East Coast Bias Bowl -- Running Super Bowl XLVI Thread

This is arrogance.

 

Their biggest receiving "weapon" played on a bum ankle. The team averaged over 30 points a game this season. It could indeed use a wide receiving upgrade, but the cupboard is hardly bare on that side of the ball.
Brady was 27 of 41 for 276 yards, two TDs, one interception and one safety. That's not superb, but it's not awful. Perhaps we should give the Giants, who made Aaron Rodgers look less than All-Pro in the playoffs, too, some credit here.

 

I'm glad Boom notes this, because the last two weeks, all I read about was the brilliance of his unconventional tight end attack.

 

It's hard to argue with the results but clearly The Pats do not have big play guys. It put's a lot of pressure on Brady to be perfect, which he was almost all season.

 

All this is true, but against the four above-.500 teams they played this season, the Patriots averaged 19 points. And this is the third year in a row that offensive sputtering has eliminated them from the playoffs. I think they're built to whomp up on enough poor sisters that they make it every year, but they're too one-dimensional against the league's upper crust.

 

49ers receivers make the Patriots receivers look like Rice, Alworth and Mackey. Pleeeze.

That said, I believed that the Pats receivers let Brady down big time. Welker's drop gave me flashbacks to Jackie Smith. Branch needs to catch that ball near midfield, he had 15 yds of open space. Then Hernandez drops another one.

 

Wasn't the Branch ball tipped? Certainly was behind him quite a ways. I don't think that one can be called a drop.

 

Not only behind him, but wobbling like a Tebow throw. It was clearly tipped.

 

In the 2009 Ravens playoff loss, the Pats sucked at EVERY facet of football. The Jets didn't allow a single big play in 2010, so that summary is true for that game.
It is also true that the Pats seem to focus on more and play better against their divisional rivals than anyone else.

 

I would take Vernon Davis over anyone The Pats have.

I would also take Nicks / Cruz/ Maningham over Gronowski/ Welker / Hernandez

 

Gronkowski/Hernandez are better than Davis in tough catch situations. Davis had some huge plays, no doubt, but he's DeSean Jackson. A couple of huge ones, but how about a few Bavaro plays, 8 yd that turn into 25? Zip. Goes down on the shoestring tackle by Deion. The basic hook? Drop.

I agree with the NYG receivers though.

 

Question, if you don't want to score on the run, why not just get in the "victory" formation and take a knee? Why risk handoff and contact? Someone please explain. Doesn't make sense.

As for the "sure" FG, Romo begs to differ. So does Gary Anderson.