Patriots #1 seed/championship football

One of Miami's offensive problems is its inability to run. The Patriots showed how important a strong running game can be when adverse conditions necessitate the run. A strong running game can put a game away when you want to run out the clock.
Miami needs to improve up front and in the backfield if it ever wants to be a contender.

I thought the Patriots' gameplan was garbage, and they did everything they could to give the game to Buffalo. Unfortunately for the Bills, their offensive playcalling was horrendous and Josh Allen couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

If the Patriots play like that when we face them, we'll win big.

That game showed me that Belichick has zero faith in the "golden boy", Mac Jones. Seriously...you're running the ball on 2nd and 15, 3rd and 18, etc.??? That's called not trusting your QB and playing scared.

I certainly agree that we need to run the ball effectively, but if that was the Dolphins vs. Pats last night there's no doubt in my mind we get the W.

I just saw that the Pats won a game in 2021 by throwing 3 passes. Un fucking believable

They just won the division. Now we have to root for the Pats to beat the Colts, since Indy would need 2 more losses to drop behind the Fins if the Fins win out.

As for the Bills, fuck 'em. Where was this team before November??? I mean, they *could* lose to the Bucs and Pats again, but there's no way they're losing to the Panthers, Falcons or Jets so the Fins are screwed there regardless

Stupid Bills...I know it won't happen but I SO want them to miss the playoffs somehow!!!

Very windy night, but it is inexcusable when your opponent on the other sideline knows how to deal with the conditions in your home stadium better than you do WHEN that condition is very common. Miami has played many games there where wind was an oversized factor. The 1994 game comes to mind.

HalCHorn wrote:Very windy night, but it is inexcusable when your opponent on the other sideline knows how to deal with the conditions in your home stadium better than you do WHEN that condition is very common.  Miami has played many games there where wind was an oversized factor.  The 1994 game comes to mind.

That was literally the game that popped into my mind when I read the 2nd sentence of your post! Parmalee runs for 91 yards, but the Fins have just 19 rushes as a team to the Bills' 48...just a year and a week after having their most rushing attempts in a decade in the EXACT SAME STADIUM and beating the Bills in the game, and then afterwards Gary Stephens calls everyone who questions why he didn't call more runs in a game with 20 mph winds (according to PFR) an idiot. And then Parmalee immediately proceeds to set a franchise record for rushing yardage in consecutive games. Good times.

DolFan 316 wrote:

HalCHorn wrote:Very windy night, but it is inexcusable when your opponent on the other sideline knows how to deal with the conditions in your home stadium better than you do WHEN that condition is very common.  Miami has played many games there where wind was an oversized factor.  The 1994 game comes to mind.

That was literally the game that popped into my mind when I read the first sentence of your post! Parmalee runs for 91 yards, but the Fins have just 19 rushes as a team to the Bills' 48...just a year and a week after having their most rushing attempts in a decade in the EXACT SAME STADIUM and beating the Bills in the game, and then afterwards Gary Stephens calls everyone who questions why he didn't call more runs in a game with 20 mph winds (according to PFR) an idiot. And then Parmalee immediately proceeds to set a franchise record for rushing yardage in consecutive games. Good times.

Yep. That team had no business getting swept by Buffalo, it should have been the other way around--and that cost us dearly in January.

HalCHorn wrote:Very windy night, but it is inexcusable when your opponent on the other sideline knows how to deal with the conditions in your home stadium better than you do WHEN that condition is very common.  

Exactly. And everyone brags about how Josh Allen can throw the ball through a wall - where was that arm strength last night? He was terrible, missing open receivers all night. Has he never played in those conditions before? Total choke.

As for the Pats, they do have a sure win against the Jags but I don't think they beat the Colts in Indy, and I think we will have a great shot at beating them in Miami, flaws and all. AFC road to the SB still looks like it is going through KC to me, but it is so close right now it's hard to say.

JMP wrote:Exactly.  And everyone brags about how Josh Allen can throw the ball through a wall - where was that arm strength last night?  He was terrible, missing open receivers all night.  Has he never played in those conditions before?  Total choke.

I guess it never gets windy in Wyoming

HalCHorn wrote:As for the Pats, they do have a sure win against the Jags but I don't think they beat the Colts in Indy, and I think we will have a great shot at beating them in Miami, flaws and all.  AFC road to the SB still looks like it is going through KC to me, but it is so close right now it's hard to say.

Completely agree, Hal. This Patriots team doesn't scare me at all. If we play our game, we'll beat them again.

KC is getting hot at just the right time. Their D is playing excellent right now, and you know it's just a matter of time till the offense wakes up.

JMP wrote:KC is getting hot at just the right time.  Their D is playing excellent right now, and you know it's just a matter of time till the offense wakes up.

The Chiefs can do this team a MASSIVE favor by winning out, which would mean they hand losses to (deep breath) the Raiders, Chargers, Steelers, Bengals and Broncos.

Reid owes the Fins for giving him a bye in 2019 that he doesn't have a ring without. Time to pay up!

Watching that game last night made me even happier that we have Tua. It was a great example of how accuracy and ball placement are just as important as arm strength.

Tua is looking really good. I can't say I'd take Burrow or even Herbert over him with a do-over.

Depending on circumstances, while this is a poor year for franchise QB types IMO, this might be a good year to get a QB to groom as a backup/insurance policy. Bailey Zappe and Desmond Ridder look like promising mid-round types unless they rise in the next couple of months which could happen.

HalCHorn wrote:Tua is looking really good.  I can't say I'd take Burrow or even Herbert over him with a do-over.

Depending on circumstances, while this is a poor year for franchise QB types IMO, this might be a good year to get a QB to groom as a backup/insurance policy.  Bailey Zappe and Desmond Ridder look like promising mid-round types unless they rise in the next couple of months which could happen.

Completely agree, Hal. I'd definitely like to add a young, developmental QB.

JMP wrote:Completely agree, Hal.  I'd definitely like to add a young, developmental QB.

I would too except that one, every time I do a mock draft there's just no room for a QB with all the other issues and two, do you really trust Flores and whoever he trots out as OC next season to develop a QB?

An interesting thought about last nights' game.

All I've been hearing today is how the Patriots ran all over the Bills and humiliated them. But did they really?

Patriot RBs carried the ball 38 times for 217 yards. That's 5.7 yards per carry, and does indeed indiacte a thorough asskicking.

BUT...

Damien Harris had a 64 yard run early in the game. Aside from that one run, the Pats' longest run of the night was 16 yards. Take that long run out of the equation and the Pats gained 153 yards on 37 carries, for a 4.1 ypc average. That's about league average for running the ball.

Considering that the Pats were absolutely terrible on third downs and gained under 200 total yards of offense without that one big run, did they really dominate the Bills and kick their ass? No. No they didn't. In fact, on the final two drives if Josh Allen throws the ball to his own team, the Bills win the game easily.

I'm no Bills apologist, but goddamn the way the media still continues to heap praise on the Patriots is just sickening.

JMP wrote:I'm no Bills apologist, but goddamn the way the media still continues to heap praise on the Patriots is just sickening.

This same media was openly fellating the Bills, right up until they started losing. You'd think given the way modern society is, they'd be rooting AGAINST a team named the Patriots, not for them. But it's obvious at this point that we have yet another forced narrative where the media's desperately cheering for a Pats-Bucs Super Bowl. The Bills have been kicked to the curb. The Chiefs are now evil because of what Reid's son did (never mind that when Ruggs did the same thing the same media swept it under the rug). The Cowboys *might* be a good SB alternative in their eyes because Jerry Jones can apparently do no wrong ever. But if any other team from either conference makes the SB and ruins the precious media narrative that must be adhered to at all times, then we'll see another collective hissyfit from them about that team not losing like it was *supposed* to.