Buffalo Post Game Thoughts (Merged)

[Kontradiction]

Re: Game Thoughts

I wasn't wild about the A.D. hit either. Then again, I'm one of those crazy people that thinks the QBs should be hit just like everyone else is unless they are defensless (which Edwards was not). That Bills TD should have never happened and wouldn't have happened without that penalty.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

My thoughts ...

1: Do we have someone to set the edge?

2: Why doesn't Mike Wright play more.

3: We need Adalius Thomas more on the inside than the outside.

4: Kevin Faulk looks 27 years old.

5: We need Burgess on the field more ... I can't wait.

6: Wilfork is less dominating without Seymour - But I figured that.

7: Randy Moss looks like he's 27 years old.

8: Wes Welker looks like he is 27 years old.

9: Ben Watson stepped up.

10: Maroney did not ... but some vets here hate to hear it.

11: Kaczur quietly had a very very good game.

12: Brandon Merriweather is a good going on great leader.

 

[unoriginal]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

Every time Maroney got the ball, after the 2 draw plays early, there were at least 2 Buffalo defensemen in the backfield. I was astounded by this. And that included when they brought Vollmer onto the field and had Light report as an eligible receiver.

Yep. And Taylor wasn't going anywhere fast either. The only running back who could succeed in this running scheme was named Barry Sanders and even he ended up running better behind a fullback.

Defensive gameplans against the Pats are built around penetration. Penetration forces quick throws and disrupts the running game because if one guy out of four gets into the backfield, it basically gives everyone else another 2 seconds to get off their blocks and corral the running back.

Either they get an H-back or a FB who can block and still contribute to the passing game, or they should just play Faulk all game and run nothing but shotgun draws.

 

[amazinPats]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Good analysis. Hope your knuckle recovers.

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Sorry, I forgot special teams. Just the typical stuff there though. I like Maroney as a return man. That first return he had was awesome. Overall, like I said, it's much the same. We were solid there in both return and coverage unites.

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Good analysis. Hope your knuckle recovers.

It looks like a golfball right now. I'll try to take a pic of it and upload it on the site tomorrow for all to see. As of right now, I have class at 7 in the morning and an exam to take so I'm going to shove off.

 

[ALP]

Re: Game Thoughts

yea, ive never said anything about the server either....but now:

this was the first test of this new dual core server thingy, hopefully the bugs can get fixed, and itll work starting next week.....

 

[Patspsycho]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

I wanted to say the critical play in the game was delivered by none other than Pierre Woods. His strip fumble of the returner and tearing the ball out let the Pats get the ball back when they absolutely had to have it.

So much for all the *****ing in the pre-season. I also noticed he had two tackles for loss.

Half the credit has to go to Gostowski who recovered the fumble.. he didn't have to go and dive in the pile, but he did..

 

[jays52]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

I thought that the secondary had a really good game as well. Meriweather looked solid, Leigh Bodden played quite well in addition. I was pleasantly suprised by Wilhite as well. Sanders really stood out to me in his play on the outside stuff (screens and power sweeps). He made quite a few plays, but unfortunately his pursuit wasn't there to finish the play where he blew up the blocking. That said, it was really great to watch him come flying into the lead blockers like a wedgebuster. He displayed some great physical safety play out there today. The other interesting note was that I noticed a mix of safeties and other DB's rolled up in that mid teir, with other safeties behind them. They looked like the rolled up Lou and Rob in the 33. There was clearly quite a bit of bracketing used, and this was a particularly interesting note.

I thought that the linebackers left a lot to be desired. Thomas looked pretty uncomfortable lined up at Sam, but was generally around the football fairly well. Banta Cain played well both with his hand in the dirt, as well as out of the two point. One play of his stood out particularly well. It was on a weakside belly out of the spread. Evans (I think) came in motion on a jet, Edwards handed it off to Jackson and faked the handoff to Evans. The design was primarily through the three hole, with an option to bounce outside. The fake handoff is designed to bring the playside contain upfield, opening up the bounce. Banta Cain remained on the LOS, and kept the play inside to the sealed three hole.

The DLine was disapointing, particularly Wilfork. He was getting washed pretty easily. He gave up his leverage very easily, and generally played too high. Even his normally outstanding bullrush was way off tonight. I was also pretty bummed about the lack of creativity in the 43 line play. There was no slanting, no looping, no stunting, no robber blitzes, generally vanilla. I don't think that the Patriots have a pass rusher capable enough of winning the matchups without at least a little schematic help.

Things to shore up, for sure, but other than that it was good to get away with a win. They have a long way to go on both sides of the ball if they want to beat the Jets next week.

 

[GoodWill]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Nice read! I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else tonight, but I've heard talk from various people here, and otherwise, about how many extra wins we would have last year if Brady had played vs Cassel. Well here you go - I think this game is a perfect example of "one of those wins" you get with Brady in the line up. It was ugly, but it was gutsy in the end. And I was proud to see him come out and lead that comeback drive. Last year maybe we lose a game like this. I almost feel like we should have lost it tonight, but big players make big plays!

and p.s. I hope your finger feels better hehe

 

[ALP]

Re: My postgame thoughts

this has already been mentioned, but it was amazingly evident tonight...

our O-line cant multi-task....

they can either run block, or pass protect, but cant do both at the same time....

in the first half, they were in run block mode, and whereares Maroney had holes and the running game was great, Brady was getting killed....

second hafl comes, and what do we see? the running game suffers, and there are no holes, but all of a sudden Brady has time....


i just can figure this O line out

 

[supafly]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

I too was very impressed with the secondary as a whole, they did a great job of taking away the big play, and I am a little more at ease now after this effort.

I am quite happy to see my pre-season binky, McGowan, making such a significant contribution and getting so much playing time. To be frank, I thought those who had him picked to be cut were totally missing it. I expected him, not Chung to be first off the bench in case of injury, but I didn't expect Belichick to use him as much as he did. The guy is a good veteran pickup, and can tackle well--not to mention good ST presence.

I do miss Seymour, I'm not going to lie, but besides Wilfork getting tired and slowed at times, the defense didn't seem to hurt as bad at I first worried. I have always thought Jarvis Green was underrated, and I am very glad we did not get rid of him. I look forward to seeing Pryor and Brace further down the line. The run defense could use a little more gelling, but I am still happy with the end result of 17 allowed points, and under 300 yards.

I am glad Watson stayed, as I have thought he has a developed a good repoire with Brady, and his blocking has improved. I attribute his below average year to some issues with Cassel last year. Also glad Baker looks good.

Still wish we could get Maroney in space more, and look forward to some decent kickoff returns. He does so well with some grass in front of him, I am a little disappointed with the run blocking--but thought the pass protection looked alright, even good at times.

I didn't take Buffalo lightly, and wish some others didn't either. I think we can win the division with healthy players, but it's not going to be as easy as a lot of people like to think. You cannot base past success on current or future performance, and I still think the schedule will be challenging. I expect a good down the stretch record, but am wary of teams like Tennesee, Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans, and am prepared for a divisional loss or 2--despite much argument from the 'homers.' And no, I am not being a chicken little, I have respect for the opponent, and I can absolutely guarantee that the team and our coach feel the same.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

The OL at the end of the game looked much better. I am not sure how much of that was from Brady being more focused and getting the ball out quicker or from them just getting their act together.

I just rewatched the fourth quarter, and I was a bit bummed by what I saw. Basically, the team adjusted to the fact that that the OL was a turnstile. Much quicker plays, and Brayd unloaded within a second each drop. Coupled with the prevent defense, and it worked. Still, guys were coming through almost unabated. If you get a chance to see a replay, see if you agree that it wasn't a whole lot better than the first 3 quarters, except that the patriots adjusted.

 

[Easywolf32]

Re: Game Thoughts

Not to mention the shmuck mod who keeps deleting my posts and dissalowing me to see my stats/previous posts, what's going here?

 

[DaBruinz]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

My thoughts ...

1: Do we have someone to set the edge?

2: Why doesn't Mike Wright play more.

3: We need Adalius Thomas more on the inside than the outside.

4: Kevin Faulk looks 27 years old.

5: We need Burgess on the field more ... I can't wait.

6: Wilfork is less dominating without Seymour - But I figured that.

7: Randy Moss looks like he's 27 years old.

8: Wes Welker looks like he is 27 years old.

9: Ben Watson stepped up.

10: Maroney did not ... but some vets here hate to hear it.

11: Kaczur quietly had a very very good game.

12: Brandon Merriweather is a good going on great leader.

Maroney didn't step up? Talk about not knowing what you are talking about. You must have been sleeping when he got the ball. Or you're just being plain ignorant. Maroney had a great kick off return to start the game (Buffalo kicked away from him every time after that). And he had a few good runs tonight. The times he didn't, he had 2 or 3 defenders in the backfield when he got the ball. And it was the same for Taylor also. Haters like yourself don't want to deal with reality.

 

[unoriginal]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

I didn't take Buffalo lightly, and wish some others didn't either. I think we can win the division with healthy players, but it's not going to be as easy as a lot of people like to think. You cannot base past success on current or future performance, and I still think the schedule will be challenging. I expect a good down the stretch record, but am wary of teams like Tennesee, Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans, and am prepared for a divisional loss or 2--despite much argument from the 'homers.' And no, I am not being a chicken little, I have respect for the opponent, and I can absolutely guarantee that the team and our coach feel the same.

Healthy way to approach the game.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

Half the credit has to go to Gostowski who recovered the fumble.. he didn't have to go and dive in the pile, but he did..

True that. While he was diving into the pile to get the ball, James Sanders was jumping around pointing possession rather than getting his butt on the ground while the ball was still in play.

So, when there's a live fumble, why is there always such an obsession with players jumping around to point their direction? The refs don't care, and half of them are always wrong and look foolish. It's a weird aspect of football. I usually don't mind, but like tonight when a guy should be in the pile getting the ball or keeping guys off a teammate with the ball, standing around pointing which way you want it to go is a waste of time. Get in the pile until the ref starts pulling you off.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

Good post MC... a couple of my thoughts:

I totally agree about this being a 'good' win for us. First off, it's a division win. If by some chance the AFCE comes down to tiebreakers again a loss to Buffalo would have been devastating. 1-0 and pray to God that Mayo is okay that's all I wanted from this game. It also seems the years we come out and look not so good or flat out bad in the opener, we go on to play much better later in the season, at least on defense. Lots of room for improvement, but sometimes that's not a bad thing at this point.

Offensively, Maroney and Taylor ran very well I thought. Can't blame LoMo for the 3 yard losses that almost killed and then killed a drive those plays had nowhere written all over it. On that note I will say I thought the playcalling was pretty bad but I might be nitpicking. Please get rid of that toss play. Short yardage situations were bad all around tonight playcalling and execution. Brady and Welker are not on the same page. Galloway who knows. Moss was Moss. Watson and Faulk were outstanding.

Coverage was awesome on both kicks and punts. With this team that is going to be crucial. Uncharacteristic easy miss by Ghost.

Secondary looks improved, up front we are really missing 93

 

[supafly]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

True that. While he was diving into the pile to get the ball, James Sanders was jumping around pointing possession rather than getting his butt on the ground while the ball was still in play.

So, when there's a live fumble, why is there always such an obsession with players jumping around to point their direction? The refs don't care, and half of them are always wrong and look foolish. It's a weird aspect of football. I usually don't mind, but like tonight when a guy should be in the pile getting the ball or keeping guys off a teammate with the ball, standing around pointing which way you want it to go is a waste of time. Get in the pile until the ref starts pulling you off.

Good point, in this case the ball happened to squirt around quite a bit--as it often does. I think maybe Sanders thought or assumed that someone had a good grasp on it. Fundemental football tells you to fall on it, although in some cases it sure looks like a team has definitive possession when in fact, they don't yet.

I think that's why we used to do those monkey rolls in pee wee football, though I could be thinking of another drill.

 

[DaBruinz]

Re: Game Thoughts

11.) Ian, I have been quite about the server issues prior to tonight, but you gotta fix this thing. I donate $18 a year to you (something I don't do for any other entertainment website I visit) and I expect to be able to come here on gamedays to post and see other people's posts. It is unacceptable that the server cannot even handle a Sunday gameday where the Pats are off. It is even worse when it is out during the game and hours after. You really need to get this fixed.

Rob -
I don't know if this was the case tonight, but during the 1st two pre-season games, there were Denial of Service attacks on the servers.

While, like you, I am a supporter, I also know that there is a lot more that goes into running this board than we know. I can guarantee you that IAN is more frustrated than all of us supporters put together.

Hopefully, whatever plagued the server tonight will have left a trail that Ian and the support staff can follow and fix..