New England Patriots thread (MOD WARNING - #4503)

me89

#InBillwetrust

Vanolder

me89 wrote: »

#InBillwetrust

Amen, brother.

Hazys

TBH this whole Deflate Gate thing had really depressed and stressed me all week, it was very hard to take, what seemed like a minor infraction at most whether we were guilty or not had been blown up to be the biggest scandal not just in NFL but in the US.

Obama had his State of the Union address on Tuesday and directly after the address, the 11 of 12 football report was leaked (weirdly convenient the only leak in the investigation would happen at 11:30pm on a Tuesday night) and Deflate Gate dominated the national news over the President addressing the nation. The media in the US is very bad at the best of times, pushing agendas, constant click bait headlines, etc. There was only one bit of information on the whole the DeflateGate and it was 11 of 12 balls were under inflated. So with no actual information for the talking heads to talk about, they story grew legs. On Thursday, Forbes.com's lead headline was "Should the the Patriots be banned from the Super Bowl?". CNN calling BB and TB liars. If you are a casual NFL or even just a normal american, seeing this in passing as your main headlines, you are going to be influenced. Even in my company's daily internal website newsletter asked in a poll "What should the Patriots punishment be?" wtf, they weren't even found guilty but the damage was done. It didn't matter that the vast majority of actual NFL people said it wasn't a big deal (Luck, McNabb, Esaison, Rooney, Theisman, Young, Leinhart, Sherman, etc, etc) but its the talking heads that dominated the headlines. The US media is a scary thing.

I was disgusted on Friday when the NFL came out and said that this investigation was not over and there was no conclusion and the circus would continue all this week. It was going to ruin the Super Bowl for me. If we won, the headlines won't be "The Patriots won the Super Bowl", it would be "The Patriots won the Super Bowl*", it still will be but...

Bill Belichick came out today guns blazing, gave a sound and reasoned argument to why the balls were slightly deflated. He touched on a couple of other things, like how he was embarrassed that he had to spend so much time on such a trivial issue. He even touched on the craziness of Spygate "Yes, it was a covert spying operation to steal the opposing teams signals that were on display to 80,000 people", zing. You could tell how angry and annoyed he was, but this was a battle cry for the players too, they must be ecstatic to see such leadership when it appears that everybody in the world was against us.

My mood has done a complete 180 right now. After that epic ass whooping BB just gave the media and the haters, I'm ecstatic. So here's my Super Bowl prediction:

Patriots 5000 Seahawks 9

Go Pats!!!!!

AbusesToilets

I hope this whole ridiculous situation helps motivate the players to go out and stuff this nonsense down all the critics throats.

I don't see why there even needs to be such a particular rule about ball inflation. As long as it's a regulation ball and not some laser guided, robo ball, who cares what a QB does to get it prepped to his liking.

Tristram

I haven't posted regarding the ridiculousness of the past week until now, but I finally read an article that pretty much sums up my feelings on the whole thing.

Deflategate: Some Perspective, Please?

You know what I find deflating? Mostly the current state of the NFL itself. A season that began amid a storm of controversy is ending in the same way. We’re less than 10 days away from Super Bowl 49—supposedly the pinnacle of the football year, if not the sports calendar—and we’re talking more about air pressure in game balls than we are about the pressure of the playoffs.

Once again the game on the field is being overshadowed, and controversy has almost completely trumped competition. I don’t know about you, but in this season like none other in NFL history, I’ve come down with a serious case of controversy fatigue.

Yes, by all means, investigate and punish those evildoers in New England, with their penchant for cutting corners and pushing the envelope until it no longer looks like an envelope. Rules are rules, even though they do get twisted out of shape from time to time. But don’t try turning this story about two pounds per square inch of missing air into the Hornung-Karras gambling investigation, because it ain’t that. This doesn’t rise to the level of threatening the integrity of the game in any lasting way. Sorry, but I’m not buying into that popular level of hyperventilation.

Some perspective, please?

When the Patriots’ football deflation scandal leads all three broadcast networks’ news broadcasts, as it did on Thursday night, we might officially be through the looking glass. If that’s the most important story in the world, then it says more about our judgment and our focus than it does the significance of the topic. And it also proves, to no surprise, that controversy drives both the league and the news cycle like never before. (And how lucky are we that deflate rhymes with gate, as if we ever needed the impetus of a rhyme to attach -gate to any tempest? Who can forget the Super Bowl’s Nipplegate?)

I don’t think I’m alone here. A good deal of football fans must be beyond weary of the nonstop controversies engulfing the NFL these days. Sure, the attention and scrutiny come with the game’s enormous popularity, but the game itself shouldn’t get lost in the shuffle of the scandals and contretemps du jour. But it has all too often this season, on numerous fronts.

You want to talk about deflating?
I find it deflating that in just these playoffs alone, going by the eyeball test, no one still has any idea of what actually constitutes a legal catch, or how to describe its rule-book definition in a pithy 100 words or less.

I find it deflating that pass interference, possession of the ball, and what is or isn’t a muffed punt are still open for debate and subjective interpretation—to the point that not even the NFL’s director of officials and the referee analysts on TV (who used to be NFL referees, or even the league’s director of officials!) can consistently agree on calls.

I find it deflating that we still can’t really pinpoint what a “football move” is, but when it comes to stories that really move the needle, it turns out that needle can also surreptitiously be used to let a little air out of the football.

I find it deflating that my colleague, Peter King, actually called for the league to institute background checks on ball boys and make them pass through metal detectors before reaching the sidelines, an idea that sounds somewhat reasonable in today’s everything-is-absolutely-critically-important-and-we-must-get-it-right climate that pervades the NFL.

That’s where we’re at? Background checks and metal detectors for ball boys? Heaven help us.

I find it deflating that a dim-witted but fairly innocuous comment like the one Jets owner Woody Johnson made about Patriots cornerback Darrelle Revis at a press conference this month inspired a tampering charge and a league investigation. Does every issue have to be taken so DEFCON 1 seriously just because the NFL is powerful and popular? If Johnson picked up a phone and contacted either Revis or his agent in an attempt to reacquire the player, or started a public lobbying campaign with that in mind, that’s tampering, in spirit and act. What I heard Johnson say was just an example of his usual talk-first, think-later style. There’s a distinction to be made.

I find it deflating that, once again, you couldn’t track all the head coaching and coordinator comings and goings even if you had a microchip planted in everyone’s backside. A head coach staying just one or two years in a job is no longer a rare phenomenon—see Buffalo’s Doug Marrone and Chicago’s Marc Trestman—and even sustained high-level success doesn’t buy you job security these days. The last two men to lose the Super Bowl, Jim Harbaugh and John Fox, were asked to turn in their key cards and surrender their parking spaces this year. Next man up, indeed. Continuity is for chumps.

I find it deflating that the league and the players’ union still can’t agree that today is Friday.

I find it deflating that the Browns are being investigated for their in-game texting patterns and could have their smartphones taken away like grounded teenagers.

I find it deflating that the league’s scouting combines seem to be multiplying faster than rabbits.

I find it deflating that the NFL rule book has grown so complex and obtuse that it makes the U.S. tax code look like light summer reading.

Remember when the league’s biggest problem was mainly that the Super Bowl was overhyped and always sucked? Ah, the good old days.

For now, Deflategate rages on and the story has become bigger (no exaggeration) than the Super Bowl showdown itself. Everyone has an opinion on the Patriots’ latest alleged questionable tactic, so let me add one more: If proven, it’s a serious enough offense that it deserves a serious enough punishment. But it’s not so serious that it should overshadow the NFL’s biggest game of all. That said, I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t continue to do so.

And that’s the most deflating thing of all.

Chorus_suck

This post has been deleted.

empacher

Chorus_suck wrote: »

http://i.imgur.com/LlF6Xl6.jpg

Check out the football balloons ...

Hahahaha good one. Back under your bridge mate, or i'll fetch a carving knife and deflate your balls!

j8wk2feszrnpao

Tristram wrote: »

I haven't posted regarding the ridiculousness of the past week until now, but I finally read an article that pretty much sums up my feelings on the whole thing.

Deflategate: Some Perspective, Please?

Something I realised a long time ago; there are a lot of people involvement in sports broadcasting/reporting that earn their money on the back of the players/coaches, even though they may have very little knowledge/background in that sport.

These type of controversies are their payday. Yes the games attract attention, but nothing hits the headlines like a scandal (even a fake one). It's takes the sports reports from the back page to the front page.

I mean, the reporter that asked Brady, even if he was innocent, would Brady like to the the opportunity to apologise to America. This was little more than hoping Tom would say something that would make a headline; leading to selling his column, adding a few more Twitter followers, or increasing clicks to his blog. Interested in the truth? Nah. Just wanted a sensational news item.

But, you know what? It works, and it'll continue to work. As long as it sells, and we've seen how it sells; this type of 'journalism' will continue. People want their payday.

Vanolder

One week to the big dance.

Hazys

Vanolder wrote: »

One week to the big dance.

There is a football game to be played?

eagle eye

It will all come down to who has the bigger balls! Brady has proven that he has a big hairy pair on him but maybe he likes a shaving these days!:D

Obviously Russel Wilson's are exactly as God wants them to be on the day.

kryogen

This campaign is quite amusing, the effort put in to continue to create accounts is commendable and have nothing else to do is surely to be applauded.

JaMarcusHustle

What the hell is going on?

UnitedIrishman

JaMarcusHustle wrote: »

What the hell is going on?

I was just about to ask the same thing. It's like there's a paranoid schizophrenic in the forum.

JaMarcusHustle

Frostie, stop deleting these. This is gold and I wanna see where it's going! :pac:

JaMarcusHustle

Ok Frostie, I take that back. Delete away.....! :eek:

GavRedKing

It takes a troll longer to setup an account than it does for us to delete all the crap they post, the ban hammer is getting a good old outting lately.

JaMarcusHustle

GavRedKing wrote: »

It takes a troll longer to setup an account than it does for us to delete all the crap they post, the ban hammer is getting a good old outting lately.

Any idea what all that was about? Spill the beans, it's a Monday afternoon, we've got nothing else going on! :P

GavRedKing

I've no idea TBH.

Other than stupid posts, trolling and re-regging, I'm at a loss.

me89

Ha it's been a bit crazy here the last week

Vanolder

I'm a nervous wreck already

kryogen

Ah looks like I missed all the really good ones

BKWDR

Gah missed it all as well!

Less than a week now...PUMPED

Neil3030

The deflation thread has been locked pending the NFL's ruling - anyone who brings it up here will be given a two week ban.

Son Of A Vidic

AbusesToilets

How effective do the learned members of this thread think the Pats will be at getting a running game going?

I read a good article on sbnation about Blount, talking about his history and such. Really hoping he can maintain his levels of production, although I am reminded of his breakout last year in the playoffs and subsequent failure (along with the rest of the RBs) to do anything of note against the Broncos.

bruschi

The last time they played, Brady had something like 50 pass attempts and had nearly 400 yards completions. It was similar to the Ravens set up where the run was ignored and he went at them in the air. Whether or not they will do that again is another thing, but to me, its a good sign that brady knows he can play effectively against them, despite their well publicised secondary being the best in the league.

I still think that they are vulnerable with short routes, and particularly over the middle. The deep ball wont work, maybe one or 2 here and there when they bite on a play action, but I expect to see a gameplan of lots of short crossing routes with Edelman and Gronk and Vereen on wheel routes.

I do think they will need to run though to keep them honest, so we need Blount to be effective. Gray wont get much loks again I reckon, but I still think his style of hitting the line quickly is better against heavy run defences. Blount waits a little bit to find the gap, and against the Colts etc that will be perfect, I just think against the Seahawks he needs to hit the line quicker and not let them get a jump on our O Line.

I also expect a few turnovers in this game. If I was betting, I think there will be 2 on each side. I dont think Wilson is in great form and is erratic. And Brady will be throwing a lot and the laws of probability says he'll have a turnover or 2. If this is the case, its the obvious thing to say that whoever capitalises most on the turnovers will have a big say in who wins.

kryogen

Brady short passed them to death last time they met, no reason to think that won't be effective again, and with battering rams at RB like Blount to keep it honest there are certainly positive things for the team to work with.

j8wk2feszrnpao

For me it's our OL and the DL.

Can the OL protect Brady enough, and can they prevent the Hawks DL from penetrating and stopping our run behind the gain-line (making us one dimensional).
Can our DL deal with Lynch and make them one dimensional?

It's going to be a huge task to win this; I think the Hawks are a quality team, we know difficult it's to get to back-to-back SB's, and they've achieved it.

I can see this being a fourth quarter game, with either team in position to win.
Butterflies in the stomach already!

BKWDR

I think Gronk and JE11 will be utilised to the hilt on short slant gains. I do hope they establish a good run game early on but also fear a bit that if Blount doesn't show his prowess early on and they stop him we might be lessening our options. I am much more trust (read less nervous) in BB ability to predict or play the team that is on front of him on the day, coming off the Ravens and Colts games. Hopefully he pulls out some magic again