I'm still crushed by the loss in the Super Bowl, and while I hate to make excuses, I did see some things that were very "UN-Patriot" like. Before I get jumped on by the
Patriots' haters, I readily acknowledge that the
Giants flat out beat the Patriots on both sides of the ball, leaving no doubt that they were the better team on that day. I'm looking to talk about the things that the Patriots did wrong before and during the game, that along with the Giants play ruined the shot at a perfect season.
Overconfidence: Leading up to the Super Bowl there seemed to be something wrong with the Patriots' attitudes. There are rumors that Patriots' players were asking Giants players if they wanted to come to their after Super Bowl parties (there is a quote from Amani Toomer that was posted on this CBS site saying that), Bill Belichick was relaxed and aloof for the entire week, something that had never been seen before. It seems to me that the Patriots picked the worst time to forget their "Humble Pie" shirts at home; after a long season of not giving any teams extra-motivation with bulletin board material they start inviting opposing players to celebration parties? Belichick isn't is usual intense and sour self with the media? It reeks of overconfidence to me, a problem that the Patriots never had leading up to the Super Bowl, and it also explains why (but certainly doesn't defend) the reason that they looked so flat throughout the game.
Poor coaching: This isn't true of the defense, who played extremely well up until the last two Giants' drives. Poor coaching also covers the "overconfidence" that I just mentioned, its up to the Head Coach to keep his team focused and grounded "eating their humble pie" as it were, leading up to the game. So even before kickoff there was a poor job of Belichick and his staff of keeping everyone focused. There were some poor coaching decisions during the game, like going for it on 4th and 13 instead of attempting a 49 yard field goal; I can understand going for it on 4th and short, but not like that. If you don't trust your kicker at that point kicking indoors you shouldn't have bothered to bring him along. During the game their offensive coaching was terrible. Give all the credit in the world to the Giants' defense, they had a great game plan and the Patriots never found a way to move the ball until their last drive. The Giants were never forced to alter their defensive strategy because the Patriots never adapted to what the Giants were doing. When it was obvious the offensive line couldn't stop the Giants pass rush, the Patriots never found a blocking scheme that would slow them down. The play calling was never changed to take advantage of an aggressive pass rush, it looked like the Patriots wanted to get the one big play that would break the Giants spirit instead of moving the ball methodically down the field the way they did in their final drive. It was obvious to all that Tom Brady didn't have nearly enough time to throw the ball any farther than 15 yards, yet he was always looking downfield looking for the big play. This lead to a lot of 2nd and 3rd and longs, allowing the Giants pass rushers to tee off even more on the QB. I think Josh McDaniels inability, or unwillingness, to change strategy not only helped doom the Patriots, but also cost him a coaching job with the Redskins.
Missed opportunities: This may be the biggest reason, along with the Giants incredible play that is, that the Patriots lost. The Patriots of past Super Bowls and the 18 games leading up to the Super Bowl always capitalized on opportunities. In this game we have several incidents were they couldn't do it. Pierre Woods fell on a fumble at the Giants' 30 yard line, and inexplicably he rolls over with it and gets it taken away by 5'9'' Ahmad Bradshaw. As a result the Patriots get 0 points ( I'd say there was a 95% chance they would have scored some points by starting at the Giants 30, even with the Giants' D playing so well). Everyone knows the missed sacks on Eli Manning where he was able to break away and complete big passes (I counted at least three, including 2 on the winning drive). Missed interceptions by Asante Samuel and Brandon Merriweather that could have ended the game. When a big play needed to be made the Patriots couldn't get it done, while the Giants made all the plays that mattered.
I think those are the three biggest shortfalls that the Patriots had in their game against the Giants. Again, I'm not taking anything away from New York because they outplayed us from the start, I'm just looking at some of the things the Patriots could have done better to have had a better performance in the game. As a fan I still believe that if the Patriots played the Giants ten times in the Super Bowl they would win eight of them... but the Giants were by far better on this particular day. Enjoy.
