Postgame thoughts: Blasts from the past

[Fencer]

The wind evidently wasn't the only thing blasting in Gillette Stadium.

1. Seymour is back.
2. Wilson is back.
3. The running game is back.
4. Adalius Thomas finally arrived.
5. The "don't break" part of the defense is SOLIDLY back, and there wasn't even a whole lot of bending going on.
6. Crowd noise hasn't arrived YET. Perhaps it's still lost in traffic?
7. Brady hasn't remembered yet how to play in bad weather.
8. The run/dink/dunk -- that's going back years for the Pats. But it worked just well enough.
9. One difference from recent years -- in an otherwise weak performance, Brady only gave up one INT.
10. 8 & 9 = Brady was a game manager again.
11. I guess a small amount of speed does matter. The defense didn't seem to miss tackles because of poor fundamentals; they seemed to miss tackles because they were just a teensie bit late in making an otherwise excellent play.
12. Seau is a terror on the blitz. That's probably the only thing special about his game at this point -- but it's pretty impressive.
13. I'm a lot more relieved about all the ways the Pats improved than I am concerned about the ways they played badly.
14. Mangini seem to have Brady's number. But I don't expect that to last nearly as long as, say, BB had Manning's number.
15. That would have been a lousy time for Hank Poteat to have his first(?) career interception.

 

[Fencer]

One thing that didn't work well was the snow-throwing. Not like the Snow Globe game vs. Miami.

Anyhow, this was a great win under one condition -- that the injury report was light (which seems nicely plausible, although there were some hard hits on our receivers all day). Really, all that matters are wins and health.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I second the observations. We needed Lomo Sey Monsta and Geno to show that they were back.

And they did.

I think some teams began to think they could beat a team that couldn't run or stop the run, and was just outscoring their opponents. Not any more.
The Pats showed there are no such weaknesses. I was hoping for a shutout by the D; and it yielded only 3 points. About 14 under its per game average.

 

[DaBruinz]

The wind evidently wasn't the only thing blasting in Gillette Stadium.

1. Seymour is back.
2. Wilson is back.
3. The running game is back.
4. Adalius Thomas finally arrived.
5. The "don't break" part of the defense is SOLIDLY back, and there wasn't even a whole lot of bending going on.
6. Crowd noise hasn't arrived YET. Perhaps it's still lost in traffic?
7. Brady hasn't remembered yet how to play in bad weather.
8. The run/dink/dunk -- that's going back years for the Pats. But it worked just well enough.
9. One difference from recent years -- in an otherwise weak performance, Brady only gave up one INT.
10. 8 & 9 = Brady was a game manager again.
11. I guess a small amount of speed does matter. The defense didn't seem to miss tackles because of poor fundamentals; they seemed to miss tackles because they were just a teensie bit late in making an otherwise excellent play.
12. Seau is a terror on the blitz. That's probably the only thing special about his game at this point -- but it's pretty impressive.
13. I'm a lot more relieved about all the ways the Pats improved than I am concerned about the ways they played badly.
14. Mangini seem to have Brady's number. But I don't expect that to last nearly as long as, say, BB had Manning's number.
15. That would have been a lousy time for Hank Poteat to have his first(?) career interception.

There was plenty of crowd noise today. Not sure what game you watched, but you could hear it easily on the TV.

 

[Fencer]

There was plenty of crowd noise today. Not sure what game you watched, but you could hear it easily on the TV.

It seemed pretty sporadic to me, and not much of a problem for the Jets offense.

THEY weren't the ones with all the false starts.

 

[DaBruinz]

It seemed pretty sporadic to me, and not much of a problem for the Jets offense.

THEY weren't the ones with all the false starts.

Nope... And, to be honest, I though 2 of the 4 False Starts were BS.

As for it being sporadic, I heard them regularly when the Jets had 3rd downs (the jets were 0-9 on 3rds at one point).

And I definitely heard then when the Pats scored.

 

[Fencer]

As for it being sporadic, I heard them regularly when the Jets had 3rd downs (the jets were 0-9 on 3rds at one point).

Fair enough.

 

[Joker]

It's pretty easy to sit in your cat bird's seat, nice and snug at home with whatever to keep you warm, and pontificate from on high about the "terrible crowd noise level". Well, I was THERE and there was plenty of noise coming from everywhere but the "warm and snug rich pontificators section club seats". Perhaps this is why you get this impression from your armchair and start laying out insults at the fans who attended that weather nightmare. Ask Clemens what HE was hearing when he got swamped and swiped for a Pats TD.

Man, I can't believe some of the fans here...every week, week after week it's "let's create a negative and then beat it into the ground like a dead horse!!!".You have a problem with YOUR perception of what the crowd noise should be like, then get a dyam ticket and GO TO A GAME. Then you can complain

 

[nepatz11]

The Crowd noise was good today. Definitely not great. But I must say that in 19 years of going to games this was the worst weather I have ever experienced. Cold, wind and rain combined sucks. I am amazed that so many people showed up and I give them props

 

[SoonerPatriot]

It's pretty easy to sit in your cat bird's seat, nice and snug at home with whatever to keep you warm, and pontificate from on high about the "terrible crowd noise level". Well, I was THERE and there was plenty of noise coming from everywhere but the "warm and snug rich pontificators section club seats". Perhaps this is why you get this impression from your armchair and start laying out insults at the fans who attended that weather nightmare. Ask Clemens what HE was hearing when he got swamped and swiped for a Pats TD.

Man, I can't believe some of the fans here...every week, week after week it's "let's create a negative and then beat it into the ground like a dead horse!!!".You have a problem with YOUR perception of what the crowd noise should be like, then get a dyam ticket and GO TO A GAME. Then you can complain

How bad was the wind? It was hard to tell on TV, other than it looked miserable out there.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

I second the observations. We needed Lomo Sey Monsta and Geno to show that they were back.

And they did.

I think some teams began to think they could beat a team that couldn't run or stop the run, and was just outscoring their opponents. Not any more.
The Pats showed there are no such weaknesses. I was hoping for a shutout by the D; and it yielded only 3 points. About 14 under its per game average.

That's 3 points in the last 6 quarters......Me thinks they are back:rocker:

 

[Joker]

There were gusts for sure and I could see the people in the 300's were bearing the brunt of it, but at field level the wind was tolerable...not really good for a long passing game, but you could throw for yardage. To me, what was most important today was NO TURNOVERS...in that respect, Maroney did a fine job.

 

[Fencer]

It's pretty easy to sit in your cat bird's seat, nice and snug at home with whatever to keep you warm, and pontificate from on high about the "terrible crowd noise level". Well, I was THERE and there was plenty of noise coming from everywhere but the "warm and snug rich pontificators section club seats". Perhaps this is why you get this impression from your armchair and start laying out insults at the fans who attended that weather nightmare. Ask Clemens what HE was hearing when he got swamped and swiped for a Pats TD.

Why don't you flame Yahoo too while you're at it?

The lede for their whole football section right now is "A dull game, a dead crowd and a grind-it-out victory. Pats coach Bill Belichick wouldn't have had it any other way." That's from the third paragraph of Dan Wetzel's column:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_y...YF?slug=dw-patriots121607&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I'd hate for you to waste all that righteous indignation on li'l ol' me.

 

[Joker]

Man, you just cannot take any criticism of YOUR criticisms can you?

WTF is a yahoo board?

Who TF is Dan Wetzel?

and were ANY of these "sources" you're using AT THE GAME???

looks like THEY did EXACTLY what you did....made a sweeping generalized judgement based on completely specious, far removed observation.If all you have to say after a Patriots win like this today is "the crowd saucked!!!!" maybe YOU should take my advice and drag your little chipmunk in the tree trunk azz out to a game and SEE for yourself.

 

[aluminum seats]

Man, you just cannot take any criticism of YOUR criticisms can you?

WTF is a yahoo board?

Who TF is Dan Wetzel?

and were ANY of these "sources" you're using AT THE GAME???

looks like THEY did EXACTLY what you did....made a sweeping generalized judgement based on completely specious, far removed observation.If all you have to say after a Patriots win like this today is "the crowd saucked!!!!" maybe YOU should take my advice and drag your little chipmunk in the tree trunk azz out to a game and SEE for yourself.

Dont' be so sensitive. We all WISH the Foxboro crowds were great, but way too often they're not. Sorry, but TV showed WAY too many EMPTY seats today, and the crowd didn't sound all that loud. Plenty of other games I flipped to today the crowd sounded loud. Is it a TV conspiracy?

Sometimes the Pats crowds are great, many times not. Maybe it'll improve, but them's the facts.

 

[Joker]

so to you, the crowd wasn't great today...and that's a FACT??? that's news to the legions of Patriot fans who were THERE...you know, the fans that stuck it out in conditions that can only be described as brutal...they all sauck, is that it?

I'm not going to even bother getting into this any further...I just have one question...I always wanted to know what life is like in that cozy ,climate controlled ivory tower you guys live in...did you lose your voice like I did today? Or were you too busy switching channels and updating your fantasy folders to even bother?

 

[mac]

Dont' be so sensitive. We all WISH the Foxboro crowds were great, but way too often they're not. Sorry, but TV showed WAY too many EMPTY seats today, and the crowd didn't sound all that loud. Plenty of other games I flipped to today the crowd sounded loud. Is it a TV conspiracy?

Sometimes the Pats crowds are great, many times not. Maybe it'll improve, but them's the facts.

New Englanders tend to study the game rather than cheer. The idea of making noise to influence a game is a rather recent phenomenon encouraged by the rather crazed desire to be part of the game.

 

[mgcolby]

Dont' be so sensitive. We all WISH the Foxboro crowds were great, but way too often they're not. Sorry, but TV showed WAY too many EMPTY seats today, and the crowd didn't sound all that loud. Plenty of other games I flipped to today the crowd sounded loud. Is it a TV conspiracy?

Sometimes the Pats crowds are great, many times not. Maybe it'll improve, but them's the facts.

Did you see the Pittsburgh game? Lots of empty seats especially behind the end zones.

I am as hard as they come on the crowd noise at Gillette, but with today's conditions it is a little ridiculous to call out the fans for not showing up. And the one's who did seemed to generate a decent amount of noise.

 

[mgcolby]

New Englanders tend to study the game rather than cheer. The idea of making noise to influence a game is a rather recent phenomenon encouraged by the rather crazed desire to be part of the game.

Huh?

 

[Fencer]

If all you have to say after a Patriots win like this today is "the crowd saucked!!!!"

I had 15 numbered points in my original post, only one of which dealt with crowd noise. Do you have difficulty counting that high?

I also was a lot more polite than you're suggesting ... or for that matter than you have been in this thread.

I hope you calm down when you warm up.