Some Quick Thoughts - Sardines Style

[TheBostonStraggler]

He we go:

1. It wasn't pretty on offense today, but they got it done when it mattered. Brady just seemed off today. I don't know if he was thinking of Gisselle and impending fatherhood or not, but he missed a lot of wide open receivers today. His INT was Sanchez-like.
2. Granted the rest of the offense had its issues. Too many receivers falling down and running bad routes. The o-line was really down three starters with Mankins not making the trip, Connolley going out quickly, and Vollmer looking like a shadow of himself (reports before the game he looked to be in so much pain that people didn't think he would play). In the end they all stepped up for the most part.
3. Kudos to Trevor Scott. We see now what the Pats' like in him. Two sacks including the strip sack that Wilfork recovered the ball. Both Cunningham and Jones gone and the defense seemed better than it was a few weeks ago.
4. Still concerned about the consistency of the secondary. Both Arrington and Talib were up and down all game. Both made some great plays and really bad ones. Luckily Tannenhill and his receivers couldn't capitalize on them and Arrington got away with a facemask call that would have been huge.
5. Liked seeing the defense carry the offense in a game. The Dolphins' offense isn't great. So we cannot get too excited, but the defense kept the Pats in the league when the offense stalled. Definitely could help build confidence in the defense going into the playoffs.
6. I don't buy this was a trap game and the Pats were looking past the Dolphins. I give the Dolphins' defense a lot of credit. They are a good unit and they gave Brady fits at time taking advantage of the Pats' makeshift o-line (something the Jets couldn't do).
7. Congratulations to the Pats on yet another division title. Hopefully, this is the first of many hat and T-Shirts they earn for the 2012-2013 season.

Scott's sacks were great! Kudos to him for making the most of the opportunity. What really stood out for the DL was the improved rush D performance. Minus the 40 yards of rushing on Miami's long TD drive, there were about 60 Yards allowed with about 3 per rush avg over the other 10 drives. This unit has been porous lately and it would be nice if this game starts a trend back to being stout.

I think you are nit picking too much on the secondary. Sure, there were some up and down moments for the secondary.....and with the rush D.....and with the pass rush. Yet one of the knocks on the secondary - a deserved one -- is they allow clearly lesser QBs (exactly ones like Tannehill) to become top passers. This did not happen today. They made Tannehill look like Tannehill. Arguably our secondary did as good or better on Tannehill (statistically speaking) than any of the Phins last 4 opponents.
I like what I saw and have been seeing. A once very porous secondary has multiple games of playing better than their horrid first half of the season.
.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Pats D deserves credit. They held the Phins to 16 points and Tannehill under 200 passing yards, 45% passing, and 0 TDs through the air. That is really quite good. The inexplicable FG drive at the end of the game, well they gave up yards too easy. But at least they only gave up 3 points there.

Pats offense deserves a lot of credit for the final clock killing drive which used up all of Miami's timeouts, got 3 critical points, and gave the ball back with only 1:45 left on the clock.

Pats are getting some practice at situations that will be helpful down the road - surviving a test against a tough/tight defense. Running the ball and killing the clock when it counts. Keeping the ball out of the endzone through the air. Defending the onsides kick! All executed pretty well, and a soild foundation for this team to build on heading into the final stretch of the season!

 

[shmessy]

Nothing wrong with that win at all. I only see positives.

A patchwork offensive line gave Brady a reasonable amount of time in spite of some great rushes from Wake et al.

Pass heavy at the beginning but we ran when it counted - how can you not love that last drive?

Some drops and some bad throws and one pretty great INT - these are things that historically-speaking, we don't see a lot of so I'm looking at them as aberrations.

Loved our defense today. Some big plays given up but they were stout, forced 3 fumbles and only let them in the endzone once. They aren't perfect but they were somewhere between mediocre and good which is a world of improvement from just a few weeks ago.

Not only was Trevor Scott a revelation, but I thought Kyle Love had his best game of the season also.

 

[BradyBranch39]

for those who got to watch the game:

As somebody who started Bess in fantasy despite thinking BB might focus on stopping him...

Did that appear to be the case?

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Regarding the much throw to Hernandez that got picked.

Calling Brady Sanchez-like is quite the insult and no warranted. You probably have a frustrated Brady (given the o-line, lack of separation and earlier drops). W'e can agree it wasn't a good decision/throw. But sometimes guys are paid to make plays and not have the ball hit them squarely in the numbers and the other guys are paid to make plays too. So cut him some slack as nobody is going to play mistake free for a game or season.

This was a tough game and probably in typical fashion how many games in the NFL are played/won. Especially since our division foe knew we would clinch the division with a win on their home field. So, they were really going to give it their best shot and play their role of spoiler. They know they're not getting to the superbowl this year and making us lose would be their only happy thought on the season (well that and maybe having a QB who could play at the NFL level -- though more picks than TDs isn't the best of signs of the next coming of Dan Marino).

 

[DarrylS]

Going into the game with the knowledge that Brady is 0-3 against the Dolphins at home in December, my expectations were tempered...

It was not flashy, nor will there be any points for style.. but it was a good win, our defense is getting noticeably better... still some communication issues in the d backfield, but as time goes on more and more confidence..

 

[Mack Herron]

Great to see the defense continue to improve. Offense came through in the clutch with 2 reserve guards. Only concerns about the offense are (1) Lloyd's productivity is disappointing (at an important but thin and imbalanced position); and (2) the line started to feel the injuries to Mankins (reinjured while recovering from ACL), Connolly (back), Vollmer (back). I am wondering if one or more of the OL may have chronic injuries and may not be able to return soon, which eventually could force difficult decisions with roster spots. If they sign Branch now (for Edelman's injury), for instance, they will need to create a roster spot. They still have a couple of spots at the end of the roster that they can release, but this strategy has a limit as injured players (Gronk, Jones) take up dead space on the roster. How many can we afford?

Looking to Mon, with Edelman looking like he will be out for a bit, who will return punts? I am not comfortable with Welker getting 18 targets and doing punt returns.

Overall a solid win but we need some rapid healing now.

 

[Rob0729]

Scott's sacks were great! Kudos to him for making the most of the opportunity. What really stood out for the DL was the improved rush D performance. Minus the 40 yards of rushing on Miami's long TD drive, there were about 60 Yards allowed with about 3 per rush avg over the other 10 drives. This unit has been porous lately and it would be nice if this game starts a trend back to being stout.

I think you are nit picking too much on the secondary. Sure, there were some up and down moments for the secondary.....and with the rush D.....and with the pass rush. Yet one of the knocks on the secondary - a deserved one -- is they allow clearly lesser QBs (exactly ones like Tannehill) to become top passers. This did not happen today. They made Tannehill look like Tannehill. Arguably our secondary did as good or better on Tannehill (statistically speaking) than any of the Phins last 4 opponents.
I like what I saw and have been seeing. A once very porous secondary has multiple games of playing better than their horrid first half of the season.
.

I think I am being fair about Talib and Arrington especially Talib. Talib got beat badly on what should have been a long TD pass and another deep ball. At times he would have made Tannehill look like a stud if Tannehill was a more accurate passer.

 

[Rob0729]

Regarding the much throw to Hernandez that got picked.

Calling Brady Sanchez-like is quite the insult and no warranted. You probably have a frustrated Brady (given the o-line, lack of separation and earlier drops). W'e can agree it wasn't a good decision/throw. But sometimes guys are paid to make plays and not have the ball hit them squarely in the numbers and the other guys are paid to make plays too. So cut him some slack as nobody is going to play mistake free for a game or season.

This was a tough game and probably in typical fashion how many games in the NFL are played/won. Especially since our division foe knew we would clinch the division with a win on their home field. So, they were really going to give it their best shot and play their role of spoiler. They know they're not getting to the superbowl this year and making us lose would be their only happy thought on the season (well that and maybe having a QB who could play at the NFL level -- though more picks than TDs isn't the best of signs of the next coming of Dan Marino).

If Sanchez threw the exact same pass in the exact same situation, you would say it was a patented Sanchez INT. It was Sanchez-like IMHO. Doesn't mean Brady is like Sanchez. He just had one really bad pass.

 

[PatsFan2]

I think I am being fair about Talib and Arrington especially Talib. Talib got beat badly on what should have been a long TD pass and another deep ball. At times he would have made Tannehill look like a stud if Tannehill was a more accurate passer.

You got it Rob...why is Arrington still in our line-up? Talib looked bad against a possession WR can't imagine how he would do against a guy with Great Speed. Talib might need consistent help over the top seriously!

 

[JackBauer]

LOL You guys are funny. Hernandez is being paid to beat single coverage. Manning threw a pick into triple coverage today. That was Sanchez like.

It's alright to admit that sometimes -- just sometimes -- "Tommy" makes mistakes, too.

 

[JackBauer]

I think I am being fair about Talib and Arrington especially Talib. Talib got beat badly on what should have been a long TD pass and another deep ball. At times he would have made Tannehill look like a stud if Tannehill was a more accurate passer.

Regarding the first play in particular I don't think it was as much Talib getting beat straight up as it was a miscommunication between Talib and Gregory. I'll need to watch again but one first viewing both the way Talib played the route and his subsequent reaction indicated he expected to pass off Hartline to Gregory. Now, that may of course still be Talib's fault if he was supposed to stay with the receiver, but certainly it's something more easily corrected than the guy getting flat out beat.

 

[PatsSox363804]

Regarding the first play in particular I don't think it was as much Talib getting beat straight up as it was a miscommunication between Talib and Gregory. I'll need to watch again but one first viewing both the way Talib played the route and his subsequent reaction indicated he expected to pass off Hartline to Gregory. Now, that may of course still be Talib's fault if he was supposed to stay with the receiver, but certainly it's something more easily corrected than the guy getting flat out beat.

Bedard put that one on Gregory. He said everyone was playing cover 2 except for Gregory who came up so Talib was passing him off then when he noticed Gregory was out of position he tried to catch up.

 

[goheels22002]

[*]Still concerned about the consistency of the secondary. Both Arrington and Talib were up and down all game. Both made some great plays and really bad ones. Luckily Tannenhill and his receivers couldn't capitalize on them and Arrington got away with a facemask call that would have been huge.

[/LIST]

Ryan Tannehill went 13 of 29 (45%) for 186 yards and 0 TDs - at home. His passer rating was 66.2 - below his mediocre season average by 10 points.

You reference "really bad plays." Name one. We all know what a really bad play looks like and we did not see a single one yesterday from the secondary.

This was by far the best performance by the pass defense of the year and the new configuration of DBs is terrific so far. We'll know more in a week, but I love how this is going.

 

[sevengables_2207]

You got it Rob...why is Arrington still in our line-up? Talib looked bad against a possession WR can't imagine how he would do against a guy with Great Speed. Talib might need consistent help over the top seriously!

I think you may be hyperbole-ating a bit there. Talib was burned bad on a play where he thought he had safety help over the top. The replay showed him realize his initial error and race to recover. Luckily the ball was under-thrown and Talib closed the gap just enough to make the catch a bit more difficult for Hartline.

Besides that brain-fart, I thought Talib had pretty solid coverage throughout the game. I did not notice him getting repeatedly burned and leaving guys wide open on a regular basis IIRC, you know, stuff that would mandate consistent help over the top.

 

[Rob0729]

Ryan Tannehill went 13 of 29 (45%) for 186 yards and 0 TDs - at home. His passer rating was 66.2 - below his mediocre season average by 10 points.

You reference "really bad plays." Name one. We all know what a really bad play looks like and we did not see a single one yesterday from the secondary.

This was by far the best performance by the pass defense of the year and the new configuration of DBs is terrific so far. We'll know more in a week, but I love how this is going.

So if Tannehill overthrows a wide open receiver without a defender within five yards of him, it is excellent coverage? Again, they had really bad plays that the Dolphins couldn't capitalize on because they have a below average QB who couldn't capitalize on the Pats' mistakes. Stop looking at the stats sheet and watch the game. Tannehill missed some big plays because he is a horrible deep ball passer.

 

[Rob0729]

Bedard put that one on Gregory. He said everyone was playing cover 2 except for Gregory who came up so Talib was passing him off then when he noticed Gregory was out of position he tried to catch up.

Maybe Bedard is right. I haven't watched too many reviews of the play other than what they showed live.

 

[Rob0729]

Regarding the first play in particular I don't think it was as much Talib getting beat straight up as it was a miscommunication between Talib and Gregory. I'll need to watch again but one first viewing both the way Talib played the route and his subsequent reaction indicated he expected to pass off Hartline to Gregory. Now, that may of course still be Talib's fault if he was supposed to stay with the receiver, but certainly it's something more easily corrected than the guy getting flat out beat.

Never said it wasn't correctable. Just that they had up and down days with some horrible mistakes that luckily the Dolphins couldn't capitalize on. Granted in Arrington's case, I wonder if it will.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

You reference "really bad plays." Name one. We all know what a really bad play looks like and we did not see a single one yesterday from the secondary.

Talib released a receiver (Hartline?) to McCourty, though McCourty wasn't in position and the receiver barely missed the throw for an easy score. Why we can call this a positie play because nothing bad came of it, it was an example of bad execution that could ultimately lead to easy points for an offense.

Just because no points/yards were scored doesn't mean it wasn't bad.

Still, Tannehill didn't get much except for the garbage yards we gave up within the 2 minute warning (which was disappointing as we gave up the sidelines somehow to allow them to stop the clock -- that's coaching though.)

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

If Sanchez threw the exact same pass in the exact same situation, you would say it was a patented Sanchez INT. It was Sanchez-like IMHO. Doesn't mean Brady is like Sanchez. He just had one really bad pass.

Ah, so 1 play makes people play like another...i see where you are coming from. I just disagree on the name calling. It was a bad play/mental mistake no doubt.

Brady may make a mental mistake every game and probably a dozen good plays and a few spectacular plays.

Sanchez I'd say makes a handful of mental mistakes and maybe a handful of good plays and on occasion a spectacular play. Maybe i need to refer to that as Sanchez-esque and Sanchez like could be for individual-play effort .