I don't understand

[Boltx]

how a guy like Brady can play this long in this league and be the most lucky, untouched, clean jersey QB I think I've ever seen. Sure he has had games where he's been knocked around before (the Super Bowls with the Giants), but basically for like 99% of his career...he gets to stand back there and just fire rockets wherever he pleases. How?

And yet we can't even protect Rivers consistently for one full season?? When was the last time Rivers had a good OL for a full year? 2006 or 2007? I honestly can't recall.

Certainly the Patriots have had talent on their OL...but it's not like their lines have been littered with high draft picks or multiple, perennial Pro Bowlers.

It is coaching? Offensive scheme? Hitting on every single draft pick? Does their line get away with more holding?

It's frustrating as hell to watch. I'm sure we're not the only fans that feel this way. It's like the Patriots are the "haves" and everybody else in the league are "have nots."

[captaind]

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[ghost]

how a guy like Brady can play this long in this league and be the most lucky, untouched, clean jersey QB I think I've ever seen. Sure he has had games where he's been knocked around before (the Super Bowls with the Giants), but basically for like 99% of his career...he gets to stand back there and just fire rockets wherever he pleases. How?

And yet we can't even protect Rivers consistently for one full season?? When was the last time Rivers had a good OL for a full year? 2006 or 2007? I honestly can't recall.

Certainly the Patriots have had talent on their OL...but it's not like their lines have been littered with high draft picks or multiple, perennial Pro Bowlers.

It is coaching? Offensive scheme? Hitting on every single draft pick? Does their line get away with more holding?

It's frustrating as hell to watch. I'm sure we're not the only fans that feel this way. It's like the Patriots are the "haves" and everybody else in the league are "have nots."

[vinabolt]

They run a different offense, the base offense is mostly dink and dunk. Brady is always a game manager and short-range passer at heart. It's the same base offense that Charlie Weis installed there since forever. They get the ball out fast.

We have run different offenses, Cam Cameron Indiana, then Norv Turner's version of Air Coryell (need good pass protection line, fast WR who can go deep, patient QB), which got Rivers banged up when our OL was declining. Then McCoy got here promising to build an offense that the QB prefers (he ran 2 different offenses in DEN, 1 for Manning, 1 for Tebow). And that's the offense that we're current run, with Whiz adding a lot of his wrinkles in. Whiz and McCoy came from the same base offense. McCoy incorporated a lot of plays and routes that Rivers like from his NC State Norm Chow days to Norv to the Manning-TomMoore-McCoy offense that they ran in DEN. This offense apparently is Rivers' favorite. It lets Rivers freely direct the protection to help out the OL. But it's not a dink and dunk offense like NE.

Other factors are Brady are slightly better in managing the protection and the offense as a whole. His release are slightly quicker, his pocket present and "6th sense" are better, overall he gets the ball out very quick. Rivers takes more time to go deep. He likes to go deep or throwing jump ball. Brady prefers the short routes. Their OL coaching is also much better with Scarnecchia, 1 of the best coach at this position. He and Belichick put offensive linemen through hell in every season. When he and Belichick first in NE, every year at least 1 of the OL veterans was forced to retired early.

[blueman]

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Must suck for the league with TV cameras everywhere catching it while the refs do nothing. I guess integrity of the game really means, Are people still watching? If so then all is well.

[Boltjolt]

Coaching. How else do you explain Matt Cassell having his best.....wait,...his only good season in the league with the Patriots? They get a decent draft pick for him and he falls apart. The Patriots have so many no names and yet they perform. It is stressed to just do your job and they just do. Their coaching is second to none. A guy like McDaniels may not be good HC but he sure is a good OC. Their OL coach is a good one too. Bellichick adjusts like no other...unlike Gus who didn't adjust to Bellichick.

[blueman]

Cheating? Coaching? Hard to tell in NE.

[vinabolt]

Cheating? Coaching? Hard to tell in NE.

Hard to tell anywhere in sports, especially soccer and including football. The only different with NE is that they've been targeted by a significant members of mainstream media from different motives/objectives. Their accusations are everywhere, repeat, share. Other accusations are 1-and-done, lost in the piles of records. Here is the list of cheating accusations of other teams in AFC West:

http://yourteamcheats.com/DEN

http://yourteamcheats.com/KC

http://yourteamcheats.com/OAK

[RTPbolt]

I say the benefits of having one system you dont change for what 14 plus years is huge. Never having to adjust to having a new head coach and philosophy. Nonew system to learn every few years. Brady is good and its the system that fits him to a T. He doesnt have great arm strength imo...he isnt a fast guy either. The system relies on short game play and bot really pure talent like a speed guy or great hands or any set of traits that cost big bucks. If you have wr and rb with short quickness for quick routes thats 90% of their pass routes. I think that is why they dont pay top money for wr or rb.

[madcaplaughs]

They consistently find talent that they can use, but no one else can. Welker was a nobody on the Chargers and Dolphins. Edelman was a college QB. Amendola has just been OK anywhere else. Who is Ben Hogan? They let primo talent go before having to pay big contracts (Richard Seymore, Drew Bledsoe, Adam Vientiari, Ty Law, Willie McGinist, Wilfork, Chandler Jones.....). I do have to give a nod to the coaching. They find ways to win. They believe in the fundamentals. They practice hard.

[Boltjolt]

Actually Welker was pretty good with the Dolphins, and why Bellichick said he traded for him was because they couldn't cover him and offered Miami a 2nd round pick.

[CTrout]

In the words of Ryan Clark (former Steeler)...."no matter how we lined up, they seemed to know EVERY play we were running"....
That has to be great coaching!
How many times in the past 2 playoff games did you hear Romo say.....ohhh the Patriots were in the perfect offense/defense for that play?
Sure does make you wonder.