The Official Patriots vs Texans Post game thread

[randomk1]

Originally Posted by RodThePat

The only gripe I had is that there was a stretch there offensively in which the O-Line was kind of shaky and Brady took a beating leading to many incompletions.

Watt is a special player and he does that to everybody. If that is most other QBs back there those hits would've ended up as sacks. I'm not gonna be too worried about it. Wade likes to bring pressure and he paid for it in the end.

[FreeTedWilliams]

You cannot say enough about the game that Vince had last night! He was unblockable, and was disrupting every play. For all the talk of Watt, Vince had more plays, and yes even batted down a pass! I thought Mayo was good, but once Vince slows the play in the backfield, its over, then you have the three linebackers flowing tothe ball. Then Vince gets on the Sportscenter desk and says he will beign watching film on the 49ers when he gets home tonight!

[ivanvamp]

Originally Posted by Deus Irae

Ok, NOW the Patriots can be put at #1 in all the power rankings.

Way ahead of you, Deus.

[1960Pats]

Jon Gruden is the NFL's version of Leo Buscaglia. Mike Tirico is just another tuckhead.

Big Vince. Big Vince. Big Vince. I can't say that enough.

So much for the silly idea that Tommy LomBrady is soft.

The threat of a run, even in the first half when it wasn't as effective, had a major impact on the passing plays that worked so well. It's called balance, and it works.

I thought I heard Tom Brady get up after one of the times he was flattened and ask Vollmer if he was okay. That was kind of funny.

[Urgent]

Wow. This team is really peaking - significantly better performance all around than eight-ten weeks ago.

On offense, we saw a lot of the quick-play attack that was featured more against Buffalo and early in the season. You could see the impact on the Texans defense. Great example of it after the half, when the Pats huddled, waited a second for Houston to set, then broke the huddle and raced to position in a second, set for a second at most, then ran a simple running play up the middle. The trick there is ensuring everyone is set on offense before snapping, but not giving the defense any time to figure out their assignments. A lot of time that can yield a false start. And then the defenders heads are spinning the rest of the game - how can we set and run anything exotic?

Brady was terrific, even with the third quarter 1 for 7 stretch. He could have got down on a receiver who dropped three passes, three catchable passes, but you certainly don't see him scream at Welker the way others have received wrath. The times Brady runs for a first down seem to really fire up the team.

The line played well, not great. Nice pick-up on stunts. Not enough help on Watt, who really can't be handled by a single OL. Brady did get hit more than any recent game. Terrific that Mankins, Connolly, and Vollmer were all available.

Good role for Hooman - he executes the Wham very well. Not quite like Graham, but he is effective in that, and consistently stones the defenders on run plays. After a couple games, no idea what they see in Shiancoe that got them all excited to use the new in-season IR designation on him so early. You'd sort of think the Pats would be a little more conservative and save that for a Koppen-type injury. They were lucky they didn't need it. And I just don't see the differentiation between Shiancoe and anyone else they could get off the street mid-season.

Stallworth certainly fits in the deep receiver role. They tried one with Slater and a couple with Stallworth. No question which receiver offers greater reliability. The stretch play action worked very well tonight - haven't seen that as effective all year. Brady can be very good at a roll-right, set and fire left. We've seen more of that on the fake reverse - the stretch play action set up some long open receivers.

Probably the best game on defense of the season. Definitely the best tackling by the secondary. Clearly the best game for Arrington this year - several pass break-ups without penalty. Some tight coverage. Much less yards-after-catch. A ton more one-on-one coverage than normal. McCourty continues to improve at deep safety. Sure hope the injuries to Talib and Arrington are minor.

Also what the team expects to see from Mayo after signing him to the long contract. His best work at pass rush, and some terrific run penetration.

But hard to say this was Wilfork's best game of the season. He's been so steady and so elite all season. We are getting used to his domination.

Interesting that Deaderick has passed Love. He had a good play or two.

When we saw Welker line up for the punt, I said: Oh, not sure I like that. He ran off the 31-yard return that set up the first touchdown, but I'm still not sure I like it. Don't really want to see him get more hits than he does at receiver, even for the field position advantage.

Didn't get a chance to bolster Gostkowski's spirits at all in this game. Is that the only negative?

This makes the SF game huge. Then just need to hold on.

[patchick]

Originally Posted by RodThePat

Defensively, they were pretty much perfect. That's what I wanted to see all year, for them to stop the opponent by forcing punts.

We all saw it with our own eyes, a complete and dominating defensive performance. And yet, by the almighty "total defense" measure the Pats' defense played a completely ordinary game. Yardage,

BTW: 3 rookie starters on that defense. 3 rookie starters!

[PatsDeb]

I was impressed with Brady - he was on fire, even in the face of a fast pass rush. The defense was great. They stuffed Arian Foster repeatedly after short gains, and even though Johnson got some yards, he obviously did not have much of an impact. Owen Daniels was pretty much invisible.

I was surprised the Texans did not put up more of a fight. The game felt like it was over for them when McCourtey made the pick. They went all fraidy cat after that and seemed to give up. They seemed not to know what hit them. I got the impression that our boys were a little miffed that all week everyone said that the Texans were going to be a big test for the Patriots, but not enough people were saying the Patriots were going to be a big test for the Texans. I guess we know now who passed the test with flying colors (or Elvii).

[patchick]

Just remembered...you know how the announcers scolded the Texans for committing so many penalties on kick and punt returns? They could easily have turned that around and said "How about that amazing Matthew Slater?"

It seemed to me that the Texans had to practically tackle Slater to keep him from slaying their return men. He's a huge asset.

[mayoclinic]

Originally Posted by patchick

We all saw it with our own eyes, a complete and dominating defensive performance. And yet, by the almighty "total defense" measure the Pats' defense played a completely ordinary game. Yardage,

BTW: 3 rookie starters on that defense. 3 rookie starters!

Also 2 UDFAs (Kyle Love and Steve Gregory) and a 7th round pick (Alfonzo Dennard). Though we have 6 1st round picks who are all playing like it (Wilfork, Jones, Mayo, Hightower, McCourty and Talib).

[sevengables_2207]

Originally Posted by supafly

Yeah I have been up in arms about the whole Schiancoe thing so far too, and not from a fantasy football standpoint.

If our backup TE's in Fells and Schiancoe were worth a damn this team would be that much better. It's great to see the solid blocking though from Hooman tonight, which was a huge plus.

The Ballard move a damn smart one IMO.

The heavy involvement of the tight ends in this offense mandates having back ups who can be more than serviceable.