AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Jacksonville Jaguars #3 @ New England Patriots #1: Bortles vs. Brady

[KhanYouDigIt]

1 minute ago, iPwn said:

If we can harness the play calling from about half of the games, we might have something.

Having a consistent #1 to work with will do wonders too. 

I agree. We do need a #1 TE. This is the draft to find one though.

The schedule next year won’t be as easy as this year (I know it’s early to say that). We are gonna need to put up some points.

 

[pwny]

5 minutes ago, KhanYouDigIt said:

The schedule next year won’t be as easy as this year (I know it’s early to say that).

Schedule won’t be as easy. We won’t stay as healthy. Gonna be a tougher year, for sure.

But at the same time, the playoffs have shown this team can beat good teams in big moments. Need to grow and make some changes.

[Tugboat]

Guys, i'm mad and frustrated, and sad.  That was heart-wrenching.

So close, and i think this team could've won that next game...if only they'd made it past the Pats today, and today's game was absolutely there for the taking.  It's just so hard to get to this point and that close to the Superbowl.  So many things went so right this year to get there.  I know it shouldn't feel so hopeless with the young core of this team and all that, and i still believe in them for the most part...but this was a year that our team (A-Rob) aside, was remarkably healthy...like unrealistically so.  It had really started to feel like maybe this was the year.  Now it's gonna be a long slog, where they start back from the bottom of the hill...and you just can't expect them to be this healthy again next year.  It's a problem with this league these days, and just how much a "healthy season" and keeping those key guys healthy can mean for a team.  How small some championship "windows" can be.

It's weirdly that aspect that's weighing on me so much right now, more than anything.  It just feels so bleak right now.  I'm not equipped for this.  

[pwny]

6 minutes ago, Tugboat said:

It's weirdly that aspect that's weighing on me so much right now, more than anything.  It just feels so bleak right now.  I'm not equipped for this.  

Really does feel that way for me too, if I’m being honest.

On paper, things look like they’re looking up. One of the youngest rosters in football, top tier defense, budding run game, a QB who maybe is finally turning a corner(?). All these players are locked in long term. So much says this is the start of something special when you look at it on paper.

But as much as I can point to these things and say “they should be good for a while,” .... man, I just don’t know. I don’t know how the defense is going to match being as good as they were this year. The health just that’s not something that’s going to happen again. The offense doesn’t seem like it’s ready to take the step needed to make up for the defense taking a step back.

We should be feeling like it’s the end of the 1996  season - it was a magical run. But it feels a lot like the retrospective look at how we ended the 1999 and 2007 season. It’s not a good feeling.

[.Buzz]

Just now, iPwn said:

Really does feel that way for me too, if I’m being honest.

On paper, things look like they’re looking up. One of the youngest rosters in football, top tier defense, budding run game, a QB who maybe is finally turning a corner(?). All these players are locked in long term. So much says this is the start of something special when you look at it on paper.

But as much as I can point to these things and say “they should be good for a while,” .... man, I just don’t know. I don’t know how the defense is going to match being as good as they were this year. The health just that’s not something that’s going to happen again. The offense doesn’t seem like it’s ready to take the step needed to make up for the defense taking a step back.

We should be feeling like it’s the end of the 1996  season - it was a magical run. But it feels a lot like the retrospective look at how we ended the 1999 and 2007 season. It’s not a good feeling.

Feel like the offense can take a step forward though. Feel like Blake showed some serious signs of that these last two weeks.

ARob back, Cole/Dede and their youth, hopefully new blood added to the TE spot via draft. Fournette not being on a bum ankle. OL showing out in the playoffs.

I don't know. We'll see. 

[Tugboat]

2 minutes ago, iPwn said:

Really does feel that way for me too, if I’m being honest.

On paper, things look like they’re looking up. One of the youngest rosters in football, top tier defense, budding run game, a QB who maybe is finally turning a corner(?). All these players are locked in long term. So much says this is the start of something special when you look at it on paper.

But as much as I can point to these things and say “they should be good for a while,” .... man, I just don’t know. I don’t know how the defense is going to match being as good as they were this year. The health just that’s not something that’s going to happen again. The offense doesn’t seem like it’s ready to take the step needed to make up for the defense taking a step back.

We should be feeling like it’s the end of the 1996  season - it was a magical run. But it feels a lot like the retrospective look at how we ended the 1999 and 2007 season. It’s not a good feeling.

Yeah.  Exactly.  It's just weird how at the end of the game when my heart sank...that was where my mind went.  Not the bogus officiating, the missed opportunities, not any of that stuff specifically.  Just sorta...this sinking feeling that this was the "moment" and it slipped away.

I do have faith in the defense continuing to be a top-tier unit for at least another couple years...but it's so hard to envision another season so utterly dominant, with such almost miraculous health and keeping all of the starters on the field pretty much all year.  Have to expect a step back next year.

Which leaves the offense as the component that's going to have to pick up the slack.  And like you said...i'm just not sure that unit looks poised to take some kind of major leap forward right now.  Getting ARob back may help with that, maybe add some pieces to the OLine and a TE weapon and it should get better.  But how much better?  And ultimately, i think the sinking feeling is probably tied most directly to Bortles...and what on earth they do about our QB situation for next year, while that defense holds the door to a championship wide open.

Also probably just conditioned into me by the decade of awfulness.  I don't know how to react to this anymore, without immediately assuming it's all going to go to ****.  Because for the last decade+, that's pretty much all it's ever done.

[pwny]

 

[pwny]

 

[footlunder]

Anyone with eyes knows the refs screwed you over today. 

Your team is set and you’re going to continue to be good.

[brooks1957]

Unbelievable

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/01/ref-referee-clete-blakeman-tom-brady-video-congratulate-patriots-jaguars-afc-nfl?utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=inline-related

[Adrenaline_Flux]

8 hours ago, iPwn said:

Really does feel that way for me too, if I’m being honest.

On paper, things look like they’re looking up. One of the youngest rosters in football, top tier defense, budding run game, a QB who maybe is finally turning a corner(?). All these players are locked in long term. So much says this is the start of something special when you look at it on paper.

But as much as I can point to these things and say “they should be good for a while,” .... man, I just don’t know. I don’t know how the defense is going to match being as good as they were this year. The health just that’s not something that’s going to happen again. The offense doesn’t seem like it’s ready to take the step needed to make up for the defense taking a step back.

We should be feeling like it’s the end of the 1996  season - it was a magical run. But it feels a lot like the retrospective look at how we ended the 1999 and 2007 season. It’s not a good feeling.

Yeah, this kind of thinking is what put me in such a down mood yesterday following the game.

We will just have to see how it plays out, I suppose. We're going to have a tough road next year to get back.

[Adrenaline_Flux]

 

[Duuuuuvaal]

I felt the same way that some of you guys felt after the loss.

 

This was our year, our team was so healthy,  the road will be much tougher next year

But then I remembered how I felt at the very beginning of year, before week 1 at the Texans when Bortles looked terrible and the defense looked bad in the preseason. Who knew Cooks toasting our team in the preaseason was gonna happen again on one of the biggest stages this year? Or slightly after A-Rob got hurt and the Titans made us look bad in week 2. 

The team has grown a lot since then. I was thinking this team has the makings of a contender year in year out watching the game against New England second quarter. 

I loved seeing the fans greeting of the players after the game. Even though it was a loss it was a well played game.

 

One thing I want to know is why did we stop getting the ball to Corey Grant? He was explosive in space in the first half and I didn’t notice him on offense second half.

Cant wait to see our team field the same defense with a healthy A-Rob out there and a healthy Leonard Fournette. 

[RuskieTitan]

13 hours ago, 1ForTheThumb said:

I mean it’s a fair point? They played undisciplined all year. That clearly hurt them today. Sorry the truth hurts.

Not as ridiculous as the tin foil hat conspiracy theories. 

I read an article today that said they were called for DPI 5 times all year (granted, they SHOULD have been called for far more but were allowed to play).

So when you get that weak sauce DPI leading to the first touchdown and a shift in momentum... it's sorta fishy how one sided those officials were.

And that's not even factoring in the celebrating referee during a Patriots touchdown.

[pwny]

16 minutes ago, RuskieTitan said:

I read an article today that said they were called for DPI 5 times all year (granted, they SHOULD have been called for far more but were allowed to play).

So when you get that weak sauce DPI leading to the first touchdown and a shift in momentum... it's sorta fishy how one sided those officials were.

And that's not even factoring in the celebrating referee during a Patriots touchdown.

A freaking Titans fan - one who had used every one of these opportunities to poke fun at us for years - is siding with us that this didn’t look right.

Think that tells you about all you need to know about how this actually looks to non-Pats fans.