Pretty good offensive play calling and execution, don't you think?

I agree with a previous poster. This play calling thing is way overblown.

If the Patriots start executing crisply and efficiently they will win.

Belichick puts the game plan in during the week. If he catches someone napping like he did the Vikes, all the plays are counter to the defense they game planned.

Brady changes half the damn plays anyway. The OC could take the day off and nobody would notice if the execution was good.

Play calling is probably the most over rated aspect of pro football.

Ben Watsons TD. Horrible call, he was totally covered, Brady threw it anyway. Perfectly. Watson makes a great catch.

Great call Josh. Only 2 or 3 Packers intercept that if the execution's not perfect.

It only seemed like good calls for the Packers when their receivers were wide open.

I guess they were bad calls because Farvre missed them by10 feet.

RayClay said:

I agree with a previous poster. This play calling thing is way overblown.

If the Patriots start executing crisply and efficiently they will win.

Belichick puts the game plan in during the week. If he catches someone napping like he did the Vikes, all the plays are counter to the defense they game planned.

Brady changes half the damn plays anyway. The OC could take the day off and nobody would notice if the execution was good.

Play calling is probably the most over rated aspect of pro football.

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I completely agree. If you people want to see bad playcalling, watch one of Jeff Bowden's final two games as offensive cordinator of FSU. When you call draw plays on 3rd in 26, thats a bad call. When you call a run out of the I formation on every 1st down when you have no O-line, thats a bad call. When you throw the same swing pass to the running back that the whole world knows is coming on every 3rd and long, thats a bad call.

The Defense is getting paid big money too. You can call a perfect offensive play, but if the Defense just happened to call the perfect play as well, more often than not, the defense will stop the offense. McDaniels doesn't tell the O-line to let rushers through. He doesn't tell the recievers to not get open. He doesn't tell Brady to badly overthrow and underthrow recievers.

IMO good playcalling shows when a team is in the red zone, especially inside the 10 yard line when they have very little room to work with. I didn't look up the stats, but from watching the games this year, it seems to me that our red zone offense has been much better than it has in years past. Theres a reason why Gostowski barely has any field goal attempts compared to other kickers.

RayClay said:

Ben Watsons TD. Horrible call, he was totally covered, Brady threw it anyway. Perfectly. Watson makes a great catch.

Great call Josh. Only 2 or 3 Packers intercept that if the execution's not perfect.

It only seemed like good calls for the Packers when their receivers were wide open.

I guess they were bad calls because Farvre missed them by10 feet.

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Actually that TD play was an audible. Watson said so in his post game interview. Brady read the blitz at the line and audibled out of the play called in the huddle. And then he and Watson executed. That's what they are supposed to do.

When players execute coordinators look brilliant. When they don't it's a ****ty plan. Of course 11 of them pretty much have to execute in unison or some of them as well as an OC can look pretty ****ty too. Tonight we won the battle in the trenches, and when you do that it's easier for everyone else on the food chain to look good.

BB will tell you that sometimes a plan doesn't work because your opponent is prepared to counter it. But 7 out of 10 times he can show you on coaches film why it would have worked if everybody had done their job and executed the play as intended. Some here expect 10 out of 10 plays to work, but that just ignores the fact that the other guys are getting paid the big bucks too - and nobody's perfect.

PATSNUTme said:

I still missed the part as to what all that has to do with the play calling TODAY.

All the stuff that you have mentioned has been given a full retal exam on this board over and over again.

No flaming here, just trying keep things on topic.

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Honestly, Patsnut, the playcalling wasn't any different than the other games. What was different was that the Pats actually executed the plays. Brady was hitting his receivers, not over-throwing or under-throwing them. Other than the Dillon fumble, the Pats played a near perfect game.

In the Jets and Colts games, the Pats did not execute. I didn't find myself saying WTF are you calling that play for. I found myself says WTF are you doing Brady or Dang it (name your receiver) you got to make that catch. The execution was the biggest difference.

5 Rings for Brady!! said:

Exactly. I can't think of a tougher job than being Brady. You get booed at home by the most ungrateful fans in the NFL, and blamed at fanboy websites, while playing in the worst media enviroment in the country, and being the QB of the most calculating front office in the country. Brady gets killed in many games, with inconsistent protection, a revolving door of semi-talented or old WRs and RBs, and coaching changes, while taking less money under the unfulfilled pretense that the team would spend the money on talent to surround Brady with; plays injuried, never misses a game, wins us superbowls, doesn't do a million stupid commercials, and needs to learn on the fly how to lead a completely new group of WRs, with a running game which is mysteriously MIA for long stretches of time and a coaching staff that seems occasionally unwilling to make game time adjustments.

Brady is fine. He is not the problem, and never was. Put him on Manning's team last year and he would have won the superbowl, IMO. With a lot less fanfare and stupid commercials.

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Someone needs to take the blinders off. Brady has been a problem. It wasn't the receivers who were forcing Brady to underthrow and over-throw his receivers (including Dan Graham, Ben Watson, Kevin Faulk and Troy Brown) during the previous 8 games. And no, the receivers weren't perfect, but Brady sure as heck wasn't either. So to pretend like he was is showing you aren't paying attention to what's truly happening.

Today was the 1st game that I truly felt Brady was HIMSELF. The Brady that we are all used to. Now, it remains to be seen if we will see the same Brady for the rest of the season. If we do, then everyone in the league better be VERY SCARED of the Patriots.

DaBruinz said:

Someone needs to take the blinders off. Brady has been a problem. It wasn't the receivers who were forcing Brady to underthrow and over-throw his receivers (including Dan Graham, Ben Watson, Kevin Faulk and Troy Brown) during the previous 8 games. And no, the receivers weren't perfect, but Brady sure as heck wasn't either. So to pretend like he was is showing you aren't paying attention to what's truly happening.

Today was the 1st game that I truly felt Brady was HIMSELF. The Brady that we are all used to. Now, it remains to be seen if we will see the same Brady for the rest of the season. If we do, then everyone in the league better be VERY SCARED of the Patriots.

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Speaking of blinders...

When we win the battle in the trenches and Brady has time to find open receivers who have run precise routes and managed to get decent seperation he looks like himself. He has told us all it along it would be a process, and not one of his choosing. It never ceases to amaze me that so many people just don't listen or would prefer to ignore the obvious and instead point the finger at the guy who got handed a jerry rigged shadow of the unit he groomed over the last 4 years and screech what's wrong with Brady...

I assume we will see the same Brady for the rest of the season IF his Oline and WR's can finally perform well consistently.

MoLewisrocks said:

Speaking of blinders...

When we win the battle in the trenches and Brady has time to find open receivers who have run precise routes and managed to get decent seperation he looks like himself. He has told us all it along it would be a process, and not one of his choosing. It never ceases to amaze me that so many people just don't listen or would prefer to ignore the obvious and instead point the finger at the guy who got handed a jerry rigged shadow of the unit he groomed over the last 4 years and screech what's wrong with Brady...

I assume we will see the same Brady for the rest of the season IF his Oline and WR's can finally perform well consistently.

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So, What you are saying, Mo, is that Brady has been PERFECT and that ALL the blame falls onto the receivers. Even the receivers who have been with Brady for more than 5 months? Sorry, but that sure sounds like making excuses the way that Peyton Manning does.

Brady was in the same situation in 2001, except that in 2001, his #2 receiver hadn't even been playing football the previous year. So, I would say that Brady should be able to adjust. And yet, Brady was missing receivers that he KNOWS by a wide margin. I lost track of the throws to Watson, Graham, Faulk and Brown that went incomplete even though Brady had time.

As I said, I put as much blame on Brady as I do the receivers. That isn't wearing blinders. Its facing reality.

shirtsleeve said:

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The biggest downside I still see on the offense is Brady. I still think he has a small case of Pay-a-ton,Dread-so itis. He still seems to be trying to win games with each and every play by himself. This seems to result in Tom making mental mistakes, holding on to the ball too long to find the long ball receiver, taking sacks, and forcing the ball into coverage resulting in picks.

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Agreed, and I believe this comes as a result of losing so much seasoned offensive support -- both on the sidelines and on the field. Tom's been thrust into the pressure-cooker of being not only the leader, the infallible play-maker, but even the "savior" of the team. That's too much to ask of one man in football.

This isn't a five-player game, like basketball. It takes 22 guys to play at peak and on the same page. Too much has been asked of Brady and he's trying to do the impossible.

Peyton was raised to be a star, and he has the prima donna attitude that holds him back. Brady came out of relative obscurity and has been living to prove his skeptics wrong. So far he has done an unbelievably great job, but don't expect he will be able to do it all every week all the time.

Quarterback is clearly the key position, but it's certainly not the only position. If all other facets of the team game are good, the QB need not have to try to be the always infallible savior each week. BB and Co. are known for making the *whole* team as solid as possible, and I hope others will step up to take some of the pressure off Tom's shoulders.


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PATSNUTme said:

I still missed the part as to what all that has to do with the play calling TODAY.

All the stuff that you have mentioned has been given a full retal exam on this board over and over again.

No flaming here, just trying keep things on topic.

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Let me try to help here - the challenge for the Patriots playcalling is not when they are playing a JV team. That's easy.

All playcalling looks good when the players execute - and/or the defense can't stop them. Playcalling also means more than a balance between run and pass plays.

The challenge in playcalling is when the offense faces a challenging opponent. Then good playcalling makes the difference. No huddle offense, play action - are they being called at the right times to keep the defense off kilter? Is the run being inexplictacly abandonded when it need not be?

Today I think we'd all agree that the Patriots could have run one play all day and still probably beat the Packers. (Did you see how dirty Brady's jersey was at the end of the game?)

I don't think the play calling has been good for most of the season - nor have the players been executing the plays called well.

We've now seen another flash of brilliance like against Minnesota. The question is, can the coaches and players now do this consistently - and against a tougher team?

DaBruinz said:

So, What you are saying, Mo, is that Brady has been PERFECT and that ALL the blame falls onto the receivers. Even the receivers who have been with Brady for more than 5 months? Sorry, but that sure sounds like making excuses the way that Peyton Manning does.

Brady was in the same situation in 2001, except that in 2001, his #2 receiver hadn't even been playing football the previous year. So, I would say that Brady should be able to adjust. And yet, Brady was missing receivers that he KNOWS by a wide margin. I lost track of the throws to Watson, Graham, Faulk and Brown that went incomplete even though Brady had time.

As I said, I put as much blame on Brady as I do the receivers. That isn't wearing blinders. Its facing reality.

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No, what I'm saying is no QB is perfect so for openers Tom is held to a ridiculous standard around here. Even in a fully establish high functioning offense QB's execute in the 60-70% range in part because of missed communication and because the other team is getting paid to make plays too. How each of these receivers executes is also impacted by not just how the QB executes with them, but by how well each executes within the unit. Are other guys effectively blocking for them, are they drawing coverage, are they running precise complimentary routes or stepping on each others toes because they didn't adjust properly. At least half of the time when they have failed to connect over the first half of the season, it was due to them not being where they should be or not adjusting to a throw being made against coverage or Brady trying to function in the face of unrelenting pressure his offensive line was incapable of handling.

Brady was not in the same situation in 2001. We weren't running what has in the 5 years since evolved into a very cerebral sight adjusted offense then because we didn't have a terribly cerebral franchise QB back then. And the kid who stepped in for him was running a very limited and manageable playbook with a handfull of blue collar football players who stepped up behind him to become playmakers in a league that frankly didn't take any of them all that seriously until it was too late.

I put as much blame on the FO as I do the WR and OL and coaching and QB - in about that order - for the struggles this unit has had to endure through the first half of this season. That's facing reality without blinders.

To crack the playcalling/execution stalemate, how about looking at coverage teams? They're a relatively pure play on execution. Interesting that after a few games of poor playcalling/execution on offense and teams, BOTH turned around this week. The Packers had 6 KOs with a top return of 26 yards, and 2 PRs for a total of 3 yards. (And was that 6'5" 250 lb. Pierre Woods exploding deep downfield for a crushing open field tackle? Wow.)

DaBruinz said:

Honestly, Patsnut, the playcalling wasn't any different than the other games. What was different was that the Pats actually executed the plays. Brady was hitting his receivers, not over-throwing or under-throwing them. Other than the Dillon fumble, the Pats played a near perfect game.

In the Jets and Colts games, the Pats did not execute. I didn't find myself saying WTF are you calling that play for. I found myself says WTF are you doing Brady or Dang it (name your receiver) you got to make that catch. The execution was the biggest difference.

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BINGO!

It is amazing how good the play calling can look when players execute. If players do not execute, then the paly calling looks like crap.

There is not an OC who has ever called a perfect game. And, the opposing defense has a lot to do with the the play that's being called and the sucess of that play. But, it always comes down to execution.

I honestly did not see big difference in the play calling in Green Bay as opposed to recent weeks. It seemed that every game situation was approached the same as has been recently and even some of the actual plays themselves looked familiar. Whether it was better execution or a lower than average opponent, the results were obviously some of the best we have seen all year. I would agree with Tom Brady in his post game conference when he said that he would like to "sustain this level of play" going into next week against the Bears. Too bad we can't double cover everybody.