Observations game 1

[Ring 6]

The obvious, Moss, Thomas, Welker, Brady, OL looked great, Jets were overmatched in the trenches.
This was one of the most dominant efforts of the BB era. Everything unit and part of the gameplan worked very well.

The first impression I got from this game was that we have enormously imporved the WR postion, compared to any set of WRs we have ever had.

The biggest special characteristic of Brady has always been quickness through progressions, a good decision making process about what 'open' means, and getting rid of the ball quickly once he has made that decision.
More than in any game I remember, Bradys first read actually got open consistently. There were many time that he dropped and was hurrying to throw the ball because the first read was open. There were others as well where he had plenty of time to do what he does and checkdown, and again, someone was ALWAYS open. (We have grown used to seeing Brady make the right decision and throw the ball away a decent amount of the time, I remember few if any yesterday)

Its one game, but the first impression is that what Brady has accomplished as a QB was to extent handicapped by a mediocre group of receivers who struggled to get open, with Brady overcoming that problem. Remove that problem and give him receivers who consistently get open, and this could be frightening.

Yesterday could be a harbinger of what this pass offense will be. If receviers get open as readily as they did yesterday, Bradys production will be better than ever. On top of this, when he is checking down, he is finding more open receivers.

We totally dominated physically as well, on both sides of the ball. I can't imagine a game going any other way that this that would be more optimisitc.

 

[TruthSeeker]

(We have grown used to seeing Brady make the right decision and throw the ball away a decent amount of the time, I remember few if any yesterday)

If I remember correctly, he twice threw the ball away on 3rd down when deep in the opponents territory - to which I said "thank you". One of TB's biggest weaknesses, IMO, was his forcing the ball in that situation.

 

[patsox23]

An interesting side-note is my hope that Brady's new mind-set will lead to less "forcing" (hi, champ bailey! and end of the Super Bowl v. Carolina!) since he KNOWS the offense will score a lot. Might he be less tempted to take unnecessary risks, given he'll be a bit more relaxed in knowing that the O is going to produce its share of points more efficiently than it may have in the past?

 

[patriot lifer]

An interesting side-note is my hope that Brady's new mind-set will lead to less "forcing" (hi, champ bailey! and end of the Super Bowl v. Carolina!) since he KNOWS the offense will score a lot. Might he be less tempted to take unnecessary risks, given he'll be a bit more relaxed in knowing that the O is going to produce its share of points more efficiently than it may have in the past?

yeah, if we're winning, why force it?

 

[njpatsfan]

The line domination on both sides of the ball was amazing.

And for those that think that have posted about how weak our running game was, consider this: up by two touchdowns with 2:19 in the third quarter, the Patriots went into clock killing mode, and embarked on a 17 play drive featuring runs (some in the telegraphed jumbo package) and short passes that ate up 10:28. 10:28 !!! That is astounding ball control.

To me this is something we haven't done well since Dillon's prime in 2004. With this explosiveness coupled with the ability to control the clock when you are ahead - this is a really scary offense.

R

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Its one game, but the first impression is that what Brady has accomplished as a QB was to extent handicapped by a mediocre group of receivers who struggled to get open, with Brady overcoming that problem. Remove that problem and give him receivers who consistently get open, and this could be frightening.

I've been making this argument for years. On another forum I post at, I've had to listen to arguments against mine like, "Oh bullsh*t, Caldwell and Gaffney are damn fine receivers so don't give me this crap about Brady having nobody to throw to." They always hedge their statements with, "Well of course they aren't Harrison and Wayne, but they aren't awful." Awful isn't the point. Mediocre is. Mediocre receivers can run decent routes, catch the ball (except in the AFCCG), make adjustments and thank God they can or else Brady really would have nobody to throw to. Mediocre receivers can't shake tight man coverage, don't command a double-team that opens things up for everyone else and don't force the safeties to play back, opening up the running game. That Brady has been able to win with mediocre wideouts is a credit to him and him only and I think this year will show the naysayers that, "Damn, he really did make those past receivers look good."

Other thoughts...

1. Randy Moss - holy crap! It's one thing to hope the guy eventually looks good after he and Brady get their timing down after a few games since he missed all of camp. It's completely another for him to look like his 1998 self in game ONE. Good lord he's good.

2. The front seven - Richard who? I'll be shocked if San Diego pushes them around next Sunday night. They looked dominant.

3. Adalius Thomas - What a set of wheels on that (huge) guy. Linebacker speed looked like an issue at the end of last year, but not anymore.

4. It's been said so many times by others, but they were so good that it's only fitting to echo the sentiments: Great job by the OL! Pass protection was pristine and the run blocking was damn fine, too. Maroney should have had 100+ yards, but he missed a couple of prime cutback opportunities during some zone-blocking running plays and instead plowed into the crowd for little or no gain. The goalline blocking on Evans' TD was so thorough that Vilma could only watch in despair as Evans dove past him.

5. This was maybe the biggest big-picture message of the game I came away with: The Pats put up 38 points (31 if you want to discount the kick return) and didn't need turnovers to rack up those points. The Jets did not give the Pats 20yd scoring drives with fumbles and INTs, which is usually the case when teams put up a ton of points. The Pats simply put the points up on their own. On the road. Against a playoff team from last year. Against a coach who supposedly knows the Pats inside and out. Beautiful.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Metaphors]

Let me try to add a couple on the negative side, since the positives are pretty universally covered today. Bear in mind this is nit-picking given the outcome:

1) The defense let the Jets offense get into a rhythm during their 2 scoring drives. It felt ever-so-slightly like the 2nd half of the AFCC game. Once the Jets got 2-3 positive plays in a row, I felt almost resigned to them getting into the endzone. Even on the Jets 1st drive, only a fraidy-cat punt on 4th down stopped what could have been a scoring opportunity. Hard to tell if BB knew that the Jets couldn't score enough with this approach, or if the Pats just couldn't stop the momentum and get off the field.

2) Watson isn't pressuring defenses into respecting him. I think it is his route running. Even on the TD catch, he wasn't moving fluidly and made that play harder than it needed to be. If he can develop into a threat and dominate the middle between the LB and S, opposing defenses would have no way of defending everything the Pats could do. I can see opposing safeties playing deep (defend Moss and Stallworth) and linebackers playing up (defend Maroney and Welker)...unless/until Watson starts attacking that open area.

3) Holding for FGs is an obvious target. Cassel should be replaced with Hanson immediately. Not that Cassel can't be good, but he needs to practice with the idea that he could be the QB on the field at a moments notice. Hanson has plenty of practice time to get his kicks in and work on holding.

Please don't ding me for being negative because this first game went much better than I expected and the items above are not major (the defense played great and Watson caught a TD and blocked well...even springing Hobbs on the return TD). I just wanted to throw some different perspectives out.

 

[The 12th Man]

Let me try to add a couple on the negative side, since the positives are pretty universally covered today. Bear in mind this is nit-picking given the outcome:

1) The defense let the Jets offense get into a rhythm during their 2 scoring drives. It felt ever-so-slightly like the 2nd half of the AFCC game. Once the Jets got 2-3 positive plays in a row, I felt almost resigned to them getting into the endzone. Even on the Jets 1st drive, only a fraidy-cat punt on 4th down stopped what could have been a scoring opportunity. Hard to tell if BB knew that the Jets couldn't score enough with this approach, or if the Pats just couldn't stop the momentum and get off the field.

2) Watson isn't pressuring defenses into respecting him. I think it is his route running. Even on the TD catch, he wasn't moving fluidly and made that play harder than it needed to be. If he can develop into a threat and dominate the middle between the LB and S, opposing defenses would have no way of defending everything the Pats could do. I can see opposing safeties playing deep (defend Moss and Stallworth) and linebackers playing up (defend Maroney and Welker)...unless/until Watson starts attacking that open area.

3) Holding for FGs is an obvious target. Cassel should be replaced with Hanson immediately. Not that Cassel can't be good, but he needs to practice with the idea that he could be the QB on the field at a moments notice. Hanson has plenty of practice time to get his kicks in and work on holding.

Please don't ding me for being negative because this first game went much better than I expected and the items above are not major (the defense played great and Watson caught a TD and blocked well...even springing Hobbs on the return TD). I just wanted to throw some different perspectives out.

I agree, it is easy to note the positives, but we need to mention the "areas that can still be improved" as BB says. I also noticed the defensive units weren't switching their packages fast enough in the first half. The Jets caught them on that penalty for offsides on their scoring drive. Seau tried to call a timeout, but they were all used up by that time. Seemed a little unlike a veteran thing to do. He should be on top of that. Again, I'm also not trying to be negative, but just evaluating the entire game, as BB would. Just my 2 cents.

 

[14thDragon]

Let me try to add a couple on the negative side, since the positives are pretty universally covered today. Bear in mind this is nit-picking given the outcome:

1) The defense let the Jets offense get into a rhythm during their 2 scoring drives. It felt ever-so-slightly like the 2nd half of the AFCC game. Once the Jets got 2-3 positive plays in a row, I felt almost resigned to them getting into the endzone. Even on the Jets 1st drive, only a fraidy-cat punt on 4th down stopped what could have been a scoring opportunity. Hard to tell if BB knew that the Jets couldn't score enough with this approach, or if the Pats just couldn't stop the momentum and get off the field.

The defense is going to have problems with no-huddle offense. The dependence on sub-packages to keep players fresh and ready to go is great with a veteran team, and allows a lot of different things. But if an offense can find a package vunerability they can just keep attacking it and allowing no substitutions to correct for it. Obviously that short middle of the field is a vunerability for the D.

This could be worrisome against a team like the Colts with a very good no huddle offense. Hopefully the game plan will have some contingencies for such a situation.

The really good new is that our offense this year should be able to mount it own sustianed drives to give the defense a breather and time to make adjustments.