What concerns you about this game ? - New England Patriots Forums

SVN · 10-13-2007, 12:49 PM

If any ...
my concerns
on offense- pass protection. We have had good o line protection but saw bits of issues with the bengals in the first half and with cleveland. iam sure dallas is going to bring a lot of pass rush to protect its secondary. We may have issues in the beginning at least. Key is to see how we adjust like we did against the bengals. Iam not sure if this is a game for maroney or morris but we can't have those -ve maroney dancing runs.If our offense can get an early rhythm we should be ok.

on defense- We are statistically ranked on top of the league on defense but teams have moved the ball on us easily sometimes. Twice we have got turnovers in the redzone but can't rely on it all the time.Its just that our offense has put so much pressure on teams that they seem to play scared or one dimensional.I think our secondary will be tested as usual but our tackling needs to be top notch. Dallas has big receivers and tight ends and we cant just have bad tackling like in the cleveland game. unfortunately i think witten is going to get his catches-nothing against AD -but i dont think BB is going to put him on witten. Our defensive schemes seem suited for opposing tightends .i maybe wrong. which means we have to stop barber and TO.Our run D has been good but at times it shows its missing seymour.I get the feeling our offense has really made other teams one dimensional.
Dallas's offensive line is big but i think our Dline can give them trouble .Goes without saying redzone defense needs to be good just like every week but this week it will be barber and TO in the endzone, even tougher.

SmokeShowin · 10-13-2007, 01:01 PM

About the only thing I'm concerned about is that the game is on at 4:00 and I may be "overserved" by then.

FlyingElvis75 · 10-13-2007, 01:04 PM

I basically share your concerns - potential issues on both sides of the ball. The OL against Cleveland had trouble containing the pass rush early, but I think some of that could be attributed to the Bengals' D being amped up at the start. Their energy dissipated after that long running drive; not sure the Cowboys will be as easy to demoralize. On top of that, if Koppen is still out (is he?) and Light is under the weather, that could spell bad news.

On defense, I totally agree - statistically they look good, but anyone who's watched the last two games can see that offenses have moved the ball very well at times. That & still-crappy red zone defense = bad. The 'Boys were #1 in scoring until last week. Scary.

fair catch fryar · 10-13-2007, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVN

If any ...
my concerns
on offense- pass protection. We have had good o line protection but saw bits of issues with the bengals in the first half and with cleveland. iam sure dallas is going to bring a lot of pass rush to protect its secondary. We may have issues in the beginning at least. Key is to see how we adjust like we did against the bengals. Iam not sure if this is a game for maroney or morris but we can't have those -ve maroney dancing runs.If our offense can get an early rhythm we should be ok.

on defense- We are statistically ranked on top of the league on defense but teams have moved the ball on us easily sometimes. Twice we have got turnovers in the redzone but can't rely on it all the time.Its just that our offense has put so much pressure on teams that they seem to play scared or one dimensional.I think our secondary will be tested as usual but our tackling needs to be top notch. Dallas has big receivers and tight ends and we cant just have bad tackling like in the cleveland game. unfortunately i think witten is going to get his catches-nothing against AD -but i dont think BB is going to put him on witten. Our defensive schemes seem suited for opposing tightends .i maybe wrong. which means we have to stop barber and TO.Our run D has been good but at times it shows its missing seymour.I get the feeling our offense has really made other teams one dimensional.
Dallas's offensive line is big but i think our Dline can give them trouble .Goes without saying redzone defense needs to be good just like every week but this week it will be barber and TO in the endzone, even tougher.

I believe this game will actually show all the naysayers how friggin' good this team actually is!

You know BB has got to be reminding these guys that the Patriots have never won at Dallas before!!

***ALP*** · 10-13-2007, 04:36 PM

my only concern will be that the dallas offense will do a little better better then they should or would have done had we played them last week, b/c the browns have a similar offense, with an exellent TE, and a very good wr...so we might have done a lot of things which we would like to do to the boys...

but again, i believe the pats are ready to annihilate any team...another 34-13 victory for us

Snarf · 10-13-2007, 04:37 PM

I'm so worried about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow.

BradyManny · 10-13-2007, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVN

If any ...
my concerns
on offense- pass protection. We have had good o line protection but saw bits of issues with the bengals in the first half and with cleveland. iam sure dallas is going to bring a lot of pass rush to protect its secondary. We may have issues in the beginning at least. Key is to see how we adjust like we did against the bengals. Iam not sure if this is a game for maroney or morris but we can't have those -ve maroney dancing runs.If our offense can get an early rhythm we should be ok.

Actually, I'm OK with the idea of them sending more into pass rush. The Browns had some modicum of success in slowing us down and did it by only rushing 4 and leaving more in coverage. Ultimately, it wasn't THAT successful, but I still think any team planning on blitzing Brady might as well not show up. He has too many weapons this year, Moss will just terrorize them. An opposing team's best bet is to get an effective pass rush while sending as few man as they can, which...is easier said then done

PatsSteve1 · 10-13-2007, 05:09 PM

Every team has a bad game or two each year where they come out flat, have some turnovers and despite the two teams records it becomes more of a game than expected. I'm not sure you can predict what game that will be unless you're around the team and know they didn't practice well that week, etc. So my biggest concern is that they just don't play like they should and are capable of. I don't think that will happen this week, but yo never know.

sieglo · 10-13-2007, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatsSteve1

Every team has a bad game or two each year where they come out flat, have some turnovers and despite the two teams records it becomes more of a game than expected. I'm not sure you can predict what game that will be unless you're around the team and know they didn't practice well that week, etc. So my biggest concern is that they just don't play like they should and are capable of. I don't think that will happen this week, but yo never know.

I think last week was one of these games.

I am worried about injuries to the offensive line impacting protection and run blocking.

PatsSteve1 · 10-13-2007, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sieglo

I think last week was one of these games.

I mean come out a lot worse than last week with more turnovers. I never felt the Patriots were threatened last week or they weren't going to win the game. I haven't felt they've really been threatened yet this year.