Initial Thoughts ... (Patriots lose to Arizona Cardinals)

[mayoclinic]

In no particular order:

1. The Pats didn't deserve to win today. Too many mistakes, too many blown opportunities. FGs instead of TDs. Blocked punt. Missed 2-point conversion. Missed game-winning FG. Just not good enough.

2. The refs stunk and may have changed the course of the game, but that doesn't change the fact that the Pats didn't deserve to win.

3. Arizona has a legitimate defense, and they dominated our OL. Scar has some work to do before next Sunday night.

4. The special teams cost us 10 points with the blocked punt and the missed GF. Scott O'Brien has some owrk to do before next Sunday night.

5. The defense was awesome, and it's a shame the rest of the team let them down. They held Arizona to 245 yards overall, and gave up 20 points only because of the blocked punt. They made several big plays, including one in crunch time (when people were deriding them for "letting the team down once again") which gave the team an opportunity to win the game.

6. One loss means nothing. Especially a non-conference loss. The 2003 SB team lost it's opener 31-0. We've seen time and time again that the teams that start the season looking unbeatable are seldom the ones hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season. This is a young team, and I'm much more interested in how they finish than how they start.

7. With that in mind, the overall focus and intensity was poor. The team seemed flat and out of sync, and just didn't play with the same intensity and energy as last week, except for the defense. I suspect we'll see a different performance next week, but the lack of focus and consistency is somewhat concerning.

8. The Packers and Giants are 1-1, and both have a ton of problems. The Saints are 0-2. The Ravens lost to Philadelphia and gave up almost 500 yards of total offense. So one of the might Pats or the might Ravens will start their season 1-2 after next week's debacle. But I wouldn't count the loser out of the AFC race.

9. The game day threads are an embarrassment. Every missed play turns into hand wringing, epithets being hurled at the players involved, and cries of doom. Some "fans" seem to take delight in seeing the team fail. We're so spoiled by the sustained success of this team.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

In no particular order:

1. The Pats didn't deserve to win today. Too many mistakes, too many blown opportunities. FGs instead of TDs. Blocked punt. Missed 2-point conversion. Missed game-winning FG. Just not good enough.

2. The refs stunk and may have changed the course of the game, but that doesn't change the fact that the Pats didn't deserve to win.

3. Arizona has a legitimate defense, and they dominated our OL. Scar has some work to do before next Sunday night.

4. The special teams cost us 10 points with the blocked punt and the missed GF. Scott O'Brien has some owrk to do before next Sunday night.

5. The defense was awesome, and it's a shame the rest of the team let them down. They held Arizona to 245 yards overall, and gave up 20 points only because of the blocked punt. They made several big plays, including one in crunch time (when people were deriding them for "letting the team down once again") which gave the team an opportunity to win the game.

6. One loss means nothing. Especially a non-conference loss. The 2003 SB team lost it's opener 31-0. We've seen time and time again that the teams that start the season looking unbeatable are seldom the ones hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season. This is a young team, and I'm much more interested in how they finish than how they start.

7. With that in mind, the overall focus and intensity was poor. The team seemed flat and out of sync, and just didn't play with the same intensity and energy as last week, except for the defense. I suspect we'll see a different performance next week, but the lack of focus and consistency is somewhat concerning.

8. The Packers and Giants are 1-1, and both have a ton of problems. The Saints are 0-2. The Ravens lost to Philadelphia and gave up almost 500 yards of total offense. So one of the might Pats or the might Ravens will start their season 1-2 after next week's debacle. But I wouldn't count the loser out of the AFC race.

9. The game day threads are an embarrassment. Every missed play turns into hand wringing, epithets being hurled at the players involved, and cries of doom. Some "fans" seem to take delight in seeing the team fail. We're so spoiled by the sustained success of this team.

nice run down.

hoping the team can learn from this and the coaches get the team back on track.


only week 2 but the feeling around here is we lost the SB again.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

In no particular order:

1. The Pats didn't deserve to win today. Too many mistakes, too many blown opportunities. FGs instead of TDs. Blocked punt. Missed 2-point conversion. Missed game-winning FG. Just not good enough.

2. The refs stunk and may have changed the course of the game, but that doesn't change the fact that the Pats didn't deserve to win.

3. Arizona has a legitimate defense, and they dominated our OL. Scar has some work to do before next Sunday night.

4. The special teams cost us 10 points with the blocked punt and the missed GF. Scott O'Brien has some owrk to do before next Sunday night.

5. The defense was awesome, and it's a shame the rest of the team let them down. They held Arizona to 245 yards overall, and gave up 20 points only because of the blocked punt. They made several big plays, including one in crunch time (when people were deriding them for "letting the team down once again") which gave the team an opportunity to win the game.

6. One loss means nothing. Especially a non-conference loss. The 2003 SB team lost it's opener 31-0. We've seen time and time again that the teams that start the season looking unbeatable are seldom the ones hoisting the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season. This is a young team, and I'm much more interested in how they finish than how they start.

7. With that in mind, the overall focus and intensity was poor. The team seemed flat and out of sync, and just didn't play with the same intensity and energy as last week, except for the defense. I suspect we'll see a different performance next week, but the lack of focus and consistency is somewhat concerning.

8. The Packers and Giants are 1-1, and both have a ton of problems. The Saints are 0-2. The Ravens lost to Philadelphia and gave up almost 500 yards of total offense. So one of the might Pats or the might Ravens will start their season 1-2 after next week's debacle. But I wouldn't count the loser out of the AFC race.

9. The game day threads are an embarrassment. Every missed play turns into hand wringing, epithets being hurled at the players involved, and cries of doom. Some "fans" seem to take delight in seeing the team fail. We're so spoiled by the sustained success of this team.

I agree, nice rundown, although I'd say the defense deserved to win. Offense probably did too. Not so sure the offensive coaching staff and FO did. This looked like a team unable to adapt or adjust on the fly to the loss of one player. Might want to rethink their strategy and reshuffle the roster because he's going to be gone for a while.

 

[Haley]

Penalties, penalties and more penalties. I have not seen us play this sloppy in a long time.

 

[Deus Irae]

I don't buy the argument that the team didn't deserve to win. They overcame major OL problems, a limited Welker and the loss of Hernandez, and they won the game but for that holding call.

However, I did want to bring up an x's/o's thing.


Even without Hernandez, and even with that O-line, they seemed to move the ball much better with 4 wide formations, IMO. I won't bother going back to look at it and break it down, because the loss of Hernandez will likely change the offense a lot moving forward, but I think we should expect more spreading the field moving forward.

 

[resdubwhite]

A lot more drops today and missed passes.

Ball to gronk in the endzone being one. Lloyd had a couple of drops too.

Shame.

strange exciting game. sucks to lose it.

 

[mayoclinic]

I agree, nice rundown, although I'd say the defense deserved to win. Offense probably did too. Not so sure the offensive coaching staff and FO did. This looked like a team unable to adapt or adjust on the fly to the loss of one player. Might want to rethink their strategy and reshuffle the roster because he's going to be gone for a while.

I thought the phrase "the defense played awesome, and it's a shame the rest of the team let them down" implied that I thought the defense deserved to win.

As for the offense deserving too, I'm not so sure. The OL played poorly. There were too many penalties and missed opportunities. Too many field goals. 18 points just isn't enough production, especially when the defense gives you a short field to win the game and the special teams spots the opposing team 7 points. BB preaches "complementary football", and there wasn't much complementary out there today.

 

[Bill B.]

The Patriots looked like they were playing with no heart for the first three quarters of a game. I don't know if losing Hernandez had any effect, but it sure seemed like they were going through the motions. Maybe the injury right after a turnover took some steam out of them.

Play-calling was way too conservative. This team should be lighting it up. Too many run attempts on third down. With AZ being tough against the run, the Patriots should have been trying to pass deep more.

Brady looks like he has lost some confidence in his receivers and Oline. He took one sack before anyone touched him. There were a few drops early and I don't think Brady and Lloyd are on the same page. Is Gaffney still available?

This team is young. When we had an older team, the veterans always were able to bounce back. I hope the younger guys can let this loss go and come out withmore ddetermination next week.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The cardinals deserved to win today. It just stings knowing that we had a chance to steal one at the end on a major blunder by the other team.

There is no one player, coach, or official to blame for the loss, plenty of blame to go around.

If Hernandez avoids IR, today might not matter if we play well enough rest of the year as we're capable.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Nice run down.

Special teams was the story to me. I'd add to your list a net 10 yard punt from the 38 or so. That was horrible and, if I remember right, led to the Cardinals long TD drive. Really poor.

Arizona is a very good team, and I'm glad our division opponents have to play them. They are very stout in their half of the field and they put guys on the ground. Peterson is getting very close to a shut down corner.

The short story of the game to me was first about the Cards' inexplicable decision not to kneel down when they should have and then the Patriots' decision to kneel down when they shouldn't have. Treating a 40 plus yard field goal as a given is a hubris.

 

[Deus Irae]

This "deserved to win" thing would be more convincing if the Cardinals hadn't made the boneheaded move of not taking the kickoff out of the endzone, and then hadn't fumbled the ball inside of that 2 minutes.

If we're going to talk about "deserving", the Patriots were as deserving as the Cardinals. Moreso, since they'd have been the team that actually won the game if not for the official.

 

[mayoclinic]

I don't buy the argument that the team didn't deserve to win. They overcame major OL problems, a limited Welker and the loss of Hernandez, and they won the game but for that holding call.

I thought the Pats should have won the game, but didn't "deserve" too. The reasons I thought they didn't "deserve" it:

1. Their intensity and focus seemed lacking, to an extent that I haven't seen since the 2010 Cleveland game. Arizona played with more intensity, and gave me the impression that they wanted it more.

2. The team made too many mistakes in key spots. Missing game winning field goals. Giving up points on ST turnovers.

3. There were too many sloppy mistakes and penalties, and the Pats failed to capitalize on several opportunities.

With that in mind, by those standards Philadelphia probably didn't "deserve" to beat Baltimore, and the Giants probably didn't "deserve" to beat Tampa Bay. But both teams hung in and made enough plays to win. The Pats hung in too, and then couldn't convert when it counted.

 

[Reckedtrek]

Oh the irony. The year we finally get a better D and a balanced attack on Offense, we lose the home opener.

But in all seriousness, mayoclinic, I think your post is spot on. Next week's game should be even more interesting.


I'm starting to hate all things AZ when it comes to football, and the Pats in particular!

 

[Ring 6]

7. With that in mind, the overall focus and intensity was poor. The team seemed flat and out of sync, and just didn't play with the same intensity and energy as last week, except for the defense. I suspect we'll see a different performance next week, but the lack of focus and consistency is somewhat concerning.

Good post, but I am going to comment on this one point.
I will never understand how a fan determines what the intensity of the team was from their TV set.
The Patriots didn't make as many plays as they needed to today, but why would we need to guess that they were ambivalent or didn't care to focus?
How come whenever we win, we were great, and its not the other team lack focus and intensity?

 

[Observer]

It wasnt that difficult to win in the end. Kick the ball in. But we choked, becoming a habit now.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

I agree with pretty much all your points ans have some of my own to add.

1. The defense played phenominal today, but I felt like they just didn't make the right play at the right time...until that fumble by the Cardinals with 1 minute left.

2. Reidley. When was the last time you really saw a RB make sure a greate second effort and get more than fall down yards. He's a keeper from the looks of it.

3. Lloyd. Number 85. His Body control is almost without a peer. Absolutely incredible and he and Brady have the mind meld going quite well. Some solid D prevented so other good plays that other teams probabyl won't make.

4. Lloyd. Why does he stop and try to survey the field and end up getting little to no extra yards. I would think he'd gain more yards just going and ad libbing the juke on the fly. Especially when he's only 1-2 yards short of a first down (needs a little more situational awareness, but I'm notpicking...Lloyd is also a keeper).

5. For people who are picking on Brady. He had plenty of throws that were so perfect and tight, that he still has it. Their Defense was much better than the stats will show. They should have used more hurry up sooner.

6. The offense wasn't getting enough yardage on first downs. That's what my eyes tell me was the biggest problem. That lead to more predictable offensive plays. Also, we lost some yards running outside to the right. But, you have to credit the Cardinals 2 big men up from and hope for better plays in the future.

 

[Ring 6]

This "deserved to win" thing would be more convincing if the Cardinals hadn't made the boneheaded move of not taking the kickoff out of the endzone, and then hadn't fumbled the ball inside of that 2 minutes.

If we're going to talk about "deserving", the Patriots were as deserving as the Cardinals. Moreso, since they'd have been the team that actually won the game if not for the official.

They deserved to have the game come down to one or two critical plays that could have decided it either way.

 

[upstater1]

Lack of execution

1. Arrington whiffs on Heap's 30 yard run, and just stands there looking lost before the throw.

2. Lloyd big drop on easy throw, puts them in 3rd and long

3. Welker big drop on 3rd down throw

The Patriots didn't make the plays today.

It really is as simple as that.

 

[PatsGirl2011]

The cardinals deserved to win today. It just stings knowing that we had a chance to steal one at the end on a major blunder by the other team.

There is no one player, coach, or official to blame for the loss, plenty of blame to go around.

If Hernandez avoids IR, today might not matter if we play well enough rest of the year as we're capable.

My thoughts exactly..The last 45 seconds was deplorable though...You could just see the missed FG coming..

 

[heavyde050]

I think two of biggest plays of the game were the drops by Lloyd and Welker.

Welker's drop (which would have been a first down) was immediately followed by the blocked punt.

Lloyd made an amazing catch and followed it up by an inexcusable drop that would force the Pats to punt (after a failed run on 3rd and short.).

It just seems like these games happen from time to time. The defense was great except for the Kyle Arrington dive and miss of Todd Heap (that was completed by the 15 yard penalty on Gregory).

The offense was sleepwalking through the game until the very end. They made plays to put the team in possession to win, but it did not work out. Tough loss.