or real "goats" in this loss. Division games on the road are supposed to be hard. Hell, just yesterday the Steelers lost one to one of the worst teams in football starting a 4th string QB and the Seahawks lost one at home to an inferior team
As others have said, a lot of heart shown by a team starting backups all over the field that got thoroughly outplayed for almost the entire game. They had no business sending this to overtime, and if Nink looks up on the batted ball or the ticky tack Butler DPI isn't called they likely win in regulation.
Also, I like the notion that Belichick wanted the ball 2nd in OT to give the offense 4 downs if they needed a FG. The defense came up small in OT after coming up big in the 4th quarter, but bad things happen when both starting safeties are out and your slot CB goes down.
UP:
- Brady: Clutch on a day when everything around him was going wrong and he was throwing to 4th string WRs and RBs while being protected by 4th/5th string Tackles.
- Sheard: A genuine disruptive force. What a player.
- Key Martin: Looked pretty good on a tough day.
DOWN:
- Pass blocking/coaching: The Jets front is incredibly good and the Patriots have suffered an absurd number of injuries at this position, so it's probably unfair to be too critical, but I think it took them too long to move Stork to guard and put Andrews at center, and did I see Michael Williams trying to handle Wilkerson by himself?
- Run blocking: This team needs to be better in short yardage runs.
- Tavon Wilson: Could have used something from him on a day when the secondary was desperately thin. Not happy that he didn't see the field until Richards went down.
It's just frustration. No Pats fan wants anyone else coaching the team.
He's probably aware.
Also, I think the Super Bowl last year muted a lot of the critics, but if you go back a few years this board offered plenty of examples of fans who claimed to "like Belichick the coach but not Belichick the GM."
I remember the thread when Welker walked being a mess, and the threads when Mankins was traded and Revis left weren't great either.