Don't you get the impression that, when you watch the Pats play, their personality resembles their press conferences? When speaking with the the media, the players make sure to never show emotion, never deviate from the company line. On the field, the offense is sluggish and methodical. the defense is always hanging back, not willing to ever get out of position to attack on a play, lest they get blamed for missing a big play down the field. They look timid, afraid to make mistakes, afraid to be extroverted. It's basically the opposite of the mentality of the Seahawks, Niners, Ravens, Steelers, or even the Jets team that toppled the Patriots a few years ago.
Belichick inherited a team from Bill Parcells and Pete Carroll that had defensive players who knew how to react. Belichick knew how to arrange those pieces on the field, and the players did the rest, and they made him look great. But now, Belichick has drafted these "coachable" players, and these young guys fear their coach in a way the veterans didn't, and they seem to be trained to play cautiously. And you can't win in this league doing that.
Totally agree that this team is sluggish. Probably why it was so noticeable to me last night when Garoppolo came in and the team suddenly had energy. It's one thing to be professional, win or lose; it's another to see no emotion other than Brady yelling at himself and others.
I certainly can't argue that "the Patriot Way" has been, on the whole, unsuccessful, and I'm not eager to see the end of Brady's career, but yeah, with all these young guys now, everyone just seems to defer to the Belichick & Brady way of doing things—calm, corporate, "we'll eventually figure this out"—except that the last several years they
haven't eventually figured it out, as evidenced by the lack of rings.
Their next game should be quite telling: Are they going to stick with the same-old, same-old, or are they going to try something a bit different to knock some life back into the team?
