Watched the game again this morning.

[Slagathor]

The benefits of DVR and working from home.

Here is my analysis.

1) WITHOUT QUESTION.....Welker was held on every play. Moss was held almost as much. Very blatantly too. You got the feeling early in the refs said we have to swallow the whistle a bit because we'd have 30 holding calls on Balt. and that would make US look bad.

2) Wilfork and Warren were held ALOT. Not garden variety holding. On MacGahee's bigger runs, both guys were HELD by two OL's. That being said, Bruschi and Vrabel were washed out of plays TOO often. No speed or good reactions to the runner.

3) Drops......we all saw it. Nuff said. They catch half those NUMEROUS drops. Different game.

4) Brady looked for the BIG play too often. Failk and Welker were open on many shorter 6-7 yard passes.

5) Hobbs is a dumb football player right now. He may get smarter. Right now he's dumb. Get's tricked and beat too often. Bad tackler on runs yesterday.

6) 12/4/2007 - As of right now, Meriwaether is a huge bust. AS OF NOW.
Tackles tentatively....poorly. Takes awful angles. Can't cover anyone right now.

7) Adalius Thomas, Richard Seymour. I don't know what to say. Injured? Burn't out? Overrated? Seymour was late to the party on many plays. Watching Thomas makes me miss Colvin real bad. Colvin had some fire in the belly. I know these guys are better than this....they are just getting beaten right now.

8) Harrison, Sanders and Samuel are our best players on D. All three play with intensity and are in on most plays.

9) The team body and shoulder tackles too much. Rarely do they wrap up.

10) Matt Light is having his annual stretch of bonehead games. Let's hope it ends soon.

11) Ben Watson makes me wish for Dan Graham. Watson is Graham but without the blocking skills.

12) Kevin Faulk needs a statue outside Gillette upon retirement. GREAT PLAYER.

13) Koppen and Neal were getting beat like rented mules on tons of plays.

14) Our defense is slow. We have awful team speed on D right now.

That being said....still won with composure and smarts.

I love this team but I'm seeing a ton of deficiencies teams can pick on.......and the road is gonna get harder to reach the ultimate prize.

 

[vinhividivici]

I agree, I saw a lot of open plays that the Pat didn't take advantage of, lots of time there were real estates in front of brady if he could of just ran and make the D commit more instead of pulling all back to cover the receivers. The tackleing left a bit to be desire also. There was one running play when I saw Mcgahee ran for about 10 yards and a Pat player was just standing there in the background not even chasing, saw one of the other Pats flying from behind that standing one to make a tackle... Really really poor playing this week, but I'm glad the Pats won. I have a feeling we will BLOW pitts out this week. Very solid feeling.

 

[MrTibbs]

The defense is getting god awful slow. I think the reason the defense is so bad in the redzone is due to that speed. The LB's don't have the "suddeness" or "quickness" to defend in space.

In my opinion thats what I see when offenses get down into the goaline area and run the quick ins and HB checkdowns. Teams are clearly attacking them in those areas. By the time the LB's get there the opposing offenses have gained 6-7-8 yards.

 

[Mogamedogz]

The benefits of DVR and working from home.

Here is my analysis.

1) WITHOUT QUESTION.....Welker was held on every play. Moss was held almost as much. Very blatantly too. You got the feeling early in the refs said we have to swallow the whistle a bit because we'd have 30 holding calls on Balt. and that would make US look bad.

2) Wilfork and Warren were held ALOT. Not garden variety holding. On MacGahee's bigger runs, both guys were HELD by two OL's. That being said, Bruschi and Vrabel were washed out of plays TOO often. No speed or good reactions to the runner.

3) Drops......we all saw it. Nuff said. They catch half those NUMEROUS drops. Different game.

4) Brady looked for the BIG play too often. Failk and Welker were open on many shorter 6-7 yard passes.

5) Hobbs is a dumb football player right now. He may get smarter. Right now he's dumb. Get's tricked and beat too often. Bad tackler on runs yesterday.

6) 12/4/2007 - As of right now, Meriwaether is a huge bust. AS OF NOW.
Tackles tentatively....poorly. Takes awful angles. Can't cover anyone right now.

7) Adalius Thomas, Richard Seymour. I don't know what to say. Injured? Burn't out? Overrated? Seymour was late to the party on many plays. Watching Thomas makes me miss Colvin real bad. Colvin had some fire in the belly. I know these guys are better than this....they are just getting beaten right now.

8) Harrison, Sanders and Samuel are our best players on D. All three play with intensity and are in on most plays.

9) The team body and shoulder tackles too much. Rarely do they wrap up.

10) Matt Light is having his annual stretch of bonehead games. Let's hope it ends soon.

11) Ben Watson makes me wish for Dan Graham. Watson is Graham but without the blocking skills.

12) Kevin Faulk needs a statue outside Gillette upon retirement. GREAT PLAYER.

13) Koppen and Neal were getting beat like rented mules on tons of plays.

14) Our defense is slow. We have awful team speed on D right now.

That being said....still won with composure and smarts.

I love this team but I'm seeing a ton of deficiencies teams can pick on.......and the road is gonna get harder to reach the ultimate prize.

Good observations. I seen much of the same things in this game.

 

[thechris]

5) Hobbs is a dumb football player right now. He may get smarter. Right now he's dumb. Get's tricked and beat too often. Bad tackler on runs yesterday.

6) 12/4/2007 - As of right now, Meriwaether is a huge bust. AS OF NOW.
Tackles tentatively....poorly. Takes awful angles. Can't cover anyone right now.

Agree and agree. Hobbs has been helping Samuel's case this offseason.

 

[National Sports Advisors]

A team that can spread this defense out with 3 or 4 wides, has a good QB, and has a running back in the backfield that is also a receiving threat can eat our defense alive and take advantage of our lack of speed and lack of a consistent pass rush. That's what Philly did to us and that's why Dallas scares me if we see them again.

 

[JackBauer]

You can't say Meriweather is a bust RIGHT NOW. Or, if you do, it's a completely meaningless statement.

Most people were willing to throw the towel in on James Sanders last year, and now, surprise surprise, he appears to be the top safety on the team.

 

[Slagathor]

You can't say Meriweather is a bust RIGHT NOW. Or, if you do, it's a completely meaningless statement.

Most people were willing to throw the towel in on James Sanders last year, and now, surprise surprise, he appears to be the top safety on the team.

My wording may have been poor.....but my point is simply that if there isn't some huge improvement in his game by the end of next season....he's a bust.

The path he is CURRENTLY taking, will lead him down that road. 12 games in and he's actually digressing.

 

[DefenseRules]

The benefits of DVR and working from home.

Here is my analysis.

1) WITHOUT QUESTION.....Welker was held on every play. Moss was held almost as much. Very blatantly too. You got the feeling early in the refs said we have to swallow the whistle a bit because we'd have 30 holding calls on Balt. and that would make US look bad.

2) Wilfork and Warren were held ALOT. Not garden variety holding. On MacGahee's bigger runs, both guys were HELD by two OL's. That being said, Bruschi and Vrabel were washed out of plays TOO often. No speed or good reactions to the runner.

3) Drops......we all saw it. Nuff said. They catch half those NUMEROUS drops. Different game.

4) Brady looked for the BIG play too often. Failk and Welker were open on many shorter 6-7 yard passes.

5) Hobbs is a dumb football player right now. He may get smarter. Right now he's dumb. Get's tricked and beat too often. Bad tackler on runs yesterday.

6) 12/4/2007 - As of right now, Meriwaether is a huge bust. AS OF NOW.
Tackles tentatively....poorly. Takes awful angles. Can't cover anyone right now.

7) Adalius Thomas, Richard Seymour. I don't know what to say. Injured? Burn't out? Overrated? Seymour was late to the party on many plays. Watching Thomas makes me miss Colvin real bad. Colvin had some fire in the belly. I know these guys are better than this....they are just getting beaten right now.

8) Harrison, Sanders and Samuel are our best players on D. All three play with intensity and are in on most plays.

9) The team body and shoulder tackles too much. Rarely do they wrap up.

10) Matt Light is having his annual stretch of bonehead games. Let's hope it ends soon.

11) Ben Watson makes me wish for Dan Graham. Watson is Graham but without the blocking skills.

12) Kevin Faulk needs a statue outside Gillette upon retirement. GREAT PLAYER.

13) Koppen and Neal were getting beat like rented mules on tons of plays.

14) Our defense is slow. We have awful team speed on D right now.

That being said....still won with composure and smarts.

I love this team but I'm seeing a ton of deficiencies teams can pick on.......and the road is gonna get harder to reach the ultimate prize.

Good analysis, just about sums up what I thought. I don't know what they can do to fix it, but they better fix it FAST. The offense has carried this team all year. They were due for some bad games. But we have to start playing BETTER FOOTBALL RIGHT NOW!! Enough of this crap. We are supposed to be getting better, not worse. AND THAT CONCERNS ME THE MOST. ELLIS HOBBS IS THE WEAKEST LINK IN THE SECONDARY. They should either bench him or limit his playing time. Teams attack him without mercy all game long, and they will continue to do it unless he starts playing better, or they put someone else out there. He really got exposed the last two weeks, IMO. They might have to think about making some kind of change there.
The tackling on this team STINKS. They have to do something about it ASAP. And for the love of God McDaniels do something about the running game.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I don't have DVR but I guess I'm not missing much. Hobbs had the poor coverage on the TD in he EZ, but he was the last line of defense against the run a lot and he made those stops. Asante was MIA all evening except for when he was guessing wrong on a costly reception or whiffing against the run. But whatever, we'll just blame it all on Ellis because Asante is elite...the definition of which around here is he tends to clean up against crappy QB's. Off nite I guess.

 

[Slagathor]

I don't have DVR but I guess I'm not missing much. Hobbs had the poor coverage on the TD in he EZ, but he was the last line of defense against the run a lot and he made those stops. Asante was MIA all evening except for when he was guessing wrong on a costly reception or whiffing against the run. But whatever, we'll just blame it all on Ellis because Asante is elite...the definition of which around here is he tends to clean up against crappy QB's. Off nite I guess.

Apparantly you don't have a TV either.

 

[Pats_AZ]

Nice post. I agree with it all. I as a "homer" am hoping that this is just a lull in the season and that BB and his staff have everything under control or will get things under control very very quickly, like in the next 5 days quickly.

 

[Ishdul]

Harrison looked good on the last few Baltimore offensive series- a lot of people did- but I don't see how you can call him one of our 3 good defensive players when Baltimore was abusing him in coverage and he wasn't doing a thing to stop McGahee. He was dreadful for a large part of that game.

 

[JackBauer]

My wording may have been poor.....but my point is simply that if there isn't some huge improvement in his game by the end of next season....he's a bust.

The path he is CURRENTLY taking, will lead him down that road. 12 games in and he's actually digressing.

I don't know how you can say he's digressing. Most rookies have growing pains. Polamalu didn't look good AT ALL during stretches of his rookie year.

Last night Meriweather saw increased snaps, along with Maroney. This indicates to me that the coaching staff feels he is progressing.

 

[ALP]

I don't know how you can say he's digressing. Most rookies have growing pains. Polamalu didn't look good AT ALL during stretches of his rookie year.

Last night Meriweather saw increased snaps, along with Maroney. This indicates to me that the coaching staff feels he is progressing.

maybe they will both finally start to be the players we all want them to be?
i believe maroney is gonna be a big part by end of season, meriweather will be the same until next yr, and halfway through he will become wut sanders is today..

and man, now i cant wait for a sanders-meriweatehr tandem

 

[Slagathor]

I don't know how you can say he's digressing. Most rookies have growing pains. Polamalu didn't look good AT ALL during stretches of his rookie year.

Last night Meriweather saw increased snaps, along with Maroney. This indicates to me that the coaching staff feels he is progressing.

On the contrary. You play with what you have. I think BB threw up watching Eddie Jackson last week. Meriweather was really bad last night.

Polamalu was throw into the fire and all things considered did pretty well.

 

[Oswlek]

Great point on the tackling. There were several runs by Baltimore where a NE player missed the tackle because they were trying for a big hit.

Also, I have seen at least 2 plays per game over the past few weeks where it appeared that a NE defender speared a teammate with this same technique.

 

[Oswlek]

On the contrary. You play with what you have. I think BB threw up watching Eddie Jackson last week. Meriweather was really bad last night.

Polamalu was throw into the fire and all things considered did pretty well.

That is only because we have the benefit of seeing who he became. There were just as many - if not more - whispers from Pitt that Troy was a bust after his rookie year.

 

[JackBauer]

On the contrary. You play with what you have. I think BB threw up watching Eddie Jackson last week. Meriweather was really bad last night.

Polamalu was throw into the fire and all things considered did pretty well.

I don't think Meriweather was that bad at all. He took a bad angle on the broken play... but so did James Sanders a year ago on Javon Walker, and we all know how that worked out.

So if you play with what you have, why wasn't Rashad Baker out there?

 

[Slagathor]

I don't think Meriweather was that bad at all. He took a bad angle on the broken play... but so did James Sanders a year ago on Javon Walker, and we all know how that worked out.

So if you play with what you have, why wasn't Rashad Baker out there?

Meriweather, Baker or Jackson. Who would you pick?

The rook definitely needs some reps. But he's looking a little too Dexter Reid-ish to me.