Week 1 Patriot Player Evaluations

[MrNathanDrake]

You are clueless. Mayo was in man coverage on the slot receiver #82. That was his guy. He can't stop covering him and just let him run into the endzone. The play is designed to run Mayo out of the play. 82 cuts inside Mayo, which is right around when Mayo is figuring out it's a run. It's too late at that point.

You can say he 'froze' all you want, but unless you expect him to be able to go from man coverage to diagnosing a draw and then getting there despite being shielded by the receiver then maybe you're asking a bit too much.

Lewis would have had just as zero shot as Mayo after the line didn't even slow Henne down. I think you are greatly underestimating the fact that Mayo was in man coverage and not zone.

You are wrong.

Henne had already passed the LOS and would not be able to pass. It was also an obvious designed QB draw. Mayo clearly is looking directly at Henne, but takes a wrong step to the right which allowed Henne to punch the ball in the endzone with barely any contact.


Check my post history going back to pre-season and even as far as Mayo's Rookie campaign. I'm a huge Mayo fan, but he had a bad game last night. Simple as that.

I'm not sure why some of you try to do damage control. Even our own head coach will surely be ripping into Mayo for this terrible play, so I dont know why you bother trying to stick up for this poor play.

 

[The Scrizz]

I took screen shots to support what I said.

Henne is a good 7-8 yards away. Mayo is within the same hash marks as Henne who is running straight the entire time. Why was Henne able to run 7-8 yards before Mayo was able to run a few steps to cut him off?

The answer is simple. Mayo froze and took a wrong step to his right, when he shouldve went at him head on. Mayo took the wrong angle. There's no excuse for letting a slow QB run 7-8 yards past you in the redzone when you would only need to take a few steps to meet him head on.


Keep in mind he is a QB, not a RB or WR and probably runs a 4.9 40 on a good day. He also isn't going to be juking anyone out, which is what Mayo seemed to be afraid of.


Oh, Mayo also got stiff armed pretty bad by Brandon Marshall last night too.


Be a Homer all you want and make excuses. I like Mayo as much as anyone else does, but he had a bad game last night.

He took a step to his right because the receiver was directly in front of him and he was running in the opposite direction after the receiver and had to stop!

Yeah, I'm a Homer. I actually agree on the stiff-arm, I thought that was Guyton for a second. You can say he had a bad game but using that play as evidence is ridiculous.

 

[BradyMossWelker]

You are clueless. Mayo was in man coverage on the slot receiver #82. That was his guy. He can't stop covering him and just let him run into the endzone. The play is designed to run Mayo out of the play. 82 cuts inside Mayo, which is right around when Mayo is figuring out it's a run. It's too late at that point.

You can say he 'froze' all you want, but unless you expect him to be able to go from man coverage to diagnosing a draw and then getting there despite being shielded by the receiver then maybe you're asking a bit too much.

Lewis would have had just as zero shot as Mayo after the line didn't even slow Henne down. I think you are greatly underestimating the fact that Mayo was in man coverage and not zone.

I don't know what you're talking about.
Mayo clearly had a shot to tackle Henne. He should have stopped the play. Watch it again, I don't how someone can argue that it was impossible for any backer to stop it.

 

[BradyFTW!]

You are clueless. Mayo was in man coverage on the slot receiver #82. That was his guy. He can't stop covering him and just let him run into the endzone. The play is designed to run Mayo out of the play. 82 cuts inside Mayo, which is right around when Mayo is figuring out it's a run. It's too late at that point.

You can say he 'froze' all you want, but unless you expect him to be able to go from man coverage to diagnosing a draw and then getting there despite being shielded by the receiver then maybe you're asking a bit too much.

Lewis would have had just as zero shot as Mayo after the line didn't even slow Henne down. I think you are greatly underestimating the fact that Mayo was in man coverage and not zone.

Lewis wouldn't have been anywhere near the play, and therefore nobody would have blamed him. This is one of those cases, I think, where having range actually hurts you in the perception of uneducated fans. The fact that Mayo came as close to making a play as he did was fairly impressive, I thought.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

He took a step to his right because the receiver was directly in front of him and he was running in the opposite direction after the receiver and had to stop!

Yeah, I'm a Homer. I actually agree on the stiff-arm, I thought that was Guyton for a second. You can say he had a bad game but using that play as evidence is ridiculous.

It's not acceptable to be in the NFL for as long as Mayo has, as a team captain, and let a slow QB run for a TD right infront of you when you had 7-8 yards of open space to tackle him.

I could understand if it was Adrian Peterson running at him... but it was Chad freakin Henne.


It was a bad play on Mayos part and I'm sure he would admit that himself.

 

[BradyMossWelker]

The play is designed to run Mayo out of the play.

Again, did you watch the play?
If that play was designed to take Mayo out of the play he would've run a route outside, not inside, to the exact place Henne ran.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Lewis wouldn't have been anywhere near the play, and therefore nobody would have blamed him. This is one of those cases, I think, where having range actually hurts you in the perception of uneducated fans. The fact that Mayo came as close to making a play as he did was fairly impressive, I thought.

Mayo is within the same hash marks. Look at the yellow line.

Henne runs a good 7-8 yards while Mayo barely ran 1 yard. He simply FROZE and took the wrong angle.

 

[BradyFTW!]

I thought Solder far exceeded my expectations from him. He grown a lot in the last five weeks. Quick first step and set up. His hands and elbows are tucked and his knee bend was ever present.

I like BB using Fletcher as the FB in goal line siituations. For a second year guy to be learning a new position, MLB in a 4-3, and learning all the calls in the Pats complex passing game, he must be impressing the heck out of BB and the coaches.

Branch was awesome last night. After watching the preseason I thought he was cooked, boy did he prove me worng.

Is it time to play Price and sit Ochosucko?

No. When Nolan Carroll is on the field, you throw at him. There's a reason why they had Carroll covering Branch, and not Ochocinco.

 

[HomerSchooled]

Spikes wasn't on the field, so we're clearly not getting what we want out of him, be it due of injuries or something else. Mix in his suspension last year and some other embarrassing behavior, and there's some reason to think there could be an issue here. I too prefer to be optimistic, but it's not like worries are baseless. Hopefully, he can bounce back from whatever is going on and start making an impact.

As for player evaluations, I was really happy with how the line played, and was pleasantly surprised by Connolly, Waters, and Solder. They all played well, and Connolly's steadiness at center was a massive relief.

It goes without saying that Brady played well, but I think we saw some promising signs regarding recent holes in his game. He responded beautifully after the interception, whereas last year you could tell they really made him tentative. His deep balls were beautiful, and despite his 517 yards, it could have been worse if some balls weren't dropped or receivers just made slightly better plays (Passes off the hands of Slater and Welker jump to mind). Makes me wonder what Price can bring to Brady's game. Pocket presence looked good, too. He looked very confident back there, and he handled what little rush reached him pretty well. It's amazing how the guy just keeps getting better. I can't imagine what he'd be like if the ACL hiccup never occurred.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Mayo is within the same hash marks. Look at the yellow line.

Henne runs a good 7-8 yards while Mayo barely ran 1 yard. He simply FROZE and took the wrong angle.

Henne was sprinting and Mayo stopped, changed directions, and had to come back to the play.

 

[BradyMossWelker]

Lewis wouldn't have been anywhere near the play, and therefore nobody would have blamed him. This is one of those cases, I think, where having range actually hurts you in the perception of uneducated fans. The fact that Mayo came as close to making a play as he did was fairly impressive, I thought.

So now you say Ray Lewis doesn't deserve the credit he gets? I don't understand.

The fact was that Mayo was there, had a chance, and just couldn't stop him.

Mayo is great, one of the best in the biz, but he isn't perfect, as shown in this play.

 

[The Scrizz]

You are wrong.

Henne had already passed the LOS and would not be able to pass. It was also an obvious designed QB draw. Mayo clearly is looking directly at Henne, but takes a wrong step to the right which allowed Henne to punch the ball in the endzone with barely any contact.


Check my post history going back to pre-season and even as far as Mayo's Rookie campaign. I'm a huge Mayo fan, but he had a bad game last night. Simple as that.

I'm not sure why some of you try to do damage control. Even our own head coach will surely be ripping into Mayo for this terrible play, so I dont know why you bother trying to stick up for this poor play.

Whatever. I don't care whether you like Mayo or not. That play was not on Mayo.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Henne was sprinting and Mayo stopped, changed directions, and had to come back to the play.

*shaking my head*


You just don't get it and will say anything to back up Mayos poor play.


Mayo is God. He can never have a bad game. He can never take a wrong step. He can never make a bad play.


Get real. Mayo took a wrong step, a bad angle, and was overall too slow to react to an obvious QB draw.

 

[The Scrizz]

Henne was sprinting and Mayo stopped, changed directions, and had to come back to the play.

And had to wait for the receiver who cut in front of him to clear as well, but let's pretend he was just sitting back there in zone and just had to run up. Absurd.

 

[Spiral]

I thought Fletcher looked good on a couple of blitzes.

I thought Gostkowski's leg looked weak. Some of his kicks weren't even making it to the goal line. Beginning to remind me of Vinatieri's kickoffs.

It will be interesting to see if Slater can run anything other than a 9.

I thought the whole rotation of d-linemen kept them pretty fresh. It would be nice to see Vince get some more plays off.

Not a fan of Arrington at d-end. I'd rather see Ras-I on a corner blitz.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Whatever. I don't care whether you like Mayo or not. That play was not on Mayo.

Mayo is in clear position to make a tackle while a slow running Chad Henne was still 7-8 yards away..... Mayo ended up barely getting a finger on him.

It was Mayos fault. End of story.

 

[Clonamery]

Not a fan of Arrington at d-end. I'd rather see Ras-I on a corner blitz.

He was shadowing Bush.

 

[The Scrizz]

*shaking my head*


You just don't get it and will say anything to back up Mayos poor play.


Mayo is God. He can never have a bad game. He can never take a wrong step. He can never make a bad play.


Get real. Mayo took a wrong step, a bad angle, and was overall too slow to react to an obvious QB draw.

How is disagreeing on a particular play saying that Mayo can do no wrong? If it was such an obvious draw why was Mayo the only one of the 11 guys on the field to even react to it?

 

[reflexblue]

Mayo is in clear position to make a tackle while a slow running Chad Henne was still 7-8 yards away..... Mayo ended up barely getting a finger on him.

It was Mayos fault. End of story.

You know if you want Perfection you need to find football played by Robots. Even if your right No one can make every play every time.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

You know if you want Perfection you need to find football played by Robots. Even if your right No one can make every play every time.

No ones perfect.

But a Pro Bowl LB on a SuperBowl caliber team needs to make tackles in the redzone against slow running QB's.



So that's 1 missed tackle in the redzone that cost us 7 points. Then he also missed a tackle on Brandon Marshall and was stiff armed badly later in the game. So that's 2 missed tackles.

IIRC Mayo had single-digit missed tackles in the entire 2010 season, and now he already has 2 in just 1 game.

It was a bad game by Mayo standards, and we expect more from our star LB.