- Joined
- Jul 11, 2005
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I’d like to think that my absence was made necessary because I was busy curing cancer, or that I was on a special secret assignment for the CIA, but it was much more mundane than that.
2 days after I witnessed what was in my opinion the worst effort by a Pat’s team since opening day of 2003, I was finally mentally prepared to rejoin the discussion and despair when the WiFi in my building crapped out. Unfortunately, it didn’t bounce back as quickly as the Pats did, and I only got it back this Friday, and I have been flat out working until this evening.
I feel honored that I was missed enough to get my own thread and will answer all who PM’ed me after I get through this. PWP, I got your call, but I don’t text. If you had stayed on to talk, I would have filled you in. Thanks to all who were worried, though I’m sure there were just as many who enjoyed the respite.
. Below are a few thoughts on the 2 games we played and the upcoming on tomorrow.
1. Like I said, the Miami game was as poor a competitive effort as I’ve seen from a Pats team since 2001. If it wasn’t the worst, it was certainly in the top 5. Mostly my disgust comes because the loss was so “unPatriot-like”.
Injuries weren’t a factor. I felt very good after the first half, because it’s my experience that BB teams get BETTER as the game goes on, NOT worse. The Pats has no answers for what the Dolphins were doing both on offense or defense in the second half. Plus it seemed like every time the offense took a step forward, a penalty caused them to move 2 steps back. That's what OTHER teams are supposed to do. No, the collapse was a team effort. I felt the coaches failed to make the proper adjustments and the players didn’t execute anything correctly on the field, and it was a sloppy a game as I've seen in a very long time..
There have been games where the score was worse, but at least I could see the effort. It was more disappointing to me than any of the recent playoff losses for that reason. That first week might have been the best week Ron Borges has had in many, many years.
2. So like everyone else, I had no idea what we would get to see in Minnesota the next week. Quickly I saw the team I expected to see a week earlier. Certainly not one that is playing at its best, but one that is likely to compete in January. It truly must have been an “aw ****” moment for Ron Borges and his ilk. That’s right Ron, your nightmare scenario is back.
2. The defense was everything I had hoped it would be, even without Jamie Collins. They stopped the run, and choked the passing attack. You could count on one hand the number of completions the Vikings had that weren’t closely contested.
3. There was ONE play that disturbed me, even though it ended up as an incompletion. It was the play just before the FG block, when a Vikings’ receiver (Patterson, IIRC) just missed the catch on the sideline at the Pats one. It was clear from the replay that the Pats were in a zone where the CB had the short coverage and the S had the deep coverage. Now I have no idea what Harmon saw that made him so late to the route, but it was clearly was a blown coverage on someone’s part. In 20-20 hindsight, that play ended up being a 14 point swing.
4. As to the offense, the sturm and drang, I’ve heard from the media all week about the offense is truly overblown. Brady only threw the ball 21 times. It’s hard to “spread it around” and get everyone “involved” when you only throw it that many times.
5. I said back in TC, that it looked like Julian Edelman had taken a step up in his development and I thought he was capable of becoming much more than “just a slot guy”. He is taking people deep and beating them. He is becoming a true outside threat. Think Steve Smith
6. All the Amendola crap is just that…..crap. At best he’s the 3rd choice, and when you only throw the ball 21 times, the 3rd guy isn’t going to get many looks. It’s not his fault that the 2 biggest catches he’s had this season, ended up as penalties. IMHO all the Amendola complaining by the media and here are by people who are trying to create an issue where there isn’t one….yet
7. In that same vein, I am sure that no matter how badly the Pats beat the Raiders tomorrow, the whiners will be out there nit picking every slight perception of failure. Me I’m going to just enjoy this game. I fully expect the offense to be more productive (even though they won’t get credit, since it is “just the Raiders”. Just I like expect the Pats defense to be just as aggressive on the other side of the ball. God forbid they only win by 2 TD’s tomorrow.
8. Keeping it in perspective. I think the NFL as a whole is getting a bad rap for this domestic violence thing. Even if there are 10 guys involved in some kind of trouble (and I think the number is less). That would mean as an entire population, only about one half of one percent of NFL players are involved. I seriously doubt the population in general would have that low a percentage. However the impression I'm getting from the general media is that like half the guys in the league are going home to beat their domestic partners every night.
That being said, Goodell’s handling of the Ray Rice fiasco was botched from the beginning and he shouldn’t be surprised with the scrutiny he is getting. His creditability is gone. Bruschi is right, he should step down for the good of the league. No one is ever going to believe anything the man says from this point on.
It’s probably not really fair, since he admitted the mistake and rectified it, but that’s the nature of the job. It has great rewards, but he has to be held to a higher standard. Just announce you will leave at the end of this year, and the issue will soon disappear. Do the right thing here, Roger.
9. I also hate what seems to be an arbitrary enforcement of the new drug policy. Kudos to the NFL for FINALLY getting an HGH policy, but watching some guys get to come back, while others don’t doesn’t seem to be fair.
BTW- I personally think that using HGH in the off season to help recover from injury, if under a doctor’s care, would be fine, just as long as it’s out of the players’ system before they come back to play. But that’s just my opinion.
10. I’m sure the penalty situation has been talked about a lot this week. It’s both disappointing and puzzling. I’m sure we are all looking for improvement on this issue tomorrow.
It’s good to be back. I have a lot of threads to catch up on. Hopefully this hasn't been too redundant.
2 days after I witnessed what was in my opinion the worst effort by a Pat’s team since opening day of 2003, I was finally mentally prepared to rejoin the discussion and despair when the WiFi in my building crapped out. Unfortunately, it didn’t bounce back as quickly as the Pats did, and I only got it back this Friday, and I have been flat out working until this evening.
I feel honored that I was missed enough to get my own thread and will answer all who PM’ed me after I get through this. PWP, I got your call, but I don’t text. If you had stayed on to talk, I would have filled you in. Thanks to all who were worried, though I’m sure there were just as many who enjoyed the respite.
. Below are a few thoughts on the 2 games we played and the upcoming on tomorrow.1. Like I said, the Miami game was as poor a competitive effort as I’ve seen from a Pats team since 2001. If it wasn’t the worst, it was certainly in the top 5. Mostly my disgust comes because the loss was so “unPatriot-like”.
Injuries weren’t a factor. I felt very good after the first half, because it’s my experience that BB teams get BETTER as the game goes on, NOT worse. The Pats has no answers for what the Dolphins were doing both on offense or defense in the second half. Plus it seemed like every time the offense took a step forward, a penalty caused them to move 2 steps back. That's what OTHER teams are supposed to do. No, the collapse was a team effort. I felt the coaches failed to make the proper adjustments and the players didn’t execute anything correctly on the field, and it was a sloppy a game as I've seen in a very long time..
There have been games where the score was worse, but at least I could see the effort. It was more disappointing to me than any of the recent playoff losses for that reason. That first week might have been the best week Ron Borges has had in many, many years.
2. So like everyone else, I had no idea what we would get to see in Minnesota the next week. Quickly I saw the team I expected to see a week earlier. Certainly not one that is playing at its best, but one that is likely to compete in January. It truly must have been an “aw ****” moment for Ron Borges and his ilk. That’s right Ron, your nightmare scenario is back.
2. The defense was everything I had hoped it would be, even without Jamie Collins. They stopped the run, and choked the passing attack. You could count on one hand the number of completions the Vikings had that weren’t closely contested.
3. There was ONE play that disturbed me, even though it ended up as an incompletion. It was the play just before the FG block, when a Vikings’ receiver (Patterson, IIRC) just missed the catch on the sideline at the Pats one. It was clear from the replay that the Pats were in a zone where the CB had the short coverage and the S had the deep coverage. Now I have no idea what Harmon saw that made him so late to the route, but it was clearly was a blown coverage on someone’s part. In 20-20 hindsight, that play ended up being a 14 point swing.
4. As to the offense, the sturm and drang, I’ve heard from the media all week about the offense is truly overblown. Brady only threw the ball 21 times. It’s hard to “spread it around” and get everyone “involved” when you only throw it that many times.
5. I said back in TC, that it looked like Julian Edelman had taken a step up in his development and I thought he was capable of becoming much more than “just a slot guy”. He is taking people deep and beating them. He is becoming a true outside threat. Think Steve Smith
6. All the Amendola crap is just that…..crap. At best he’s the 3rd choice, and when you only throw the ball 21 times, the 3rd guy isn’t going to get many looks. It’s not his fault that the 2 biggest catches he’s had this season, ended up as penalties. IMHO all the Amendola complaining by the media and here are by people who are trying to create an issue where there isn’t one….yet
7. In that same vein, I am sure that no matter how badly the Pats beat the Raiders tomorrow, the whiners will be out there nit picking every slight perception of failure. Me I’m going to just enjoy this game. I fully expect the offense to be more productive (even though they won’t get credit, since it is “just the Raiders”.
Just I like expect the Pats defense to be just as aggressive on the other side of the ball. God forbid they only win by 2 TD’s tomorrow. 8. Keeping it in perspective. I think the NFL as a whole is getting a bad rap for this domestic violence thing. Even if there are 10 guys involved in some kind of trouble (and I think the number is less). That would mean as an entire population, only about one half of one percent of NFL players are involved. I seriously doubt the population in general would have that low a percentage. However the impression I'm getting from the general media is that like half the guys in the league are going home to beat their domestic partners every night.
That being said, Goodell’s handling of the Ray Rice fiasco was botched from the beginning and he shouldn’t be surprised with the scrutiny he is getting. His creditability is gone. Bruschi is right, he should step down for the good of the league. No one is ever going to believe anything the man says from this point on.
It’s probably not really fair, since he admitted the mistake and rectified it, but that’s the nature of the job. It has great rewards, but he has to be held to a higher standard. Just announce you will leave at the end of this year, and the issue will soon disappear. Do the right thing here, Roger.
9. I also hate what seems to be an arbitrary enforcement of the new drug policy. Kudos to the NFL for FINALLY getting an HGH policy, but watching some guys get to come back, while others don’t doesn’t seem to be fair.
BTW- I personally think that using HGH in the off season to help recover from injury, if under a doctor’s care, would be fine, just as long as it’s out of the players’ system before they come back to play. But that’s just my opinion.
10. I’m sure the penalty situation has been talked about a lot this week. It’s both disappointing and puzzling. I’m sure we are all looking for improvement on this issue tomorrow.
It’s good to be back. I have a lot of threads to catch up on. Hopefully this hasn't been too redundant.
