Patriots 2017 season thread

The Patriots played the bend AND break defense which is a great way to lose a Super Bowl and waste a 505 yard passing performance by a 40 year old QB. To his credit Foles never blinked. I kept waiting for a defensive Patriots sack, a significant interception, a fumble, but instead the best the Pats could do was hold Philly to a FG instead of a TD, which is quite pathetic.

And in the end Brady blinked, but it was ridiculous. He shouldn't have to play superhuman for them to win. The defense sucked from the getgo and continued to suck the rest of the game.

They couldn't get any stops when they needed it. If they got it on 3rd down, they'd give it up on 4th down. They really deserved to lose. The defense was so bad I had trouble getting excited when the Patriots pulled ahead 33-32 because I knew Brady wouldn't get the ball back with the lead.

I know Butler didn't have the greatest season of all-time, but at some point, with the defense failing as badly as it was don't you reinsert him and see if he can come up with a big play? It's not like anybody else was and they were staying away from #24.

Wish there was a downvote feature on this board

I'm very sorry to be a pedant -- I totally understand if you think less of me for it -- but you often make the mistake of using the word "of" when you mean to use the word "have" or the contraction of "have" and it just eats away at me when I see people make that common error because... what do you think "of" means in that situation? I know you're not even thinking about it. I just thought if I were doing it consistently I'd rather just have someone tell me instead of having everyone constantly pretend not to notice since that's arguably more patronizing than just correcting it.

Anyway, I'm sorry for my lack of self-control; I hope there are no hard feelings. Go Sox!

Yeah, Butler is as good as gone. He was most likely gone anyways but Bill really did spit in his face on the way out. I don't get it either.

Literally Eagles fans were burning their town to the ground last night. That's nuts.

You really can’t say enough bad things about the coaching last night. Not activating Branch, benching Butler, literally zero adjustments - it was inexplicable.

I think something changed with the halftime show at the last minute. I heard that they wanted to do a Prince hologram performance, but Prince's family was adamant about not allowing that because Prince never wanted it. I wonder if that's what went down. The show was boring and there were no real surprises.

Also, I just wanted to say how happy I am that the Eagles have Doug Pederson. He's the first guy I could say might be the next Belichick. I've never been more impressed with coaching than with what he did after losing Wentz. I didn't think they had a chance at winning a playoff game, let alone the SB. Neither did anyone else, except Pederson and then he made the team believe it. And the Foles story is one that I just can't imagine was possible, nor will it ever be possible again.

I'm embarrassed for the behavior of Philly fans, even though I think in the days of social media and smart phones, bad behavior looks a lot more prevalent than it is.

Congratulations on the win.  I was thinking about my old college roommate who passed a few years back.  He loved the Eagles.  I have always felt the fan base of the Eagles was solid.  

But come on, this is a rough city. They are letting off some steam.  It isn't right, but that's why folks have insurance.  As long as noone dies...there is always going to be some fools.

Not sure I see it that way, this team had just as much talent as the earlier Patriot teams, even with injuries. Yet you take out Butler,  a guy that teams will give 40-50 million to in free agency and then lose Cooks to a cheap shot like 20 minutes into the game and things change. How was that helment to helment hit, from his blindside not a penalty?? For me that was targeting all day long, in College he would have been ejected,  yet in this game not even a 15 yard penalty . That is BS, for a league that talks about player safety! Biggest game of the year and they let a play like that happen. It was clear as day in real time and the replay showed more of the same.

How was Clements TD a catch? He clearly was juggling the ball before both feet were down? Overall the Refs did OK, but those were two huge blown calls that changed the game. Like the announcers said that type of catch is over turned almost every time.

Branch hardly played all year and I don't see how he makes a difference.  They didn't run it down our throats, they were like us, pass heavy with a ton of perfectly timed runs. Branch would have been big against a team like the Bills or Seahawks, a run first type team. Butler not playing has to be the biggest head scratching move maybe in the last 17 years. A top notch corner, not playing against a team that has a ton of weapons and passes to set up the run. My dad and myself were talking and were like no way Bill isn't playing him if he's healthy, but that is what happend. Look what Gilmore did on Jeffries,  litterally took him out of the game. Butler could have done something similar.  Nevermind that was a timing offense like the Rams years back, yet they didn't jam guys to throw off the timing. Also they didn't bring preasure till like the 4th quarter. Like Bill said this loss is on him, it doesn't happen often, but he was clearly out coached and the game plan seemed horrible.  They also didn't seem to adjust after halftime .

The Eagle are a good and talented team, but Bill made it easy on them. Play Butler, jam the receivers and bring pressure and things would have been different. Seemed crystal clear to me what we needed to do, yet Bill played a bend but don't break D for 3 plus quarters. The two stops we did get, they went for it and made it. Which were gutsy calls, that could have lost them the game, yet made them look brillant. Bill just played it safe all game, which is shocking.

I can't believe you bet against your team! Even if you thought they would lose, why? That's the cardinal sin of being a true fan. Hope the money is worth it.

I don't get betting against your team, heck you make it sound like you did it because you knew they would lose. That doesn't sound like you didn't care. If you didn't care, pick the Celtics to win it all. That has to be a massive payout compared to this game. Die hardfans don't bet against there teams!

I've been reading around and there's speculation that the decision to bench Butler was disciplinary, that he was missing curfew, caught in his room with marijuana, had some sort of emotional meltdown.

Don't know if any of that is true but I suspect it could be. I mean, what other sane rational reason would there be for Butler to not get one freaking defensive snap in the most important game of the year?

Whether Belichick wants to elaborate or not, eventually the truth will filter out.

If it's disciplinary, as I suspect, short of Butler killing anybody (or doing anything else violent), Belichick in effect, not only punished Butler, but punished his own team, depriving them of one of their best players.

If he benched him to start like he did with Welker some years back for some colorful Rex Ryan remarks, then fine, but to let your team play shorthanded like that? I think if Butler had played the Patriots might have won. The defense certainly couldn't have played worse had he played.

So I guess Belichick made his point....but at what cost? (The obvious answer is the Super Bowl). Nobody wins here (except Philly).

If Butler did all those things he screwed his teammates not Belichick