KeaneyBlue - The URI Basketball Forum

What did they attempt 1 pass in the first half for the phins?

Anybody trying to learn anything about the patriots in that game was foolish.

I feel like people downplay certain injuries and play up results kind of in this "what about the patriot way."

The fact is the pats have some studs on their roster and they craft bespoke plans to beat teams around all of those studs doing something.

The injuries to the defense and o-line crippled NE, throw in every offensive skill player. They limped to the finish line.

Brady looks like shit. The offensive line is the worst in football.
Looks like it ends in Denver, as always.

They are only down 8 at halftime.

Yeah they look like crap, but they usually find a way to turn it around in the 2nd half.

The 3rd quarter will be huge.......

I can't understand why they took the ball to start the game.

Brilliant move by Pats to challenge the pass that was ruled a lateral. No announcers even picked up on it and even after NE challenged they still said it would not be over ruled. Denver guy gave up on it, Pats did not. If officials were right and had not blown their whistles in error this would have been a TD. Hope it comes back to haunt Denver.

Has there ever been a worse lineman than Marcus Cannon? And Belichick extended his contract.

There aren't enough decent offensive linemen to go around.

It's actually beyond amazing that Brady does what he does, with that mess for a line.

I hate Denver

Me too.I hope Carolina kills them.

Well at least we can put to rest any talk of Brady as the best QB of all time now.

Something always happens out there. Missed extra pt.
Denver's defense was outstanding. Pats had better clean house on that line. Every one of them sucked today.
If the game was here, Pats would have won.

I wonder if they should have kicked the FG with 5 minutes left. Wouldn't have needed the 2 pt conversion. Hard to tell, game would have played out differently. That O-Line sure is a train wreck.

Brady was already the best this game changes nothing

adam914 wrote:Well at least we can put to rest any talk of Brady as the best QB of all time now.

Haha what? That debate was over years ago, anything else he does is just padding his lead.

After watching the curb stomping that Carolina just put on Arizona, I feel almost lucky to avoid getting demolished by them in front of everybody on the planet with a TV. They are a force of nature.

We probably should've kicked the FG on either the third- or second-to-last drive, but who knows how that would have changed the way the game played out. The Patriots team from weeks 1-8 would have crushed this Denver team and given Carolina a game next week, but there was just too much attrition. At this point, they just weren't that good. Lost 5 of last 8, which is incredible. Denver is a mediocre football team, but NE was just not good enough to beat them.

UCH21377 wrote:I wonder if they should have kicked the FG with 5 minutes left. Wouldn't have needed the 2 pt conversion. Hard to tell, game would have played out differently. That O-Line sure is a train wreck.

Normally, I would say that they should have kicked that fg. However, considering the way the game was going, I think going for it was the correct call. They weren't scoring as easily as they usually had all year.
They lost 4 out of their last 5 games. Hard to say they deserved to go to the SB.

As far as Brady not being the best, I defy any qb to play behind that line today and look good.

Carolina is this years team of destiny.

Even if the Pats had won, they weren't going to beat that team 2 weeks from now.

Cam Newton is a beast. Running and passing. No other like him right now.

And those linebackers, whoa......

Denver is going to get crushed, even with their defense.

rambone 78 wrote:Carolina is this years team of destiny.

Even if the Pats had won, they weren't going to beat that team 2 weeks from now.

Cam Newton is a beast. Running and passing. No other like him right now.

And those linebackers, whoa......

Denver is going to get crushed, even with their defense.

I have to agree with this. They do look unbeatable. This could be a blowout.
Since there probably aren't many Denver or Carolina fans around here, it's all URI now.

ramfan, that might be a problem.

Some on here don't like me, or my posts anyway.....

Unfortunately for them, I speak the truth about URI BB right now.......

What we have right now, is not what we were promised, EC or no EC......

I enjoy your posts.

One more thing about the Pats. Not wanting to sound like a Monday morning quarterback, but, the one player I really wanted them to draft was Tyler Lockett in the second round. I followed his college career very closely and always thought he'd be a perfect Patriot. Having a quality receiver and return man probably would have gotten them home field. But, woulda ,coulda shoulda.

Thanks, 85. Appreciate it.

Did anyone see the Panthers hot dogging it during the game?
Posing for pictures on the sidelines, and running their
mouths after the game?
I'm hoping for a scoreless tie in the Super Bowl.

rodfromcranston wrote:Did anyone see the Panthers hot dogging it during the game?
Posing for pictures on the sidelines, and running their
mouths after the game?
I'm hoping for a scoreless tie in the Super Bowl.

Yep, going skiing not even going to watch.... Done with pigskin till September

NFL is like the NBA, now.
All chest pounding, "hey look at me!",
self absorbed clown acts.
Imagine Dick Butkus or Ray Nitschke pulling that crap,
or any of their teammates.
Then again, football wasn't the glorified PED
driven flag football game that it is today.

Yeah, they need to cool it. Since the NFL has cut down on what celebrating is allowed on the field, they're doing it on the sidelines now.

However, I will be very surprised if the Panthers don't win the SB.

Newton can do what Manning can't. Run.

The only chance Denver has, is to get up on them early. Which is going to be very hard to do, Carolina has jumped on teams from the get go many times this season.

Here's another question: How much longer will Brady play?

I think he going to continue, until he gets his 5th ring. If he ever does, of course.

He wants to be the GOAT. Right now, imo he's still 2nd to Montana.

Agree on Brady, Rambone, but never say that in NE,
because you can't win.
Imagine Montana or Unitas, in this watered down NFL,
with all the rules favoring the offense?
Different eras, so nobody really wins.

I love the Panthers. I haven't rooted this hard for a non-Pats NFL team to win a game, that I can remember. Love everything about them.

Well, TP you'll be happy in 2 weeks then.

The Panthers did it all yesterday. On offense and defense.

Palmer helped though. He was terrible.

The Panthers are a force of nature this year, somehow. When Cam was drafted, I was 100% sure he was going to be the next Jamarcus Russell and was going to be a huge bust. He might be the most fun guy to watch in the league now, and he was definitely the best player in the league this season.

Yes, after yesterday's games, he is the MVP for sure.

TruePoint wrote:I love the Panthers. I haven't rooted this hard for a non-Pats NFL team to win a game, that I can remember. Love everything about them.

As a Falcons fan, it absolutely kills me to say it, but I agree. I love everything about Cam and the team as a whole this season. Just remember who put that 1 on their record!!! (this is all I have)

I wish they were undefeated now. I want somebody to shut Shula and those freakin' Dolphins up.

I think Montana was best too. Different game now can't go by stats. I don't care for Cam's stunts but he's turned himself into a really good QB. Very difficult to defend.
Wonder if Denver will use Von Miller to shadow Cam? Interesting matchup. Denver's D could keep this close, but sure looks like this is Carolina's game to lose.

rambone 78 wrote:There aren't enough decent offensive linemen to go around.

It's actually beyond amazing that Brady does what he does, with that mess for a line.

I agree with this more than the "Brady looked like crap" storyline. For all the talk about Brady / Manning, the two stories of this game were DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller.

Also, I'll still argue that Brady is the GOAT for a myriad of reasons. The parity and talent that exists in the NFL now that just wasn't there when Montana was playing. But I also get that folks will make sweeping generalizations based on exactly one game.

Brady is great, as long as he isn't facing a QB named Manning, in a game that matters.

From the Boston Herald:
"While Tom Brady leads their all-time head-to-head series 11-6, Peyton Manning has beaten Brady’s Patriots more often on the big stage. Manning has won three straight meetings between the two in the AFC title game, and leads Brady 3-2 all time in the postseason."

Not to mention those two losses to Eli.

Hard to be the greatest of all time when there are two guys of the same era that you can't beat when it matters.

Patriots fire OL coach Dave DeGugliemo. Guess we know where Belichick is laying the blame for yesterday's loss.

Typical. That OL coach didn't pick those players.

He didn't plan for a lot of them to get hurt, either.

Just another scapegoat.

Hey, players don't perform, the coach gets fired.

I guess there's an analogy there somewhere.....

I hate getting into this, because it's time consuming.
Montana played before salary cap.
New England's biggest plus has been the genius of figuring
out the cap, as no other team has.
The 49'ers faced four teams that were Super Bowl winners, intact.
Giants, Steelers, Cowboys and Redskins.
Look them up. All great team competing year after year.
Rules- no flag on every passing play downfield.
No QBs looking for a flag when the wind blows them down.
No regulated hits.
No holds barred, trying to take the QB out of the game.
Brady, and Manning would be dead under those rules.
Joe Theisman's career ended with his leg almost severed by a hit.
Montana missed an entire season after being destroyed by Lawrence Taylor's
hit in the playoffs.
There were no rules like today. Defenses' motto was,"Meet at the quarterback".
Toughness. Montana had SPINAL FUSION and came back to play in the same
season.
Montana played in Super Bowls against teams lead by Hall of Fame QBs,'
Elway, Marino, Esaison, and a good one named Ken Anderson.
MVP in 3 and should have been 4.
Never threw a single INT.
Had a perfect QB rating vs. Denver.
His winning drives were ended in touchdowns, not field goals.
NEVER LOST A SUPER BOWL. 4-0, not 4-2.
NCAA Championship QB with Notre Dame.
Lastly, the myth is that he had always won with loaded teams
in SF.
Look at the roster of his first Super Bowl winner.
No Rice, no Taylor, no Craig. Ronnie Lott was a rookie.
More amazing, was leading the KC Chiefs to the AFC
championship game.
That year, the Chiefs beat the reigning Super Bowl Champion
49ers, and Steve Young.
When he retired, Sports Illustrated's cover was entitled
Twilight of The God.

The O-LINE always seemed to come together when Scarnecchia was there. Although having Light and Mankins on the left side always helped. But he took guys off the scrap heap, former wrestlers, undrafted players and always made them into a great unit. I wonder how Dante would have done with this group.

Dante's retirement really hurt this team. He was the best I've ever seen.
Another big loss this year was when James Devlin went down. He was Brady's best body guard.
They 've got to spend money and improve this line this year. Extending Klein and Cannon isn't going to do it.
Brady should be demanding better help. He's the only player who has that power. I can't believe how bad this organization is at protecting their franchise qb. A few years ago they got rid of his receivers and then they give him this crap to block for him.

I keep seeing asinine comments about the Patriots "scapegoating" Gugs, like everyone on the internet is the guy's second cousin. The guy isn't a terrible coach and it's been a hard job this year with all the injuries, but firing him is not the same as blaming him for the team falling short of the SB this year. In professional sports, staff guys get swapped out all the time, especially when the unit they were responsible for doesn't perform well. It's not personal. I don't know why people are getting bent out of shape about it (actually I do know why, when the Patriots don't win the super bowl the vultures start circling to take their shots - comes with the territory).

As far as Brady's place in history, after last year any reasonable argument was over. There wasn't anybody left arguing anyone else was better. This year, the guy drags a decimated roster to another AFC championship game and falls a play or two short of going back to the SB, and somehow that is a reason to revisit the conversation? It's reactionary and dumb. The guy has played in more playoff games than anyone who has ever lived, so there's going to be some losses scattered in there. Is he supposed to have won 13 Super Bowls? Manning has beat him three times in the playoffs, always playing at home with the higher seeded team. If Manning were a better QB, maybe he'd have got to more AFC title games to have played Brady's best teams. Montana was my childhood favorite player and is a Notre Dame guy, to boot, so I won't say anything bad about the guy. I think he is the clear #2 QB of all time, but he isn't in Brady's class because nobody is.

ramfan85 wrote:Dante's retirement really hurt this team. He was the best I've ever seen.
Another big loss this year was when James Devlin went down. He was Brady's best body guard.
They 've got to spend money and improve this line this year. Extending Klein and Cannon isn't going to do it.
Brady should be demanding better help. He's the only player who has that power. I can't believe how bad this organization is at protecting their franchise qb. A few years ago they got rid of his receivers and then they give him this crap to block for him.

This isn't really fair. When camp started the line looked like a potential strength. They lost a pro bowl tackle, which has a trickle down effect even before considering all the other injuries. The depth on the line had always been excellent under Dante, and failing to get the backups up to speed was one of Gug's shortcomings. I think with two starting tackles he would have been fine, though.

In today's NFL, it's getting harder and harder for teams to have quality depth at every position.

Even the Pats are struggling with it now. They've been fortunate in that guys like Brady have been willing to restructure their contracts to open up cap space to pay for depth.

This year, they just got hit with a lot of injuries in two very important area, the O-line, and receivers.

It happens to all teams from time to time.

Can't win 'em all.

TP, you are full of it about "no argument".
After last season, ESPN ran a series on their site on it.
Experts past and present chimed in. So did NFL Network.
Guess what? You lose.
They also had a national poll on the subject.
Guess what? You lose again.
Neither result was a landslide, by any means.
Montana #1, Brady #1A.
I get this is NE, and this argument always has a
huge preponderance of Pats fans loudly
proclaiming Brady #1.
Montana was never accused of cheating and neither was Joe Walsh.
Most elsewhere will always factor that in the equasion,
justified or not.
The only problem I've ever had with Joe is those rotten
Papa John's commercials, where he is made to look like a moocher.

Sorry I was unclear. The argument about Brady and Manning was over last year, as even the most diehard Manning people had to finally give up. This season can't possibly do anything to change the narrative, since Brady had a near-MVP season and Manning got benched and threw twice as many picks as TDs.

My opinion is Brady is better than Montana. I know some people disagree. I love Montana, but I just don't see it as all that close. Brady won more, threw for more yards and more scores and took better cRe of the ball. What else is there to judge QBs on? I get that they played in different eras, but even adjusting for eras, Brady was better.

TruePoint wrote:

ramfan85 wrote:Dante's retirement really hurt this team. He was the best I've ever seen.
Another big loss this year was when James Devlin went down. He was Brady's best body guard.
They 've got to spend money and improve this line this year. Extending Klein and Cannon isn't going to do it.
Brady should be demanding better help. He's the only player who has that power. I can't believe how bad this organization is at protecting their franchise qb. A few years ago they got rid of his receivers and then they give him this crap to block for him.

This isn't really fair. When camp started the line looked like a potential strength. They lost a pro bowl tackle, which has a trickle down effect even before considering all the other injuries. The depth on the line had always been excellent under Dante, and failing to get the backups up to speed was one of Gug's shortcomings. I think with two starting tackles he would have been fine, though.

I agree about the starting tackles. With Solder at left and Volmer(he can't be at left tackle) at right, they're better. The middle is still a concern. I'm not a big Starks fan at center. Even giving the rookies a pass, the backups are weak.
But, as Rambone has stated, there aren't that many good linemen around.
By the way, Dante is working as a consultant for the Pats, mostly with the draft.

Maybe Montana didn't cheat, but his Hall of Fame wide receiver did.

rambone 78 wrote:Typical. That OL coach didn't pick those players.

He didn't plan for a lot of them to get hurt, either.

Just another scapegoat.

Hey, players don't perform, the coach gets fired.

I guess there's an analogy there somewhere.....

I read somewhere last night that he was fired not because of Sunday's O-line performance (although I'm sure that was part of it) but because BB was expecting some of the younger O-lineman to have made bigger strides by now. Right or wrong, he put that on the coaching.

Sounds like the hearing didn't go too well for Brady's side today. One judge actually said there was overwhelming evidence that someone tampered with the balls. Guess two of those judges didn't go to science class.

Brady since that Mo Lewis hit has had a sell your soul to the devil type career.

To me this isn't like a Michael Jordan versus everyone after him argument. I say that because of guys like Wilt. And really I think its more about a who was most dominant type argument in basketball. How long did you dominate the league? and to what level?

With the QB its more of a "who would you take?" I take the underdog that no body has ever liked. The guy that has played with several different casts and coaches. The guy that just keeps coming back for more when it seems like everything is against him.

Plus his stats stack up. His style stacks up against the old guys. He has been a west coast to -->play action guy his whole career. I personally don't think the pats benefit from the way they call interference like most teams. If anything it hurts the Pats defense.

Brady was hit 26 times against the Broncos in the AFCC. I thought I saw it reported that was the most ever. He's played nearly a whole career with rib injuries. One season ending. Guy is tough. He probably hasn't eaten sugar in 6 years.