Just a little cold water - New England Patriots Forums

Peter Pat · 09-10-2007, 10:37 AM

I was at the game as usual, as I have not missed a Pats game in Giants stadium in 9 years. Like everyone else, I was extrememly happy with the performance, and think the Pats look great.

But I figured I would share some concerns from what i saw at the game.

1) First the Jets are not a good team. They have major line problems on both sides. And several other issues. They will be a 6-10, 7-9 at best team. So you can't really judge the Pats right now, next week is the litmus test.

2) Maroney did not look good, he still was too hesitent before hitting the holes. Pitter pattered his feet too much, and he goes down easy, he does not break tackles. Morris was the better RB by far yesterday, this is not a good development for the Pats. I am having my doubts on the kid.

3) LB coverage. Believe it or not, Chad had a decent day, and all he does is throw underneath. The LBs in coverage were getting beat a lot. Made me have flashbacks of the Indy game.

But besides that, it was a great Sunday afternoon in the swamps of Jersey. Watching Brady to Moss was awesome. My seats were 15 rows from the field on the 20 yard line on vistors side. Randy's TD practically came into my lap I was so close, I can tell you it was amazing to see live. Plus Randy was on the sidelines all day, really working with the other WRs and Brady. He was into it.

If the Pats can get Maroney on track, and shore up their coverages, they will be scary good.

sarge · 09-10-2007, 10:42 AM

I noticed the LB thing (and the Maroney thing for that matter) as well.

I think the world of Teddy B, but at this point in his career, he is a severe liability against the pass (I'm sure I will get flamed for that).

I think Thomas on the other hand looked much better in coverage. But it looked to me like the middle of the field was pretty much open the whole day.

Hopefully that can be fixed.

Richter · 09-10-2007, 10:44 AM

Maroney is on track, I don't know what game you watched. He wasn't hesitant, he was patient. And on several occasions he gained an additional 2 to 3 yards after contact. I don't want him to change anything, because as the blocking improves with the team getting more comfortable in the new scheme, he's going to have more and more opportunities to break long runs. Maybe it's because you were contrasting him against Sammy Morris and his downhill running style, and he had a few nice runs up the middle when the Pats line blew the Jets midgets on the d-line off the ball, but I sure as heck don't want Maroney changing anything. He was very close to gashing the Jets for a multiple long runs, and soon enough, when the blocking scheme matures, he'll be doing it on a regular basis.

Mack Herron · 09-10-2007, 10:45 AM

Good points. I think the kool aid is keeping som people from seeing that Morris was clearly our best back yesterday and Maroney needs to improve (>4 yds/carry).

PatsFanSince74 · 09-10-2007, 10:55 AM

Thanks PPat. I'm not sure I have enough data to agree or disagree with you on the Linebacker coverage, but I did come away concerned about Maroney and drew the same conclusion about Morris just from watching on TV. It was as though the Patriots wanted to be sure Maroney got his 20 carries.

I also thought that Asante was beaten badly on the endzone TD, both on the TD itself as well as on the play immediately preceding it when the ball was dropped (the tv guys initially gave him credit for breaking up the play but the replay showed it was a drop). Were you close to that play or was it in the other end zone? Thanks again.

ClevTrev · 09-10-2007, 10:59 AM

One of the trends that I'm beginning to see, as the Pats continually retool and improve their personnel is the expectation that they must be mistake-free. This trend is based on certain fans' perception that this team is so good, that any and all mistakes and sub-par play are unacceptable. Let's hope that's not the case, as fans should enjoy this, as those who followed the 1972 Bruins or 1986 Celtics can attest that this won't last forever.

As this was the first game of the season, the tapes will be reviewed and improvements made. With 16 regular season games, there will be many varied strategies employed to win, and with pressure applied by the opponent, no team ever deploys a clean strategy successfully.

That being said, I felt the Pats stopped the underneath, short passes when it was critical. Some errors are to be expected, and I thought the LBs played smart and strong for the majority of the game. The running game was effective at critical points in the game. When the Jets DBs cheated in to stop the run, the Pats put the ball in the air. When the DBs honored the pass, the Pats deployed the run effectively. Those dynamics were very successful in my book.

PatsFanSince74 · 09-10-2007, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richter

Maroney is on track, I don't know what game you watched. He wasn't hesitant, he was patient. And on several occasions he gained an additional 2 to 3 yards after contact. I don't want him to change anything, because as the blocking improves with the team getting more comfortable in the new scheme, he's going to have more and more opportunities to break long runs. Maybe it's because you were contrasting him against Sammy Morris and his downhill running style, and he had a few nice runs up the middle when the Pats line blew the Jets midgets on the d-line off the ball, but I sure as heck don't want Maroney changing anything. He was very close to gashing the Jets for a multiple long runs, and soon enough, when the blocking scheme matures, he'll be doing it on a regular basis.

i hope you're right and i'm still a big Maroney fan and agree that i don't want him to change much. but i didn't see him so much breaking tackles to gain the extra yards as driving after the initial contact. IMO, next week's the test for Maroney against the Chargers line and secondary. anything over 70 yards and I'll be with you 100%.

Flying Fungi · 09-10-2007, 11:06 AM

the only thing about Maroney that disappointed me was--that he didn't get enough touches

no kool-aid involved in it--I am very bullish on that kid

Maroney is far and away the best back on this team--Morris looks decent and got some nice touches, but Maroney is the one that looks like he could go yard every time he touches the ball

Slagathor · 09-10-2007, 11:06 AM

I'm not buying into this.

The Jets are NOT a bad team. Pennington's injury will now weaken them quite a bit, but prior to that they were a top 10-15 team.

Just because we beat them handily they all of the sudden are bad?

Maybe we're just really damn good

letekro · 09-10-2007, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Pat

I was at the game as usual, as I have not missed a Pats game in Giants stadium in 9 years. Like everyone else, I was extrememly happy with the performance, and think the Pats look great.

But I figured I would share some concerns from what i saw at the game.

1) First the Jets are not a good team. They have major line problems on both sides. And several other issues. They will be a 6-10, 7-9 at best team. So you can't really judge the Pats right now, next week is the litmus test.

2) Maroney did not look good, he still was too hesitent before hitting the holes. Pitter pattered his feet too much, and he goes down easy, he does not break tackles. Morris was the better RB by far yesterday, this is not a good development for the Pats. I am having my doubts on the kid.

3) LB coverage. Believe it or not, Chad had a decent day, and all he does is throw underneath. The LBs in coverage were getting beat a lot. Made me have flashbacks of the Indy game.

But besides that, it was a great Sunday afternoon in the swamps of Jersey. Watching Brady to Moss was awesome. My seats were 15 rows from the field on the 20 yard line on vistors side. Randy's TD practically came into my lap I was so close, I can tell you it was amazing to see live. Plus Randy was on the sidelines all day, really working with the other WRs and Brady. He was into it.

If the Pats can get Maroney on track, and shore up their coverages, they will be scary good.

It's funny that people don't see the fallacy of this argument. Why do you think Michael Turner averages more YPC than LDT? Could it be that that the Safeties and LB's pay more attention to LDT and LoMo than to Turner and Morris? Ya think???