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.... I have a few comments to make concerning the game, plus a few comments on the comentat..ORS.
1. Count me among those who DON'Tt believe the officiating crew was "in the bag"....I think they just SUCKED and should be relegated to doing Jet, Falcon, and Dolphin games the rest of the year.
One in particular. HE was the official that blew the PI calls on Hobbs and Moss. HE was the guy who MISSED the incomplete pass right in front of him. HE was the guy who made the PI call on Samuel. This guy should be made to turn in his stripes. Its bad for a ref to miss calls, but this guy was making up penalties that WEREN'T there. That's inexcusable.
BTW - some people here have actually said was the correct call. It wasn't. FIrst the ball was uncatchable. Secondly, while Samuel DID touch the WR BEFORE the ball got there he DIDN'T interfer with his ability to catch the ball, in the least, and THAT is a requirement to throw the flag. He was already going down BEFORE Samuel came in contact with him.
Incidental contact is going to happen, if you throw the flag every time it happens the game will become ridiculous. (btw- the same goes for the call against Moss on his 52 yd catch. There was no interference on THAT play either.
2. However if you are a conspiracy buff, there IS one thread to hang on to. The NFL HQ has known for several weeks that this was going to be an epic battle with a national impact, yet they chose to send a rookie referee with an inexperienced and obviously incompetent compliment of officials. How come??????? Let the speculation begin.
3. I have to hand it to Dungy and his staff, because he came into this game with great plans both on offense AND defense. While the Colt offense took the new look Pats even defense in stride, the Pats offense had all kinds of initial problems with the Colts 4-2-5 look. Which took the Pats out of their short passing game. Kudos to Dungy and his staff.
HOWEVER, that being said, this game really showed the DIFFERENCE between the 2 staffs, and why the Pats own a 7-3 record against them. Becuase even though the Colts staff "won" the intial game plan award, the Pats staff "won" the more important, 'adjustments made during the game' award. Which was demonstrated by the fact they limited Adai to around 30 yds in the second half. The OL protection get better and better as the game went on. AND the overall offense and defense DOMINATED the Colts in the last 10 minutes of the game
4. There were four horrid calls by the refs that could have changed this game. 3 have been talked about alot (the Samuel, Hobbs, and Moss PIs), so I won't belabor them. However equally damaging was the HORRIBLE ball spot at the end of the first half, that allowed the Colts the time to score that UGLY and IMPROBABLR TD with 13 seconds left.
Not only did the replay show that Adai was at least a yd short of the first down, you could see that the side judge coming in to mark the ball was a good half yd inside the yellow first down line. I remember screaming at the TV (always effective btw,
) that it was a lousy spot to begin with. I was shocked when they came back from the TV time out and the Colts had a first down. At first I thought they must have missed the 3rd down play, but then I noticed no time had come off the clock.
If the Ball had been spotted properly, the Colts would have probably run the ball to get the first down, and even if they had gotten it, they may not have had enough time to try the pass play that led to the TD.
5. Those were 4 indefensible calls that directly lead to 13 Colt points and very well could have cost the Pats one of their critical 2 TDs at the end of the game. That might have been a 20 point swing if the Pats hadn't been able to get a TD first and goal from the 15.
Now the only reason I mention this is that NOT ONCE on ESPN, FOX, and the NFLN has anyone of their commentators mentioned the possible consequences of these call AND/OR the effect they had on the game....which was conciderable. I find that unbelievable.
6. As expected St. Peyton made injury excuses for the loss, and in doing so threw his teammates who replaced the starters under the bus. He used the old, "I'm not making excuses.....BUT" line, and of course wasn't called on it by any of the media I heard today.
7. On the other hand, just because BB didn't give a warm handshake to a guy who publically compared him to Barry Bonds, BB is painted as the bad guy, since he was dissing the Sainted Dungy. At least MY coach isn't a hypocrite and doesn't pretend to be cordial to a guy who thinks that HE is a lowlife. WHY should he?! WHAT A WORLD
8. Over the recent 3 losses to the Colts the Pats have had a myriad of injuries to critical people, and NOT ONCE have I ever heard a national commentator make mention of them as a reason the Colts beat the Pats. Yet the haters like Young and Jackson harp on the Ugoh and Jackson injuries and their effect like they were the keys to the Pats victory, and bode well for the Colts should they meet up in the playoffs down the road. WHAT BS
9. One of the least noticed stats of this game is that the Pats rushed for only 14 yds less than the Colts and average the same ypc (3.8), though all you hear about is Adai's running and that the Pats don't have a running game.
ASIDE: Personally I think that our running game would improve if at least half the time the Pats ran running plays from a formation with Brady under C and one or 2 backs in the backfield. Some one should tell Josh that you can pass from that formation as well.
10. Another critcal aspect of this game that has been by and large missed or dismissed by the national media is the dominance all game by the Pat's special team group. Not only did Welker give us over 60 yds in returns, the coverage teams never let the Colts see the 30 on KOs and they didn't have a significant punt return. (btw good job by whoever our punter is)
11. I think we just saw the Colts best shot and beat them anyway. THEY had a huge home field advantage. THEY had 2 great game plans. THEY had 4 critical ref calls go their way. THEN Pats added to their chances, by adding another 65 yds in penalties that WERE correct, HORRIBLE tackling, and inconsistant offensive play. Manning had a very good game by and large. Adaelius Thomas was a non factor. AND THEY STILL LOST.
On the cold plains of Foxboro in January, the Colts lose much of their speed advantage, while the size advantage of the Pats is increased in value. Adding a slipping Harrison, and inexperience Ugoh, and any of the shoemakers who didn't start on defense, won't make any difference come January.
BOTTOM LINE: I think we saw the Colts at their emotional and tactical best.... and beat them with our B game. The team they play in January will be a lot better than the one they lost to in October.
1. Count me among those who DON'Tt believe the officiating crew was "in the bag"....I think they just SUCKED and should be relegated to doing Jet, Falcon, and Dolphin games the rest of the year.
One in particular. HE was the official that blew the PI calls on Hobbs and Moss. HE was the guy who MISSED the incomplete pass right in front of him. HE was the guy who made the PI call on Samuel. This guy should be made to turn in his stripes. Its bad for a ref to miss calls, but this guy was making up penalties that WEREN'T there. That's inexcusable.
BTW - some people here have actually said was the correct call. It wasn't. FIrst the ball was uncatchable. Secondly, while Samuel DID touch the WR BEFORE the ball got there he DIDN'T interfer with his ability to catch the ball, in the least, and THAT is a requirement to throw the flag. He was already going down BEFORE Samuel came in contact with him.
Incidental contact is going to happen, if you throw the flag every time it happens the game will become ridiculous. (btw- the same goes for the call against Moss on his 52 yd catch. There was no interference on THAT play either.
2. However if you are a conspiracy buff, there IS one thread to hang on to. The NFL HQ has known for several weeks that this was going to be an epic battle with a national impact, yet they chose to send a rookie referee with an inexperienced and obviously incompetent compliment of officials. How come??????? Let the speculation begin.
3. I have to hand it to Dungy and his staff, because he came into this game with great plans both on offense AND defense. While the Colt offense took the new look Pats even defense in stride, the Pats offense had all kinds of initial problems with the Colts 4-2-5 look. Which took the Pats out of their short passing game. Kudos to Dungy and his staff.
HOWEVER, that being said, this game really showed the DIFFERENCE between the 2 staffs, and why the Pats own a 7-3 record against them. Becuase even though the Colts staff "won" the intial game plan award, the Pats staff "won" the more important, 'adjustments made during the game' award. Which was demonstrated by the fact they limited Adai to around 30 yds in the second half. The OL protection get better and better as the game went on. AND the overall offense and defense DOMINATED the Colts in the last 10 minutes of the game
4. There were four horrid calls by the refs that could have changed this game. 3 have been talked about alot (the Samuel, Hobbs, and Moss PIs), so I won't belabor them. However equally damaging was the HORRIBLE ball spot at the end of the first half, that allowed the Colts the time to score that UGLY and IMPROBABLR TD with 13 seconds left.
Not only did the replay show that Adai was at least a yd short of the first down, you could see that the side judge coming in to mark the ball was a good half yd inside the yellow first down line. I remember screaming at the TV (always effective btw,
) that it was a lousy spot to begin with. I was shocked when they came back from the TV time out and the Colts had a first down. At first I thought they must have missed the 3rd down play, but then I noticed no time had come off the clock. If the Ball had been spotted properly, the Colts would have probably run the ball to get the first down, and even if they had gotten it, they may not have had enough time to try the pass play that led to the TD.
5. Those were 4 indefensible calls that directly lead to 13 Colt points and very well could have cost the Pats one of their critical 2 TDs at the end of the game. That might have been a 20 point swing if the Pats hadn't been able to get a TD first and goal from the 15.
Now the only reason I mention this is that NOT ONCE on ESPN, FOX, and the NFLN has anyone of their commentators mentioned the possible consequences of these call AND/OR the effect they had on the game....which was conciderable. I find that unbelievable.
6. As expected St. Peyton made injury excuses for the loss, and in doing so threw his teammates who replaced the starters under the bus. He used the old, "I'm not making excuses.....BUT" line, and of course wasn't called on it by any of the media I heard today.
7. On the other hand, just because BB didn't give a warm handshake to a guy who publically compared him to Barry Bonds, BB is painted as the bad guy, since he was dissing the Sainted Dungy. At least MY coach isn't a hypocrite and doesn't pretend to be cordial to a guy who thinks that HE is a lowlife. WHY should he?! WHAT A WORLD
8. Over the recent 3 losses to the Colts the Pats have had a myriad of injuries to critical people, and NOT ONCE have I ever heard a national commentator make mention of them as a reason the Colts beat the Pats. Yet the haters like Young and Jackson harp on the Ugoh and Jackson injuries and their effect like they were the keys to the Pats victory, and bode well for the Colts should they meet up in the playoffs down the road. WHAT BS
9. One of the least noticed stats of this game is that the Pats rushed for only 14 yds less than the Colts and average the same ypc (3.8), though all you hear about is Adai's running and that the Pats don't have a running game.
ASIDE: Personally I think that our running game would improve if at least half the time the Pats ran running plays from a formation with Brady under C and one or 2 backs in the backfield. Some one should tell Josh that you can pass from that formation as well.
10. Another critcal aspect of this game that has been by and large missed or dismissed by the national media is the dominance all game by the Pat's special team group. Not only did Welker give us over 60 yds in returns, the coverage teams never let the Colts see the 30 on KOs and they didn't have a significant punt return. (btw good job by whoever our punter is)
11. I think we just saw the Colts best shot and beat them anyway. THEY had a huge home field advantage. THEY had 2 great game plans. THEY had 4 critical ref calls go their way. THEN Pats added to their chances, by adding another 65 yds in penalties that WERE correct, HORRIBLE tackling, and inconsistant offensive play. Manning had a very good game by and large. Adaelius Thomas was a non factor. AND THEY STILL LOST.
On the cold plains of Foxboro in January, the Colts lose much of their speed advantage, while the size advantage of the Pats is increased in value. Adding a slipping Harrison, and inexperience Ugoh, and any of the shoemakers who didn't start on defense, won't make any difference come January.
BOTTOM LINE: I think we saw the Colts at their emotional and tactical best.... and beat them with our B game. The team they play in January will be a lot better than the one they lost to in October.
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