The "UnOfficial" Pats @ Vikings Post Game Thread

I am relieved that our DL and OL might be professional grade, and that we have our best defensive backfield in years. Good to see Brady have time and Ridley run hard, even if he is not the breakaway threat I think Vereen can be.

Still, 5 for 14 on 3rd down and 0 for 1 on 4th is not gonna make it. I am concerned that defensive coordinators need only take Edelman out of the game and the Pats are in trouble. Gronk is working his way back but is merely ordinary. Dobson missed all of training camp and preseason and who knows if or when he will make that up? Amendola to my eyes lacks the quickness he possessed before his groin injury and may never be the same player. Wright is new and probably getting up to speed. LaFell is healthy as far as I know but he is offering Brady nothing. Perhaps this is another Ochocinco problem? Vereen also is healthy but was invisible. I could see each of these guys improving to become what we hoped they would be, but I am concerned that we will see something less than a best case scenario.

Another concern is our LBs in man coverage. They look okay in zone, but with Collins out they look too slow to cover RBs or TEs. If Collins is out for while, I think they need a different solution here.

The only difference I noticed in our 3-4 this game versus last was that we flipped the 3 and 5 tech DTs. The 3 tech DT was playing on the right side (usually Wilfork) and 5 tech "DT"/DE was playing on the left (Ninkovich). Chandler Jones was still playing 5 tech RDE/OLB but having Wilfork next to him and varying how often he was in a 3 or 2 point stance made a big difference.

Also interesting was using Easley at NT/1 gap on 3rd downs with Ninkovich and Jones as 5 tech DEs.

Triumph said:

Revis played very very good.
Offense, Defense and Special teams all contributed.

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Think they Player Revis a lot more man-man today...as they always should.

How many snaps was revis in man to man today??

Mack Herron said:

Still, 5 for 14 on 3rd down and 0 for 1 on 4th is not gonna make it. I am concerned that defensive coordinators need only take Edelman out of the game and the Pats are in trouble. Gronk is working his way back but is merely ordinary. Dobson missed all of training camp and preseason and who knows if or when he will make that up? Amendola to my eyes lacks the quickness he possessed before his groin injury and may never be the same player. Wright is new and probably getting up to speed. LaFell is healthy as far as I know but he is offering Brady nothing. Perhaps this is another Ochocinco problem? Vereen also is healthy but was invisible. I could see each of these guys improving to become what we hoped they would be, but I am concerned that we will see something less than a best case scenario.

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I'm sure this is exactly why Brady doesn't seem to be too thrilled about our offense at the moment.

The receiving options were assumed to have improved upon last season, but so far that has not been the case. All we can hope for is a continued improvement, with a focus on running the ball for another week or two while they attempt to progress.

Hopefully, Gronk will be a different player in the next couple/few weeks, because he certainly looks very pedestrian at the moment--which is to be expected on some level I suppose. I'm not sure that I remember him being this tentative last time when he came back, however.

As against the thought as I've been throughout my whole time here at patsfans, I honestly am starting to wonder if it wouldn't be pertinent to make some type of veteran WR move--as unlikely as that is due to the learning curve, etc.

Brady_to_Moss said:

How many snaps was revis in man to man today??

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I don't know, but he seemed to stick out to me in a much more positive way than he did last week matched up on Wallace.

Revis had a very nice game, as did Mayo. I was impressed with most aspects of our defense today.

Use Jones on the outside? freak...inside (last week) not so much. keep him OUTSIDE please

Brady6 said:

If Develin has 2 catches, Hoomanawanui has 1 catch, and Dobson who has basically only been practicing for 2 weeks has 1 catch, I really do not see any excuse for Amendola or LaFell to go without a catch. Wright is still learning the offense.

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supafly said:

I'm sure this is exactly why Brady doesn't seem to be too thrilled about our offense at the moment.

The receiving options were assumed to have improved upon last season, but so far that has not been the case. All we can hope for is a continued improvement, with a focus on running the ball for another week or two while they attempt to progress.

Hopefully, Gronk will be a different player in the next couple/few weeks, because he certainly looks very pedestrian at the moment--which is to be expected on some level I suppose. I'm not sure that I remember him being this tentative last time when he came back, however.

As against the thought as I've been throughout my whole time here at patsfans, I honestly am starting to wonder if it wouldn't be pertinent to make some type of veteran WR move--as unlikely as that is due to the learning curve, etc.

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I wonder why we didn't try to get the ball to Vereen more often? He is healthy (I think) and a good one on one match-up with an LB. Hopefuly we see improvement from Gronk and Dobson, though it is not guaranteed. Many players are not the same for a year after returning from an ACL. Dobson missed essentially the entire off season so he has a lot of ground to make up. I think Thompkins appears to be a better receiver than LaFell right now. I am guessing that LaFell dressed for his special teams and blocking contributions, but we agree that there is a lack of receiving targets, especially in the red zone. Sunday could offer a nice break out opportunity for someone.

Mack Herron said:

I wonder why we didn't try to get the ball to Vereen more often? He is healthy (I think) and a good one on one match-up with an LB. Hopefuly we see improvement from Gronk and Dobson, though it is not guaranteed. Many players are not the same for a year after returning from an ACL. Dobson missed essentially the entire off season so he has a lot of ground to make up. I think Thompkins appears to be a better receiver than LaFell right now. I am guessing that LaFell dressed for his special teams and blocking contributions, but we agree that there is a lack of receiving targets, especially in the red zone. Sunday could offer a nice break out opportunity for someone.

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I'm not too surprised to see Thompkins inactive myself, at least at this point in the season. I think it was pretty clear that he was the low man on the totem pole in terms of WR depth.

I agree that I'd rather see him out there than LaFell in the passing game though, although it doesn't seem like Belichick agrees at the moment. You may be right. It may be a focus on ST performance, and come down to a decision between Dobson (inactive last week) and Thompkins (inactive this week).

I would probably expect that to change though in the next couple/few weeks, unless LaFell really has some major ST contributions that we're not seeing, or Belichick just decides to give him longer than we anticipated. There's also the possibility that he could actually contribute too, I suppose

You see the reason people complained last week is because DEN has had home-field the past two years, they have a schedule just as easy and as we can see have been bailed out of two losses already.

Losing a game to the mediocre Dolphins makes it easy for this team to host us in the title game, it might not matter if we beat them since they will pretty much beat everyone else but SD and one fluke loss. So last week matters for playoff reasons, we have no business giving DEN help when they are the most helped team in the league.

Dutchmaster617 said:

You see the reason people complained last week is because DEN has had home-field the past two years, they have a schedule just as easy and as we can see have been bailed out of two losses already.

Losing a game to the mediocre Dolphins makes it easy for this team to host us in the title game, it might not matter if we beat them since they will pretty much beat everyone else but SD and one fluke loss. So last week matters for playoff reasons, we have no business giving DEN help when they are the most helped team in the league.

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Tom Brady is 6-7 all time in MIA. I don't know why everyone seems to look past these divisional games like they are automatic wins?

First comes trying to win the division or getting in as a WC, then comes the first round bye...THEN comes having the #1 seed.

At the moment, all Belichick and Brady are trying to do is help the team to gel as the season starts. They need to get settled into a rhythm and build some momentum as the season keeps moving forward.

We opened the 2012 season with a 1-2 record after the first three games and somehow managed to host the AFCCG. Thinking about it (and assuming anything) is totally pointless in week #2 of a #17 game season.

I think it's pretty clear for this offense to be successful against good defenses we'll need to run the ball well.

Gronk isn't even close to his 100% atm. Edelman is our only real weapon currently in the passing game.

By no means is the world falling in e.t.c but i didn't get too low after last week and i'm not too high after this week. Defense and ST had a great game. Ridley pounded the ball well.

But look at this team with a playoffs view. We will need some of the role players on offense (and the OL) to begin to click/stay healthy as i can't see right now how we are going to trouble the top defenses in the league. If they can play man and stop the run.

hey Mack...Brady didn't convert that sneak on 4th down but that was hardly a negative. That was a good 2 yard sneak and he got most of it like he always does on his sneaks. If that's the usual 4 and inches it's a first down by a yard.THat was a good time to go for that 4th down conversion and it didn't hurt one bit that they didn't make it. Lumping that in with the other negatives in a 30-7 Patriots win on the road mystifies me.

BTW our D is 4th in yards allowed this season. Pass D rankings haven't been updated yet but I imagine we are top 3 or 4.

Good win. Was not looking great when the Vikings marched up the field but the defense played well the rest of the way. This is the defense we all expected at the start of the year.

Still, cannot be understated how much the Vikings missed Peterson. It changed their whole game plan. No way Cassel thows 4 picks Peterson is playing. Pats also had an absurd amount of penalties and their offense is still a bit of concern.

Still a win is a win. I expect another next week against the raiders as well.

Brady_to_Moss said:

Think they Player Revis a lot more man-man today...as they always should.

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He was rusty last week too

He has mad balls skills. Bring on Peyton Manning.

Anyone know if someone went to pick up greg jennings off of the island he was stuck on today?

The offense will get it together.

This game would have been a shutout if Collins played.