Lots of good last night

[E Belichick Unum]

After watching the game last night I was disappointed, but really encouraged by the way the team played.

1) Matt Cassel - He played as well as we could possibly expect. His final numbers, 25 of 34, 204 yards is an example of just how far he has come in a very short time. When he wasn't cut I wondered why, but last night he proved his worth. He was outplayed in the preseason and look god awful, but Belichick obviously knew what he was doing. He was a drop and a bad penalty away from leading his team to 6 and 2 and sole possession of first place. He was confident and poised and made the correct decisions all night.

2) The offensive line - A nice night by the guys up front. No sacks, not a whole lot of pressure and the opened some holes for a very average group of runners.

3) The D-line - They were just OK, but they held the Colts to less than 30 yards rushing. They did their job.

4) The Linebackers - Played well all night. The fact that they didn't get a whole lot of conversation on the tube tells you that they had a good night. They made the plays they were supposed to make and that is all you can ask.

5) The Defensive backs - They gave aup a couple of bad receptions, but overall holding the Colts to 18 points should have gotten them a win.

6) Coaching - This one is on the coaching staff. Take away the bad challenge, the goal line time out and that horrible middle screen at the end of the game and I give them an A+. Those mistakes won't likely happen again, unless Belichick and company channel their inner Herm Edwards in a future game.

Conclusion - This is a good team, with a pretty good quarterback and a great coaching staff. It will be tough to win into the playoffs with the current roster of DB's, they are the weakness of the team, but the team continues to play above expectations. This may be Belichicks best coaching job since he brought that bad Cleveland into the playoffs and beat the Patriots. There was a lot of good that happened last night. It points to a successful second half.

 

[Jimke]

This is a team with a quarterback who cannot lead them to a

touchdown when they are in the red zone. This is a fatal flaw.

Other teams need only half as many scoring opportunities to

beat them.

 

[Deus Irae]

This is a team with a quarterback who cannot lead them to a

touchdown when they are in the red zone. This is a fatal flaw.

Other teams need only half as many scoring opportunities to

beat them.

Umm..... Cassel did lead the team to a touchdown when they were in the red zone. He also led the team to another would-be touchdown from outside the red zone, but Gaffney dropped the ball.

 

[Jimke]

Umm..... Cassel did lead the team to a touchdown when they were in the red zone. He also led the team to another would-be touchdown from outside the red zone, but Gaffney dropped the ball.

The fact remains that the Pats were 25% in the red zone. The

Colts were 100% (2 for 2) and won the game.

 

[bob85ne]

I was encouraged last night and saw a lot of positives moving forward.

 

[BradyManny]

The fact remains that the Pats were 25% in the red zone. The

Colts were 100% (2 for 2) and won the game.

So we should arbitrarily look at stats without considering context? As Deus said, Cassel threw a perfect TD pass to Gaffney which would've won the game for us. Unfortunately, Gaffney couldn't hang on. How the hell can someone possibly contrive a scenario in which last nite's loss was on Cassel. I mean, WTF. Did you watch the game or see the box score?

 

[BelichickFan]

This is a team with a quarterback who cannot lead them to a touchdown when they are in the red zone. This is a fatal flaw.

Hopefully getting Jordan and Morris will help out here. I agree with you, though - while I am thrilled and, honestly, shocked at how solidly Cassel has played, the second half of the year we need to see more TD passes from him in the red zone.

 

[BelichickFan]

So we should arbitrarily look at stats without considering context? As Deus said, Cassel threw a perfect TD pass to Gaffney which would've won the game for us. Unfortunately, Gaffney couldn't hang on. How the hell can someone possibly contrive a scenario in which last nite's loss was on Cassel. I mean, WTF. Did you watch the game or see the box score?

Agreed that was a great throw. I still don't have the confidence that Cassel can make the big throw on 3rd and goal from the 9. Largely because he hasn't done it much yet.

 

[lostjumper]

The patriots went into Indianapolis last night with the backup, Matt Cassel starting at QB and an undrafted rookie starting at Rb in Law Firm, and the pats lost by 3 points, and almost won.

That's an incredible statement, and I think more people should feel positive about this development.

Let's look at it from the other side. If then colts had come into Gillette with Sorgi starting at QB, and their 4th string running back, and barely lost by 3 points, don't you think they would be happy just to be in the game?

 

[BelichickFan]

Let's look at it from the other side. If then colts had come into Gillette with Sorgi starting at QB, and their 4th string running back, and barely lost by 3 points, don't you think they would be happy just to be in the game?

I said that last night. Even forget the RB. If the game were in NE with Sorgi and Brady at QB you can bet your ass we'd have won by a lot more than 3 points.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

Cassel finally got his QB sneak.

He's beginning to scramble furthur down the field and gameplanning is beginning to factor that in.

I'm expecting this offense to become more and more of Cassel's offense; the team and coaching really are starting to trust him more and play more to his strengths. He's also becoming increasingly accurate though I think he still eyeballs his targets at times.

All in all there's no reason to think they'll run out of gas; as a matter of fact they're playing with ever-increasing intensity. With the exception of Oily Hands Watson all the mistakes are ones which are pretty atypical. I wouldn't expect to see Thomas repeat his actions nor would I expect Ernie Adams to be wearing the same glasses

The bottom line is the Pats are just heating up; other teams have been playing at 110% every week from day 1 and it's questionable if they have what it takes to sustain that. As we learned last year the season's a marathon not a sprint and the real season begins around Thanksgiving.

JMO but we haven't seen their best ball yet

 

[E Belichick Unum]

The fact remains that the Pats were 25% in the red zone. The

Colts were 100% (2 for 2) and won the game.

You ave to seperate a bad defensive backfield from the offensive side of the ball. I agree that the red zone preformance has been horrible, but the play calling has been so conservative down there that it is frightening.

Don't get me wrong, I am not happy wit the loss, and there is no such thing as a moral victory. A loss is a failure and last night the Pats failed. If we do not make the playoffs this year it will be due to a bad group of DB's. They are HORRIBLE and the coaching staff puts them in consistently bad positions by playing that cover 2 and leaving such a large middle zone open. I keep waiting for a zone blitz or two, that is Dom Capers claim to fame, but they just don't seem to want to run it. But to be honest, when Brady went down I never thought that Cassel would play as well as he has. He is managing the game very well, he is moving the ball between the 5 yard lines and he is getting much better at seeing the open reciever.

In the "glass half full" mode, this team is doing a lot better than I thought they could.

 

[JoePats]

I thought Wheatley did a pretty decent job before he got hurt. That's a tough spot. Rookie against very good receivers with little pass rush support.