I think I have found the secret to the Patriots' success.
Other then being insanely good, the Patriots have made the best second half and on-the-fly adjustments in the league—and maybe even of all-time.
Now, this most likely hasn’t been apparent, due to the fact that the Pats have beaten most of their opponents this season by an average of nearly 30 points.
But lately, Brady and his offensive squad have seen more competitive teams and had to make those adjustments—and even when they are up by enough to give the starters the day off, the Patriots still adjust.
In their last three games, the Patriots have struggled against their opponents, often trailing into the second half—until the fourth quarter, when they’ve been pulling out wins with bombs to Randy Moss and short gains from Laurence Maroney.
This is how the Patriots are passing out defeats to ill-fated teams caught in their wrath this season: Belichick leads this team almost super-efficiently, notes the smallest weakness in their opponents, and takes full advantage of it in every way possible.
Take the Eagles game, in which the Pats were up and down with A.J Feeley and Brian Westbrook all game.
The Eagles' secondary shut down Randy Moss, holding him to only 43 yards and no touchdowns.
Brady and crew took it in stride, and switched the game plan to Wes Welker—who would go on to have a career high 13 catches for 149 yards.
The Eagles defense didn’t know what hit them.
These types of adjustments, focus, and constant personnel changes are leaving teams dumbfounded.
The Patriots may very well go undefeated this season and have the 1972 Dolphins shelving their champagne forever. Perhaps in the postseason, a team will be able to challenge the wits of Belichick, and atomize the nucleus of this superb Patriots team.
comments (2) write a comment »
write a new comment
10 months ago
I'm rooting for them to go 16-0. I hate the Pats, but this is something I want to witness. No team may ever do this again if NE goes unbeaten.
10 months ago
This is the ONLY media commentary I've seen or heard concerning the fact that the Patriots made an adjustment at halftime against the Steelers to go to a quick release series of plays. So congrats. Nobody else, not ESPN or anybody else seems to have seen that.
Even Phil Simms, who was the color commentary for the game missed the boat, claiming idiotically that the Steelers 'were forcing the Patriots to get rid of the ball quicker'. He actually said this in the second half when it was obvious this was a Pats decision to enable them to better counter the Steelers' blitzes.
I think this was a HUGE move for one very good reason. After the two shaky wins against the Eagles and Ravens, the media talking heads were parroting the line about a 'blueprint' for beating the Pats had been created. And that blueprint meant blitzing Brady, shutting down Moss and in general playing a physical game against the Pats receivers.
The Pats decision to go to the quick release plays DESTROYS that blueprint!
However the question remains. Why in the heck did it take the Pats so long to do this when it was obvious that the hot receiver/quick release concept was needed 3 games ago?
write a new comment