Idle thoughts: the whew edition.

This one actually will be quick since I have a 7:30 meeting this morning.

1. This offense will be fine. Don't forget they scored 27 points against one of the best defenses around, without the aide of any turn overs, short fields, sloppy play, not being one of Brady's best days, and several drops. Think about that for a second.

2. I was very surprised the OL protected Brady as well as it did. Only one sack and that was for a one yard loss. In the second half the Jets did a lot more blitzing, and while they did put more pressure on Tom, for the most part he had time to throw.

3. We only had 63 yards rushing, but averaged 4.2 ypc. A much better result than I expected. And much better than we did last week. Perhaps we should have run more.

4. Kudos to Amendola for his KO returns and of course his amazing TD catch. BTW- he now has at least 4 catches this season called back for Penalties. BTW- this was a quick as I've seen him this season. Maybe like Gronk he his coming around.

5 I can recall 4 drops (2 Edelman, 2 Gronk) off the top of my head; Rob had it at 8. At any rate we can't survive that kind of result long term.

6. Clearly the run defense is an issue, but I'm slightly encouraged that by fact I thought it was better in the 2nd half. At least in the 2nd half there weren't gaping holes. Just way too many enormously frustrating 5-7 yd runs which should have been 2 yd gains

7. For a team that usually tackles well there were WAY too many missed tackles and yards gained after contact. IF ever Jerod Mayo was needed in a game, this one was it. Better tackling would have dropped the Jets run game by a third. That being said, Chris Ivory is a BEAST. Too bad he plays in a place where his talents will go under appreciated. That kid is a great RB.

8. Geno's escapability was the key to the Jets success on offense. He converted more first downs that could have been drive enders than I can remember.

9. The Jets ran some excellently devised routes to their passing game.

1o. Jet fans will whine about the refs, but once again the Pats got the short end of the stick. About 25% fewer penalties. The defensive holding on a what looked like a run play was a real head-scratcher. And the personal foul on Devey was another. Brady got hit VERY late, which was ignored - yet Devey moderately makes a push and justified retaliation gets flagged. Mind Boggling>

11. The Parasitic media will attempt to spin this negatively all week. That is to be expected. I suggest we ignore it and keep to ourselves. The only exceptions should be Bedard's visit to FnM and Patriots' All Access to see the post game locker room comments.


In the end, the Pats took the Jets A-game and beat them with their B-game. Bottom line, if they had won by 20 they'd STILL be 5-2. You don't get style points in the standings.

They now have 6 games where they ARE going to be tested, before they finish the season with 3 more division games. Split those 6 games and win 2 of the 3 games in the division and we'll be 10-6 with a division crown. That's the minimum acceptable result. I see it being improved upon beyond that by a game or two.


That's gonna have to do it. Its almost 1 am, and I have to be up at 5:30.

Love Devey showing a little nasty streak.

Happy with the OL given injuries, noticed that Cannon was at tackle, 3 starters and they did a good job against a good front line.

Good post as usual, agree with most of what you have said... am concerned about the Run D as well, it has not been good this year, but better than last night. Wonder if part of what we saw last night was the lack of a seasoned defensive quarterback on the field?.. one of the things that has been said this week was the the strength of Mayo was his ability to get the D ready and lined up. Who will assume that role??

I also did not think Revis had his best game... does he have some sort of injury?? Browner did not seem all that effective...

But this was a game where a lot of different folks chipped in to secure this victory, i.e. a team victory.

In the end a win is a win, a divisional win is very important.. we are 5-2 and there are not style points in the NFL... this team gets a few days off, which they seem to need.

DarrylS said:

Good post as usual, agree with most of what you have said... am concerned about the Run D as well, it has not been good this year, but better than last night. Wonder if part of what we saw last night was the lack of a seasoned defensive quarterback on the field?.. one of the things that has been said this week was the the strength of Mayo was his ability to get the D ready and lined up. Who will assume that role??

I also did not think Revis had his best game... does he have some sort of injury?? Browner did not seem all that effective...

But this was a game where a lot of different folks chipped in to secure this victory, i.e. a team victory.

In the end a win is a win, a divisional win is very important.. we are 5-2 and there are not style points in the NFL... this team gets a few days off, which they seem to need.

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Revis is having the same problems Sherman is having. Everyone expects perfection. That, and just like the Seahawks (this year) the pass rush is not moving QBs in time. they both play off-man so much now.

Revis didn't have his best game. I imagine the playing field was a bit damp and slippery giving the advantage to receivers, not DBS

Regarding the poor tackling and chunks of yardage the JEST got, I was considering this: Could those problems be attributed in whole or in part to the weather? There were many times I saw Wilfork and others sliding on the field, unable to keep their balance because it seemed to me the turf was quite slick.

The same could go for those jerseys and pants. They are slick to begin with, and you add rain to the mix and it's pretty hard to wrap up someone completely. Many times during the game I saw what I thought were form tackles, times where the opponent should have gone down, yet he literally seemed to "slip" away.

Anyway, nice post as usual, Ken. Thanks for this. It's always one of my favorite reads post-game.

Gwedd said:

Regarding the poor tackling and chunks of yardage the JEST got, I was considering this: Could those problems be attributed in whole or in part to the weather? There were many times I saw Wilfork and others sliding on the field, unable to keep their balance because it seemed to me the turf was quite slick.

The same could go for those jerseys and pants. They are slick to begin with, and you add rain to the mix and it's pretty hard to wrap up someone completely. Many times during the game I saw what I thought were form tackles, times where the opponent should have gone down, yet he literally seemed to "slip" away.

Anyway, nice post as usual, Ken. Thanks for this. It's always one of my favorite reads post-game.

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Patriots players falling down has been a repeating theme all year. They just seem to slip and fall an inordinate number of times. Its the strangest thing.

The pats are built more to defend the pass in my view vs being super stout against the run. Besides Vince the rest of the D line is not stout. And we got rid of spikes who played the teddy Johnson role. Now with mayo out this who we are. The tommy Kelly cut we will regret all year long. So be it.

Does anyone expect a Ted Washington type trade? Ie something to help the run D?

I'd love for another convenient fix like Washington, but I doubt anything better than Issac Sopoaga is going to be available.

BSR said:

Patriots players falling down has been a repeating theme all year. They just seem to slip and fall an inordinate number of times. Its the strangest thing.

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I think our equipment department should invest in some better shoes. You could blame the field as we have new turf. But it has happened a lot more to us than it has to the opponents.

Nice summary patfanken.

Do you think we should add a thanks to the ref that pulled Hightower from standing over the snapper on the last play with the field goal attempt for 58 yards that Jones blocked? That should have been a 5 yard interference penalty putting the kick at 53 yards!

I think so we caught a big break.

Sticky Caulk said:

I'd love for another convenient fix like Washington, but I doubt anything better than Issac Sopoaga is going to be available.

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Is it just me, or was anyone wondering who Casey Walker was? He played a lot against the Jets and was effective on several plays including the sack in the 4th quarter when they collapsed the pocket on Smith. When did he make the active roster?

http://www.patriots.com/team/roster/Casey-Walker/e6ad44e1-1707-4329-866d-41cf2bd0775d

When Siliga returns from the Temp IR it will have a big impact on the Run D. He is stout against the run and will allow them to give Wilfork a blow once in awhile.

Marinlik said:

I think our equipment department should invest in some better shoes. You could blame the field as we have new turf. But it has happened a lot more to us than it has to the opponents.

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It looked in the first half that a lot of players had longer turf cleats and were stumbling, rather than slipping, as if they believed the hype about a wet game and had the wrong shoes. I didn't notice this as much in the second half, which may indicate that they changed out their shoes or that I was sleepy. Regardless, the equipment guys need to do a better job, because the Pats blew it in terms of shoe selection both in Miami and last night. And if the players are making those decisions themselves, they need to be coached better by the equipment guys.

goheels22002 said:

Is it just me, or was anyone wondering who Casey Walker was? He played a lot against the Jets and was effective on several plays including the sack in the 4th quarter when they collapsed the pocket on Smith. When did he make the active roster?

http://www.patriots.com/team/roster/Casey-Walker/e6ad44e1-1707-4329-866d-41cf2bd0775d

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He got called-up for the game against Cinci and looked pretty solid last week. He let himself get taken out of the play on a couple of those first-half runs last night so he has some work to do, but he's definitely an upgrade on Vellano.

pencilneckgeek said:

He got called-up for the game against Cinci and looked pretty solid last week. He let himself get taken out of the play on a couple of those first-half runs last night so he has some work to do, but he's definitely an upgrade on Vellano.

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IIRC, he was signed prior to the KC game but didn't see much action for that game. Guess this kid just fell through the cracks- came in as a UDFA and spent a year on the Panthers PS, and ended up here. I was quite impressed with what he did last night. He beat up on Mangold, and Mangold is a 5 time pro-bowl and considered one of the best centers in the NFL.

pencilneckgeek said:

He got called-up for the game against Cinci and looked pretty solid last week. He let himself get taken out of the play on a couple of those first-half runs last night so he has some work to do, but he's definitely an upgrade on Vellano.

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Thanks. Did you notice that on the Patriots' web site that Walker's picture has him in his Panthers uniform? If they change that, he might stick.

patsfan13 said:

When Siliga returns from the Temp IR it will have a big impact on the Run D. He is stout against the run and will allow them to give Wilfork a blow once in awhile.

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Vince struggled. He can't play that many snaps 4 days after playing a tough game at Buffalo. VW and our run defense was outstanding on Sunday. What changed? Mayo got hurt in second quarter. I think the short turn-around played a role

A few thoughts.
The run defense was absolutely atrocious. No containment of Gino at all and a lot of missed tackles. The loss of Mayo will need to be addressed otherwise we are going to get shredded by good running teams.

Flag happy officials are absolutely ruining the game. The Jets never would have been in a position to even be close enough to try and drive for the winning points had it not been for another flag happy ref on the previous TD drive.
The Pats had the Jets backed up at their 14 yd line except for another defensive holding call on defender when it was clear the receiver slipped and fell on the wet turf. Automatic first down. drive extended.
And finally when the Patriots did get the ball back all they needed to do was make one first down and run out the clock. The conservative play calling absolutely infuriated me. Three very poor running plays. 3 and out, and you hand the Jets a chance to drive for the winning field goal. This is what drives me crazy about McDaniels sometimes. You have the best QB in the game, Trust him to make a safe throw and pick up the first down. The way our D was playing last night, it was not a wise decision to give the Jets the ball back, and it almost blew up in the Pats face. Thank goodness for the blocked field goal.

But I guess a win is a win, but the D will have to be much better against Denver or we'll get run right off the field.

Some good thoughts, Ken. The drops were a big problem for a night where things were a lot drier than forecast. I think the tightness of the game, when they were expected to win got into guys heads, or least Edelman's, as his drops both looked like nervous plays, where he felt like he needed to do something big before he caught the ball.

In terms of how much running they should have done, I'm going to give the coaches the benefit of the doubt here. Plenty of those runs went for 1-2 yards with a couple of 6-8 yard runs sprinkled in. If they ran it more, I would expect more of the 2-yard variety, as the Jets playing the pass was likely part of the success. Still, pounding the rock can have long-term benefits in a game. The question is whether another stalled drive early on from running one too many times would have outweighed the potential late-game benefits of having hit the other guy more often early in the game. Given that they scored 27 and did fairly well in getting touchdowns in the red zone, I'll accept the decision to throw a lot, provided they run plenty against Chicago's run-challenged defense next week.

IIRC, Amendola now has 4 catches called back for OPI penalties by LaFell. Maybe it's time to have someone else run the picks for the little guy.

The holding call on the handoff to Vick makes no sense at all. There's no way that should have been called, unless Ryan tackled his guy. Did anybody see that part of the play?

I disagree on the Brady hit/Devey shove foul. Tom got hit right after he threw it away. The rulebook clearly indicates that that's only roughing if it's Payton. Tom should have gotten rid of it sooner, and Devey committed an obvious penalty. Ghost made it a moot point anyway.

We definitely missed Mayo last night. The run defense looks like a fatal flaw until proven otherwise. Good thing Revis, Dennard, and McCourty give us the back-end we need to stack the box.