No. But the Patriots do rely on their Defense to make plays on the field to give their offense a chance to stay in the game. The reason why I ask if you saw that game, is because the Pats looked beaten by the half. Not to mention this was Cassel's 2nd start. So of course it took him a few games to get a feel for the offense. The second meeting wasn't even close as the score indicates. Whether you believe this or not, the WC took the life out of the Patriots as a whole. Who would've thought...the Dolphins out of all teams embarrassing the Patriots. I could also flip the argument and say, it obviously WASN'T the Dolphins D that held the Patriots in check in their first encounter, because they managed to score 48 on them later in the season.
So NE was incapable of defending both the run and pass? Is it not possible to give Chad and the Dolphins passing O some credit? He very well may have but that had nothing to do w/ the Miami O scoring 28 in the 2nd meeting.
Not to mention there were only 2 games the Pats gave up more than 400 yards on defense. 1 of them was the Chargers game in Week 6 with a total 404. But the biggest one was Miami on Week 3 with 461 yards of which, 119 yds came straight from plays that involved the WC. If this doesn't paint a picture of how much of an impact the WC had in that first meeting, then I really don't know what else will.
I did. I think Chad had a good performance the second meeting. However... ...in the 4th, with the Dolphins being down by 10 and with about 8 minutes left to go, Chad goes ahead and throws an interception right at Merriweather. Yes. Chad had a great performance. But when the Dolphins needed Chad to come thru and put a drive together...you know...when the game is on the line...Chad folded. Then they get the ball back sometime later in the quarter and Chad couldn't muster a drive together for even a FG. In fact, they don't even try to run the WC cause it was useless the entire game. It is what it is. Chad was good, but not great ESPECIALLY when you needed him the most.
Is it fair to expect a QB to keep scoring? they put up 38 pts, he had 3 TDs. Agaianst KC he did it leading them from behind and leading his O to 38 pts behind 3 TD passes. It's not fair to expect a QB to do that every game.
The only person claiming I'm not giving the O credit is you. They left the door opened and he came in. Good for him. What more is there to say? I just think you're trying to make an argument where one does not exist. I'm more than happy to admit in the second meeting that Chad spanked em. Are you willing to admit that the WC spanked em in the first meeting? If so then we have nothing to debate.
I have already said they won the first game b/c of the WC(probably the only game they won 100% b/c of the WC).
Passing yardage and points scored in a blowout loss is not the same as running the ball 36 times getting a 3 score lead in the first half and rushing for 6 plus a carry while controlling TOP. In the NFL teams that have big leads tend to relax, tend to play prevent and tend to give up big yardage and points. The big yardage and points tend to be meaningless in those situations unless of course the O does nothing and gives the ball back quickly. In the second game that wasn't the case as NE dominated TOP and had a huge lead.
This is the first time I'm seeing this. But fair enough. Hopefully FTP and his, "BUT THE WC WAS ONLY USED 6 TIMES THAT GAME" argument can see it the same way.
Yeah I hadn't seen it either. Nice to know that he argued for no other reason than to get Chad some props. Eh, whatever.
Miami won 11 games, if the Dolphins won 1 game becaus WC that would leave 10 wins. Whos to say 10 wins wouldn't have won the division? Since we're playing the "if" game, what if the Pats and Jets only won 9 games? And why is it only the wildcat get's any credit for the wins? If the Dolphins ran 700offensive plays last year and only 78 of those plays were the wildcat, why is it the wildcat is the only formation responsible for 11 wins? Maybe Miami doesn't score with the base offense as much, but keeps the ball long enough per game to keep the ball out of the other teams hands, thus reducing their chances to score! There is more than one way to win games, READ BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Why is it only the WC and the base offense are resonsible for the wins? If the Defense gives up more points than the offense can score, than the it wouldn't matter what the wildcat did, would it? However if the Defense gives up less points than the offense can score than that too contributes to wins. Give it a rest your argument is IGNORANT! As usual.
It was a blowout when Chad threw the pick that ended the game after NE took a 10 point lead with 9 minutes left. The Pats D stepped up stopped the run and Chad threw one of his clasic forced balls. Stop the run against the Fish is the way to beat them. NE didn't in the first game and did in the second game. Two things happened in the second game that didn't happen in the first, NE was in the game offensively, Miami couldn't run the ball. In the pressure situation Chad handed the game to NE down the stretch. NE was clearly better offensively in game 2 but Miami was clearly worse. In game one they held onto the ball for 32.33 and averaged 8.1 yards per play with no turnovers because they ran the ball down NE throat. In game two the held the ball for 26.50 and averaged 6.3 yards per play and turned the ball over in the key spot in the game. Hard to call that an equal offensive performance.
No is playing the 'if' game. The only one playing the 'if' game here is you. Fact. Miami introduced the WC Week 3 against NE. Fact. This is the only game where NE gave up the most yards defensively for the entire season. 461 total offensive yards. Fact. Of those 461 yards, 119 come out of the WC. Fact. Of those 119 yards and 6 snaps, they scored 4 times giving them 28 out of the 35 total points scored in this game. Fact. The Patriots (especially the Defense) looked absolutely lost when the Dolphins broke out the WC formation (which happened sometime during the middle of the 1st quarter). So you can pretty much tell how the rest of the game went. Fact. The WC was not effective in the 2nd game these teams met. Fact. The Dolphins lost that game by 20 points. I don't know why you're starting to play the 'if' game. It has nothing to do with the discussion we're having on here. If Chad doesn't become a Dolphin and goes to the Vikings, the Dolphins don't win the Division. There. Ya happy?
Now you're saying so-and-so isn't fair to Chad? Man, you should become his attorney. It's not fair, but when you're in a shootout, that's exactly what needs to be done.
That's not a blowout, it was a back and forth game for most of the game. Doesn't having no running game make life difficult on a QB? They scored 28 points, the D blew game 2. It has nothing to do w/ Chad, insert any QB's name in there.
So then I guess it wasn't fair to Cassel either... but when he was handed lemons, he made lemonade. When Chad was handed lemons, he made pee-pee in his pants.
