Watson and Meriweather

[Bostonian1962]

I know, I know, it's only the first game of the season. However, I believe game one was the best game in the careers of Watson and Merriweather respectively.

Yes, Watson had the one play where he started running before putting the ball away, and so dropped the pass. Yet, he played great, catching six rockets from Brady, and even looking really solid blocking on a couple of key runs. Of course, catching the last two TDs was huge as well. It could be argued it was his best game as a Patriot.

Not only was Merriweather all over the field, but he was wrapping up on his tackles unlike last year, and several of his tackles were of the jarring variety. Ofcourse, he was there on the key Bills kickoff ripping at the ball as well. Props to him, because he looked like a stud out there for game one.

P.S. - In the preseason and through game one, Bodden looks tremendous! That was his best game as a Patriot too.

 

[The_Riddler]

Meriweather is a flat out stud. He is always, always around the football making plays with bone-jarring hits. Now if we can replace his invisible partner, Mr James "Where are you" Sanders with Patrick Chung, and do this early so Chung has time to develop, then our safety tandem will be intact heading into the post season.

 

[italian pat patriot]

i think both had a very good game and i would add Banta Cain on that

 

[BelichickFan]

P.S. - In the preseason and through game one, Bodden looks tremendous! That was his best game as a Patriot too.

I'd love to re-sign him and have Bodden, Wilhite and Butler going forward with Wheatley still around too. The others are cheap so we could afford Bodden if we chose to. These guys should be a good group going forward this year along with Springs.

 

[PatsfanGlo]

Man after last night, I take back all the Benjamin Dropson jokes I made....

 

[JackBauer]

Meriweather is a flat out stud. He is always, always around the football making plays with bone-jarring hits. Now if we can replace his invisible partner, Mr James "Where are you" Sanders with Patrick Chung, and do this early so Chung has time to develop, then our safety tandem will be intact heading into the post season.

Actually Sanders quietly had a good game last night.

 

[The_Riddler]

Actually Sanders quietly had a good game last night.

Did he ? In what way ?

You mean the 4 tackles made after the damage had already been done ?

He's a 3rd safety, a role player, never, ever around the football until serious yardage has already been gained. No picks, no forced fumbles, nothing ?

The position needs a serious upgrade, Chung can't come up to speed fast enough.

 

[LoganMankinsPancakeBlocks]

I'd love to re-sign him and have Bodden, Wilhite and Butler going forward with Wheatley still around too. The others are cheap so we could afford Bodden if we chose to. These guys should be a good group going forward this year along with Springs.

Agreed. Bodden looked really great last night, both in his coverage and his tackling. I kept thinking "Damn, sucks that he turned that 4/18 offer from us down this off-season, because I think he's going to get a lot more than that after this year".

 

[Easywolf32]

Merriweather is the only guy on D and maybe Bodden CB, that I liked last night, Wilfork looked HILARIOUS flattening Jackson by the way, anyone saw that?

I thought our D until the last minutes SUCKED. Especially out LB's and DE's/ It was really nice to see them wake the f up in the last few minutes, that's the D we want, the 2001-2004 D style. It's going to be hard to replace harrison, seymour, brushci, vrabel. Those 4 were special. In BB we trust.

 

[satz]

Did he ? In what way ?

You mean the 4 tackles made after the damage had already been done ?

He's a 3rd safety, a role player, never, ever around the football until serious yardage has already been gained. No picks, no forced fumbles, nothing ?

The position needs a serious upgrade, Chung can't come up to speed fast enough.

are you serious!! what about the player in front who let a RB in a Screen or Off tackle run him...so you logic is just because the DL and LB blew it you want to upgrade sanders.

you really want a safety who can play at the LOS as the DL and LB are horrible....ask the bengals if they would like to have a Safety deep who can clean the mess up front and tackle in the last 5 minutes of the game 1.

Sanders stays back and plugs the hole when lb/dl is blocked and a rb enters the backfield. His job is to stop a big play first and last. From your post you would think the bills gainned huge chunks of yards .

So tell me about
Vince and Ty they were being push to one side by 3-4 OL ...so they need to be upgraded
Green /Banta and Bugress cannot block and push a 320lb tackle -
green was the worst player in the defence. they ran at him ,screens were very effective. Ty and Vince were sealed and green cannot win a 1 on 1 battle.

 

[tedylb]

[Sanders stays back and plugs the hole when lb/dl is blocked and a rb enters the backfield. His job is to stop a big play first and last. From your post you would think the bills gainned huge chunks of yards .

Agree. He's a centerfielder who rarely gets burned downfield. And he's a hitter.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I think that this is the year that Meriweather breaks out, even listen to Brady in the post-game press conference, he sees him everyday, and he basically said, this kid is coming out this year. Meriweather was all over the field last night. Do not discount what the loss of Mayo did to the defense, that combined with the no-huddle and the loss of Seynmour annd they still only gave up 17 points.

The pass rush needs to be seriously upgraded, however I think the loss of Mayo, stymied the blitzes (I didn't see any ILB blitzes).

Pierre Woods is still terrible, he was a one man get beat crew on that first Buffalo TD, how he makes this team year after year is a mystery.....

Let's give credit to TBC, for that 3-10 rush at the end of the game, he goes into the tackle like he is going to bull rush him, makes a spin move and then sacks Edwards for what was basically the ball game. Nice situational football TBC! (BTW what was the Bills guard thinking when he called there last timeout??

As long as mayo is OK (BB basically said that he would be OK after the game, if you know how to read BBspeak, "He's a tough kid, he'll be alright".

 

[Kontradiction]

I loved the secondary and wasn't too impressed with the line play and the LB play (which could be attributed to the Mayo injury). But, if I wasn't happy about anything else, I would be happy with the pure physicality that the Pats defense showed throughout the preseason and last night. This is the most physical I've seen our defense look since 2004 and I'm loving it. The Guyton hit on Jackson ellicited an "OH YEAH!!!" from me. The dog woke up startled.

 

[The_Riddler]

are you serious!! what about the player in front who let a RB in a Screen or Off tackle run him...so you logic is just because the DL and LB blew it you want to upgrade sanders.

you really want a safety who can play at the LOS as the DL and LB are horrible....ask the bengals if they would like to have a Safety deep who can clean the mess up front and tackle in the last 5 minutes of the game 1.

Sanders stays back and plugs the hole when lb/dl is blocked and a rb enters the backfield. His job is to stop a big play first and last. From your post you would think the bills gainned huge chunks of yards .

So tell me about
Vince and Ty they were being push to one side by 3-4 OL ...so they need to be upgraded
Green /Banta and Bugress cannot block and push a 320lb tackle -
green was the worst player in the defence. they ran at him ,screens were very effective. Ty and Vince were sealed and green cannot win a 1 on 1 battle.

Look, guys like James Sanders, (aka keeping everything in front of themselves, never being around the football, never forcing any fumbles, never even remotely being close to picking off any passes - Especially sitting back, you would think at the very least this guy would be close to the football on deep outs and slants, AND HE'S NOT !), this guy redefines mediocrity, the position needs a serious upgrade. Matthew Slater can do this job and probably do it more effectively as I can definately see him being around the football alot more than Sanders.

 

[patchick]

Agreed. Bodden looked really great last night, both in his coverage and his tackling. I kept thinking "Damn, sucks that he turned that 4/18 offer from us down this off-season, because I think he's going to get a lot more than that after this year".

Yep, props to Bodden for having the confidence in himself to roll the dice on his play this season. If his first game is any indication, it will pay off for all concerned.

 

[satz]

Look, guys like James Sanders, (aka keeping everything in front of themselves, never being around the football, never forcing any fumbles, never even remotely being close to picking off any passes - Especially sitting back, you would think at the very least this guy would be close to the football on deep outs and slants, AND HE'S NOT !), this guy redefines mediocrity, the position needs a serious upgrade. Matthew Slater can do this job and probably do it more effectively as I can definately see him being around the football alot more than Sanders.

I disgree but that is my call i guess .i like sanders and also tom brady,harrison this year call him the leader of the backfield and bb gave him an extenstion.so i really do not think he is an issue, the biggest issue i saw a 7th rd rookie LT taking Green to the woodshed.no idea what a good LT is going to do. Better hope sander does what he is doing or we are going to have alot big running plays.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Brady waxed poetic about Watson's critical TD catch this morning on WEEI - noting how hard he threw it... how it was purposefully thrown to be caught on the back shoulder and the athleticism it took

I got the feeling Tom was sincere but also wants to build Watson up a bit, who even though he's been playing for 5 years might not feel he has Brady's confidence

 

[The_Riddler]

I disgree but that is my call i guess .i like sanders and also tom brady,harrison this year call him the leader of the backfield and bb gave him an extenstion.so i really do not think he is an issue, the biggest issue i saw a 7th rd rookie LT taking Green to the woodshed.no idea what a good LT is going to do. Better hope sander does what he is doing or we are going to have alot big running plays.

LOL, BB gave Sanders an extension ? So that justifies it as being a good decision ? LOL ! He also gave the guy you are hammering, Mr Jarvis Green a huge extension a few years back, So what does that say ? BB also signed Deltha O'Neil and a washed up Detriot CB who was part of the worst secondary in football, so who gives a crap about the fact the he re-upped James Sanders, the only reason he re-upped James Sanders is not so much because of his play, it was more the fact that he's been in the system for a few years more than anything else. Go ahead and hammer Jarvis Green, I agree, he was bad.

Look can you name the the last eye-opening play that James Sanders has made, name me his last pick ?, name me any kind of remote play that you can honestly sit and say "Wow, nice play James." Every damn tackle is made after the damage has been done (and that's if he doesn't take a bad angle - see Dwayne Bowe week one last season). I am done with James Sanders starting on this defense, go back to the 3rd safety role you origninally had.

 

[Dagg]

Agree with alot here, Bodden was very strong as was Merriweather. I dont think I even saw Sanders once out there he is yet again invisible. He still lacks burst and instinct. He doesnt help you but he also doesnt hurt you like a young Chung might at this point. The line and lb were being handled all night and it was embarrassing.

 

[The_Riddler]

Agree with alot here, Bodden was very strong as was Merriweather. I dont think I even saw Sanders once out there he is yet again invisible. He still lacks burst and instinct. He doesnt help you but he also doesnt hurt you like a young Chung might at this point. The line and lb were being handled all night and it was embarrassing.

You are spot on my friend. Invisible, that's exactly what he is, I would much rather see Patrick Chung inserted, even if he gets burned once or twice, I would still take Patrick's his speed, instinct and play making abilities over "BB's loyalty to Fresno State and James Freakin Sanders and the mediocrity he brings to this damn defense !"