Game Thoughts: They stunk like fish today

Patradomous said:

I want you guys to watch the rest of the games today. And tell me who's o line and d line is worse than the Pat's.
You are totally delusional if you think the Pat's can compete with Seattle or even Miami's.
You win games/championships in the trenches always have always will.

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I think we'd all agree with that, but claiming that "the run is over" when each and every year usually produces a playoff appearance on some level, is a bit ridiculous in my opinion.

As far as the problems in the trenches, there seemed to be a pretty big difference between the first and second halves, which is likely one of the main reasons why Brady has historically had issues down in MIA. I think they get gassed pretty badly down there due to the heat.

supafly said:

I think that it had a lot to do with the differences in halves, which may have been due to the heat. Even if you don't buy into that theory, it certainly did not help.

The OL does not look like it has much cohesion at the moment. I still do not personally care for the move of Cannon to the L side. I was not impressed with Cannon on the L side during the last preseason game, especially for a guy who hasn't had many looks at guard in the first place.

We'll have to hope for the best, but the pressure seemed to come more from the outside than it did the inside--at least on first glance anyway. If that's really the case, then I'm probably being way too hard on the move of Cannon. I'm just speaking from a personal standpoint, in that I prefer him on the R side, that's all.

I still think that Nate Solder has a lot of work to do before he reaches that "elite" status level. I am a bit surprised that we weren't able to scheme a bit better to combat their pass rush, which may point to the theory of the heat proving true even more.

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Cheers Supa'

How did they line up? I'm guessing:

Solder - Cannon - Wendell - Connolly - Vollmer?

BritPat said:

Cheers Supa'

How did they line up? I'm guessing:

Solder - Cannon - Wendell - Connolly - Vollmer?

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No, actually much different BP.

Solder--Cannon--Connelly--Devey--Vollmer

This is a top 5 defense? LOL. Nowhere near it. The offensive line looked like **** too. Good job trading Mankins.

I counted it and Brady literally got hit on every drop back beside 4.

Froob said:

I'm not 100% sure that wasn't Brandon Tate instead of LaFell. Hopefully that'll be his worse game of the season.

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I don't think LaFell will last the season. He's slow, doesn't have very good hands, and is overpaid.

pwes said:

I figured that as well. Doesn't help that the Offense barely gave the defense a breather by not being able to stay on the field. Those guys had to be gassed and worn out.

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That was the big issue...no long drives to give the D rest. And it showed


The biggest issue is OL. If Brady gets hit like this every game..he won't last 16

Basically all of my fears going into this game happened. I almost feel like my negative thinking is the reason we lost(self-centered, I know). I have said all year that Cannon is a horrible guard and he was worse than I expected. Cannon actually struggled more in the first half but Brady got rid of the ball quick and then in the second half everyone sucked(not really wendell since he barely played). Hooman was maybe the biggest disappointment for me. He's been here awhile so he shouldn't have played so poorly and he contributed absolutely nothing to this game. Amendola was pretty invisible and is actually starting to remind me more of Branch in his second stint here instead of Welker.

I've said it for years and I will say it again. Vereen needs a significant increase to the amount of carries he receives. The way we use him is the equivalent of never giving carries to Forte and McCoy except on draws.

Obviously our run defense needs work but I think more credit should go to Moreno. He has carved us up three games in a row. I seriously wonder if some bigger bodies such as Kelly, Worthy, or Quarles would have helped today. I would have really liked it if we had sold out on stopping the run, and if we get burned by the pass than so be it.

Secondary was actually pretty solid besides a few sideline throws, but those are to be expected from time to time. Hightower's pass rush was actually solid and I expect it to get better as the season goes on. Eventually Hightower will replace Ninko. I have always seen them as similar players.

Lastly, I know its blasphemous, but I was almost looking forward to the Jimmy G era. Almost forgot, Mcdaniels doesn't learn from his mistakes. Early in the game we ran a fake double reverse screen to Ridley and as usual it didn't work. I remember us first trying that play in superbowl 42 and a few other games with similar results. And when it does work it never goes far. The play looks promising but it just takes too long to develop and Brady isn't mobile enough to evade the rush after carrying out two fakes.

supafly said:

No, actually much different BP.

Solder--Cannon--Connelly--Devey--Vollmer

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That's even more of a concern.

I've just seen Kontra's post about Brady being hit, that is very very alarming.

Was it caused by pressure up the inside gaps? A/B?

How was the run blocking?

one crazy stat: Pats have won 61 strait games when forcing at least 3 TOs

BritPat said:

That's even more of a concern.

I've just seen Kontra's post about Brady being hit, that is very very alarming.

Was it caused by pressure up the inside gaps? A/B?

How was the run blocking?

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There was little blocking or tackling to speak of. Ask me about penalties.

Brady_to_Moss said:

That was the big issue...no long drives to give the D rest. And it showed


The biggest issue is OL. If Brady gets hit like this every game..he won't last 16

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I actually think they should consider moving Vollmer to LG; he did not look good at RT today at all he was getting beat routinely.

Brady_to_Moss said:

one crazy stat: Pats have won 61 strait games when forcing at least 3 TOs

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All streaks come to an end at one time.

Guys could we potentially see stork at center and some shuffle on the inside of the oline? Clearly what we have going now isn't gonna work.

BritPat said:

That's even more of a concern.

I've just seen Kontra's post about Brady being hit, that is very very alarming.

Was it caused by pressure up the inside gaps? A/B?

How was the run blocking?

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There was a tremendous amount of pressure outside as well. To be honest, it came from everywhere, but it was not just from the inside as you may imagine.

The run game was absolutely horrible. They couldn't run the ball, and they couldn't block---but it was particularly in the second half.

They had a net of 10 yards (in the second half) going into their last "garbage time" drive, if that tells you anything. It was Brady's lowest total in his 15 year career, in terms of second half production.

They had 2 strip sacks on Brady in the second half, and double digit hurries/knockdowns. It seemed as though just about every single play they were all over Brady as soon as he snapped it.

Mack Herron said:

There was little blocking or tackling to speak of. Ask me about penalties.

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Speaking of penalties---those 3 personal foul/roughing the passer calls were ********.

At least 1-2 of them, anyway. There's no way that all 3 of those situations warranted penalties.

Brady6 said:

I actually think they should consider moving Vollmer to LG; he did not look good at RT today at all he was getting beat routinely.

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I thought this was Vollmer worst game of his career so far. Wake ate him up, all game

I can't even bring myself to re-watch that **** show and evaluate them.

Who on the O-Line performed on the worst?

Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
I truly believe that the o line issues will be corrected I think the team will play a lot different the next few weeks then we saw the second half in Miami.

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Sure I can see them beating the Oakland s and the Vikings of the world and going 12-4. But when you go into the playoffs with either the dline and or the online being the worst of the playoff teams it usually doesn't end well.

Was surprised at the lack of adjustment to the blitz in the 2nd half. Too much PA where Brady's back was to the defense long enough that, by the time he had turned around, it was too late.