Russian Roulette if you enter the playoffs with the 32nd ranked Defense

[trumad]

The Pats (31st ranked) will get away with it because they will play two AFC teams with anemic offenses. Broncos and the Ravens....

Greenbay on the other hand ran into a very hot Eli Manning and simply couldn't keep up in point production.

[joeybee12]

1. I thought the Pats were at the bottom...sand quite frankly

I think having a very bad team to play after having two weeks off helped them...didn't help the Ravens (who looked bad but won) or GB

[trumad]

2. yeah but the Giants arent bad

They are one of the hottest teams playing.

[mythology]

3. The Patriots lost the last two years in the playoffs to very average offensive teams

the Jets and the Ravens. I think the Ravens have a very good chance to win because they can control the game with their running game and they have some good receivers to make a few plays, plus they can get pressure on Brady.

[Renew Deal]

4. I made this point last week.

Someone said that defense wins championships. That's the truth. Next week, the 49ers should have the better defense on paper. We'll see how it goes.

[trumad]

5. they do have a better defense.

But not a better offense.

[HuckleB]

7. The paper part is important.

The Giants battled more than a few injuries this year, and the team has really jelled on both sides of the ball. It's hard to argue that any of the four remaining teams are playing better than the Giants right now.

[Old and In the Way]

8. I'm hoping for a Pats - Giants rematch.

I think every Pats fan in NE is hoping NY beats SF so that can happen. Of course, Pats have to get past the Ravens. They remember the last playoff game with those guys, too.

[HuckleB]

6. Which is what I've been saying to everyone all year?

Friend: "Man, you're Packers are amazing!"

Me: "They are winning, but have you watched their defense?"

This is not unexpected. I had more than one conversation, dating back October where I figured the outcome in the playoffs would be something like this. Of course, if the offense didn't drop so many passes this game could have been a classic, with the Giants winning 37-34, or something. But, oh well.

[hughee99]

9. And not JUST the 32 ranked Defense...

they did it with what must have been one of the weakest schedules in NFL history, right up there with the '72 Dolphins (sorry, couldn't help getting a dig in there). Their defense was this bad against very BAD opponents.

[trumad]

11. diff with the Phins

They went undefeated and had a great defense.

[hughee99]

12. Wasn't really comparing the teams, just their incredibly weak schedules. n/t

[trumad]

13. Yeah-- they played a weak schedule during the season..

But the playoffs were a bit different.

Browns were 10-4

Steelers 11-3

Superbowl:

Redskins 11-3

Those squacking about the Phins and their weak schedule can simply fuck off.

Douchebags.

[hughee99]

14. Again, I'm not "squacking about the Phins and their weak schedule"

I'm just comparing the Pats incredibly weak schedule to one of the all-time weakest schedules. It just happens to be the 72 Dolphins. It's irrelevant to my point whether they were undefeated or winless, the point is that it was one of the weakest schedules of all time. It's not the Phins fault, they didn't make the schedule, but it was incredibly week and a standard to which other weak schedules can be compared to. The Pats played a similar schedule this year, and their defense STILL looked awful.

[trumad]

15. Of all time?

Come on now.

And again---the teams they beat in the playoffs were solid winners.

[hughee99]

16. I'm talking about regular season schedule specifically,

since it was in the regular season that the Pats accumulated such poor defensive numbers. Look, no team has control over their schedule, but he 72 Dolphins had the one of the weakest schedules of the modern era.

"The Dolphins played the third-easiest schedule in the modern era. Their opponents were 70-122, a .367 percentage that was topped only by the 1975 Minnesota Vikings and the 1999 St. Louis Rams. As it turned out, the Dolphins didn't play a team with a winning record during the regular season. "

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=3161854

[trumad]

18. I think it's all relative...

I could make a 100 arguments that say the easy schedule is bunk.

Fewer teams back then--- talent was diluted by too many teams, etc.

Fact of the matter is--- no other team has ever done it in the NFL.

[hughee99]

19. They didn't play a team with a winning record during the regular season.

In relative terms, they played just about the easiest regular season possible. I'm not exactly sure what argument you could make other than to dismiss the easy schedule as irrelevant. Fewer teams, diluted talent, whatever argument you'd care to make as to why the schedule wasn't "really" easy, the fact remains that they played a bunch of teams that didn't match up well to their peers of the day.

In any case, I picked the 72 Dolphins easy schedule as my standard in this case since many of us in the sports forum were around for the debates of '07, and may already be familiar with how weak that schedule was. Rather than explaining in detail how easy the Pats schedule was this year, I was hoping to get away with just comparing it to something people here had already recognized as a weak schedule. The Pats played 3 playoff teams and beat only 1 (Denver) and played only 2 teams with winning records

[Son of Gob]

10. But they have the greatest QB of all time

Just ask him.

[PVnRT]

20. Maybe you could point out where he's said anything like that

I'll wait.

[Son of Gob]

21. Just ask him. He'll tell ya.

I'll wait.

[DinahMoeHum]

17. "Talk Is Cheap. Play The Game" - NY Giants coach Tom Coughlin

Regular season stats and accomplishments don't mean squat come the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

Ask the Packers after their 15-1 regular season. (2011-2012)

Ask the Patriots after their 18-1 regular/playoff season. (2007-2008)

[JonLP24]

22. I'm never sure why the running game is ignored when talking about offenses

That is offensive production right? I'm not talking about the Broncos because they don't pass the ball well at all. Baltimore could be better but they have deep threat Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin. Ray Rice is a terrific running back, and Denver showed in the first quarter you can attack the Pat's D by handing off. It wasn't until they started doing the option that NE clamped down.

I think the Colts have an anemic offense, not Baltimore and to a lesser extent Denver who had the best rushing team in the league. Someone up-thread mentioned the Jets having an average offense, but they were in the top 3 in the league in running ball.

Earlier this year I felt Manning was a good selection for the Pro Bowl but Stafford's TD numbers were far better. First Giants game I watched I saw exactly why, the Giants run the ball while Detroit will rarely hand off. The Giants were last in the league in rushing yards but #22 in rushing attempts at 3.5 YPC w/ 17 TDs. I think the Giants offense is better for it.