patfanken

....or just MY first impressions

1. The aura of invinsibility is gone, or it will be for at least THIS coming week, we'd better get used to all the media commentary being slanted in that direction. There will be all kinds of talk about the "blueprint" now being out there for other teams to copy. How Randy Moss was "shut down". How the Pats can now be beat. We'd better learn to live with it.

BTW- it will piss me off a little because you never hear about the "blueprint" to beat the Colts or the Steelers, even though BOTH those teams have had close games....which they've lost.

2. As far as Randy Moss being shut down, I think THAT's a myth that will be perpetrated continually going forward. Think about this. IMHO Randy DROPPED that long pass, and one in the endzone. If he catches those 2 balls like he normally does, he would have had over 90 yds in catches, and if you add the PHANTOM OPI call, 2 TDs. Though while I think the Eagles DID do a good job of pass coverage, Moss, stopped himself, more than the Eagles stopping him.

3. Before you get all overrought about the poor defensive effort, think about this. That defense was designed to stop/control Brian Westbrook, who is having an LT- like season, AVERAGING over 150 yds in total offense. So the defense was designed to stop the run (which it did for the most part) and to get man on man coverage on him most of time. To do that the Pats made some concessions on the rest of their defense. They, by and large, didn't have LBs deep in under coverage, and they often didn't have any safeties to help on the in cuts. Clearly they didn't forsee AJ Feely having a career night. He made a lot of very accurate throws, even when he was under a lot of pressure, and he fit a lot of balls into very tight places.

I don't know if he's a great QB, but he certainly played the best game of any QB the Pats have faced this year....except for 2 passes tp start and end the game, that is.

4. That being said, I was kind of surprise to see the Pats seemingly not adjusting to those incuts, even though Madden...and most of us watching the game on TV, could see the strategy. I kept on waiting for that Rams type adjustment to stop the "slants and incuts", that would stem the tide, but it never happened. I wonder why?

5. I didn't think we tackled very well on some of those circle routes run by Westbrook.

6. I didn't think Brady had his best game by any means, but the offense as a whole didn't suck, if you concider, if you add the PHANTOM OPI call, the offense would have scored 31 points, despite losing a possession because of the onside kick. The few times that the Pats had to punt, IMHO it was because of a lack of execution by the Pats, more than the Eagle defense (who DID do a great job)

7. Even thought the there was pressure on Brady occassionally, for the most part the OL afforded him the kind of protection that MOST QBs would die for on a week to week basis. It wasn't as clean as it HAS been for most of year, but not as bad as some are going to make it out to be. Brady got a hard whack on that first sack, but he wasn't hit as hard or as often as Feely was.

8. Madden an Michaels are MORONIC. I couldn't believe they were waxing ecstatic about the Eagles defense on that long pass that Moss simply dropped. I couldn't believe they were outraged about Gaffney's TD, even though it was clearly a TD, especially Michaels. FINALLY at the very end Madden admits, oh yeh, it was a TD. And I quickly tired of Madden's repetitive generalizations about Moss getting frustrated, and the EAGLES Defense stopping the Pats

9. Speaking of Moss, I was happy to see him blocking so hard on a lot of screens and short tosses to Welker....even though he wasn't getting the ball. I'm praying that he'll be willling to come back to the Pats for something like 3 years at $6MM/yr with perhaps 10-12 of that Guarranteed. He'd certainly get more money elsewhere, but after playing in this atmophere, with this coaching staff, and more importantly THIS QB, and the REALISTIC chance for 3 rings, plus he can likely rid himself of a negative image around the country with 3 more years here. I mean why go elsewhere for a few more Million. Its not likely he can spend what he has NOW. Probably just wishful thinking on my part.

10. I echo many other in saying the "Humble Pie" will be served piping hot on Monday, and probably in the long run, this close call will serve us better going down the road, than another blowout.

PATRIOT64

You know I wonder if Moss may have gotten intimidated by that fierce hitting secondary and dropped passes he normally catches due to his concern with what would be a hard impact if he did catch them - Maybe the bullying of the eagles safties and corners played a little mind game with the concentration that Moss apparently did not have tonight.

Its O.K. Even Jerry Rice had some terrible games.

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MrClutch

Especially when you're not expecting a close game like this one, it just adds to the stress and high blood pressure!

Deus Irae

I don't buy #3 all the way, and Madden and Michaels corrected most of their mistakes. Other than that, I think your analysis is very solid.

I do think that 2 major issues need to be pointed out, though.

1.) Randall Gay stunk out the joint tonight.

2.) Harrison was solid tackling but struggled defending the pass


Those two things combined to make the secondary really look bad this game.

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patpatriot

Ahh caman..that was the first real fun game since Indy. I hope the rest of them are like that. That's *football* Sonny!

HEY BRO! WHAT UP?

Your exactly right. Maybe the Pats took the Eagles lightly. Maybe the Eagles outplayed them most of the game. The Pats have plenty to work on to get ready to play the Ravens on Monday night.

patsfan55

great observations
and while i agree about this one as well, as i very rarely like the way football comentators call games, or national basketball/baseball ones do, i wanna point out that madden pointed out something that might go unnoticed by some..on a run play to the outside by westbrook that went for little or no gain, ellis hobbs kept great contain, and forced the run back inside where it got swallowed up...i'll beat it to death, but our outside linebackers have had trouble in this department for a couple years now, and hobbs made a great play, and i was very pleased to hear madden point it out, as hobbs wasnt in on the tackle, but really made the best individual effort on that play

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“My favorite ring? I've always said, you know, I always said the next one. The next one is the best,” Brady says.

sieglo

12) Pats got jobbed by the refs again. The consistency here is what amazes me. Someone needs to demand an investigation.... Especialy when there are other teams that consistently BENEFIT from bad officiating.

patfanken

Frankly I didn't see Moss getting beat up at the LOS or have a lot trouble getting off the line. I DID see him being closely covered on in the short zone with immediate help over the top. Nor where any of the hits he took look particularly hard. He could have had all the slant and in cuts he wanted.

patsox23

#12) Ellis Hobbs is officially having a VERY BAD YEAR in coverage. Every single week it seems as though pass after pass after pass is completed in front of him. He's AWFUL, always playing off - perhaps this is, on some level, a coaching decision, but it's EVERY WEEK. I like him as a KR, but he seems to have REGRESSED despite no longer playing with his arm in a cast. Infuriating, especially tonight.

#13) Nick Kaczur tonight made me want to puke.

#14) Gaffney played a whale of a game.