There seem to be some chinks in the armor this season. Can the Patriots three-peat?

I say: They will fail in the three-peat like everyone has before them.

i think it's too early to tell. remember they JUST lost Harrison for the season and likely Light for most/all of it. Try again in two weeks and we'll have a better idea of how they respond to this adversity and how the role players thrust into starting roles are going to perform.

but i'm more worried then i've been anytime since the Brady/Belichek era began. That said, if they don't win...big deal. They'll bounce back next year. One bad year doesn't destroy all that they've done.

:p Yes it does.

They'll make the playoffs because their competition in the division is Miami, Buffalo and the Jets. But I don't think they last long in the playoffs...too many injuries, to much of the league catching up to them. They're still one of the top teams in the league, but more in the 5-8 range than the 1-2 range.

Shut up, you Rigelian Dolphin-f*cker you ;) (speaking of Kodos ;))

Seriously, I think injuries and losses (coaches and otherwise) have just done the job on the Pats and they need a year to recover at this point

By accident, I hit the trout option. Can I change my vote to "They probably will."

I agree with Torgo. I'm giving them another 2-3 weeks to see if they come together and figure out how to win without Harrison and Light, from a player and coaching standpoint. They have a ways to go though. Just awful yesterday.

this is the bigger question:

what scenario is the bigger cause for the Pats' downfall - losing both their OC and DC (thus, not being able to gameplan their way out of shortcomings) OR the injuries that they've sustained thus far?

so basically my question is pretend they didn't lose Weis and Crennel - would having a proven coaching staff been enough to overcome the injuries? or lets say they had the staff they currently have in place, are the injuries to their core players (Bruschi, Harrison, namely) the bigger reason?

i say it's the not having Weis/Crennel. they've had their share of key injuries, but those two, along w/ Belichek, were enough to think of something creative.

Honestly, I don't think they lost too much in Crennel, only because I think Mangini is that good. I do think we lost something in Weis, but that's something that will heal over time, even if that's more than a full season. They have changed the offense a bit and they are getting used to new things

The killer has been Bruschi and Harrison, and their best run stuffer Johnson. Johnson would of been knocking Tomlison on his ass where Beisel was getting driven 5 yards back. Then there is Chad Brown, who must make a concerted effort to be as far away from every play as possible.

bruschi and harrison are the biggest losses. no doubt about it. with those two, who are essentially "coaches on the field" in terms of motivating and understanding the game, they would have been able to overcome anything else. however take them away along with Romeo, and whoosh, the defense is suddenly unable to adapt.

and yeah, Teddy would have stuffed LT, i have no doubt in my mind.

and yeah, Teddy would have stuffed LT, i have no doubt in my mind.

There is no doubt in my mind that LT is the best running back in the league right now and if you think anyone can shut him down for an entire game that he is being fed the ball you are crazy. Maybe full strenght they could have slowed him down a little more than they did, but you are crazy if you think just tossing Teddy in there and magically LT is shut down.

I don't think anyone thinks he would of been shut down. But he would not of been dominant and there are a couple plays where he made Beisel look real bad that wouldn't of happened.

Beisel/Chad Brown is a pretty massive drop off from the Ted and Ted, and this is the position they have relied on to stuff the run over the last few years. They're being forced to rely on the line more than they have in the past. They had been dropping Harrison in the box to help out as well.

Lets wait a few weeks before we write them off. They are still a very dangerous football team, if for no other reason than they believe in themselves.


I think they really miss Weiss. Dillon looks horribleand they've yet to find a ground game. In all reality, the Pats offense has looked solid for about 3 quarters this year. (the first two against the Raiders and the 4th against the Steelers. Other than that, it's been incredibly average.

And the points given up. They gave up under 17 a year ago and held their opponents under 20 points in 10 of 16 games. This year they haven't had a game where they've held their opponent under 20 and are just not looking good.

They play at Atlanta and at Denver the next couple of weeks. Two very difficult teams to play on the road. If they can find a way to split them, I think they'll be ok. But if they drop em both, it's going to be time to hit the panic button in a big way.

I agree with the overall sentiment of most. Weis is a pretty big loss. Crennel, not so much. losing Harrison is just huge - he provided so many different elements to that squad on defense that it's going to leave a huge hole. I'm not as big on Bruschi as others, and I think they're going to survive without him.

that being said, I was travelling yesterday so didn't see the game (I did listen to it on the radio, though). IMO they ran up against a team yesterday that is totally hitting on all cylanders. Personally, I think they'll be ok when all is said and done. But those Colts scare me.

I think it's a combo of losing the players and coaches. The starters knew what they were supposed to do. The backups would've been okay had the coordinators/coaches still been there, but it won't be.

Do or do not...there is no try.

this is the bigger question:

what scenario is the bigger cause for the Pats' downfall - losing both their OC and DC (thus, not being able to gameplan their way out of shortcomings) OR the injuries that they've sustained thus far?

so basically my question is pretend they didn't lose Weis and Crennel - would having a proven coaching staff been enough to overcome the injuries? or lets say they had the staff they currently have in place, are the injuries to their core players (Bruschi, Harrison, namely) the bigger reason?

i say it's the not having Weis/Crennel. they've had their share of key injuries, but those two, along w/ Belichek, were enough to think of something creative.

I don't think they will repeat as champs but they could very well make it to the Super Bowl. I can't write them off yet. I do have a question for Pats fans. How much has the offense changed? Would they have changed the offense that much from the success from last year? It seems to me, from a distance, that the playcalling has been inconsistant. I think that is where they miss Weiss the most.

I agree on the play calling, it's been pretty poor and they haven't made very good halftime adjustments. I also think they are trying to rely heavily on the run to open up the pass. Last year they were a bit more dynamic. With the job Dillon did last year that'd be fine, except even Tomlison would have trouble running behind the line and the cracks they are having trouble creating. If Dillon was getting the yards he was last year they'd be looking quite a bit prettier right now.

I picked no...

But not necessarily because I think the Pats are in some big downfall, but just because the odds are they won't... repeating is hard enough, but having the cards fall right to three-peat is just so difficult.. so.. I'll take "the field".. even if they had the exact same personnel as last year - all of them healthy...

As a Colt's fan, I think the losses of Johnson and Bruschi will be huge. More than any other player on the team I feared/hated those two. If they had the exact same team as the start of last season I'd put their chances at over 50/50 to win, but with the losses they've certainly dropped.

Even though I voted no, I still think they have a better chance than any other team to win the championship -- Belichick is still the coach and Brady really matured into a great quarterback last year and can probably carry the team a bit more than he had to in the past.

Lot of rumors about Bruschi coming back though. Latest seems to be Bruschi is pushing for it, seeking a lot of opinions from a lot of docters, getting ready mentally and physically. But Kraft is hesitant to sign off on it.

We'll know by week 6.

I think the Patriots have too many losses even if Bruschi comes back to make it to the Super Bowl. For his own sake, I really hope Bruschi sits out at least this year.

I think it's a little too early to tell. They are definitely not as dominant as last season, but the NFL gave them one of the worst starting schedules in the league which may skew the perception. I still think they can run the table against Buffalo and the Jets, and at least split with Miami, meaning they need to find 2-3 wins somewhere else. I'm feeling a 9-7 season, which may actually be enough to win the East.

The game against Indy will probably show where the team really is.

until the front 7 gets better on defense they are going to be in trouble

Well their line had been unstoppable the first three games, then were thoroughly dominated against the chargers. Hopefully that's just an isolated incident, the onus is going to fall on their line this year and it should be good enough to take it on. I just don’t know what happened to it Sunday.

*clapclapclapclapclap*

OVER-RATED!

*clapclapclapclapclap*

That being said, they've got enough to get the playoffs I think.

It's the injuries. There is a reason Starks was 4th on the depth chart and Gus Scott was in on like 7 plays a game. Starks looks like he is running underwater out there. Beisel and Brown at LB are average at best. I'm starting to think Beisel is just a lousy player. He was terrible out there last week. Their whole left side of the O line is comprised of rookies.

Maybe it's me but Dillon looks really slow this year and heavier. If the Pats can get a running game going they are right in the mix though. Still have the best coach in the game.

Offense:


Losing Light was pretty big, but the Pats have had success in cobbling together good O-Lines in the past. There's no reason to believe they can't have this sorted out by mid/late season. Will they still be in contention by then? As VPI said, they're helped here by a very mediocre (or just plain bad) division.
While they've lost a reliable receiver in Patten, if TE Ben Watson figures out the system sometime soon he'll be a huge factor for them. Even more so now that Faulk is gone for a while.
Losing Weis was pretty big, and it's showing. The playcalling isn't as good and the ideas aren't as fresh. Getting a good OC in the offseason has to be a priority.


Defense:


Losing Harrison was pretty big, but they've had decent success putting spare parts into the secondary and making it work. We'll have to see how they do the next few games.
I don't think you can underestimate the loss of Bruschi. The LB corps is the single biggest problem on the team right now, and San Diego (L.T. specifically) demonstrated just that. I'm not saying that Bruschi alone could have stopped L.T., but the run D always seemed more solid when he was around. Now, when RBs get to the 2nd level, they just accelerate and go.
The D-Line got owned vs. San Diego. Is this a one-time thing, or a sign of things to come? I don't know.


I say they still make the playoffs, but with a lot of question marks with regard to going further.