Are the Patriots too pass-reliant?

[adeel]

Gregg Easterbrook seems to think so.

ESPN Page 2 - TMQ: Will the Patriots win it all?

He points out that no team which relies on the pass (i.e. has the leading passer in the league) has ever won the Super Bowl. That, to me, seems to be a bit of a statistical oddity like the one about no team who had ever lost to the Giants winning the Super Bowl. The 1998 Broncos disproved that one.

The real point being made is that pass defense isn't that hard. Teams may have gotten sloppy during the regular season, like the Steelers, but they'll supposedly get sharper in the playoffs. Run defense, apparently, is physical and less mental than defending the pass.

New England's passing philosophy this season has been effective and also surprisingly simple: Brady almost always in the shotgun spread, few play fakes, no rollouts or bootlegs, just slants, curls, flares and up routes endlessly repeated. Because Brady, the Patriots receivers and especially the New England offensive line are all such good players -- and because Wes Welker blocks better than some offensive linemen on other teams -- a simple air attack with little deception and endless repetition of slants has ground out yards and touchdowns. Will the same tactics work against postseason defenders playing at maximum intensity? All previous league-leading passers, such as Drew Brees last season or Gannon in 2002, have discovered to their horror that the throws that seemed easy in the regular season aren't there in the postseason because defenders are performing at max throttle.

The other reason, of course, is weather. New England will need to play two games in Foxboro to get to the Super Bowl, and has struggled in bad weather against the Jets and Ravens.

Personally, the Patriots' reliance on the pass isn't really a problem. They've won 16 games this year. The real task is whether a team can stop the pass and put up enough points on their defense, especially late in the game when the defense stiffens. It's going to take a team that can put pressure on Tom Brady, which is the only thing that can stop the Patriots. The Colts are the best bet at both. I think they would've beaten the Patriots if not for easing up on the blitz at the end of the game.

Do you think anyone can beat the Patriots? What will it take?

[FiveStars]

Until someone beats them, I don't think they're too pass reliant. If you can't consistently get enough pressure on Brady (which few teams have), you can't complain that they pass too much.