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Brace yourself, NFL. It looks like Bill Belichick plans to come back from the lockout with guns blazing.

pfilippone

By pfilippone
in NY Jets Forum

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pfilippone

pfilippone

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The Jets better beat the Bengals 50-0 tonight or we won't be on par with the mighty Pats:

:blink:

Belichick, Patriots look like they're back ... with a vengeance

Brace yourself, NFL. It looks like Bill Belichick plans to come back from the lockout with guns blazing.

There's always fear and loathing around the Patriots. NFL coaches don't like the presumption that Bill is smarter than everyone else in the fraternity. Any time New England falls it's a happy day for the rest of the league. There was much titillation when the undefeated Pats lost the Super Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., in February of 2008. Seeing the Patriots lose a home playoff game to the Jets last January no doubt made a lot of Pats haters happy.

Hope you got it out of your system, people. Because it looks like the Patriots are loaded. Again.

"Belichick is through screwing around,'' an NFC executive told The Boston Globe's Greg Bedard during last Thursday's 31-14 New England drubbing of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "What we saw tonight, if that's the way they continue to go into the season, is a complete departure from what we saw last season. They're not reacting. They're dictating.''

The book on the Pats last year was that they were soft defensively. They were woeful on third down and couldn't mount any kind of a pass rush. Sure, they went 14-2 during the regular season, but the Jets attacked Tom Brady and beat the Pats in Foxborough in the playoffs.

Losing to Rex Ryan and the Jets in January was abject embarrassment for the Patriots. It was like getting fired by your ex-wife's new husband.

Playoff failure is a sore subject in Foxborough these days. While putting together some pretty nifty regular-season records, the Pats haven't gone anywhere in the tournament. Fact is, they haven't won a playoff game since the 2007 AFC Championship Game. This means that 13 teams -- the Seahawks, Jets, Ravens, Packers, Steelers, Bears, Cowboys, Cardinals, Colts, Vikings, Eagles, Chargers and Giants have all won playoff games since the last time Belichick and Brady won a playoff game.

The Pats can't even claim to be dominant in their local market anymore. This is the high renaissance of New England sports and despite winning three Super Bowls in this century, the Patriots have the longest championship drought among greater Boston's four professional sports teams.

So now Belichick is back. With a vengeance.

Talk Eagles all you want. Philadelphia has assembled a Dream Team of veteran talent, drawing comparisons with the Miami Heat.

I say the greater threat comes from New England.

In New England's first preseason game, the Patriots scored on their first eight possessions en route to a 47-12 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. And that was without Brady. Mr. Gisele played in the second game against Tampa and led the Pats to a 28-0 first half lead. The first touchdown drive lasted five plays. The first two touchdown passes were caught by Aaron Hernandez and Chad Ochocinco and there was not a Buccaneer in the same Zip code on either play.

"They did not treat this like a preseason game,'' said Tampa defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. "That's why they are who they are.''

But it is not New England's offense that should worry the NFL. We all know about Brady and weapons Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Danny Woodhead and now, Ochocinco.

The new threat is on defense. Belichick has gone back to working on what made him great in the first place; stopping the other team. Hoodie won't admit it, but he's gone to a 4-3 defense and he's bringing the house on just about every play. He's brought in every lineman he can find. Albert Haynesworth and Shaun Ellis haven't played yet, but fourth-year linebacker Jerod Mayo looks ready for a breakout season and it's clear that changing packages and pressuring the quarterback will be priorities.

Defensively, the Patriots are deep and their swarming attack made the Bucs look pathetic.

"I think the score is a little bit deceiving,'' Belichick deadpanned after the rout in Tampa. "The first half probably wasn't quite as good as it looked. ... We can do better and hopefully with this long week (the Pats have eight work days between preseason games) we have in front of us now we'll be able to allocate more time to getting things done at a higher level and also putting in some new things and expanding our installation as we head closer to the start of the regular season.''

Preseason is not regular season. The Jaguars and Buccaneers might be terrible teams. Nothing really counts until a team starts winning playoff games. The Packers are the defending champs and the Eagles are the flavor of the month and Rex again says his Jets are Super Bowl bound.

All that said, it looks like the worst fears of Patriot-haters might be realized. The lockout figured to help teams with veteran coaches and tested quarterbacks. The Patriots have both, in spades. They have a system unlike any other system.

They have a coach who loves to scheme, a coach who's had too much time to think about that loss in the desert almost four years ago.

We are only halfway through a preseason after a protracted lockout. There is so much we do not know. But the Patriots look like a monster team. A lot like 2007.

Be afraid, NFL. Be very afraid.

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slats

slats

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The article had one brief breath of sanity:

Preseason is not regular season. The Jaguars and Buccaneers might be terrible teams. Nothing really counts until a team starts winning playoff games.

What I got out of it is that Florida football teams suck.

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Gastineau Lives

Gastineau Lives

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Holy sh*t, you CANNOT GO ANYWHERE, any site without watching someone suck that Patriot cock. It's unreal. I know exactly what it is. These dudes have been sucking them off for four years now and have been proven wrong time after time and by God, they're going to be right one of these days so let's just take a few mediocre signings of big named has beens and combine it with two playoff blowouts and get on the old, "I told ya so" (for four years, again) bandwagon.

I can't wait to play these mother****ers just to shut these idiots up. Since nothing else that has occurred over the last four years has.

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SMC

SMC

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The biggest problem for the Pats is that Brady is not a big moment QB any longer. That, coupled with the departure of many of their championship era players, this team of new players doesn't know how to win big games.

So the media can continue to suck them off, but that isn't going to make Brady clutch again. Brady is 2-4 in his last 6 postseason starts.

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Matt39

Matt39

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The biggest problem for the Pats is that Brady is not a big moment QB any longer. That, coupled with the departure of many of their championship era players, this team of new players doesn't know how to win big games.

So the media can continue to suck them off, but that isn't going to make Brady clutch again. Brady is 2-4 in his last 6 postseason starts.

Its more the defense not being nearly what it was when they were winning Super Bowls.

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PFSIKH

PFSIKH

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The biggest problem for the Pats is that Brady is not a big moment QB any longer. That, coupled with the departure of many of their championship era players, this team of new players doesn't know how to win big games.

So the media can continue to suck them off, but that isn't going to make Brady clutch again. Brady is 2-4 in his last 6 postseason starts.

I do not know about that. I think your second sentence is more accurate.

If Montana can lose three playoff games in a row, then anybody can.

In the 5-5 run since his 9-0 start, you can pick plays where he screwed the pooch (last year's killer INT), but he is not the reason they are coming up short.

Who cares about the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick...........not me :blink:

me. ;)

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Klecko73isGod

Klecko73isGod

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I do not know about that. I think your second sentence is more accurate.

If Montana can lose three playoff games in a row, then anybody can.

In the 5-5 run since his 9-0 start, you can pick plays where he screwed the pooch (last year's killer INT), but he is not the reason they are coming up short.

me. ;)

Brady looked like he was mailing it in in the 2nd half of the playoff game last year. The Jets scheme had him completely perplexed and frustrated.

One of the biggest problems the Pats have had the last few years IMO is an inability to make 2nd half adjustments when they are down in games. Fortunately for them, they haven't found themselves trailing very often but can you think of any really impressive 4th quarter comeback or even 2nd half comeback since Brady's returned from injury?

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