Early look ahead to Dolphins game

[SVN]

with no pats game tommorow (and also stuck with oak@miami and SF@STL here in the bay area) coupled with the thurs loss,iam trying to look ahead to next week, what the pats need to do to win the game ?
here are some debatable thoughts
should we start the game in no huddle. i think help this banged up defense, the offense has to step up which sounds funny without brady but probablyis the reality.i want jmcd to start and/or play with the no huddle a siginificant time -try something different. We need to switch from the ball control to airball early to score early.
-try something else other than the draw that too with faulk in the RZ
-on defense, this is the biggest test for dean pees. he hasnt solved the wildcat vs the fins or even when other teams ran it with against us a few times. one possible thing they might try is to play like they would play vick or vince young. pats have had usualy good success against mobile qb's so maybe there is something the the pats try.
-speaking of defense , we have talked a lot about the bend dont break defense switching to attack mode. i dont think its BB's style and i think he will continue to be patient with it. might change some matchups and coverage schemes but i dont think the base changes. although if iam not wrong i did see mayo blitz one or two times early against the bills.
-double/triple/cover fasano.
-make up the ST crap on thurs. its a good time for a kickoff return or decent punt returns.

Apologize for comparing past teams but we usually win close games. Whenever we have lost its been blowouts majority of the times. thats why the indy and jets games are hard to swallow since its new territory. We need to start win the close games a little more regularly. Here is to start in miami of a 6 game season.

 

[Wendel]

Apologize for comparing past teams but we usually win close games. Whenever we have lost its been blowouts majority of the times. thats why the indy and jets games are hard to swallow since its new territory. We need to start win the close games a little more regularly. Here is to start in miami of a 6 game season.

2007: Super Bowl 42
2006: AFC Championship Game

How could you choke away any more important game in the last 2 years? I've become used to this now. We simply don't have the mystique anymore.

 

[SVN]

2007: Super Bowl 42
2006: AFC Championship Game

How could you choke away any more important game in the last 2 years? I've become used to this now. We simply don't have the mystique anymore.

i personally dont believe mystique wins anything. if its all mystique its an insult to all the great players and games they played. as schilling once said of the yanks "Aura and Mystique were names of exotic dancers, and nothing more" .Its the players and the opponets and how you play and in the two instances you cited ,yes they have failed in 2 important times but doesnt take away their body of work over 7 yrs in close game.They havent won those games not because of lack of mystique but lack of players and mistakes.
my 2 cents

 

[Jimke]

I agree the Patriots have to be agressive right from the start.
They have to begin with the flip of the coin. Don't defer
receiving the ball until the second half. Our defense isn't good
enough to be tested right at the start.

I expect to see the "wildcat" play early. If successful, Miami will
run it down the Patriot's throat all day. Hopefully, Belichick, Pees,
and Capers can figure something out. They didn't the last game
with Miami.

The Patriots game strategy will be stop the run and drop back and
hope Pennington makes a mistake. If there is no pass rush, he
will pick the defense apart. The Patriots are already handicapped
by the loss of Adalius Thomas.

The Patriots should give Cassel the chance to win the game. To
do this they will have to prevent Joey Porter from running unabated
to the quarterback. Last game the offensive line was a sieve.

I think this game will be a key game for the Patriots. I don't know
if they could recover from losing three out of four games.

 

[Fanfrom1960]

with no pats game tommorow (and also stuck with oak@miami and SF@STL here in the bay area) coupled with the thurs loss,iam trying to look ahead to next week, what the pats need to do to win the game ?

Isn't that the pits (Bay Area TV games today). Maybe I'll check the Oakland game at halftime and see if there's a prayer for them to upset the Dolphins. As far as the 49ers - Rams, Mike Singletary is now the most interesting and important character on the team. Patriots?...it'll be a struggle to make the playoffs, but they've done about as well as I would have expected.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Interesting to see if we'll continue with the no-huddle approach seeing how much success it had. Going no-huddle doesn't mean you can't control the clock so I'm sure we can utilize it without putting too much pressure on the defense.

 

[BostonBullit]

I said it a month ago and I'll say it again - every time they run "the wildcat" take a hitter, I had AD on this but that's out now, and line him up opposite pennington. When the ball is snapped that player ignores all else and just lays out chad with full prejudice inside the 5yrd buffer zone. He's had an amazing year but he's fragile and everyone knows it, they'd be nuts to keep putting him out there on a heavy press coverage...

 

[Rob0729]

I think the offense will be closer to what we saw Thursday (more agressive) than what we saw leading up to it for here on out. I have been saying from the start of the Cassel era that they would put the reigns on him early until as Keyshawn said today "the game slows down for Cassel". It was clear that Cassel wasn't used to the pace of the NFL and McDaniels revised the offense to minimize his mistakes in key situations and help him gain more pocket prescense. Cassel looks to have gotten to the next level now. So it is time to take of the reigns.

 

[bradydaman29]

I think the offense will be closer to what we saw Thursday (more agressive) than what we saw leading up to it for here on out. I have been saying from the start of the Cassel era that they would put the reigns on him early until as Keyshawn said today "the game slows down for Cassel". It was clear that Cassel wasn't used to the pace of the NFL and McDaniels revised the offense to minimize his mistakes in key situations and help him gain more pocket prescense. Cassel looks to have gotten to the next level now. So it is time to take of the reigns.

I hope Cassel watched the Florida game yesterday and picked up some pointers from Tebow on how to drop the ball into the receivers hands in the corner of the endzone (instead of firing a line drive bullet 3 feet over the receivers head). If he could somehow master the long throw with touch and accuracy, then the Pats would be a contendah. Until then, they are just a good team that will lose most close games.

 

[SVN]

I hope Cassel watched the Florida game yesterday and picked up some pointers from Tebow on how to drop the ball into the receivers hands in the corner of the endzone (instead of firing a line drive bullet 3 feet over the receivers head). If he could somehow master the long throw with touch and accuracy, then the Pats would be a contendah. Until then, they are just a good team that will lose most close games.

cassel doesnt need to master the long deep throw for the pats to become a contender.how will help them win a close game ? i dont get it. they need to play good defense. i cant ask cassel to do more than what he he is. the touch on the long ball isnt the big issue here. its a wow factor from 2007 which we keep talking abt every week -"throw it deep to moss"

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

They need to look at the film from their last matchup with the Dolphins which was a 25 point loss and for Pees not to be so damn stupid and get beaten more than once on those Wildcat and wacked formations the Dolphins used to shove it down our throats and have the defense totally out of position.

 

[D-Money]

What i wanna see is more of the Matt Cassel from the jets game.Trust him more and open up the damn playbook!!

 

[bradydaman29]

cassel doesnt need to master the long deep throw for the pats to become a contender.how will help them win a close game ? i dont get it. they need to play good defense. i cant ask cassel to do more than what he he is. the touch on the long ball isnt the big issue here. its a wow factor from 2007 which we keep talking abt every week -"throw it deep to moss"

To answer your question, this is how they will win a close game. If he was able to throw more balls to Moss a little deeper and let him duel the DB there would be more defensive pass interference calls so instead of punting the ball, you keep drives alive and maybe get an extra 3 points (that extra 3 points would have helped them win a close game against the Jets or the Colts). For another, the pats are kicking too may fgs instead of getting tds. If Cassel could throw a soft ball to Moss in the endzone from about the 20 yardline or so, that's 4 extra points. It's not the wow factor in my case. It's just you have to keep the defense honest and you want to get some of the defensive holding and PI calls that are always going against the pats but you never see them the other way because we never throw the ball deep and when we do it's no where near where the receiver is.

 

[SVN]

To answer your question, this is how they will win a close game. If he was able to throw more balls to Moss a little deeper and let him duel the DB there would be more defensive pass interference calls so instead of punting the ball, you keep drives alive and maybe get an extra 3 points (that extra 3 points would have helped them win a close game against the Jets or the Colts). For another, the pats are kicking too may fgs instead of getting tds. If Cassel could throw a soft ball to Moss in the endzone from about the 20 yardline or so, that's 4 extra points. It's not the wow factor in my case. It's just you have to keep the defense honest and you want to get some of the defensive holding and PI calls that are always going against the pats but you never see them the other way because we never throw the ball deep and when we do it's no where near where the receiver is.

so you want to rely on PI calls to win close games ? a pi could get us 3 pts ? we had 511 yards of offense on thursday ? what more do you want to keep the defense honest ? moss was double/triple covered. when cassel will get INT you will say what a wasted drive.

 

[bradydaman29]

so you want to rely on PI calls to win close games ? a pi could get us 3 pts ? we had 511 yards of offense on thursday ? what more do you want to keep the defense honest ? moss was double/triple covered. when cassel will get INT you will say what a wasted drive.

I wasn't saying I want to rely on PI but you have to admit that it's not bad to have one or two of those go in your favor in a game. Back to my original point, I know Cassel can't do the long/medium ball and yes he's afraid of int's so that's why he throws these bullets that no one can catch. My original point was if he could do it, then they would start winning some of these games, but until then, IMO they won't win consistently. Your point is that they can win without the long/medium pass. A difference of opinion. Of course, I hope you are right.

 

[makoute]

I wasn't saying I want to rely on PI but you have to admit that it's not bad to have one or two of those go in your favor in a game. Back to my original point, I know Cassel can't do the long/medium ball and yes he's afraid of int's so that's why he throws these bullets that no one can catch. My original point was if he could do it, then they would start winning some of these games, but until then, IMO they won't win consistently. Your point is that they can win without the long/medium pass. A difference of opinion. Of course, I hope you are right.

Speaking of pass interference, I don't remember the Pats getting any PI calls in their favor this year.