You are, of course, right, Joe. Brady was his usual brilliant self. But the Patriots' defense wasn't up to the task. And while games like these may be more entertaining to watch than 14-10 defensive struggles, neither of these teams is even close to "memorable," and both would have been crushed by some of the all-time great Super Bowl winners.Originally Posted by Joe Mama
Don
The blind SIDE is on the other side of the quarterback. A right handed quarterback stands is the pocket facing the sideline while looking to his left down field. That makes the blocking happened right in front of him and he should have known he had to step up to put his lineman in the right position to protect him.
So Brady got beat despite playing his top game. What game were you watching. He missed repeatedly on successive plays to medium pass open receivers and twice had the deep ball hide open for a touchdown. Except the receiver had to come to a complete stop and wait for the ball. That had him catching the ball right as the defenders got there instead of having 15 yards on them an moving at full steam. Each time it was a field goal instead of a touchdown. Eight points was the difference in the final score so two good asses and we would have been in overtime. . Now missing an open guy with a bad pass happens but when it happens on successive plays you only have one other play before you 4th down so it makes things very hard.
The Pats defense didn't play bad it is just that stopping Foles and the Eagle Offense has been impossible to stop this post season. They did about what everyone else has done. The Pats O had no trouble moving the ball downfield but struggled a bit in the red zone.
I had no dog in the fight. You watched the game through Patriot/Brady lenses. I didn't think Brady looked as good as he usually does and neither did the announcers.
I am just not used to Brady choking in the end after taking a 4th quarter lead. I don't get to watch Brady much in our media market so maybe that is par for the course for him. I just don't think it is. Part of moving in the pocket or being a successful runner is seeing the position the blocker has on the defender and moving in a direction where the blocker has the most leverage to continue his block. Moving in the wrong direction the defender gets an easy shot on you. I think almost any pro quarterback would have taken a step up to allow his blocker to be able to continue his block and keep the defender off the QB. Brady had tunnel vision on that play, which prevented him from taking a step up, and it cost the Patriots the game. You could blame a lot of plays as the one that cost the game. Under throwing wide open deep balls where the receiver had a 10 to 15 yard cushion could be on the list.
Often the biggest stats ever put up by a QB is in a losing effort. That is because the team is trying to keep pace with or catch up to the team that is winning so they pass more aggressively than usual. The other team is often willing to give up shorter yardage to protect against big plays. Stats like that in a winning effort are impressive. Not so much when you were generally 2 scores down the whole game. Granted it cycled between one score and two scores down for the Pats but they only briefly had the lead in the game. Right or wrong the QB gets the glory and the blame. In this case I think the blame falls where it should since the strip sack should have been avoided by Brady and Brady didn't seem to have enough arm left to hit the wide open deep receiver without making him stop and wait for the ball to get there, which allowed the defenders to reach the receivers as they were catching the ball, for an 8 point swing in the score when considering both weak throws. Everyone else did enough to win but all 3 of those plays, that all rest squarely on Brady's shoulders, were what decided the game. If Brady is the Brady of old all 3 of those plays end very differently.
If the Patriots didn't miss two field goals with Tom Brady's come back ability it is possible to even the game in the fourth quarter. But the Eagles just did a good play at the right time that took the ball from Tom Brady when the Eagles was leading 38-33. If the ball didn't shed off Tom Brady's hand he would of scored. The fumble won't not have mattered if the Patriots didn't miss two field goal in the first two quarters.
Last edited by seriousplayer; 02-05-2018 at 05:13 PM.
OTOH, if we're going to look at woulda-coulda, if I was Tom Brady, I would have gone home with Gisele Bündchen.
"I don't think outside the box; I think of what I can do with the box." - Henri Matisse
Tom brady stated that after his family, football is his next most important thing in life. "If you are going to compete against me you better be ready to give up your life because I am." He stated that clearly in his documentary film. So from that perspective I don't think he will give up playing football especially when it is a Superbowl game.
Last edited by seriousplayer; 02-05-2018 at 05:46 PM.
If Brady would have gotten a TD instead of them having to try a field goal...
Besides the Pats missed one field goal and one extra point. Four points would have made cut the Eagle lead to 1 point, 38-37.
Last edited by Three; 02-05-2018 at 05:37 PM.
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