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One thing I have not seen mentioned, regarding the play of our defense, is that there were some costly penalties that kept drives going. Normally, that does not happen with a Patriots team, and so things looked worse than that would normally have been. I thought the lack of pass rush yesterday was anything close to the lack of pass rush from past seasons (ie, in the last few years it's been literally non-existent). It was existent yesterday, and will only get better, IMHO.
The 2 calls on Boddin WERE legit, though pretty marginal. Boddin was called for maintaining contact 7 yds down field instead of the 5 yds required. What made the calls more frustrating was the fact that they were so far from the actually action of the play, and how they were so incongruent with the way they called the rest of the game. (Gronk's mugging as a case in point,
BTW now that I think on it. The PI call on the Pat's 2 yard line, was also awful because again, it was so incongruent with the way they called the rest of the game.
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1) Go back and look at how many times Rivers had to leave the pocket, either going to the sides or back farther from the O-line.. I think you'll be surprised.
2) Spikes and Pryor did not see a lot of snaps in general from what I saw. If it was more than a handful, I'd be surprised.. In fact, I was very surprised at what seemed to be a "lets throw the *****" against the wall and see what works attitude for the LB position opposite Mayo all game long.
3) I thought Haynesworth did a helluva job yesterday, drawing double-teams on almost every play... Wilfork was handled on most plays by Hardwick and no Help.
4) Though Mayo was sucked inside on the one rushing TD, he came back to make 2 stellar plays later on against Tolbert. One on the goal-line and the other on the fumble..
1. I agree on the positive side, Rivers often didn't have much room to step up in the pocket, but it still seemed to me that the Pats pass rushers seemed to stick with the blockers rather than leave their lanes to get to the QB. If you have the game DVRed let me know if this "impression" is valid
2. That may be the case. I was kind of surprised at Spikes started, just as I was disappointed with SD's early run success. Maybe BB was too, and that's why he didn't get more snaps
3. Well that makes me feel better. But I expect more from him. Not necessarily to get sacks, but to create the openings for others.
4. You are right. Mayo DID make some big plays, hopefully he'll get more consistent as the season progresses
We can say what we want to make ourselves feel good, but the bottom line is we won our first two games because our offense covered up for a putrid defense.
I don't necessarily disagree with this - I do think the defense was opportunistic and made up for its overall poor play - but regardless, the officiating was terrible on both sides of the ball. And unfortunately, it benefited the Chargers more often than not.
We still need improvement in pass coverage and long yardage situations. Maybe it was the gameplan to just shutdown Gates and force Rivers to beat us with the receivers, but the unfortunate part was Rivers almost did beat us with his receivers. He did throw up 2 picks though, so we need to credit the D for doing good here, even though they looked shaky in other areas. Overall we need to remember that 21 points isn't bad considering how good of an offense we were facing (#2 overall in 2010). We need to cut down on the yardage given up, but maybe that will come in time.
There clearly was a concerted effort to take Gates out of the game and its been an under reported plus. Also people have to understand, if you shut down one thing, its going to make something else more vulnerable Its the nature of the game.
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Pats pass rush was mediocre but they looked downright brilliant compared to the SD pass rush which was really nonexistent on Tom. And let's not forget the 4 turnovers forced. Those were all huge plays. If the defense didn't look stifling, at least it was opportunistic and came up huge at critical junctures, denying the Chargers in the red zone.
I'm not so sure about that. Every now and again the Chargers got someone in clean, though Brady was able to side step it or get rid of the ball before he got there. I didn't see any of that from the Pats, with the possible exception of Carter's hit. But if you were adding up the time each QB had, I'd definitely agree with you that Brady had a much higher cumulative time.
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On the officiating:
Very inconsistent officiating that looked downright bewildering at times. A textbook tackle on Rivers is called for a penalty. Two below the knee shots by the Chargers' Garay yields no yellow flag. What gives refs? Also why were the refs so focused on the opposite side of the field? They called two holds on Bodden who wasn't even in the vicinity of the play! Shouldn't the refs be focused in on the action? It was pretty bad, fortunately the Chargers were so busy shooting themselves in the foot, even the refs couldn't turn around this game.
Given the context of the game the PI was equally bewildering
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Bottom line:
We got the win against a talented Chargers team. We know we still have deficiencies to be addressed, and the coaching staff has their work cut out for them. But that's why they get paid. Let's shore up the defense, eliminate some mistakes, and get ready for Buffalo next week. At least the offense and Tom Brady is a strength that can be counted upon week after week. It's time for the defense to step up now and show that it can carry the team as well.
Amen brother, but in reality we have to expect the offense and Brady to have a couple of bad days, and its in THOSE games we will need the D to step up.
My observation, the Pats still do not want to run the ball, even when the other team is pretty much begging them to run it. Even when they are running it well.
Guys I think we need to take the beer goggles off and quit blaming officiating for our putrid defense.
Instead of casting blame on the refs, how about we review what we know:
1.) Pats secondary is playing vanilla coverages, not a lot of disguising going on back there.
2.) The pass rush is weak, and not scaring quality offenses.
3.) The LBers are still adjusting to their new roles. Hopefully by game #9, they should be more comfortable.
4.) The run defense was wobbly against SD. Could be tied to the previous point.
5.) We have zero playmakers at safety. Although Brown made a good play on the INT.
We can say what we want to make ourselves feel good, but the bottom line is we won our first two games because our offense covered up for a putrid defense.
I don't think that anyone was "blaming" the refs for any of the perceived defensive woes, OJ. My complaint was the INCONSISTENCY of their calls on BOTH sides of the ball. But it is also fair to say that the higher percentage of questionable calls were against the Pats.
2.I'm wondering if ANYone's pass rushes are scaring good offenses.
3 This is what I'm thinking too
4. That was my impression as well. I was actually surprised when I saw the stats and SD only had 98 yds rushing, which isn't as bad as it looked
5. No Ed Reed's, but the Pats had 4 "big plays in the game. Two from a DLman, (Anderson and Wilfolk One from a S, (Brown) and one from a LB, (Mayo)
I found it interesting that while you seem to decry a perceived "homer" POV, to start and end your post, the specific points you made are pretty much in agreement with what I thought, AND for the most part pretty "positive"
In game 1 last year they gave up 24 to the Bengals, and 28 to the Jets in Game 2. They've given up less points than last year at this point, so I don't think you can dismiss his comment as comedy.
I was happy that Stinko looked really good on his one long pass reception...not saying that means he has learned the whole playbook but he's a very smooth guy, very nice.
Waters I thought looked great. Amazing getting a guy and plugging him in and having him be so good...why pay mankins huge money again? Oh well.
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Because Waters is very old and only has a year or two left in him. You dont get players like him in their prime, at that price.
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Re: idle thoughts...next day observations
Even when they are running it well.
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