Idle thoughts – The confessions of a fair-weather Pats fan

[The Brandon Five]

6. Dennard made 3 rookie mistakes in that first half alone that I saw and was going to comment on in detail had I not bailed on the team. Parcells (may he rot in hell), wisely said that if you have to start rookies, they are eventually going to cost you a game. By half time it looked like this was going to be the game for Dennard That being said, it really hurt the Pats when he got hurt. It weakened us in 2 spots, because Arrington keeps proving he doesn't belong on the outside, and conversely, not having him in the slot, weakened that area. I'm happy to hear that his injury doesn't look to be long term. It did when it happened.

Yup, ulitmately Arrington cost us the game, not Dennard...unless you blame Dennard for Arrington having to be in that position. Getting hurt ain't a "rookie mistake", though.

8. I don't think that the Niner would want to play us again in the Superbowl, especially with Gronk on board. That 2nd half had to have been a rude awakening for them, ,and what looked to be a dominant defense

I cannot believe we would ever be -2 in turnovers again. No way does SF recover 7 of 8 fumbles.

9. Can't say enough about our coaching staff. Not only did they keep those guys playing hard, they managed to make enough effective adjustments to allow the Pats to score 28 unanswered points on that great defense

One exception: sending seven on that last SF TD.

11. The bad news: the OL, and in particular Nate Solder, almost got Brady killed in the first half, and led to the most ineffective offense output of the year.....by far. The good news: the OL recovered enough so that they probably generated the most passing yards this season in just a half and led to 31 points in about a quarter and a half

I remember seeing Solder added to the injury report on Thur or Fri (adbomen). That bunch is a might bit banged up.

13. SF has a very good team, and its easier to see why Harbaugh has gone to Kaepernick. He did a very good job on Sunday, but the Pats gave him a lot of help. It seemed like every nightmare scenario a fan could conger up, happened in the first 35 minutes of that ballgame. Fumbles, interceptions, bad penalties we did it all. Think about it. SF punted 5 times, and the Pats got at LEAST 3 holding calls on those punts, maybe 4. When has that ever happened. How many time did the Pats have to start drives inside their 10. So many self inflicted wounds

The fact that they did not call holding on SF during the big kick return that set up the last TD was unadulterated bull-shyte.

 

[everlong]

There's only so many games per year and only so many games in Tom Brady's career so I've never turned one off and that includes some pre-season stinker like Cincinnati in 04.

The night of the Raiders game in 2001 I had friends over to watch the game and it was the first with my then brand new 65 inch HDTV which includes a great Marantz surround sound system. So the second half it's snowing like a mother out and one guy announces that's it I'm out of here they're toast and these conditions are only getting worse. So I think him for coming and tell him but thanks even more for being the sacrificial lamb who left and started the come back. He laughed and said you're probably right but I'll take that chance. He only lives about 12 miles away. We called his cell of course with everybody going crazy when they won and he still hadn't made it home almost an hour later. To this day if we watch a game together and they're losing I'll say it's time for you to go little lamb.

 

[jimache]

... watched the entire game ... well, kinda ... dove into a bottle of Balvenie to ease the pain at half time so, it was ALL blurry after the 31-3 TD

 

[BlitzFritz]

Turn it off??!!! I really dont understand that.....

(I was the one person who never left the TV room during the Snow Bowl in the middle of a big party.... had to go out there and tell people the result of the game later

(While some people left Foxboro early, we stayed in the freezing rain til the final play. Like we do every week....)

-- FRITZ

 

[Va_Pats_Fan]

My wife went to bed when it got to 31-3. She basically said, what is wrong with these guys. I figured it was just one of those nites. Nothing goes right, ball bounces the wrong way..I was actually chuckling at some of it, and thinking just how unbearable BB would be in the pressie.

I did start up my laptop, and tried to get on patsfans to see what was being said, but for some strange reason....the site was unresponsive!!

So I cranked up Diablo III while I watched..I soon put that down too....

Like someone said, when Brady gets that look....

 

[Mike the Brit]

You definitely should feel bad about yourself for turning the game off.

At 31-3 in the 3rd, I was calculating that the Pats would hopefully score at TD by the 6 minute mark, then another by the end of the quarter--they scored at 5:59 and the first play of the 4th quarter. At that point, I was feeling pretty smug in my living room. The next two tying TDs came faster than I thought, I must admit.

Anyway. I don't get the hand-wringing about Jones. He was injured! It's not any rookie wall. If anything, the break will help him down the stretch. By the playoffs, he'll be fully recovered. The guy will be fine.

I don't care who or where the Pats play in the playoffs--I've never been more high on the team this season. Give me a healthy team, barring another (EXTREMELY unlikely) turnover fest like this week, and they will ROLL.

A great post -- I'm trying to share your enthusiastic attitude, though this week gave it a knock, I have to admit. I completely agree about Jones and I think having Gronk is worth a good 6 or 7 points a game. There's still a lot to hope for (but I really DON'T want the Pats to have to go to Denver).

 

[SacPete1]

Wow. Too bad, man.
It was definitely my `favorite` loss of all time. As soon as Tom started breathing fire I couldn't even sit down. Spent the entire 3rd and 4th quarter pacing behind my sofa and staring at the television.

you pace too, huh? My wife thinks I'm nuts. The only time I get really amped up is watching the Patriots. I'm a big sports fan but sometimes I can't sleep the night before a big Pats game and I can't sit still during the game and I refuse to watch the game with anyone. I scream at the TV (only time I raise my voice) and my 2 dogs end up hiding under the bed until the game is over. Its crazy and I have a problem.

 

[Wax Frog]

This goes back away, even before last night. All the way back to 2001 when on a snowy night, I shut off the TV In disgust seconds after Rod Woodson's hit separated Brady from the ball, seemingly sealing the Pats playoff fate. I had never heard of the “tuck rule” let alone knew the nuances of it. So I, instead, went to my computer., and logged on to the KFFL Raiders page to grudgingly congratulate them on a game well played. It was there I saw, “I had been mistaken”. By the time I got the TV back on, Brady had scored, and the Pats had the ball back.....and we all know the rest of that story

I used to be VERY emotional about losses, particularly playoff losses - in my case it was about scrounging around for a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid to bathe my video cassette in . As fate would have it, my search failed, so as has always been my habit, I turned the TV back on one last time. To my surprise instead of a post-game Raider celebration I saw the referee announcing the results of a review, allowing me time to pop my tape back in send get a complete game recording :rocker:

 

[patfanken]

Yup, ulitmately Arrington cost us the game, not Dennard...unless you blame Dennard for Arrington having to be in that position. Getting hurt ain't a "rookie mistake", though.

Yes Arrington blew that single play, but you can never blame a single play for the loss of a game. Arrington was caught looking at the QB while Moss ran by him for the first TD. Later he got caught looking inside to help on Davis when the other TE ran by him to the corner of the endzone for the TD. These weren't physical mistakes, they were mental ones. The kind rookies make. Up to now they haven't been expensive. The other night they were costly. It had nothing to do with him getting hurt. There is no fault in that, but there were consequences, and one of those was having to play Arrington on the outside where he was physically out matched by the WR.

One exception: sending seven on that last SF TD.

*BTW - I don't believe that was was a passing blitz. *I believe it was a run blitz. *I doubt the Pats thought SF would pass after that great KR, and got caught.

I remember seeing Solder added to the injury report on Thur or Fri (adbomen). That bunch is a might bit banged up.

Yes they are. It will be interesting to see how Dante handles personnel the last 2 weeks

The fact that they did not call holding on SF during the big kick return that set up the last TD was unadulterated bull-shyte.

The Niners had the 4th most holding calls in the league up to that game. I'm not sure how many they got on Sunday. but it wasn't many. However if there was any holding going on on that KO, I missed it.

 

[robbomango]

You definitely should feel bad about yourself for turning the game off.

At 31-3 in the 3rd, I was calculating that the Pats would hopefully score at TD by the 6 minute mark, then another by the end of the quarter--they scored at 5:59 and the first play of the 4th quarter. At that point, I was feeling pretty smug in my living room. The next two tying TDs came faster than I thought, I must admit.

Anyway. I don't get the hand-wringing about Jones. He was injured! It's not any rookie wall. If anything, the break will help him down the stretch. By the playoffs, he'll be fully recovered. The guy will be fine.

I don't care who or where the Pats play in the playoffs--I've never been more high on the team this season. Give me a healthy team, barring another (EXTREMELY unlikely) turnover fest like this week, and they will ROLL.

lol, I was doing the same math in my head as well and figured we'd need to score at or before the 6 minute mark to make it a game. After that I gave each team 3 minutes per possession and us scoring on all 3 and them not. That would'v put the ball in SF's hands with 3 minutes left at a tie score. Stop em and a miracle drive and we win.

When they came back I jumped out of my chair and did a few "Tony Sparano Super fist-pumps" Then came the kick in the family jewels with the quick score, still thought they'd pull it off, just didn't happen.

 

[kkpat]

Question on 4th&2:

1. Do you think it was the right call considering we had 2 min & 2 Timeouts and addition 2 Min TO? Should we have punted and see if our D could get the ball back?

2. on 4th&2, Woodhead and their Nickle back has 5 yards separation. Why did Woodhead run so much behind. It should have been a short catch which could have completed easily. The throw was too high after Woodhead ran 6+ yards. Was that coach's mistake or badly executed play by Woodhead or Brady?

 

[QuantumMechanic]

on 4th&2, Woodhead and their Nickle back has 5 yards separation. Why did Woodhead run so much behind. It should have been a short catch which could have completed easily. The throw was too high after Woodhead ran 6+ yards. Was that coach's mistake or badly executed play by Woodhead or Brady?

I don't care what the playcall was there. Brady should have audibled to the quick hitch he's audibled to a zillion times before and fired the ball out to Woodhead as soon as he received the snap. Would have been an easy first down.

 

[Mack Herron]

Question on 4th&2:

1. Do you think it was the right call considering we had 2 min & 2 Timeouts and addition 2 Min TO? Should we have punted and see if our D could get the ball back?

2. on 4th&2, Woodhead and their Nickle back has 5 yards separation. Why did Woodhead run so much behind. It should have been a short catch which could have completed easily. The throw was too high after Woodhead ran 6+ yards. Was that coach's mistake or badly executed play by Woodhead or Brady?

1. Who you gonna trust: Brady and Woodhead, or Arrington and the safeties?

2. Horrible execution. Brady and Woodhead were terrific for most of the second half, but failed at a key moment.

So they leaned on the guys who were playing well, and came up short. This looks like hindsight to me. Going forward I don't think too many will be worried about the offense. The defense is another story, especially the secondary which regressed giving up big plays again and, with 2 games left, still has question marks. Chung replaced Gregory in the second half, but neither has yet to show they are the answer at S, and depth on the outside has to be another concern as Arrington's struggles there continue.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Hate to say this, but im pretty sure it was charles woodson who hit brady on the tuck rule play, not rod.

 

[patfanken]

Hate to say this, but im pretty sure it was charles woodson who hit brady on the tuck rule play, not rod.

Hey, I get it. At my age, I'm lucky to have gotten one of the 2 names right.

 

[patfanken]

Question on 4th&2:

1. Do you think it was the right call considering we had 2 min & 2 Timeouts and addition 2 Min TO? Should we have punted and see if our D could get the ball back?

2. on 4th&2, Woodhead and their Nickle back has 5 yards separation. Why did Woodhead run so much behind. It should have been a short catch which could have completed easily. The throw was too high after Woodhead ran 6+ yards. Was that coach's mistake or badly executed play by Woodhead or Brady?

For such a key play, I didn't think much of it. I would have lined up a RB in the backfield and gone from a shot gun, and then run something out of play action or run the ball if the defense if they were in a max coverage defense.

I can live with the the fact that it didn't work because someone on the Niners made a good play. But I can't help but be disappointed in the play selection and execution.

 

[PatsDeb]

For such a key play, I didn't think much of it. I would have lined up a RB in the backfield and gone from a shot gun, and then run something out of play action or run the ball if the defense if they were in a max coverage defense.

I can live with the the fact that it didn't work because someone on the Niners made a good play. But I can't help but be disappointed in the play selection and execution.

Agreed. Can't understand throwing there the way they did.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Agreed. Can't understand throwing there the way they did.

If you look at the replay welker was wide open. Come to think of it welker was wide open on e 4th and 2 against the colts in 2009

 

[MoneyFX]

All I have to say is, "That daggone kick return!!!" And that Michael Crabtr......... I don't wanna think about it anymore.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

In all honesty, how many of you would be happier today if the patriots ended up beating the niners in an epic come back, knowing well that the niners would have a sour taste in their mouths for any rematch game?

I don't like big winning streaks heading into the post season. At all. The patriots has big wnning streaks in the last two SBs....18 games in 2007 and 10 games in 2011 and we couldn't close the deal. Usually towards the end of these kind of streaks other teams start to catch up to you and that's exactly what happened each of those years. We can now regain focus and stadt a new winning streak of 6 games.