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On Glenn standing in back of the end zone. One player always stands there waiting for the ball to be bounced into the air. That was by design.
That thought crossed my mind, but it seems to me that he could have been closer to the area just in case the ball goes through (like it did) and still be able to catch a tip ball.
I could be wrong.
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Just a few other things that, amazingly enough, I missed in the first post:
* Gafney had a drop in the EZ, but he was clearly shoved in the back as he was diving. A mistake, but forgivable.
If you're doing a do over on The Hut, you should mention he Watson-armed a potential long TD pass. A good NFL wideout makes that catch. None of our players have managed to snag those this season.
And speaking of Watson, he made two diving catches that were'nt. On the 2nd drop (a difficult but makeable play) Brady looked disgusted, and not at himself as he'd looked after missing a wide open Reche early in the game. Watson continues to need eye hand coordination reps. Graham went through a similar stage in his career and has become OK as a ball catcher.
__________________
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck." RAH
I was legitimately worried that the ref would find some ridiculous reason to reverse that call.
That one, I wasn't worried about. It was so clear that it would have been reversed had it been ruled incomplete. It was physically impossible to overule that one.
Now, the late hit on Bruschi - that pissed me off.
If you're doing a do over on The Hut, you should mention he Watson-armed a potential long TD pass. A good NFL wideout makes that catch. None of our players have managed to snag those this season.
And speaking of Watson, he made two diving catches that were'nt. On the 2nd drop (a difficult but makeable play) Brady looked disgusted, and not at himself as he'd looked after missing a wide open Reche early in the game. Watson continues to need eye hand coordination reps. Graham went through a similar stage in his career and has become OK as a ball catcher.
Watson did not have a good receiving game. In fact it was poor enough that I think Dave Thomas might get a few more reps next week. And the drop by Gafney should have been caught. No disagreement there. I was just pointing out that the guy was shoved in the back and I think he would have caught it otherwise.
If you're doing a do over on The Hut, you should mention he Watson-armed a potential long TD pass. A good NFL wideout makes that catch. None of our players have managed to snag those this season.
And speaking of Watson, he made two diving catches that were'nt. On the 2nd drop (a difficult but makeable play) Brady looked disgusted, and not at himself as he'd looked after missing a wide open Reche early in the game. Watson continues to need eye hand coordination reps. Graham went through a similar stage in his career and has become OK as a ball catcher.
This is a good observation. It seems to me that catching the ball is easier to teach (see Graham and Givens) than the speed and agility to get open and the power to run after the catch. As long as Watson continues to improve, he'll be fine. This season almost seems like a sophomore slump, where making him a prime target exposed flaws in fumbling and catching. What matters now is how aggressively he addresses them in the offseason.
He seems to have solved last years problem of getting to the right place at the right time.
* I didn't see anyone but the NFLN go into why Faulk was so wide open on his TD; everyone just called it blown coverage. It actually wasn't, it was great play design. NE had their hot read go out wide just outside two WRs. The WRs essentially formed a double pick (without it being an illegal pick because they were running routes) on the LB in coverage. He never had a chance. Had the Jets instead covered Faulk with one of the CBs, the LB would have been on a WR - another mismatch.
Great play designed to beat the all-out blitz, too. As the Jets continued to bring more and more pressure as the 2nd half wore on, I kept waiting for the Pats to kill it. Faulk's TD was the play I was waiting for all day. When the replay was shown, it sure came close to a pick...close, but no cigar.
Quote:
* I think NE's tendencies stopped them from getting a TD after the Wilfork rumble. On the 3rd down pass that Barret almost intercepted, not one defender was in the middle of the EZ. Even Barret himself was totally out of position had Gafney simple broken inside rather than out. Smart defenses are going to take away what you do most.
I couldn't believe how wide-open the middle of the field was. Indeed if Gafney slanted inside, it's an *easy* TD.
I'd like to give props to the Pats on the biggest play of the game - the TD to Graham just before the half. With only 14 seconds left, 3rd down and no timeouts, the Pats were only getting 7 if they scored *on that play*. There was no margin for error. If they ran and got stuffed, the offense would have been forced to run a *hurried* 4th down play since the FG unit had no time to make it onto the field...good luck with that. If they passed and it was incomplete, the FG unit would have given them the lead, but it would have been a victory of sorts for the Jets, allowing only 3 after a 1st-and-goal at the one. Kudos to Brady and Graham for closing the deal on the one play the deal had to be closed on.
Regards,
Chris
P.S. I believe the Pats had a play called for 4th down in case things went wrong on 3rd down (e.g. fumbled snap, Brady sack). I'm sure the coaching staff knew bringing in the FG unit was off the table if the clock was running and had already sent in the 4th down play on 3rd down so no time would be wasted.
....
* I didn't see anyone but the NFLN go into why Faulk was so wide open on his TD; everyone just called it blown coverage. It actually wasn't, it was great play design. NE had their hot read go out wide just outside two WRs. The WRs essentially formed a double pick (without it being an illegal pick because they were running routes) on the LB in coverage. He never had a chance. Had the Jets instead covered Faulk with one of the CBs, the LB would have been on a WR - another mismatch.
....
* I think NE's tendencies stopped them from getting a TD after the Wilfork rumble. On the 3rd down pass that Barret almost intercepted, not one defender was in the middle of the EZ. Even Barret himself was totally out of position had Gafney simple broken inside rather than out. Smart defenses are going to take away what you do most.
....
* It is probably another case of tendencies, but I have not seen Jackson open on a fly route since the Chicago game. I hope that he has a couple other routes down that they just didn't think they needed because even the worst CB in the league can cover a guy if he runs the same route every game.
* One down note that worries me for this coming game. I thought that the LB's coverage (particularly Vrabel) was pretty poor. Baker seemed to be able to get open whenever he wanted to, which is not a good sign when they face Gates next week. What gives me hope is the fact that both starting WRs on NY are better than anything SD puts out there. I'm sure that NE will have different coverage packages for Gates than they did for Baker.
....
Those are four pretty good examples of constructive self-scouting.
Beats bleating about OC playcalls ... by a good distance.
About the Faulk TD ... interesting to see that neither TB nor BB seemed eager to discuss it candidly in their postgamers.
"I didn't really see it. Someone may have missed a peel",
is about as far as Bill would allow.
That adds to my suspicion that your discovery of a carefully devised play
... is correct.
....because the 2 refs that had a 5 yard view of the 'hit' didn't pull a flag?
Wasn't that call actually defensive holding? I remember being angry that they would call a PF on that play, but it ended up being a totally different call.
Quote:
About the Faulk TD ... interesting to see that neither TB nor BB seemed eager to discuss it candidly in their postgamers.
"I didn't really see it. Someone may have missed a peel",
is about as far as Bill would allow.
That adds to my suspicion that your discovery of a carefully devised play
... is correct.
I can't really take that much credit for it. I just threw it out there because only one media source had run through that play with the detail that the NFLN did. Even my wife (who doesn't really care for football) commented on how all the other guys (radio, NECN) sounded like unintelligent fools compared to them.
Amazingly enough, Deion Sanders has toned down his schtick to the point that he is a positive. Hopefully the NFLN will stay with their current manner in letting the product sell itself.
Wasn't that call actually defensive holding? I remember being angry that they would call a PF on that play, but it ended up being a totally different call.
No, this was on a play where the Jets got a few yards to the left and Bruschi hit him in the midsection about half a second after he was down (not sure when the whistle blew) and they gave them 15 yards on it. Definition of ticky tack.
Re: Thoughts on the weekend
Linear Mode
