The Patriots play to win.
We've been playing to gain a lead, then not to lose. BIG difference.
The overall mentality of Bellichick permeates his team. He doesn't care if he's cast as the villain. He doesn't care if he comes across as a red ass to the media, or an asshole to other teams' fan bases. He's a defensive minded coach who realizes that with the all the rules to help the offense, no lead is really safe in the NFL.
Pete's mentality permeates his team as well. The problem I see is that he still has a somewhat college mentality. He's adjusted it well to the NFL, but he still has it. The media hopped on this and claimed his "rah rah" attitude wouldn't translate, but they were mistaken. What doesn't translate is the "aw shucks, we can't run up the score too much, those poor kids on the other team are over matched and it's poor sportsmanship". That's what I see Pete doing. He's trying to be a good sport, but honestly...the guys on that other team are getting paid as much as your guys. Who gives a shit if you hurt their feelings by crushing them ? Their paycheck this game still cashed.
Herm said it best "you play to win the game." Our OL isn't good enough to pound the ball when it HAS to, and the other team knows it. This is the biggest problem we have. We're trying to finish out games running it, and the OL is incapable of it, and the coaching staff hasn't adjusted to this fact quickly enough.
Lots of fans here claim that Pete wants to be conservative on offense, and pound the ball...run more than pass and be a run "dominated" offense. This is incorrect, and Pete as corrected it many times publicly. He wants to:
1. limit turnovers
2. win toxic differential each game. this includes having more explosive plays than the other team.
3. throw the ball over the top of the defense.
4. run the ball IN THE 4th QUARTER to win games and wear teams out.
We start out running the ball to start to wear defenses down, and set up the run at the end of the game. Cable also believes this, in that he's stated "you throw to score and run to win".