Urgent

A great, but terrifically frustrating game.
At times they played tremendously; at times they looked awful.

QB
Again, Cassel's best game? The final drive in regulation reminded me of, let's see, I'm thinking of this Super Bowl game once. Unfortunately, he is about the worst QB in the league at the long ball. It's just not accurate. And his outs to Watson were consistently too far out, when Watson was open. He is not a finished product by any means, but just a whole lot better than September and better than a bunch of starting QB's in the league. Congratulations on the 400 yard game - won't be the last. Plus 62 yards rushing, as much as the four running backs combined. Too bad he can't cover the tight end...

RB
Good to see Morris back, but no one really had any success against this Jets run defense. They are much better than they were in September, even without Harris. But Morris plus Law Firm for 25 total yards? Yikes. They were taken out early by being down 24 to 6, but the game didn't start 24-6.

WR
It's disappointing how effectively teams are able to shut down Moss, but not Welker. Why is this coaching staff unable to design routes that get Moss open. Since they play so far off him, and cover with safeties over the top, he would seem to be open on curls and outs a lot. The Pats throw those routes to Welker, why not Moss? The one-second-left end-zone out route was perfect - let's see five of these a game. Just like Beckett, throw it high and outside, and the DB can't reach it. I don't like the end-arounds with Moss, those almost never work with him. But 20 go-routes a game is not working. This confuses me. On the flip-side, Welker is just amazing this year. If he goes down, game over. Watson, in total had a good game receiving, but man is he frustrating. Some big misses between him and Cassel, that would have changed the game. I guess we should blame Cassel more. Zero from Thomas, who is supposed to be a receiving tight end. This team needs a new tight end. Good game from Gaffney, which is critical. Against this type of defense, the three-wide is most effective, and if Gaffney can prove reliable, like his seven receptions show, then the offense can score over 20 a game.

OL
The tackles had a pretty good game. Unsurprisingly, the interior line really struggled with Jenkins. That's where Graham really came in helpful - those wham blocks striking the interior rusher on the blindside were really effective.

DL
They sure missed Warren. Jones had 104 yards rushing, and with Warren, that would have been a lot less and the Jets would have had to rely on Brett a lot more on third-and-long.

LB
And they also missed Thomas. The versatility is so important - he can rush the passer and cover the tight end equally well. I'm not sure who to blame on the game-changing blown coverage on TE Keller in the fourth quarter - OLB, ILB, or S. It looked like Vrabel was lined up over him, but Vrabel rushed. Should the ILB or the S picked him up? Anyway, that was the game right there. He ended with eight receptions - the old problem from season's past, when Manning used to pick apart the Pats over the middle. Mayo obviously had just a tremendous game - 20 tackles is amazing, and he plays in every situation. Great sideline range. However, the Jets still rushed for 140 yards, and the tight end was effective over the middle. Stats vs. results. When it counted, the Jets were able to control the middle of the field. In the first half, they moved down the field, rushing up the middle, to score on their first four possessions, three TD's and a field goal. And in the fourth quarter, again they controlled the middle. That 20 tackle stat is eye-popping, until you see the Pats made 112 tackles - that means they didn't make a bunch of stops. You'd much rather see a 60-tackle effort with Mayo getting 10. So, some good and some bad.

DB
One big 46-yard play to Cotchery, but otherwise good performance against the gun slinger. Meriweather had a couple more whiffs. He was much better in the nickel/deep safety role than the versatile at-the-line role. He had at least two plays where he hit Keller well short of the first down on a third-down play, one on the first drive and one on the last, and both times Keller drove through the tackle to make the first down.

ST
Gostkowski has been off the past two games. He's kicking to the 10, not the end-zone - he's lost at least 15 yards on the kick-offs. The break-down on kick-off coverage was a dagger. That changed the game, and dropped the Pats into a huge hole, throwing out their control-the-clock strategy. And I am not at all happy to see Hobbs on kick-off coverage. What about Wilhite for that role? Maybe he was in for Ventrone, but there has to be someone else. The Jets consistently ran the kick-offs out past the 35 - which is why the Pats had 150 yards more offense but lost. Other than the 47-yard field goal, very poor ST game for the Pats.

__________________
"Your father was a truck driver, Ray?"
- Trombley

JR4

Good review and some fair assesments,
giving credit for good stuff but pointing out some current issues.
Nice job.
Hopefully PATs will get some of this corrected in next 10 days.

Kasmir

In his WEEI appearnce yesterday Belichick was effusive in his praise of Moss's play in this game. He said they rolled a safety on top of him (along with the CB) for every play but one, and that's the one where he broke open 5 yards behind the CB only to have Cassel overthrow him. He said the Jets then went back to double covering him until the prevent on the final drive for the tie. Belichick explicitly contradicted Felger et al by saying Moss consistently fought the double teams to hold the DB's and opened it up for everyone else.

On the crucial 3-15 in OT, Belichick said it was a simple broken coverage, they ended up with two guys in one zone and hence an open zone. He didn't say whose mistake it was.

Two Eight

Moss had a great effort block on Aiken's big catch & run too, gave Rhodes a seat on the turf

Gwedd

I have no complaints about Moss. 81 is doing what is asked of him, and if it means he gets double, or even triple teamed, then that means that other receivers are open. When you are as good a receiver as Moss is, you take advantage of it and if that means drawing flak so someone else can get the ball and make a play, then that is just as valuable as getting the ball youtself. It's a team game, and Randy is a big part of this one.

respects,