Game Thoughts: Thank God We Don't Have to Rehash the Snow Bowl Anymore Edition

I'd be in big favor of an offensive line trade. The upside to protection is huge. If Tom has more than and .08'th of a second to make a read, we could probably start getting other receivers in the mix. A successful trade opens up the other plays on the field.

No time to develop a play. Just ridiculous. It pretty much limits what you can call. The defensive line is to the quarterback as fast as the ball is.

Protection is hot garbage basement caliber right now.

Everyone else is off the hook. I can't even begin to ask anymore why other targets aren't being utilized or making use of their opportunities when the pocket is folding in 1 or 2 directions on seemingly every single play that isn't a run.

Not only is that terrible from a production stand point, but it can't be very psychologically good for your quarterback.

If you were Brady would you not just basically be expecting a brutal blindside on any play that seems to last longer than 2 seconds? Guy is getting smashed. Not even a quarter of the way into the season and he's taken more punishment than he probably saw all of 2012.

Need to do something not just for competitive reasons. We can't have our franchise 1st ballot hall of fame quarterback getting mangled in a collision sandwich four times a game, on top of all his other hits, and expect him to last. Just dumb.

never mind the drops...

Game was won. Next.

hwc said:

It's not all the offensive line. The QB made a bunch of questionable throws in this game. The opening series of the game was butt ugly.

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Brady played fairly well today. He has played much better, but overall, this may have been his best game this year (not saying much).

He spread the ball around. Moved in the pocket. Even made a great block.

He missed some open recievers, but he also had a TD dropped by Gronk (I know Woodson tipped it).

He only made a few bad throws. One was a bad decision when he was trying to go to Gronk as he got hit (should have been intercepted).

He also made some great throws and led the offense down for points on several drives.

A W is a W. Great teams win close games...regardless of why the game was close and who we were playing.

RxJock1120 said:

A W is a W. Great teams win close games...regardless of why the game was close and who we were playing.

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It's nice that they won. But they cannot keep making the same errors and think they can win 10-14 games, it's just not gonna happen. They play this way every week, and they will lose every game left on the schedule. I don't care if anyone agrees with that, but every team left on the schedule is better than the Raiders.

People say the Championship teams the Pats had used to win games like this. No, they killed the **** teams like Oakland, and won close games against GOOD teams. Big difference. IF there is no improvement on both sides of the ball, this will be an 8-8 team. Need to protect the QB which they can't do against poor teams, and need to get pressure on the QB, which they've only done in one game out of three so far.

ThatllMoveTheChains!!! said:

Chung has magically looked good in coverage.

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I know. He was flying around out there today. A good sign!

And I agree...the oline looked a bit better in 2nd after some changes


Listening to the idiots calling in on 98.5 to gresh on ride home..2 said this is a 7 win team max...gresh was about to lose it. We have no one blah blah blah. God these fans are spoiled brats.

scott99 said:

It's nice that they won. But they cannot keep making the same errors and think they can win 10-14 games, it's just not gonna happen. They play this way every week, and they will lose every game left on the schedule. I don't care if anyone agrees with that, but every team left on the schedule is better than the Raiders.

People say the Championship teams the Pats had used to win games like this. No, they killed the **** teams like Oakland, and won close games against GOOD teams. Big difference. IF there is no improvement on both sides of the ball, this will be an 8-8 team. Need to protect the QB which they can't do against poor teams, and need to get pressure on the QB, which they've only done in one game out of three so far.

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That isn't true. In 2003, the Pats barely beat a bad Browns team 9-6 (they were 5-11 that year) In 2004, they lost to a bad Miami team 29-28 (they were 4-12). And I will throw out the beat down the Pats got vs. a 4-12 Bills to start the 2003 season because of the circumstances.

Accidentally posted this in the other thread..

Quick reaction to the game.

Brady, when given time is accurate and still a great QB. Unfortunately our OL can't block. The Raiders would've had two more sacks if not for great plays by Brady on the last scoring drive to evade pressure. Brady has one of the toughest jobs in the NFL. McDaniels wants him to make quick throws to short WRs who get little separation and have small catching radius.

Ridley/Vereen didn't look great. The Riddler looked close to breaking a couple big runs and got tripped up, but there were quite a few RFL to the left thanks to Solder getting blown up. He does look more confident running, but Pats definitely miss Blount on the GL runs. I wish JMcD would utilize Vereen on more screens or wheel routes, but I guess the OL can't block long enough to let wheel routes develop.

WR: Edelman is a damn good WR. If the OL played with as much heart as him and TB12 they'd be damn good. LaFell is good over the middle, but for the love of god, JMcD STOP CALLING PICKS. Amendola has had 3 big plays called back due to it. The refs are looking for picks and will call it on anyone(but DEN). Amendola just isn't getting open quick enough in the amount of time Brady gets. Maybe run some screens to him? Idk. KTs routes don't get open early enough like Amendola. Run some more slants.

TE: Gronk still getting up to speed and dropped that deflected TD. That's obviously not Gronk so I don't worry about it. He looked good on blocks in the run game. Wright had a big catch but just isn't utilized. This goes with my OL points, WHY trade Mankins for him and not use him? And if he hasn't picked up the play book why not simplify the damn thing? How many guys "can't pick it up?" 14 mill under the cap better mean OL or WR upgrades this offseason

OL: Pathetic. Tuck and Mack had open shots on Brady and he got up hobbled at one point. Devey at RG forces Connolly to play out of position so we have three lineman with Cannon playing out of position. Devey and Solder are lucky this Halloween, they don't have to get costumes, considering they look like Gillette Field turnstiles. How many times were they blown off the ball? Solder and Vollmer look like they're half assing some plays. Vollmer was caught standing on multiple off tackle plays. Cannon was late on the screen to Vereen in the second half. All around pathetic.

Overall the D was pretty damn good. I hate the bend but don't break D, because Manning and Rivers will take the 5-8 yard passes all day and nickel and dime you. Pass rush was non existent most of the day with Carr throwing from a clean pocket

Rob0729 said:

That isn't true. In 2003, the Pats barely beat a bad Browns team 9-6 (they were 5-11 that year) In 2004, they lost to a bad Miami team 29-28 (they were 4-12). And I will throw out the beat down the Pats got vs. a 4-12 Bills to start the 2003 season because of the circumstances.

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And those were 2 of the 4 losses in 2 years. Always gonna be a clunker once a year back then. They went 34-4 those 2 years, but usually beat the teams they were supposed to beat, without problems. This team has played 3 subpar teams, and has played ****ty in 2 of those 3 games.

scott99 said:

And those were 2 of the 4 losses in 2 years. Always gonna be a clunker once a year back then. They went 34-4 those 2 years, but usually beat the teams they were supposed to beat, without problems. This team has played 3 subpar teams, and has played ****ty in 2 of those 3 games.

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The Pats are 2-1. The Pats played crappy in many games in dynasty years. They didn't destroy every bad team they played. The Pats have a habit to play down to bad opponents.

Besides, the Pats went 13-3 last year and barely beat bad teams like Buffalo and Atlanta in the first four weeks.

hwc said:

He drafted o-line in the 2nd and 4th rounds.

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Rob0729 said:

3rd and 5th rounds.

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You're both wrong, actually.

Bill Belichick addressed the OL in the 4th and 6th rounds.

4th Round – Bryan Stork (OL, Florida State) – 105th Pick
4th Round – James White (RB, Wisconsin) – 130th Pick
4th Round – Cameron Fleming (OT, Stanford) – 140th Pick
6th Round – Jon Halapio (G, Florida) – 179th Pick

supafly said:

You're both wrong, actually.

Bill Belichick addressed the OL in the 4th and 6th rounds.

4th Round – Bryan Stork (OL, Florida State) – 105th Pick
4th Round – James White (RB, Wisconsin) – 130th Pick
4th Round – Cameron Fleming (OT, Stanford) – 140th Pick
6th Round – Jon Halapio (G, Florida) – 179th Pick

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You are right. I looked at drafthistory.com and he was the third pick but in the fourth round. Looked at the wrong column.

There were lots of raiders fans in the building today IMO

Rob0729 said:

The Pats are 2-1. The Pats played crappy in many games in dynasty years. They didn't destroy every bad team they played. The Pats have a habit to play down to bad opponents.

Besides, the Pats went 13-3 last year and barely beat bad teams like Buffalo and Atlanta in the first four weeks.

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I agree with both sides to some extent, although it's hard to argue the fact that our offense hasn't looked pathetic in many ways, and we'll be lucky if we don't get Brady killed before the 5th or 6th game.

Any of the homers who were talking about how "easy" it's going to be at Arrowhead stadium next week sounded foolish then, and even more foolish now. Next week's game on the road in one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL is not going to be easy.

We'll know much more about this team in the next 2 games.

Rob0729 said:

You are right. I looked at drafthistory.com and he was the third pick but in the fourth round. Looked at the wrong column.

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I'm just pointing out that it didn't occur in the 2nd or 3rd rounds, and that our first OL pick was in the 4th round. I'm wrong all the time about stuff, so I didn't mean to put it in blinking red lights.

supafly said:

I agree with both sides to some extent, although it's hard to argue the fact that our offense hasn't looked pathetic in many ways, and we'll be lucky if we don't get Brady killed before the 5th or 6th game.

Any of the homers who were talking about how "easy" it's going to be at Arrowhead stadium next week sounded foolish then, and even more foolish now. Next week's game on the road in one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL is not going to be easy.

We'll know much more about this team in the next 2 games.

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I would never say that the Pats are going to have it easy next week or the following. I think the Pats are better than KC, but they could easily lose.

Brady_to_Moss said:

I know. He was flying around out there today. A good sign!

And I agree...the oline looked a bit better in 2nd after some changes


Listening to the idiots calling in on 98.5 to gresh on ride home..2 said this is a 7 win team max...gresh was about to lose it. We have no one blah blah blah. God these fans are spoiled brats.

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Patrick Chung's overall play and actual ability to cover has been a very pleasant surprise thus far.

Rob0729 said:

I would never say that the Pats are going to have it easy next week or the following. I think the Pats are better than KC, but they could easily lose.

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We'll be facing more protection issues against a pumped up (at least at Arrowhead) defensive front.

On defense, they have a tendency to live off of the dink/dunk with Knile Davis and Jamaal Charles being big parts, so our defense will have to try to adjust to that and tackle well.

I only watched a couple of series on offense and not an expert by any means but brady's most poor throws and bad play it seems are because of the oline. he is getting rid of the ball even more quickly than he should and sometimes without having his feet set-off the back foot. Unless they fix this oline this is going to be tough. We have better WRs this yr on paper compared to last yr and we stink more right now.