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I guess my post was lost in cyberspace last night. No big deal, it happens. I'll try again, but i have to admit that some of what I say will be colored by some of the comments written since then.
I only watched the first 3 quarters. That's how uninteresting the game had become. In no particular order here's what I thought.
TJ O'Sullivan was the best QB on the field last night. He made several very good throws in the face of some good pressure by the Pats.
Clearly the bad tackling by the Pats tarnished a pretty good night by the defense, especially by the first unit and the packages that ran. But I can understand WHY the tackling was so bad. The Pats do VERY little live tackling in camp. In fact the ONLY live tackling I saw were one-on-one open field drills with each guy getting just one or two reps during the time allotted. I even understand WHY that's the policy. These days there is just too much money tied up in these players to risk an injury. What I DON'T understand is why they don't use the MANY tackling drills that AREN'T fully live, that would promote some of the fundamentals that we cleary DIDN'T see last night.
This is a pet peeve of mine, since I believe across the ENTIRE league, the level of tackling skills gets worse every year. This isn't just a Pats problem. On the plus side, as they do more live tackling in games, they will get better. Not good, just better.
One the Brady sack - I'm assuming Kazcur is getting killed on the boards, however quite frankly (after looking at the tape more than a few times) I don't think it was entirely his fault. Clearly he looks inside FIRST, which allows Gathers to get by him untouched. You might notice that after the play he throws his arms up in surprise that no one else had him.
Later on the side line they caught Brady and Nick laughing and fist bumping. I THINK that either Brady or Koppen made a bad call at the LOS that caused the error, probably Brady. It was not a lack of talent, but communication. If anyone cared to look, on the very next play, Kaczur engages Gathers on another pass play and PANCAKES him.
Cincinnati has a pretty good team. They put decent pressure on the QB, and have good corners. On offense Benson likes like the real deal, while they have a WR corps that is as good as there is in the league (Chad, Coles, Henry) You can't help be impressed with the catches a couple of no names made and the back up RBs. People better not sleep on the Bengals this year. They might actually be as good IN the season, as they hype tthey get in the off season.
Its official, IMHO, the Pats have become the Colts. We no longer even look comfortable running the football. We are totally a finesse team who passes to set up the run. Virtually all of our running plays are delays or counters. Slow developing and not aggressively blocked. The toss sweep to Taylor was perhaps the only running play that was still left from the 2004 playbook.
Running the football is a mind set, not just a play call. All you have to do is look at the kind of plays the Bengals were running and compare them the types of plays the Pats ran to see the difference. To see the difference in the COMMITMENT to the run. People may want to complain about the RBs or the OL, but I think the problem starts at the top.
Now that being said, I know I AM complaining about an offense that was 6th in the league WITHOUT the best QB in the leaue, and broke records WITH him. I also agree with the Football outsiders view that it is more efficient to move the ball thru the air than on the ground. However I also agree that the way to win games (especially in the northeast in winter) is to score with your passing game in the first 3 quarters, and seal it with a good ground game in the 4th. Right now I wonder if we are capable to pound the ball at a defense who is expecting us to pound the ball. Not only don't I think we have the right plays to do it, I don't think we have the right mind set. However I DO believe we have the right talent, both on the OL and in the backfield.
KOC - I think in the first couple of series he was hamstrung by the play calling. However I liked the fact that he staying in the pocket against a heavy rush and ignored the instinct to take off and run. At the end of the half, when they got back in the shot gun, he did as well as expect. He might have done better if Edelman had run a smarter route on the 3rd down play.
Hoyer - Looks like he'll make a fine PS QB, and might even develop enough over the next few years to find a place in the league for the long run, but he's not someone you want to actually get into a real game. I hope people see it.
I'm encouraged by the play of the secondary, especially Butler. There was a lot less separation by the receivers, even on completed passes, than there was last season. Even on the TD pass, Wheatly had his hand ON THE BALL, just a second late. You can see the need for improvement, but at least the amount of improvement that is needed, is in the realm of reality.
Springs played like his name WAS Ron, and he was 50+. He looked as slow and unsure of himself as he did the first practice I saw him at. The possible good news is that he improved immensely the more he practced. I don't know how many practices he got in before this one, but I doubt it was many. Personally I hope that was the problem. However if there isn't a great improvement next week, then HE might be the surprise Vet that gets cut.
We aren't cutting ANY of our TEs. However trading one won't be out of the question. There are a number of teams who have had injuries at the position and SHOULD be willing to give up a 4th or 5th rounder for a legit TE. Smith would be my guess.
Pryor keeps on impressing as well as Brace. Volmer less so, this game. He looked lost out and unsure of himself on occassion
The 2 main Binkyiots, Chung and Edelman came back to earth. But neither changed his status on the team. Both are works in progress, and both will prove to be excellent STers this season.
Tully better find another move beside "run around the QB". Woods got a sack, but it was a coverage sack. Ninkovich showed me enough that he deserves another 2 weeks to see if he can find a place on the team. On the negative side, Burgess underwhelmed me AGAIN.
Glad to see Ty Warren back, and when the 3 amigos are all together, it won't matter WHAT their alignment is. they'll be tough.
THere was some other stuff I commented on last night, but I forgot it, and this is long enough as it is. I await your comments
I only watched the first 3 quarters. That's how uninteresting the game had become. In no particular order here's what I thought.
TJ O'Sullivan was the best QB on the field last night. He made several very good throws in the face of some good pressure by the Pats.
Clearly the bad tackling by the Pats tarnished a pretty good night by the defense, especially by the first unit and the packages that ran. But I can understand WHY the tackling was so bad. The Pats do VERY little live tackling in camp. In fact the ONLY live tackling I saw were one-on-one open field drills with each guy getting just one or two reps during the time allotted. I even understand WHY that's the policy. These days there is just too much money tied up in these players to risk an injury. What I DON'T understand is why they don't use the MANY tackling drills that AREN'T fully live, that would promote some of the fundamentals that we cleary DIDN'T see last night.
This is a pet peeve of mine, since I believe across the ENTIRE league, the level of tackling skills gets worse every year. This isn't just a Pats problem. On the plus side, as they do more live tackling in games, they will get better. Not good, just better.
One the Brady sack - I'm assuming Kazcur is getting killed on the boards, however quite frankly (after looking at the tape more than a few times) I don't think it was entirely his fault. Clearly he looks inside FIRST, which allows Gathers to get by him untouched. You might notice that after the play he throws his arms up in surprise that no one else had him.
Later on the side line they caught Brady and Nick laughing and fist bumping. I THINK that either Brady or Koppen made a bad call at the LOS that caused the error, probably Brady. It was not a lack of talent, but communication. If anyone cared to look, on the very next play, Kaczur engages Gathers on another pass play and PANCAKES him.
Cincinnati has a pretty good team. They put decent pressure on the QB, and have good corners. On offense Benson likes like the real deal, while they have a WR corps that is as good as there is in the league (Chad, Coles, Henry) You can't help be impressed with the catches a couple of no names made and the back up RBs. People better not sleep on the Bengals this year. They might actually be as good IN the season, as they hype tthey get in the off season.
Its official, IMHO, the Pats have become the Colts. We no longer even look comfortable running the football. We are totally a finesse team who passes to set up the run. Virtually all of our running plays are delays or counters. Slow developing and not aggressively blocked. The toss sweep to Taylor was perhaps the only running play that was still left from the 2004 playbook.
Running the football is a mind set, not just a play call. All you have to do is look at the kind of plays the Bengals were running and compare them the types of plays the Pats ran to see the difference. To see the difference in the COMMITMENT to the run. People may want to complain about the RBs or the OL, but I think the problem starts at the top.
Now that being said, I know I AM complaining about an offense that was 6th in the league WITHOUT the best QB in the leaue, and broke records WITH him. I also agree with the Football outsiders view that it is more efficient to move the ball thru the air than on the ground. However I also agree that the way to win games (especially in the northeast in winter) is to score with your passing game in the first 3 quarters, and seal it with a good ground game in the 4th. Right now I wonder if we are capable to pound the ball at a defense who is expecting us to pound the ball. Not only don't I think we have the right plays to do it, I don't think we have the right mind set. However I DO believe we have the right talent, both on the OL and in the backfield.
KOC - I think in the first couple of series he was hamstrung by the play calling. However I liked the fact that he staying in the pocket against a heavy rush and ignored the instinct to take off and run. At the end of the half, when they got back in the shot gun, he did as well as expect. He might have done better if Edelman had run a smarter route on the 3rd down play.
Hoyer - Looks like he'll make a fine PS QB, and might even develop enough over the next few years to find a place in the league for the long run, but he's not someone you want to actually get into a real game. I hope people see it.
I'm encouraged by the play of the secondary, especially Butler. There was a lot less separation by the receivers, even on completed passes, than there was last season. Even on the TD pass, Wheatly had his hand ON THE BALL, just a second late. You can see the need for improvement, but at least the amount of improvement that is needed, is in the realm of reality.
Springs played like his name WAS Ron, and he was 50+. He looked as slow and unsure of himself as he did the first practice I saw him at. The possible good news is that he improved immensely the more he practced. I don't know how many practices he got in before this one, but I doubt it was many. Personally I hope that was the problem. However if there isn't a great improvement next week, then HE might be the surprise Vet that gets cut.
We aren't cutting ANY of our TEs. However trading one won't be out of the question. There are a number of teams who have had injuries at the position and SHOULD be willing to give up a 4th or 5th rounder for a legit TE. Smith would be my guess.
Pryor keeps on impressing as well as Brace. Volmer less so, this game. He looked lost out and unsure of himself on occassion
The 2 main Binkyiots, Chung and Edelman came back to earth. But neither changed his status on the team. Both are works in progress, and both will prove to be excellent STers this season.
Tully better find another move beside "run around the QB". Woods got a sack, but it was a coverage sack. Ninkovich showed me enough that he deserves another 2 weeks to see if he can find a place on the team. On the negative side, Burgess underwhelmed me AGAIN.
Glad to see Ty Warren back, and when the 3 amigos are all together, it won't matter WHAT their alignment is. they'll be tough.
THere was some other stuff I commented on last night, but I forgot it, and this is long enough as it is. I await your comments
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