The agitated Post-Game thread

iapatsfan said:

I don't know how that changes this team's talent level and overall lack of playmakers.

Click to expand...

The issue is not with the level of talent and the playermakers this team has. It is with your inability to evaluate them with any sense of non-bias "Chicken Little" hatred. It's always the same with you. Everything always sucks. YOU know better than Belichick.

Pats receivers have no athleticism to make it to the SB even if the OL plays average. Watching these midgets leap for catches and hope for them to catch is like hoping to drive from Boston to California with 4 flat tires.

stcjones said:

Thx for taking the time to review so quickly........this has been the issue here since Romeo left...NEVER ANY PRESSURE ON THE OPPOSING TEAMS QB............Hard to win the game when you are not knocking the opposing QB on his A##.................

Click to expand...

Yep.. Never ANY pressure.. That's why they had more sacks last year than any time during Romeo's tenure... They also had more pressures and hurries last year as well. But people like yourself over-look that fact because you're so intent on believing you know more than guys who have 30+ years of experience and won 5 Championships while going to the Championship game 8 times, 6 times with the same team..

bostonia3333 said:

Pats receivers have no athleticism to make it to the SB even if the OL plays average. Watching these midgets leap for catches and hope for them to catch is like hoping to drive from Boston to California with 4 flat tires.

Click to expand...

Listening to people like you call receivers who are 6'1-6'3 "Midgets" is just ridiculous. Go whine someone else..

Snake Eyes said:

No, your point is simply incorrect, don't try to blame the lack of QB pressure on the rules, it's been a very consistent problem with the Pats for many years.

Click to expand...

No, it hasn't. Only people with no concept of what QB Pressure truly is have been making those claims and they've been wrong the entire time. Sorry Snake Eyes. It's the same old broken record garbage when something doesn't go the Pats way. Everyone INSTANTLY knows what's wrong and makes the claim that "it's been going on for year".

A few years ago, people claimed the O-line sucked at run-blocking, yet it was the best run-blocking unit the Pats put out there under Belichick. But, because they don't man-handle an ALL-PRO DE in Wake and a damn talented DE in Miller, it's "the O-line continues to suck like it has for years" BS..

DaB, I go to every Miami away game every season for the past 20 years...the only time I DO NOT go is if it's an early September game. All these knee jerk, near suicidal posts take shots at this player and that player. The Patriots as a team, entirely, was gassed in the 2nd half. Every player on both sides of the ball looked slow footed and out of sync...THAT is South Florida in summer. I lived there, I KNOW.

Now you read these threads with these out of the woodwork "long time fan!!!"'s and it's easy to overlap them with almost the exact same posts after that game Brady got fetal positioned down there in 2008 ,37-13 on September 21st. In fact that was even worse. Think back to the Buffalo 31-0 blasting to open the season back in 2001(?), same crying and moaning and cursing Belichick and calling the entire team a bunch of talentless dogs and wasted draft picks. It's just the price any Patriot fan has to pay today for all this success the past 14 years.

I'm going to the Miami game up here later this season....gee, I hope the Dolphins don't embarrass me and my family or I'll have to start a write in campaign to remove Bill Belichick from office!!

what a gaggle of bleeding vagina geese...

Joker said:

DaB, I go to every Miami away game every season for the past 20 years...the only time I DO NOT go is if it's an early September game. All these knee jerk, near suicidal posts take shots at this player and that player. The Patriots as a team, entirely, was gassed in the 2nd half. Every player on both sides of the ball looked slow footed and out of sync...THAT is South Florida in summer. I lived there, I KNOW.

Click to expand...

Well said there... BB worked hard to condition his guys in TC, but it was just such an unseasonably cool summer, it was impossible to really emulate the Miami conditions. I can understand the defense, especially the D line, getting gassed by the 4th, which led to all the whiffs and missed tackles in the run game.

I don't think the team has to face another environment like that again this year, most likely. The only other destination left that's further south than the central US is the San Diego game, but that's not til December. So, in all likelihood, conditioning shouldn't be an issue to this degree again.

It's the first game of the season, not a season ending game so everyone should step away from the ledge.

That being said:

• The 3-4 read and react defense was not suited for the personnel they had out there. They just got overpowered when they waited to engage blocks. In the 4th quarter where they started to force the issue is when they looked their best. Don't understand why they waited so long.
• Disappointed overall in the lack of effective adjustment. Miami's coaches schooled our coaches today.
• OL almost got Brady killed and couldn't get any push on running plays.

I trust we'll play better next week and subsequent weeks.

I think the stat was Brady got hit 22 times...that cannot continue if they expect him to be anything more than a beaten to a pulp carcass in the middle of NFL Highway 16.

Belichick and McDaniels deserve a lot of the blame for today. Not double teaming Cameron Wake is a head scratcher. Even more so, they didn't make adjustments when it was clear the OT's couldn't handle the outside pass rush.

Dink n dunk passing game. Every year we embarrass some teams with it and look very impressive while doing so. But then it gets completely shut down against better defenses. Today it worked for the first half, and then the Dolphins made adjustments to shut it out in the 2nd half. It looked too easy for Miami to stop, and their 3 starting LB's weren't even playing in the 2nd half. This is very worrying. The passing game hasn't evolved in the past couple years, and if anything, it's devolved since the glory days of the 2-TE sets a couple years back.

Edelman, Amendola, Thompkins, LaFell, are all possession receivers. All short-to-intermediate route runners. Defenses can stack the box and not have to worry about the deep ball. None of them are burners. None of them can consistently beat their guy one on one. None of them command any respect from a defense. The latter 3 don't make much happen after the catch.

Brady's arm strength and deep ball at this point in his career are suspect. I hope we can write it off as week 1 jitters, but it showed a lot last year too. He missed an open deep ball to Edelman late in the game. At times he was throwing to nobody. Was it miscommunication, or fearing the pass rush?. Either way its not a good sign. I suspect BB and McDaniels know Brady's arm strength is declining and that's why they're forced to run a dink and dunk offense.

The OLine obviously deserves a lot of blame, but good QB's aren't supposed to be as scared under pressure as Brady was today. Brady used to be poised and resilient. I didn't see any of that today. Some of the latter throws in the game looked like he was just getting rid of the ball and not even trying.

Where was the run game in the 2nd half? OLine once again takes blame here, but Ridley isn't who we thought he was in 2012. He can't create anything on his own. and of course, McDaniels completely abandons the run when Brady starts getting killed.


Gronkowski is obviously not 100% yet. He might be physically, but he isn't mentally. He wasn't confident and wasn't on the same page as Brady. He looked scared of getting injured again. I think he'll be fine in a few weeks as he gets more comfortable out there. Gronk's health will absolutely be the key to this offense. Brady locking onto Gronk and forcing the ball to him was bad. He did that last year when Gronk first returned, but it worked itself out after a few weeks. Gronk is the only guy on offense who commands a double team. With out him making an impact, we're screwed.

Aaron Dobson can be another difference maker. His progression is vital. He's our only WR who has potential to be a true #1 option. Last year he wasn't ready for the spotlight. He'll have to improve and step up big time for this offense to get anywhere.

I'd also like to note how the commentators were saying the Pats should "take a shot down field", and the very next play Brady threw a deep pass to Edelman for 44 yards. It worked out this time, but it's alarming when McDaniels play calling has become so predictable that even the commentators are on the same wavelength as him. You have to think, if the commentators are predicting our plays then opposing coaches and players will too.

Just wondering what everyones thoughts were on this.

• Hightower had a solid hit on Tannehill. He was flagged for driving Tannehill into the ground.
• Chandler Jones had a ticky tacky penalty called for hitting Tannehill high. His hand just grazed Tannehill neck area and Jones pulled him down IIRC. I didn't agree with this one at all but it does get called at times.
• Chandler Jones beats an interior linemen off the snap and hits Tannehill straight on. Tannehill did a good job selling this to the refs. He was exaggerating an injury IMO. Then a very late flag came in. As soon as the flag came in, Tannehill was fine. I disagree with the penalty, but those are always 50/50 with the refs.

So our defense was flagged 3 times for hits on Tannehill but the Fins weren't even flagged once for all the hits on Brady.

I noticed Brady will crouch down when he knows he's about to get hit. It's led to a long and healthy career but he rarely gets penalty flags when he is hit. Tannehill's posture is more upright when getting hit. I wonder if this will lead to injuries for Tannehill, or will it just lead to a lot of flags for hits on him. Perhaps our defenders should take notes on how Cameron Wake goes for strip sacks when he gets to the QB, instead of hitting high. I never liked the rule how flags are thrown even when a pinky finger grazes a QB's head, but it is what it is and defenders should know it by now.



Were the 3 flags bad luck, bad execution, or bad reffing?

MrNathanDrake said:

I noticed Brady will crouch down when he knows he's about to get hit. It's led to a long and healthy career but he rarely gets penalty flags when he is hit. Tannehill's posture is more upright when getting hit.

Click to expand...

I've noticed that too. I really wonder if that has something to do with how the refs process the hit negatively/positively. Romo gets hit a lot with few flags too, but Brees gets flags if his body takes any shock at all.

In the second half the Dolphins mostly only played two linebackers, so if anything the Pats should have responded by running the ball rather than passing. And in terms of laying blame on the short passing game - i.e., dink n dunk (or zip and zap, a more positive name when it works), that wasn't the issue - the problem in the passing game was not enough pass protection, not short pass routes. More long pass routes would have simply resulted in more sacks, hits, pressures and hurried throws.

If anything there should have been more 'dink n dunk', not less. If the OL could not pass protect enough to set up a screen pass, then how in the world could they be expected to hold their blocks long enough to complete a long pass?

Tom Brady doesn't get RTP calls because of the media claiming he always gets them and he can't he touched etc etc.

Fixed your quote for you:

MrNathanDrake said:

Same story as whenever any football team loses.

OLine gets killed, and DLine can't do anything.

Click to expand...

iapatsfan said:

This team is bad and will not win double digit games. They just got pummeled by the worst team in their division.

Click to expand...

Got to save this prediction for future reference.

As many mistakes as the Pats made, and as poorly they played these "penalties" had as much of an impact on the outcome of this game as anything else...

Not the reason they lost, but definitely a little home cooking. IMO

The penalties came at critical times.

I am beginning to think maybe this is basketball. Refs keep every game close to the end and let the popular guy win it.

I can't see any reason for the soft stuff they are calling vs the entire league because of the Seahawks, but they aren't calling the same against the Seahawks. It has to be league control.

2 of the 3 penalties were absolute horseshit. Now, that said, over the years, I've seen similar called on Brady so it's probably not worth complaining about.