Super Bowl LII: NE vs. PHI

[kozlodoev]

The only think I can think of....and I don't like this theory at all....is that BB knew he wasn't bringing him back and didn't want to be in a situation where it seemed he HAD to bring him back. But that presumes that Bill would be putting the future ahead of the Super Bowl. I don't like this theory, yet I could sorta see Bill maybe trying it.

That said...he could have made a half time adjustment. Or brought him in fresh in the 4th

Yeah, that's the one thing I can't see happening. He played plenty of guys he wouldn't bring back last season (e.g. Chris Long).

[green_bballers13]

We don't have any information about Butler. I'm guessing we're not going to get any more information from the team. Butler is gone, so the key moving forward is to find another d-back that can come in and contribute.

The defense was a mess. I'm not sure if this is b/c the defense stinks, or that Philly was a machine. I'm thinking it was a little of the former and a lot of the latter. Philly made Minnesota's objectively solid defense look terrible.

Just a bad game for the defense. Too bad b/c Brady played well overall. Reminds me of Pittsburgh's loss to Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago.

Good for Philly- they deserved to win. Nick Foles makes a good story, and overall this doesn't really tarnish much for the Patriots. 6-2 is certainly better than 5-3, but not really a huge difference. A Seahawks/Falcons loss would have hurt more, in my opinion. Tom & Bill still have more combined SB wins than any other qb & coach.

The Pats will be ok. Also, Tom Brady just said he's not retiring until he's 55.

[Eja117]

I'm glad nobody is saying Belichick had a great game because look at all the points and yards they put up.

[Eja117]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

[green_bballers13]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

I'm pretty sure Bill would own it. He usually does.

[kozlodoev]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

I'm pretty sure Bill would own it. He usually does.

He already "owned" it in the most boilerplate Belichick fashion: "We just played the guys who gave us the best chance to win". 

[green_bballers13]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

I'm pretty sure Bill would own it. He usually does.

He already "owned" it in the most boilerplate Belichick fashion: "We just played the guys who gave us the best chance to win". 

If you asked him who coached better, he would say Pederson and his staff. If you asked who played better, he would say PHI.

[green_bballers13]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

Alshon Jeffrey is 6'3, Rowe is 6'1 and Butler is 5'10. Might be that simple.

I find it laughable that the Monday morning QBs here think that they would have made better decisions than BB and his staff.

No, you don't know more than Bill. They lost the game, it sucks, on to next year.

Pretending like they would have won b/c of A, B, or C makes you sound silly. You don't know.

[Eja117]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

Alshon Jeffrey is 6'3, Rowe is 6'1 and Butler is 5'10. Might be that simple.

I find it laughable that the Monday morning QBs here think that they would have made better decisions than BB and his staff.

No, you don't know more than Bill. They lost the game, it sucks, on to next year.

Pretending like they would have won b/c of A, B, or C makes you sound silly. You don't know.

I would have run it on the play with the strip sack because there was plenty of time and the linebackers were quite a ways back.

I mean......I can lose a game just as good as he can!

[hpantazo]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

I'm pretty sure Bill would own it. He usually does.

He did. In his post game conference he said he did not do a good enough job of coaching

[Phantom255x]

Dear Pats,

Can you PLEASE win the SB by a comfortable margin if you do.

My 19 year old heart really can't handle all these last minute thrills/heart attacks over the years   

 

Well I guess now it's time to enter a state of depression for a while and avoid watching sports shows for the next 2-3 days... 

 

[green_bballers13]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

Alshon Jeffrey is 6'3, Rowe is 6'1 and Butler is 5'10. Might be that simple.

I find it laughable that the Monday morning QBs here think that they would have made better decisions than BB and his staff.

No, you don't know more than Bill. They lost the game, it sucks, on to next year.

Pretending like they would have won b/c of A, B, or C makes you sound silly. You don't know.

I would have run it on the play with the strip sack because there was plenty of time and the linebackers were quite a ways back.

I mean......I can lose a game just as good as he can!

Haha TP. I would have had Tom throw for 605 yards, and I would have had PHI score 3 points. I don't know what Bill was thinking! Jeesh he stinks.

[green_bballers13]

Dear Pats,

Can you PLEASE win the SB by a comfortable margin if you do.

My 19 year old heart really can't handle all these last minute thrills/heart attacks over the years   

 

Well I guess now it's time to enter a state of depression for a while and avoid watching sports shows for the next 2-3 days... 

 

I know, it is too bad we don't have anything else to watch in this town.

Celtics looking to protect their #1 seed.
Bruins looking to shake up the NHL with their ragtag bunch of hustlers.
Red Sox haven't even gotten busy in FA yet.

Funny as it sounds coming off a SB loss, this is one of Boston's best sports year collectively. They could all get #1 seeds for the playoffs.

[kozlodoev]

If we believe Belichick that he just put the players out there he thought would win....I mean why? Why would he think a Pro Bowler couldn't help him win? Especially once the defense was having problems.

I just say outplayed and outcoached. Just own it

Alshon Jeffrey is 6'3, Rowe is 6'1 and Butler is 5'10. Might be that simple.

I find it laughable that the Monday morning QBs here think that they would have made better decisions than BB and his staff.

No, you don't know more than Bill. They lost the game, it sucks, on to next year.

Pretending like they would have won b/c of A, B, or C makes you sound silly. You don't know.

Several thoughts:

1. Butler played 97% of regular season snaps. I'm guessing we never played any tall receivers during the regular season? Or was Butler good enough then, but mysteriously fell off a cliff over the last week or so?

2. Even if we assume it was a matchup issue, there's no explanation of why they trotted Johnson Bademosi out there as the third corner. He missed a key open-field tackle on Agholor (the type that Butler routinely delivers with authority) on 3rd down to keep the Eagles on the field down the stretch. If you want to point to a play that lost you the game, you might as well pick this one.

3. One Eagles staffer said after the game, "We went after Rowe because we had him and we know he sucks". So there's that.

I find it laughable that some people think Belichick is beyond reproach and that every time he (allegedly) did something to give the team the best chance to win (according to him), he was necessarily right.

[Phantom255x]

Dear Pats,

Can you PLEASE win the SB by a comfortable margin if you do.

My 19 year old heart really can't handle all these last minute thrills/heart attacks over the years   

 

Well I guess now it's time to enter a state of depression for a while and avoid watching sports shows for the next 2-3 days... 

 

I know, it is too bad we don't have anything else to watch in this town.

Celtics looking to protect their #1 seed.
Bruins looking to shake up the NHL with their ragtag bunch of hustlers.
Red Sox haven't even gotten busy in FA yet.

Funny as it sounds coming off a SB loss, this is one of Boston's best sports year collectively. They could all get #1 seeds for the playoffs.

Yeah but it still hurts. And I have ZERO CLUE why Butler didn't play at all.

There's NO WAY you could convince me that Richards, Rowe and Bademosi were better options than Butler last night. Unless Butler committed a crime or something, there's no excuse to bench him the ENTIRE game last night, especially in a dang SB.

Anyways, the future is bright for Boston sports. Bruins and Celtics both young and could be contenders starting as early as this year.

I wish I could say the same about the Red Sox, BUT we all know how it ends for teams having Dombrowski as their GM (no World Series, horrid farm system, quite a few overpaid guys, etc.). Hope they sign JD Martinez but I don't think that's a given anymore.