NFL 2021 Season

[nickagneta]

No one should be surprised that the Patriots played conservative. They've literally played every single game all year that way.

Nothing wrong with playing conservatively when you are developing a rookie QB. The results speak for themselves. 9-5 and the QB looking like a shoe in for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

The game was decided by two plays, neither of which happened on the offensive side: a very uncharacteristic blocked punt for a TD and that TD run by Taylor late in the game. If those go differently, there's a good chance New England wins while playing conservatively on offense.

[Phantom255x]

Lions up 17-0 on Cardinals and Jets up 17-10 on Dolphins 

[Roy H.]

No one should be surprised that the Patriots played conservative. They've literally played every single game all year that way.

Nothing wrong with playing conservatively when you are developing a rookie QB. The results speak for themselves. 9-5 and the QB looking like a shoe in for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

The game was decided by two plays, neither of which happened on the offensive side: a very uncharacteristic blocked punt for a TD and that TD run by Taylor late in the game. If those go differently, there's a good chance New England wins while playing conservatively on offense.

Yeah.  People forget that Brady was a game manager early in his career.

[Billz401]

This loss is on the Pats coaching staff. Horrible game plan going into it. Colts said they were going to stuff the line and force Mac to throw. So what do the Pats do? Throw 10 times in the first half and put up zero  :-[points going into halftime. Mac wasn’t involved in the offense for a game and a half and was rusty. Shocking. Pats played slow for most of the 4th and kicked that FG instead of going for a TD. More conservative play. Good luck beating good teams playing like that.

I agree

Meh. Total team collapse.

I'm not going to absolve the atrocious play of the defensive line for a half, the offensive line for 3 quarters, all those guys taking terrible penalties, Jones for two bad INTs that cost the Pats points and the players that couldn't stop Taylor on tht TD run late in the fourth. That was all on them.

Terrible game plan to start the game, not having the team ready to perform to start the game and taking to long to adjust, well, that's on the coaches.

But let's not pretend that the players didn't suck for a major portion of this game. Because they did.

Those two Int’s were in the first half, where Mac was clearly rusty since he had barely thrown the ball in a game and a half. In the second half, where Pats were now down 17-0 and forced to throw, he was much better. 2TD’s, no INT’s. Mac finished the game with 299 yards passing and 74.2 rating. Not terrible considering he was only allowed to throw the ball 10 times in the first half. Wentz finished the game with 57 yards passing, 1TD, 1INT and a passer rating of 49.7. Bills ran the ball right down the Pats throat and had. Ore running yards than NE did vs the Bills last game.

The coaching staff sticking to their guns and using the same game plan in a Dome  that they did vs the Bills which was outdoors in terrible conditions is just arrogant. It didn’t work in the first or second quarter and they don’t switch gears until down 3 scorers. That isn’t going to cut it if the Pats do indeed make it to the playoffs.

Stop with the rustiness talk. That's an excuse. Have you ever played football or watched a practice. QBs get tons of throws in every week, a lot against their real time defenses. This far into the season there is no such thing as rustiness, the idea is absurd in football.

Are you really comparing throwing the ball in practice vs a live game, where the opposition is trying to take you out?

I may not have played football in college, but I did play other sports and Insinuating that you don’t lose your edge when your not able to play against a real opponent is just untrue.

Though QBs have a red shirt on in practice, they play against their own defense, who knows their plays, in game speed conditions 3 times a week. It is absolutely as close to game conditions as you can get.

Basketball and hockey practice where 1st team/lines scrimmage against 2nd teams/lines are completely different than football where first team offense scrimmages against first team defense.

1st string QBs don't get rusty. Trust me on that. They get too many reps in every week for weeks to get rusty simply because they didn't throw a lot for a game.

I mean, look at all the QBs that go out with injury for a week or three and come back and are great. It happens all the time. Why did they not get rusty.

I'm telling you Goldstar, this is an unreal serious reach to blame the coaches. Rustiness doesn't happen to QBs playing every week this far into a season.

Agree to disagree, I suppose. I don’t believe that it was a coincidence that Mac played much better and was in rhythm during the second half once the coaches were forced to let him throw.

Then how do you explain the plethora of proof against your claim from QBs getting injured, coming back in season and playing great from the first snap? There are decades of examples of this. But somehow, this time it's different?

Stick to your opinion all you want because you want to blame coaching, but you're massively off base here.

Gotta disagree here. Look no further than Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers. Both missed a week and came back rusty as hell. And these are top tier qb's too. Not agreeing that mac was rusty or not I guess that's not for me to judge. But to say qb's come back and are bever rusty is just completely false they most certainly do come back little rusty. Game speed is way faster than the most aggressive practices. Sorry but that's just how it is

[nickagneta]

This loss is on the Pats coaching staff. Horrible game plan going into it. Colts said they were going to stuff the line and force Mac to throw. So what do the Pats do? Throw 10 times in the first half and put up zero  :-[points going into halftime. Mac wasn’t involved in the offense for a game and a half and was rusty. Shocking. Pats played slow for most of the 4th and kicked that FG instead of going for a TD. More conservative play. Good luck beating good teams playing like that.

I agree

Meh. Total team collapse.

I'm not going to absolve the atrocious play of the defensive line for a half, the offensive line for 3 quarters, all those guys taking terrible penalties, Jones for two bad INTs that cost the Pats points and the players that couldn't stop Taylor on tht TD run late in the fourth. That was all on them.

Terrible game plan to start the game, not having the team ready to perform to start the game and taking to long to adjust, well, that's on the coaches.

But let's not pretend that the players didn't suck for a major portion of this game. Because they did.

Those two Int’s were in the first half, where Mac was clearly rusty since he had barely thrown the ball in a game and a half. In the second half, where Pats were now down 17-0 and forced to throw, he was much better. 2TD’s, no INT’s. Mac finished the game with 299 yards passing and 74.2 rating. Not terrible considering he was only allowed to throw the ball 10 times in the first half. Wentz finished the game with 57 yards passing, 1TD, 1INT and a passer rating of 49.7. Bills ran the ball right down the Pats throat and had. Ore running yards than NE did vs the Bills last game.

The coaching staff sticking to their guns and using the same game plan in a Dome  that they did vs the Bills which was outdoors in terrible conditions is just arrogant. It didn’t work in the first or second quarter and they don’t switch gears until down 3 scorers. That isn’t going to cut it if the Pats do indeed make it to the playoffs.

Stop with the rustiness talk. That's an excuse. Have you ever played football or watched a practice. QBs get tons of throws in every week, a lot against their real time defenses. This far into the season there is no such thing as rustiness, the idea is absurd in football.

Are you really comparing throwing the ball in practice vs a live game, where the opposition is trying to take you out?

I may not have played football in college, but I did play other sports and Insinuating that you don’t lose your edge when your not able to play against a real opponent is just untrue.

Though QBs have a red shirt on in practice, they play against their own defense, who knows their plays, in game speed conditions 3 times a week. It is absolutely as close to game conditions as you can get.

Basketball and hockey practice where 1st team/lines scrimmage against 2nd teams/lines are completely different than football where first team offense scrimmages against first team defense.

1st string QBs don't get rusty. Trust me on that. They get too many reps in every week for weeks to get rusty simply because they didn't throw a lot for a game.

I mean, look at all the QBs that go out with injury for a week or three and come back and are great. It happens all the time. Why did they not get rusty.

I'm telling you Goldstar, this is an unreal serious reach to blame the coaches. Rustiness doesn't happen to QBs playing every week this far into a season.

Agree to disagree, I suppose. I don’t believe that it was a coincidence that Mac played much better and was in rhythm during the second half once the coaches were forced to let him throw.

Then how do you explain the plethora of proof against your claim from QBs getting injured, coming back in season and playing great from the first snap? There are decades of examples of this. But somehow, this time it's different?

Stick to your opinion all you want because you want to blame coaching, but you're massively off base here.

Gotta disagree here. Look no further than Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers. Both missed a week and came back rusty as hell. And these are top tier qb's too. Not agreeing that mac was rusty or not I guess that's not for me to judge. But to say qb's come back and are bever rusty is just completely false they most certainly do come back little rusty. Game speed is way faster than the most aggressive practices. Sorry but that's just how it is

Dak had a bad game Rodgers, come on now, he proves my point. Came back after two different one week out injuries and was great.

Also, what about all those QBs that come back after bye weeks and are amazing.

Sorry, rust after one game missed is ridiculous.

[Billz401]

I put the blame on coaching and play calling more than rustiness. Most of the play calls in the 1st half were absurd. We have a power runningback going against one of the best sideline to sideline defenses and we were using all cute running plays like sweeps, tosses, and jet sweeps just running into their strength. We should've stuck with the bully ball north and south approach and I feel like they could've gotten away with the more conservative gameplan.

But then again the o line looked like a bunch of high schoolers so maybe that wouldn't have worked either..

[Billz401]

This loss is on the Pats coaching staff. Horrible game plan going into it. Colts said they were going to stuff the line and force Mac to throw. So what do the Pats do? Throw 10 times in the first half and put up zero  :-[points going into halftime. Mac wasn’t involved in the offense for a game and a half and was rusty. Shocking. Pats played slow for most of the 4th and kicked that FG instead of going for a TD. More conservative play. Good luck beating good teams playing like that.

I agree

Meh. Total team collapse.

I'm not going to absolve the atrocious play of the defensive line for a half, the offensive line for 3 quarters, all those guys taking terrible penalties, Jones for two bad INTs that cost the Pats points and the players that couldn't stop Taylor on tht TD run late in the fourth. That was all on them.

Terrible game plan to start the game, not having the team ready to perform to start the game and taking to long to adjust, well, that's on the coaches.

But let's not pretend that the players didn't suck for a major portion of this game. Because they did.

Those two Int’s were in the first half, where Mac was clearly rusty since he had barely thrown the ball in a game and a half. In the second half, where Pats were now down 17-0 and forced to throw, he was much better. 2TD’s, no INT’s. Mac finished the game with 299 yards passing and 74.2 rating. Not terrible considering he was only allowed to throw the ball 10 times in the first half. Wentz finished the game with 57 yards passing, 1TD, 1INT and a passer rating of 49.7. Bills ran the ball right down the Pats throat and had. Ore running yards than NE did vs the Bills last game.

The coaching staff sticking to their guns and using the same game plan in a Dome  that they did vs the Bills which was outdoors in terrible conditions is just arrogant. It didn’t work in the first or second quarter and they don’t switch gears until down 3 scorers. That isn’t going to cut it if the Pats do indeed make it to the playoffs.

Stop with the rustiness talk. That's an excuse. Have you ever played football or watched a practice. QBs get tons of throws in every week, a lot against their real time defenses. This far into the season there is no such thing as rustiness, the idea is absurd in football.

Are you really comparing throwing the ball in practice vs a live game, where the opposition is trying to take you out?

I may not have played football in college, but I did play other sports and Insinuating that you don’t lose your edge when your not able to play against a real opponent is just untrue.

Though QBs have a red shirt on in practice, they play against their own defense, who knows their plays, in game speed conditions 3 times a week. It is absolutely as close to game conditions as you can get.

Basketball and hockey practice where 1st team/lines scrimmage against 2nd teams/lines are completely different than football where first team offense scrimmages against first team defense.

1st string QBs don't get rusty. Trust me on that. They get too many reps in every week for weeks to get rusty simply because they didn't throw a lot for a game.

I mean, look at all the QBs that go out with injury for a week or three and come back and are great. It happens all the time. Why did they not get rusty.

I'm telling you Goldstar, this is an unreal serious reach to blame the coaches. Rustiness doesn't happen to QBs playing every week this far into a season.

Agree to disagree, I suppose. I don’t believe that it was a coincidence that Mac played much better and was in rhythm during the second half once the coaches were forced to let him throw.

Then how do you explain the plethora of proof against your claim from QBs getting injured, coming back in season and playing great from the first snap? There are decades of examples of this. But somehow, this time it's different?

Stick to your opinion all you want because you want to blame coaching, but you're massively off base here.

Gotta disagree here. Look no further than Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers. Both missed a week and came back rusty as hell. And these are top tier qb's too. Not agreeing that mac was rusty or not I guess that's not for me to judge. But to say qb's come back and are bever rusty is just completely false they most certainly do come back little rusty. Game speed is way faster than the most aggressive practices. Sorry but that's just how it is

Dak had a bad game Rodgers, come on now, he proves my point. Came back after two different one week out injuries and was great.

Also, what about all those QBs that come back after bye weeks and are amazing.

Sorry, rust after one game missed is ridiculous.

Dak was atrocious against the broncos when he 1st came back. And Rodgers although they got the win was pretty pedestrian the whole game vs the Seahawks when he made his return. Watched the game with a packers fan buddy of mine and he was not happy watching Rodgers just a little off all game. Point being I guess I agree with both points of view. Yes qb's throw it enough during the week and pregame to not have a rusty arm but mentally and having quick decisions I think is more so the part that is effected after a long layoff. Again remember how terrible Rodgers looked week 1 after he sat the whole preseason. He looked like a backup lol

[Neurotic Guy]

No one should be surprised that the Patriots played conservative. They've literally played every single game all year that way.

Nothing wrong with playing conservatively when you are developing a rookie QB. The results speak for themselves. 9-5 and the QB looking like a shoe in for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

The game was decided by two plays, neither of which happened on the offensive side: a very uncharacteristic blocked punt for a TD and that TD run by Taylor late in the game. If those go differently, there's a good chance New England wins while playing conservatively on offense.

And couple of terribly timed penalties -- off-side on the missed FG and false start at the 2.  Both cost points.

[Moranis]

No one should be surprised that the Patriots played conservative. They've literally played every single game all year that way.

Nothing wrong with playing conservatively when you are developing a rookie QB. The results speak for themselves. 9-5 and the QB looking like a shoe in for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

The game was decided by two plays, neither of which happened on the offensive side: a very uncharacteristic blocked punt for a TD and that TD run by Taylor late in the game. If those go differently, there's a good chance New England wins while playing conservatively on offense.

Sure, but maybe those 2 plays don't matter if they were a bit more aggressive earlier on and didn't spot the Colts a big lead.  I have no idea if they would have won this one with a bit less conservatism, but they clearly lost the Miami game and Tampa game early this year playing that way, though obviously beat the Bills (and a bunch of other games) playing that way.  This is who the Patriots are though.  Very conservative offensive play calling relying on the running game and defense to win games. They aren't going to change at this point.

[Goldstar88]

This loss is on the Pats coaching staff. Horrible game plan going into it. Colts said they were going to stuff the line and force Mac to throw. So what do the Pats do? Throw 10 times in the first half and put up zero  :-[points going into halftime. Mac wasn’t involved in the offense for a game and a half and was rusty. Shocking. Pats played slow for most of the 4th and kicked that FG instead of going for a TD. More conservative play. Good luck beating good teams playing like that.

I agree

Meh. Total team collapse.

I'm not going to absolve the atrocious play of the defensive line for a half, the offensive line for 3 quarters, all those guys taking terrible penalties, Jones for two bad INTs that cost the Pats points and the players that couldn't stop Taylor on tht TD run late in the fourth. That was all on them.

Terrible game plan to start the game, not having the team ready to perform to start the game and taking to long to adjust, well, that's on the coaches.

But let's not pretend that the players didn't suck for a major portion of this game. Because they did.

Those two Int’s were in the first half, where Mac was clearly rusty since he had barely thrown the ball in a game and a half. In the second half, where Pats were now down 17-0 and forced to throw, he was much better. 2TD’s, no INT’s. Mac finished the game with 299 yards passing and 74.2 rating. Not terrible considering he was only allowed to throw the ball 10 times in the first half. Wentz finished the game with 57 yards passing, 1TD, 1INT and a passer rating of 49.7. Bills ran the ball right down the Pats throat and had. Ore running yards than NE did vs the Bills last game.

The coaching staff sticking to their guns and using the same game plan in a Dome  that they did vs the Bills which was outdoors in terrible conditions is just arrogant. It didn’t work in the first or second quarter and they don’t switch gears until down 3 scorers. That isn’t going to cut it if the Pats do indeed make it to the playoffs.

Stop with the rustiness talk. That's an excuse. Have you ever played football or watched a practice. QBs get tons of throws in every week, a lot against their real time defenses. This far into the season there is no such thing as rustiness, the idea is absurd in football.

Are you really comparing throwing the ball in practice vs a live game, where the opposition is trying to take you out?

I may not have played football in college, but I did play other sports and Insinuating that you don’t lose your edge when your not able to play against a real opponent is just untrue.

Though QBs have a red shirt on in practice, they play against their own defense, who knows their plays, in game speed conditions 3 times a week. It is absolutely as close to game conditions as you can get.

Basketball and hockey practice where 1st team/lines scrimmage against 2nd teams/lines are completely different than football where first team offense scrimmages against first team defense.

1st string QBs don't get rusty. Trust me on that. They get too many reps in every week for weeks to get rusty simply because they didn't throw a lot for a game.

I mean, look at all the QBs that go out with injury for a week or three and come back and are great. It happens all the time. Why did they not get rusty.

I'm telling you Goldstar, this is an unreal serious reach to blame the coaches. Rustiness doesn't happen to QBs playing every week this far into a season.

Agree to disagree, I suppose. I don’t believe that it was a coincidence that Mac played much better and was in rhythm during the second half once the coaches were forced to let him throw.

Then how do you explain the plethora of proof against your claim from QBs getting injured, coming back in season and playing great from the first snap? There are decades of examples of this. But somehow, this time it's different?

Stick to your opinion all you want because you want to blame coaching, but you're massively off base here.

Gotta disagree here. Look no further than Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers. Both missed a week and came back rusty as hell. And these are top tier qb's too. Not agreeing that mac was rusty or not I guess that's not for me to judge. But to say qb's come back and are bever rusty is just completely false they most certainly do come back little rusty. Game speed is way faster than the most aggressive practices. Sorry but that's just how it is

Dak had a bad game Rodgers, come on now, he proves my point. Came back after two different one week out injuries and was great.

Also, what about all those QBs that come back after bye weeks and are amazing.

Sorry, rust after one game missed is ridiculous.

Dak was atrocious against the broncos when he 1st came back. And Rodgers although they got the win was pretty pedestrian the whole game vs the Seahawks when he made his return. Watched the game with a packers fan buddy of mine and he was not happy watching Rodgers just a little off all game. Point being I guess I agree with both points of view. Yes qb's throw it enough during the week and pregame to not have a rusty arm but mentally and having quick decisions I think is more so the part that is effected after a long layoff. Again remember how terrible Rodgers looked week 1 after he sat the whole preseason. He looked like a backup lol

Nick doesn’t believe that athletes can become rusty after not playing for a period of time, so it’s not worth arguing.

[SparzWizard]

Lions stunned Cardinals, delivered fourth loss of the season and add another W to their win column...in danger of blowing number 1 draft pick to the Jaguars.

Steelers beat Titans, which helps the Patriots with breathing room. But wow, Lamar-less Ravens giving Green Bay all they can handle.

[Neurotic Guy]

This loss is on the Pats coaching staff. Horrible game plan going into it. Colts said they were going to stuff the line and force Mac to throw. So what do the Pats do? Throw 10 times in the first half and put up zero  :-[points going into halftime. Mac wasn’t involved in the offense for a game and a half and was rusty. Shocking. Pats played slow for most of the 4th and kicked that FG instead of going for a TD. More conservative play. Good luck beating good teams playing like that.

I agree

Meh. Total team collapse.

I'm not going to absolve the atrocious play of the defensive line for a half, the offensive line for 3 quarters, all those guys taking terrible penalties, Jones for two bad INTs that cost the Pats points and the players that couldn't stop Taylor on tht TD run late in the fourth. That was all on them.

Terrible game plan to start the game, not having the team ready to perform to start the game and taking to long to adjust, well, that's on the coaches.

But let's not pretend that the players didn't suck for a major portion of this game. Because they did.

Those two Int’s were in the first half, where Mac was clearly rusty since he had barely thrown the ball in a game and a half. In the second half, where Pats were now down 17-0 and forced to throw, he was much better. 2TD’s, no INT’s. Mac finished the game with 299 yards passing and 74.2 rating. Not terrible considering he was only allowed to throw the ball 10 times in the first half. Wentz finished the game with 57 yards passing, 1TD, 1INT and a passer rating of 49.7. Bills ran the ball right down the Pats throat and had. Ore running yards than NE did vs the Bills last game.

The coaching staff sticking to their guns and using the same game plan in a Dome  that they did vs the Bills which was outdoors in terrible conditions is just arrogant. It didn’t work in the first or second quarter and they don’t switch gears until down 3 scorers. That isn’t going to cut it if the Pats do indeed make it to the playoffs.

Stop with the rustiness talk. That's an excuse. Have you ever played football or watched a practice. QBs get tons of throws in every week, a lot against their real time defenses. This far into the season there is no such thing as rustiness, the idea is absurd in football.

Are you really comparing throwing the ball in practice vs a live game, where the opposition is trying to take you out?

I may not have played football in college, but I did play other sports and Insinuating that you don’t lose your edge when your not able to play against a real opponent is just untrue.

Though QBs have a red shirt on in practice, they play against their own defense, who knows their plays, in game speed conditions 3 times a week. It is absolutely as close to game conditions as you can get.

Basketball and hockey practice where 1st team/lines scrimmage against 2nd teams/lines are completely different than football where first team offense scrimmages against first team defense.

1st string QBs don't get rusty. Trust me on that. They get too many reps in every week for weeks to get rusty simply because they didn't throw a lot for a game.

I mean, look at all the QBs that go out with injury for a week or three and come back and are great. It happens all the time. Why did they not get rusty.

I'm telling you Goldstar, this is an unreal serious reach to blame the coaches. Rustiness doesn't happen to QBs playing every week this far into a season.

Agree to disagree, I suppose. I don’t believe that it was a coincidence that Mac played much better and was in rhythm during the second half once the coaches were forced to let him throw.

Then how do you explain the plethora of proof against your claim from QBs getting injured, coming back in season and playing great from the first snap? There are decades of examples of this. But somehow, this time it's different?

Stick to your opinion all you want because you want to blame coaching, but you're massively off base here.

Gotta disagree here. Look no further than Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers. Both missed a week and came back rusty as hell. And these are top tier qb's too. Not agreeing that mac was rusty or not I guess that's not for me to judge. But to say qb's come back and are bever rusty is just completely false they most certainly do come back little rusty. Game speed is way faster than the most aggressive practices. Sorry but that's just how it is

Dak had a bad game Rodgers, come on now, he proves my point. Came back after two different one week out injuries and was great.

Also, what about all those QBs that come back after bye weeks and are amazing.

Sorry, rust after one game missed is ridiculous.

Dak was atrocious against the broncos when he 1st came back. And Rodgers although they got the win was pretty pedestrian the whole game vs the Seahawks when he made his return. Watched the game with a packers fan buddy of mine and he was not happy watching Rodgers just a little off all game. Point being I guess I agree with both points of view. Yes qb's throw it enough during the week and pregame to not have a rusty arm but mentally and having quick decisions I think is more so the part that is effected after a long layoff. Again remember how terrible Rodgers looked week 1 after he sat the whole preseason. He looked like a backup lol

Nick doesn’t believe that athletes can become rusty after not playing for a period of time, so it’s not worth arguing.

Is it OK so say that some players have struggled after not playing at full game speed and some haven't?  Either way it's not something to draw any firm conclusions about.  A lackluster return could have to do with factors other than "rust".  Every player underperforms from time to time.  The good ones turn it around quickly.

[Moranis]

Lions stunned Cardinals, delivered fourth loss of the season and add another W to their win column...in danger of blowing number 1 draft pick to the Jaguars.

Steelers beat Titans, which helps the Patriots with breathing room. But wow, Lamar-less Ravens giving Green Bay all they can handle.

Huntley may very well be a starter somewhere soon.  He is very smart. Makes the correct decision basically every single time and has pretty nice touch

[Phantom255x]

Harbaugh is such an idiot. That's now TWO games he lost for Baltimore by deciding to go for 2 instead of just kicking the XP to tie it and likely force OT. The Ravens defense had actually been doing pretty good in the 4th quarter as well and GB only had 1 timeout so even with 40 secs there's no guarantee Rodgers can get into FG range with how Crosby's also been this season.

But anyways, Baltimore could very well lose the AFC North to Cincy with a loss next week, but that's also their own fault because of these close losses where they decided to go for 2.

On another note though, Huntley looked fantastic. Similar to Heinicke last year, Huntley could be auditioning himself for a legit role maybe on another team next year.

[nickagneta]

No one should be surprised that the Patriots played conservative. They've literally played every single game all year that way.

Nothing wrong with playing conservatively when you are developing a rookie QB. The results speak for themselves. 9-5 and the QB looking like a shoe in for Offensive Rookie of the Year.

The game was decided by two plays, neither of which happened on the offensive side: a very uncharacteristic blocked punt for a TD and that TD run by Taylor late in the game. If those go differently, there's a good chance New England wins while playing conservatively on offense.

Sure, but maybe those 2 plays don't matter if they were a bit more aggressive earlier on and didn't spot the Colts a big lead.  I have no idea if they would have won this one with a bit less conservatism, but they clearly lost the Miami game and Tampa game early this year playing that way, though obviously beat the Bills (and a bunch of other games) playing that way.  This is who the Patriots are though.  Very conservative offensive play calling relying on the running game and defense to win games. They aren't going to change at this point.

Who cares if they change at this point besides you, who seems hellbent on, I don't know, making some weird point on an internet board. Pats fans aren't clamoring for some ultra flashy, non conservative, open the whole playbook type offense. They trust Belichick and his ability to win and get the most out of what he has.

This isn't 2007 with a Brady in his early prime, Randy Moss, Wes Weller, Kevin Faulk, Ben Watson, Don'te Stallworth and 4 All-Pro linemen.

It's an excellent rookie QB with a couple of very good young RBs, a good TE and very limited WRs with maybe one Pro-Bowl linemen. Playing the way you think they should play makes zero sense. Bill is getting results for the entire team that is better than the sum of its parts. A conservative offense is the way to go.