PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Pats Posits: The Long Hard Road

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The Patriots season climax came to a disappointing finish yesterday, as Tom Brady’s final drive ended up going backwards just as they were knocking on the door for what I just assumed would be a game-tying touchdown and extra point.

The loss was the second in a row for the Pats, capping off their season road record at 3-5, their first road losing record season since the dreaded 2009 season. This was also the second time this season that they dropped back to back road games, the first time coming in September.

Now the Pats are staring down the barrel of playing on wild card weekend, something that hasn’t happened since that same 2009 season.

There’s so much to unpack from this game. The only way to do it is to just start firing off some Posits.

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Patriots Gameplan: Week 15 at Steelers

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With the Chargers upsetting the Chiefs last night, the Patriots are right back in the hunt for the top overall seed in the AFC. Despite a last-second, depressing loss, at this moment not much has changed in the regular season standings. We’re not dead (in KC) yet.

Regardless of the Chiefs, the Patriots let one slip away on the road last week. This trip to Pittsburgh marks the final chance to put forth on the road the same kind of great team performance that we’ve seen plenty of at Gillette Stadium.

The final two weeks of the season are as easy as they can get in the NFL, so this is really the climax of the regular season. Let’s. Go.

Here’s the gameplan for what the 2018 Patriots need to do to culminate their season appropriately.

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A Final Trip to Pittsburgh?

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One Last Trip to Pittsburgh?

At this point, there are few teams that Tom Brady and Bill Belichick don’t have history with. Even occasional opponents like the 49ers, Saints and Packers have all provided at least one memorable games.

But few places stack up with the Steelers, especially in Pittsburgh. Yes, we saw the nightmares in Miami that can happen and three seasons in Denver have come to a crashing halt. But Pittsburgh was the rare mostly-friendly away stadium of a really good team.

If the Tuck Rule was the unofficial start of the dynasty run, the next game was a 2001 AFC Championship that is often overlooked. They were underdogs in 2004 and again hoisted the Lamar Hunt Trophy on their way to their third Super Bowl.

In 2005, critical injuries took down Matt Light and Rodney Harrison, blows that the team never recovered from.

In 2010, the dejected Pats, coming off a loss to Eric Mangini and the Browns, went into Pittsburgh and showed that the end was a distant place. The following year, the Steelers exposed how bad the Patriots defense was. A flaw they’d hide almost all the way through another Super Bowl run.

Last year’s game came down to the final plays, with one of the more notable finishes to any of the battles of the last 18 years in Pittsburgh.

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Patriots Film Review: Defense Edition

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The Patriots defense was gashed on the ground against the Dolphins, long before the final miracle play. It was another road game where the front seven was pushed around and the secondary was out of sync for some key plays.

I hoped to make this as quick and painless as possible because I knew which play was waiting for me at the end. It went how I thought. It’s just amazing how inconsistent the defense is, from game to game and especially here, from drive to drive.

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Pats Posits: Latereally!?

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Imagine yourself before the final mind-blowing play of the Patriots loss to the Dolphins. The Pats were poised to take a five-point victory and with Kansas City in a tight one with Baltimore, potentially looking at ending the day with the top seed in the AFC.

It wasn’t going to be a perfect victory. The offense, despite resurrecting Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, still had its trouble finishing. And the defense once again had turned into Mr. Hyde for large stretches of the game. Gostkowski misses cost them four points.

Still, until that point the Pats had overcome their continued inconsistencies, which were as drastic within this game as they’ve been between home and away in 2018. The defense got the stops needed and the offense got the points needed. All they needed was to get one last tackle.

Then suddenly, in one play, everything changed.

Where to begin? It’s the kind of loss only the Posits can help me get over.

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Patriots Gameplan: Week 14 at Miami Dolphins

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Patriots Gameplan
Week 17 at Miami Dolphins

Miami and Denver are unquestionably the worst two places for the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady Patriots dynasty. They’ve seen three seasons ended in Denver, while Miami has been their most consistent division road struggle.

In 16 trips to Miami, the BB/TB Pats are 7-9. They had a nice run from 2010-2011 to briefly claim a winning record in South Beach. But since then the Pats managed just one win, a strong season-closing performance by the 2016 squad.

There’s no secret the Pats have been a home-road Jekyll and Hyde this season. The disparity has never felt bigger and now we’re at a critical time of the season. The proving ground.

What do the Pats have to do in Miami to get their second win in three years? Here’s the gameplan.

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Bend Don’t Break Update: ’18 Pats D Hits Top 5

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTKKjGeraFE

The cat is out of the bag on the 2018 Patriots defense, they’re actually pretty good. Their defining trait not a dominating front seven like the 2001-2007 defenses, but a shutdown secondary and a coordinated front that all work together.

At his core, Bill Belichick is a conservative defensive coach. He wants a defense that tackles well and doesn’t get beat deep. He’ll be aggressive in key spots and disguise plenty but generally, it’s a four-man rush with seven in coverage. When that four-man rush contains and constricts the quarterback they’re extremely effective. When they’re six-man rush stunts do the same they’re dominant.

On the road, they’ve been guilty of being out of sync. In each of the first three months, they had a defensive stinker on the road. Even the win over Kansas City wasn’t great. They were probably a little lucky to escape Chicago with a win.

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