Just a little cold water

[Peter Pat]

I was at the game as usual, as I have not missed a Pats game in Giants stadium in 9 years. Like everyone else, I was extrememly happy with the performance, and think the Pats look great.

But I figured I would share some concerns from what i saw at the game.

1) First the Jets are not a good team. They have major line problems on both sides. And several other issues. They will be a 6-10, 7-9 at best team. So you can't really judge the Pats right now, next week is the litmus test.

2) Maroney did not look good, he still was too hesitent before hitting the holes. Pitter pattered his feet too much, and he goes down easy, he does not break tackles. Morris was the better RB by far yesterday, this is not a good development for the Pats. I am having my doubts on the kid.

3) LB coverage. Believe it or not, Chad had a decent day, and all he does is throw underneath. The LBs in coverage were getting beat a lot. Made me have flashbacks of the Indy game.

But besides that, it was a great Sunday afternoon in the swamps of Jersey. Watching Brady to Moss was awesome. My seats were 15 rows from the field on the 20 yard line on vistors side. Randy's TD practically came into my lap I was so close, I can tell you it was amazing to see live. Plus Randy was on the sidelines all day, really working with the other WRs and Brady. He was into it.

If the Pats can get Maroney on track, and shore up their coverages, they will be scary good.

 

[sarge]

I noticed the LB thing (and the Maroney thing for that matter) as well.

I think the world of Teddy B, but at this point in his career, he is a severe liability against the pass (I'm sure I will get flamed for that).

I think Thomas on the other hand looked much better in coverage. But it looked to me like the middle of the field was pretty much open the whole day.

Hopefully that can be fixed.

 

[Richter]

Maroney is on track, I don't know what game you watched. He wasn't hesitant, he was patient. And on several occasions he gained an additional 2 to 3 yards after contact. I don't want him to change anything, because as the blocking improves with the team getting more comfortable in the new scheme, he's going to have more and more opportunities to break long runs. Maybe it's because you were contrasting him against Sammy Morris and his downhill running style, and he had a few nice runs up the middle when the Pats line blew the Jets midgets on the d-line off the ball, but I sure as heck don't want Maroney changing anything. He was very close to gashing the Jets for a multiple long runs, and soon enough, when the blocking scheme matures, he'll be doing it on a regular basis.

 

[Mack Herron]

Good points. I think the kool aid is keeping som people from seeing that Morris was clearly our best back yesterday and Maroney needs to improve (>4 yds/carry).

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Thanks PPat. I'm not sure I have enough data to agree or disagree with you on the Linebacker coverage, but I did come away concerned about Maroney and drew the same conclusion about Morris just from watching on TV. It was as though the Patriots wanted to be sure Maroney got his 20 carries.

I also thought that Asante was beaten badly on the endzone TD, both on the TD itself as well as on the play immediately preceding it when the ball was dropped (the tv guys initially gave him credit for breaking up the play but the replay showed it was a drop). Were you close to that play or was it in the other end zone? Thanks again.

 

[ClevTrev]

One of the trends that I'm beginning to see, as the Pats continually retool and improve their personnel is the expectation that they must be mistake-free. This trend is based on certain fans' perception that this team is so good, that any and all mistakes and sub-par play are unacceptable. Let's hope that's not the case, as fans should enjoy this, as those who followed the 1972 Bruins or 1986 Celtics can attest that this won't last forever.

As this was the first game of the season, the tapes will be reviewed and improvements made. With 16 regular season games, there will be many varied strategies employed to win, and with pressure applied by the opponent, no team ever deploys a clean strategy successfully.

That being said, I felt the Pats stopped the underneath, short passes when it was critical. Some errors are to be expected, and I thought the LBs played smart and strong for the majority of the game. The running game was effective at critical points in the game. When the Jets DBs cheated in to stop the run, the Pats put the ball in the air. When the DBs honored the pass, the Pats deployed the run effectively. Those dynamics were very successful in my book.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Maroney is on track, I don't know what game you watched. He wasn't hesitant, he was patient. And on several occasions he gained an additional 2 to 3 yards after contact. I don't want him to change anything, because as the blocking improves with the team getting more comfortable in the new scheme, he's going to have more and more opportunities to break long runs. Maybe it's because you were contrasting him against Sammy Morris and his downhill running style, and he had a few nice runs up the middle when the Pats line blew the Jets midgets on the d-line off the ball, but I sure as heck don't want Maroney changing anything. He was very close to gashing the Jets for a multiple long runs, and soon enough, when the blocking scheme matures, he'll be doing it on a regular basis.

i hope you're right and i'm still a big Maroney fan and agree that i don't want him to change much. but i didn't see him so much breaking tackles to gain the extra yards as driving after the initial contact. IMO, next week's the test for Maroney against the Chargers line and secondary. anything over 70 yards and I'll be with you 100%.

 

[Flying Fungi]

the only thing about Maroney that disappointed me was--that he didn't get enough touches

no kool-aid involved in it--I am very bullish on that kid

Maroney is far and away the best back on this team--Morris looks decent and got some nice touches, but Maroney is the one that looks like he could go yard every time he touches the ball

 

[Slagathor]

I'm not buying into this.

The Jets are NOT a bad team. Pennington's injury will now weaken them quite a bit, but prior to that they were a top 10-15 team.

Just because we beat them handily they all of the sudden are bad?

Maybe we're just really damn good

 

[letekro]

I was at the game as usual, as I have not missed a Pats game in Giants stadium in 9 years. Like everyone else, I was extrememly happy with the performance, and think the Pats look great.

But I figured I would share some concerns from what i saw at the game.

1) First the Jets are not a good team. They have major line problems on both sides. And several other issues. They will be a 6-10, 7-9 at best team. So you can't really judge the Pats right now, next week is the litmus test.

2) Maroney did not look good, he still was too hesitent before hitting the holes. Pitter pattered his feet too much, and he goes down easy, he does not break tackles. Morris was the better RB by far yesterday, this is not a good development for the Pats. I am having my doubts on the kid.

3) LB coverage. Believe it or not, Chad had a decent day, and all he does is throw underneath. The LBs in coverage were getting beat a lot. Made me have flashbacks of the Indy game.

But besides that, it was a great Sunday afternoon in the swamps of Jersey. Watching Brady to Moss was awesome. My seats were 15 rows from the field on the 20 yard line on vistors side. Randy's TD practically came into my lap I was so close, I can tell you it was amazing to see live. Plus Randy was on the sidelines all day, really working with the other WRs and Brady. He was into it.

If the Pats can get Maroney on track, and shore up their coverages, they will be scary good.

It's funny that people don't see the fallacy of this argument. Why do you think Michael Turner averages more YPC than LDT? Could it be that that the Safeties and LB's pay more attention to LDT and LoMo than to Turner and Morris? Ya think???

 

[Peter Pat]

Thanks PPat. I'm not sure I have enough data to agree or disagree with you on the Linebacker coverage, but I did come away concerned about Maroney and drew the same conclusion about Morris just from watching on TV. It was as though the Patriots wanted to be sure Maroney got his 20 carries.

I also thought that Asante was beaten badly on the endzone TD, both on the TD itself as well as on the play immediately preceding it when the ball was dropped (the tv guys initially gave him credit for breaking up the play but the replay showed it was a drop). Were you close to that play or was it in the other end zone? Thanks again.

That was the other end zone, but I saw the play pretty well. I just thought it was a great play by Coles. Asante was in good position. I am not that worried about Asante, he was clearly a little rusty, and Coles is a strong WR who has a lot of talent. I thought the secondary did a great job for the most part, Cotchery who killed the Pats last year was practically a non factor. I really think BB shaded coverages to him, and thats why Coles had some success today.

 

[mgteich]

Why would it be terrible if Morris turns out to be our featured back, and Maroney his #2? This seems to be a nightmare for so many. Can't Morris and Maroney be "thunder and lightning"? Why does it matter who ahs more touches?

 

[Vern]

The game plan was a huge factor in this. I think it was Hobbs after the game that said they stressed "no big plays." He also said that they knew Pennington was going to be efficient, and if they had to, let the guys get the come back receptions and just make them eat clock and march the field to score. That way, they have to do it over and over and over to keep up.

As for Maroney, I think you got from him about what you're going to get, with some rust. He's an 1100 yard back (70 ypg), not a 1600 yard back (100 ypg). I'm not sure when 1100 yards a year became something to be concerned about.

 

[PatsFan37]

I was at the game as usual, as I have not missed a Pats game in Giants stadium in 9 years. Like everyone else, I was extrememly happy with the performance, and think the Pats look great.

But I figured I would share some concerns from what i saw at the game.

1) First the Jets are not a good team. They have major line problems on both sides. And several other issues. They will be a 6-10, 7-9 at best team. So you can't really judge the Pats right now, next week is the litmus test.
I agree, you have to be careful judging any team from one game. But that would include calling the Jets a 6-10 team based on taking a beating from one of the best teams in the league. Neither is next week a litmus test. OTOH, it's a bit early for cold water, too.

2) Maroney did not look good, he still was too hesitent before hitting the holes. Pitter pattered his feet too much, and he goes down easy, he does not break tackles. Morris was the better RB by far yesterday, this is not a good development for the Pats. I am having my doubts on the kid.
I thought the blocking did not look good. I wouldn't compare it to Morris. I think Morris benefited from a few times when the inside blocking was working well.

3) LB coverage. Believe it or not, Chad had a decent day, and all he does is throw underneath. The LBs in coverage were getting beat a lot. Made me have flashbacks of the Indy game.
That may have been the game plan. Take away the run and big play, give them the underneath routes and tackle immediately. A bigger problem was the lack of turnovers, which is the hoped-for benefit of forcing a team into long drives.

LB coverage will improve, but this is a team built on bigger, slower LBs and smaller faster DBs, it will never have great underneath coverage. That's why, when the field compresses in the red zone, and the underneath routes are accessible to the quick defenders in the secondary, the Pats don't break.

But besides that, it was a great Sunday afternoon in the swamps of Jersey. Watching Brady to Moss was awesome. My seats were 15 rows from the field on the 20 yard line on vistors side. Randy's TD practically came into my lap I was so close, I can tell you it was amazing to see live. Plus Randy was on the sidelines all day, really working with the other WRs and Brady. He was into it.

If the Pats can get Maroney on track, and shore up their coverages, they will be scary good.

xxxxxxxxxx

 

[MDD]

I remember a running back we had about ten years ago who looked a little hesitant hitting the holes and danced a little too much the first couple years. He averaged under 4 yds. per carry too those first couple seasons.

Forget his name, Curtis something or other.

 

[ClevTrev]

Why would it be terrible if Morris turns out to be our featured back, and Maroney his #2? This seems to be a nightmare for so many. Can't Morris and Maroney be "thunder and lightning"? Why does it matter who ahs more touches?

Good point, and it appears that for some any first rounder must be an LT-type back or it's a wasted pick. I don't get it either.

 

[AzPatsFan]

This discussion of weakness versus ther short passing through the LBs overlooks one thing.

Pennington has built a career on doing exactly that. He certainly is not a deep thrower or a scrambling terror liker Michael Vick.

That talent took them to 10 wins last season, and good years whenever he was healthy.

Fot the short throw, Opie may be the best in the business at that one thing, better than Manning or Brady or anyone in the League perhaps. He issuper accurate and places the ball very accurately. His career is based on threading the needle.

A potential weakness ? Sure, but I seldom saw any WR get more than step or two oafter a completion before having multiple tacklers arrive. Any other passer, slightly more inaccurate, would have had several picks, in similar circumstances. Even so, he still only guided two scores...

 

[PromisedLand]

I'm not buying into this.

The Jets are NOT a bad team. Pennington's injury will now weaken them quite a bit, but prior to that they were a top 10-15 team.

Just because we beat them handily they all of the sudden are bad?

Maybe we're just really damn good

I agree. In fact, the Patriots were the ONLY team to beat a 2006 playoff team ON THE ROAD in week 1. Not San Diego, not Indy. Certainly not the Bears or the Saints. JUST the Patriots.

 

[Richter]

Why would it be terrible if Morris turns out to be our featured back, and Maroney his #2? This seems to be a nightmare for so many. Can't Morris and Maroney be "thunder and lightning"? Why does it matter who ahs more touches?

It matters because Maroney is better, much, much better, and is one of maybe 10 backs in the league that can break off a long run on virtually any play. I really, really like Sammy Morris, I think he fits perfectly as the grinder to compliment Maroney, but Maroney needs to get the bulk of the touches so that he has the chance to bust off those long runs that just cripple an opponent.

 

[MDD]

This discussion of weakness versus ther short passing through the LBs overlooks one thing.

Pennington has built a career on doing exactly that.
...

Remember how the guy killed us in '02 at Foxboro with the underneath stuff? Chad Pennington is the #1 reason we can't say we've been in the playoffs six straight seasons.