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The OL at the end of the game looked much better. I am not sure how much of that was from Brady being more focused and getting the ball out quicker or from them just getting their act together.
I just rewatched the fourth quarter, and I was a bit bummed by what I saw. Basically, the team adjusted to the fact that that the OL was a turnstile. Much quicker plays, and Brayd unloaded within a second each drop. Coupled with the prevent defense, and it worked. Still, guys were coming through almost unabated. If you get a chance to see a replay, see if you agree that it wasn't a whole lot better than the first 3 quarters, except that the patriots adjusted.
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3: We need Adalius Thomas more on the inside than the outside.
4: Kevin Faulk looks 27 years old.
5: We need Burgess on the field more ... I can't wait.
6: Wilfork is less dominating without Seymour - But I figured that.
7: Randy Moss looks like he's 27 years old.
8: Wes Welker looks like he is 27 years old.
9: Ben Watson stepped up.
10: Maroney did not ... but some vets here hate to hear it.
11: Kaczur quietly had a very very good game.
12: Brandon Merriweather is a good going on great leader.
Maroney didn't step up? Talk about not knowing what you are talking about. You must have been sleeping when he got the ball. Or you're just being plain ignorant. Maroney had a great kick off return to start the game (Buffalo kicked away from him every time after that). And he had a few good runs tonight. The times he didn't, he had 2 or 3 defenders in the backfield when he got the ball. And it was the same for Taylor also. Haters like yourself don't want to deal with reality.
I didn't take Buffalo lightly, and wish some others didn't either. I think we can win the division with healthy players, but it's not going to be as easy as a lot of people like to think. You cannot base past success on current or future performance, and I still think the schedule will be challenging. I expect a good down the stretch record, but am wary of teams like Tennesee, Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans, and am prepared for a divisional loss or 2--despite much argument from the 'homers.' And no, I am not being a chicken little, I have respect for the opponent, and I can absolutely guarantee that the team and our coach feel the same.
Half the credit has to go to Gostowski who recovered the fumble.. he didn't have to go and dive in the pile, but he did..
True that. While he was diving into the pile to get the ball, James Sanders was jumping around pointing possession rather than getting his butt on the ground while the ball was still in play.
So, when there's a live fumble, why is there always such an obsession with players jumping around to point their direction? The refs don't care, and half of them are always wrong and look foolish. It's a weird aspect of football. I usually don't mind, but like tonight when a guy should be in the pile getting the ball or keeping guys off a teammate with the ball, standing around pointing which way you want it to go is a waste of time. Get in the pile until the ref starts pulling you off.
I totally agree about this being a 'good' win for us. First off, it's a division win. If by some chance the AFCE comes down to tiebreakers again a loss to Buffalo would have been devastating. 1-0 and pray to God that Mayo is okay that's all I wanted from this game. It also seems the years we come out and look not so good or flat out bad in the opener, we go on to play much better later in the season, at least on defense. Lots of room for improvement, but sometimes that's not a bad thing at this point.
Offensively, Maroney and Taylor ran very well I thought. Can't blame LoMo for the 3 yard losses that almost killed and then killed a drive those plays had nowhere written all over it. On that note I will say I thought the playcalling was pretty bad but I might be nitpicking. Please get rid of that toss play. Short yardage situations were bad all around tonight playcalling and execution. Brady and Welker are not on the same page. Galloway who knows. Moss was Moss. Watson and Faulk were outstanding.
Coverage was awesome on both kicks and punts. With this team that is going to be crucial. Uncharacteristic easy miss by Ghost.
Secondary looks improved, up front we are really missing 93
True that. While he was diving into the pile to get the ball, James Sanders was jumping around pointing possession rather than getting his butt on the ground while the ball was still in play.
So, when there's a live fumble, why is there always such an obsession with players jumping around to point their direction? The refs don't care, and half of them are always wrong and look foolish. It's a weird aspect of football. I usually don't mind, but like tonight when a guy should be in the pile getting the ball or keeping guys off a teammate with the ball, standing around pointing which way you want it to go is a waste of time. Get in the pile until the ref starts pulling you off.
Good point, in this case the ball happened to squirt around quite a bit--as it often does. I think maybe Sanders thought or assumed that someone had a good grasp on it. Fundemental football tells you to fall on it, although in some cases it sure looks like a team has definitive possession when in fact, they don't yet.
I think that's why we used to do those monkey rolls in pee wee football, though I could be thinking of another drill.
11.) Ian, I have been quite about the server issues prior to tonight, but you gotta fix this thing. I donate $18 a year to you (something I don't do for any other entertainment website I visit) and I expect to be able to come here on gamedays to post and see other people's posts. It is unacceptable that the server cannot even handle a Sunday gameday where the Pats are off. It is even worse when it is out during the game and hours after. You really need to get this fixed.
Rob -
I don't know if this was the case tonight, but during the 1st two pre-season games, there were Denial of Service attacks on the servers.
While, like you, I am a supporter, I also know that there is a lot more that goes into running this board than we know. I can guarantee you that IAN is more frustrated than all of us supporters put together.
Hopefully, whatever plagued the server tonight will have left a trail that Ian and the support staff can follow and fix..
First, we have an extraordinary amount of positive comments on this game because the Buffalo returner handed us the game. If he hadn't done so, there would be lots more negative comments.
OFFENSE
We looked didn't look very good in the first half. The offense started to get better when we started running plays with six offensive linemen. The offense just couldn't finish much. I liked our running attack.
DEFENSE
We need to find a run defense. Guyton was very good. Banta-Cain had a very solid game. The secondary was extraordinary, but that happens when a team has only two receivers, and you double both. We could have used another playmaker on defense.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Gost missed an easy one. I guess we know who are returners are: Maroney, Faulk, and Welker (no suprises there).
BOTTOM LINE
This type of effort won't win many games. It almost didn't win this one.
The DLine was disapointing, particularly Wilfork. He was getting washed pretty easily. He gave up his leverage very easily, and generally played too high. Even his normally outstanding bullrush was way off tonight. I was also pretty bummed about the lack of creativity in the 43 line play. There was no slanting, no looping, no stunting, no robber blitzes, generally vanilla. I don't think that the Patriots have a pass rusher capable enough of winning the matchups without at least a little schematic help.
Two observations on that:
1) I wonder if the Bills went to a no-huddle with the idea of gassing Wilfork?
2) They did execute at least two stunts on the last Buffalo drive, one of which resulted in a sack, I think. My guess is that BB may have thought that Jauron cautioned his rookie OL to watch out for tricks and so thought to feint with a vanilla approach, and saved his bag of tricks for the last possible minute. I believe that was a consummate chessmaster move. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Matt Light and a few thoughts on tonight's performance
light is guna be a problem this year for us, you guys can obviously c that(slow feet!)..sooo washed up and kaczur played a lil better than normal but nuthin great...my man guyton wasnt great tonight either..hopefully jerod is only out a few days..secondary looked solid as i expected..brady a bit off and watson definitely redeemed himself at the very end...randy moss, love him but needs to finish blocks on running plays, but did enjoy his passion, and slight leadership..vollmer did well and played soon as i assumed he should..gotta love our safeties, all four of them, they are vicious, smart, hitting dudes...okay enuf of the criticism, heart attack type game but fantastic finish!!
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Re: Thoughts on the Game
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