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Well campers, the lesson tonight is pretty clear. Things are never as bad as they are being made out to be by the media/experts/whiners/and complainers. NOR are they ever as good as we hope during a "good week". It really is a week by week event, where you cannot take too much from a previous game, good or bad. Here are some humble observations from tonight.
1. The highlight of the night for me was BB's post game presser. He gave the media NOTHING. It was clear (at least to me) that he really was pissed, not only with the expected "the sky is falling" stories at the beginning of the week, but also the bogus (AGAIN) Herald stories about Dobson's clashing with Josh, and Brady losing the locker room. You could almost hear the FU's behind his every cliched response. It was classic.
2. I haven't been on the Stork band wagon much, but you had to love what you saw tonight. The kid looks like a keeper.
3. I mentioned in a post back in TC, that Ryan Wendell has by far the best first step of the Pats' C''s in the run game. Its even quicker when he doesn't have to snap a ball. Even though he's still undersized, that explosive first step allows him to move bigger DLmen back off the LOS. It was the kind of push I expected from a bigger and more powerful Marcus Cannon, and didn't see. Well the Pats got that push from everyone on the OL, and over 200 rushing yds later, we can see the results.
4. Who would have thought the return of Ryan Wendell, the most beleaguered of ALL our OLmen, would mark a return to good pass protection for Tom Brady. IIRC the only sack of the game came when Gronk missed his block, while the rest of the OL was doing well. Don't forget that this was probably the BEST DL the Pats have played against thus far. Go figure?! I mean you have to wonder, how the pass protection can look so bad for the last 4 weeks, and suddenly in week 5 look so good.....against good opponent.
5. This offense COULD be dynamic down the road. All the pieces are there. Ridley and Vareen are both good RB's and the WR's can get better as the season progresses. Finally Gronk looked like he's ready to break through and get back to being the best TE in the league , while Wright continues to make progress. Good to see Edelman get deep twice tonight, even though neither ended up as completions. Our little former QB is fast becoming more than just a "slot receiver".
6. A small negative was the lack of consistent pressure against Dalton. Rarely did we create any hurries without having to rush 5. I'd like to see use use zone or overload blitzes more. I don't think we need to rush 5 or 6 to create more pressure, rather I'd like to see it done with more disguise and deception. BTW, nice rush by Chris Jones on his sack.
7. McCourty went out late in the 2nd quarter and it was clear (at least to me) that he was missed in that second half. On the first Bengal TD the CB had no help over the top on a pass down the middle of the field, right in McCourty's wheelhouse. Of course I don't know what coverage they were in on that play, but I'd like to think that McCourty would have been around that play, had he'd been in.
8. Also on the injury concerns are Easley and Revis. I didn't notice Easly go out, and the fact that I ddin;'t notice him being out disturbs me. So far he hasn't made a big impression on me yet. Revis looked to me that he hurt his shoulder on his hit, yet it was called a hamstring injury. I know he had a history of hamstring problems with the Jets. Regardless, he came back in the 4th Quarter, so it couldn't have been too bad, but look for him to be "questionable" all week.
9. If it weren't for the officials the Pats would have scored well over 50 this week. Its been a long time since I've seen a game where the officiating was not only so bad, but so lopsided as well. The Pats had 13 for 114 yds, while the Bengals only got called 4 times for 37. This disparity is especially concerning since the Pats were the home team. Now of course some of the calls were correct. But way too many were really head scratching. Among the worst was the PF on Easly for blocking after a fumble that was eventually called "not a fumble" and the phantom illegal contact call on Revis that cost him a pick.
What was more troubling was the fact that there were a number of really ticky tack calls being made on the Pats, yet when the Bengal DB's were making similar contact, it was let go. So many flags where the receiver was NOT impeded by the supposed contact. Now I'm not usually a referee complainer, but these guys were off the charts bad.
10. Finally, on to Buffalo. These aren't the Bills of the past. They have a first class defense and a bunch of offensive weapons. I know Kyle Orton doesn't exactly send chills down the spines of Pats fans, but with that defense playing as well as it has been, he doesn't need to be great. This is our FOURTH road game in just 6 starts, which is followed by 3 home games, so a win there and we can start to create some momentum at home.
Well, I hope some of the angst has lessened here in Patriots' Nation. I hope the mediots are chastened, and I wish to God the Herald would have the integrity to print a retraction and apology for their appalling stories this weekend, though putting the Herald and integrity in the same sentence is pretty appalling in and of itself. So I'm not holding my breath. However just as we can't take too much from the loss in KC, we shouldn't get too full of ourselves because we bllew out a very good Bengal team a week later.
This team is STILL in its formative stages. LOTS of players have LOTS of room to make improvements. This teams character was sorely tested this week and they passed with flying colors, but it was only ONE week. Lets see if the improvement continues
1. The highlight of the night for me was BB's post game presser. He gave the media NOTHING. It was clear (at least to me) that he really was pissed, not only with the expected "the sky is falling" stories at the beginning of the week, but also the bogus (AGAIN) Herald stories about Dobson's clashing with Josh, and Brady losing the locker room. You could almost hear the FU's behind his every cliched response. It was classic.
2. I haven't been on the Stork band wagon much, but you had to love what you saw tonight. The kid looks like a keeper.
3. I mentioned in a post back in TC, that Ryan Wendell has by far the best first step of the Pats' C''s in the run game. Its even quicker when he doesn't have to snap a ball. Even though he's still undersized, that explosive first step allows him to move bigger DLmen back off the LOS. It was the kind of push I expected from a bigger and more powerful Marcus Cannon, and didn't see. Well the Pats got that push from everyone on the OL, and over 200 rushing yds later, we can see the results.
4. Who would have thought the return of Ryan Wendell, the most beleaguered of ALL our OLmen, would mark a return to good pass protection for Tom Brady. IIRC the only sack of the game came when Gronk missed his block, while the rest of the OL was doing well. Don't forget that this was probably the BEST DL the Pats have played against thus far. Go figure?! I mean you have to wonder, how the pass protection can look so bad for the last 4 weeks, and suddenly in week 5 look so good.....against good opponent.
5. This offense COULD be dynamic down the road. All the pieces are there. Ridley and Vareen are both good RB's and the WR's can get better as the season progresses. Finally Gronk looked like he's ready to break through and get back to being the best TE in the league , while Wright continues to make progress. Good to see Edelman get deep twice tonight, even though neither ended up as completions. Our little former QB is fast becoming more than just a "slot receiver".
6. A small negative was the lack of consistent pressure against Dalton. Rarely did we create any hurries without having to rush 5. I'd like to see use use zone or overload blitzes more. I don't think we need to rush 5 or 6 to create more pressure, rather I'd like to see it done with more disguise and deception. BTW, nice rush by Chris Jones on his sack.
7. McCourty went out late in the 2nd quarter and it was clear (at least to me) that he was missed in that second half. On the first Bengal TD the CB had no help over the top on a pass down the middle of the field, right in McCourty's wheelhouse. Of course I don't know what coverage they were in on that play, but I'd like to think that McCourty would have been around that play, had he'd been in.
8. Also on the injury concerns are Easley and Revis. I didn't notice Easly go out, and the fact that I ddin;'t notice him being out disturbs me. So far he hasn't made a big impression on me yet. Revis looked to me that he hurt his shoulder on his hit, yet it was called a hamstring injury. I know he had a history of hamstring problems with the Jets. Regardless, he came back in the 4th Quarter, so it couldn't have been too bad, but look for him to be "questionable" all week.
9. If it weren't for the officials the Pats would have scored well over 50 this week. Its been a long time since I've seen a game where the officiating was not only so bad, but so lopsided as well. The Pats had 13 for 114 yds, while the Bengals only got called 4 times for 37. This disparity is especially concerning since the Pats were the home team. Now of course some of the calls were correct. But way too many were really head scratching. Among the worst was the PF on Easly for blocking after a fumble that was eventually called "not a fumble" and the phantom illegal contact call on Revis that cost him a pick.
What was more troubling was the fact that there were a number of really ticky tack calls being made on the Pats, yet when the Bengal DB's were making similar contact, it was let go. So many flags where the receiver was NOT impeded by the supposed contact. Now I'm not usually a referee complainer, but these guys were off the charts bad.
10. Finally, on to Buffalo. These aren't the Bills of the past. They have a first class defense and a bunch of offensive weapons. I know Kyle Orton doesn't exactly send chills down the spines of Pats fans, but with that defense playing as well as it has been, he doesn't need to be great. This is our FOURTH road game in just 6 starts, which is followed by 3 home games, so a win there and we can start to create some momentum at home.
Well, I hope some of the angst has lessened here in Patriots' Nation. I hope the mediots are chastened, and I wish to God the Herald would have the integrity to print a retraction and apology for their appalling stories this weekend, though putting the Herald and integrity in the same sentence is pretty appalling in and of itself. So I'm not holding my breath
. However just as we can't take too much from the loss in KC, we shouldn't get too full of ourselves because we bllew out a very good Bengal team a week later.This team is STILL in its formative stages. LOTS of players have LOTS of room to make improvements. This teams character was sorely tested this week and they passed with flying colors, but it was only ONE week. Lets see if the improvement continues
