The Patriots vs Bears POST Game Thread

I think the discussion needs to go to:

Do you guys think we have the best secondary in the NFL?

rochrist said:

Heh. You managed to edit it while I was getting this post ready to make fun of you!

Butler looked pretty good in limited action.

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You disagree that he did his edit while I was making my post, or that Butler looked good in limited action? Because I don't know about you, but I saw a very nice PD from him where he was in the guy's shirt.

kurtinelson said:

I almost felt sorry for the Bears and then I remembered this



I wish Belicheck being the football historian he is (in the same spirit as the Doug Flutie dropkick) put Wilfork in the backfield at the goal line.

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From the Bears' fan website:
This game was SO bad , that I had this thought after the game - so I pose this question ? If you could flip-flop everything - would you trade the 85 Bears win in the Super Bowl to a loss , in exchange for the success the Pats have had since ? Pats win ..... but it's the Bears who have had their success since .
It's a weird question and one I never thought I'd even consider ( since I love the 85 Bears so much ) ... but I'd have to say yes . As awesome and as fun as that team was to watch , I'd trade it for the successes the Pats have had since .
Guess this shows how much the last 29yrs has worn on me and how disgusted I am with today . This team isn't gonna be good for several more years folks ( if even then ). Cheers

PatsWickedPissah said:

These are not the droids you are looking for. When did a Pats secondary ever perform this well?

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03. Over a decade. Only thing missing is a Samuel-like guy that jumps routes at any moment.

Even though that have some talent on that team bears don't appear to be any good. D played well , Gronk was a men among boys, Gray had a nice first start and it was nice to see Lafell contribute. Didn't expect such a blow out after they barely beat the jets 10 days prior. Not a whole lot to complain about after that game yesterday.

mayoclinic said:

The Fair Weather Faithful will be out in full force this week.

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I'm really sick of this snide, holier-than-thou attitude. Most of us are really faithful, win or lose. One of the announcers of yesterday's game said something like, the fans were ready to dump Brady a couple of weeks ago. I call BS on that and on this.

Marqui said:

Hope to God they sign Branch this week. Run D is still atrocious, won't cut it against good teams.

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Granted, there were a few poorly timed penalties and questionable playcalling, but NE was in nickle a lot and most of the yardage came after Chicago was completely out of it.

Brady6 said:

Something odd when I looked at his game log is that last season Edelman had 2 bad games right at mid-season in a row as well when he combined for 3 catches for 18 yards in the two games.

I said in another thread I think he might be dealing with an injury or he caught the flu from Vereen because he was not himself today and they were spacing his reps a lot.

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Edelman played 45 of the first 52 snaps.

Cannon was heavily rotated in yesterday, playing 13 snaps for Solder and 21 snaps for Vollmer. Vollmer is now at 89.8% of the offensive snaps on the season, which would cost him the last $1M incentive in his contract (90% of snaps).

Sciz said:

Cannon was heavily rotated in yesterday, playing 13 snaps for Solder and 21 snaps for Vollmer. Vollmer is now at 89.8% of the offensive snaps on the season, which would cost him the last $1M incentive in his contract (90% of snaps).

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In the past, NE has paid out bonuses to guys who come just short of an incentive level (Branch barely missing 1,000 yards comes to mind). I hope they do the same for Sea Bass.

Oswlek said:

In the past, NE has paid out bonuses to guys who come just short of an incentive level (Branch barely missing 1,000 yards comes to mind). I hope they do the same for Sea Bass.

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Edelman's incentives also come to mind. Miguel commented on them earlier today.

NormZauchin said:

Although the Bears are in the other conference and we don't play them enough to consider them rivals, I love the fact that the Pats are 7-1 against Chicago since that debacle of a Super Bowl, and that many of those victories have been absolute beatdowns.

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They could be 117-1, and it would not make up for the pain of that day. That one stings. Still remember Dent picking up Craig James and shaking him until the ball fell out. There was a very exciting first two minutes, followed by utter humiliation by a much better team. Pats gave up as many sacks as Chicago gave up rushing yards.

Still nice to beat the modern Bears, though.

Some reactions:

Offense
The receivers were really getting open, and Brady was putting the ball out of reach of the defender. About as accurate as we have seen him. The first pass might have been a bit behind the crossing LaFell, but after that he was just hitting hands. Brady seemed to be keying on guys, often only looking to one side, and that player was open against Chicago. For example, on the Gronkowski TD fade to the left. On the other hand, his open-field run on the long third down, releasing the ball right at the line of scrimmage, was as athletic as we have seem Brady since, well, since the last game against Chicago when he juked Urlacher. All pre-season Brady had been working on footwork and rolling and throwing on the run, and that's showed up in the last two games. That opens another part of the offense that teams need to defend.

Converting those two long third downs was crushing for Chicago. Third and 18, and the Patriots convert. Another third and 14, and Gronkowski is open again.

Really nice pass blocking by the line. This isn't an elite defensive line they faced, but the Pats competely protected Brady. Now they might have taken a bit of a break when Garoppolo was in. Looked like the scene from Heaven Can Wait - "edge over a bit for me, will you?" - right before Warren Beatty is leveled. Could do with a few less false starts from this line. Especially from the center - that's pure technique and nerves. Ugly technique game from Stork - bunch of penalties and a fumbled snap.

I was OK with the play calling on the second TD attempt - although not excited about Vereen. I want to see the Patriots pound the ball in from the two, to keep defenses honest. If they can only score by throwing inside the 10, that clogs up the end-zone. Let's build confidence in the ability to convert on the ground. I don't think there is any reason to have Vereen in the backfield, though. If you are going to run, put the big guy in. Gray seems capable of picking up rushers as well. The execution was not very good, however, and when the game was 7-0 they risked a momentum-turning stand, going 16 plays with no points. Bailed out by a penalty - on them.

Gronk seemed less excited by the Wright TD - he was open in the front of the end-zone, and reached up for the pass that went to Wright. It looked like he wanted another himself.

Also don't care which of the receivers is catching the ball - whether it's LaFell, Edelman, Amendola, or whomever. Clearly LaFell and Gronkowski were getting open consistently. LaFell is showing better hands and speed than we expected. There seem to be two kinds of free agent receivers - those who get the system right away, and those who never get it. LaFell seems to be the former.

Defense
Wow, really shut down a decent set of receivers. This was definitely the chips-and-crackers of the feast of QB's coming. Interesting graphic on television - the QB's with the most, second-most, third-most, and fourth-most TD's this season facing the Pats over the coming five weeks.

This will be a good test for this re-tuned defense. The Pats have really transitioned from a run-keyed to a pass-keyed defense, which makes sense in this NFL. The Pats have been excellent against the rush over this 15-year run, but have been up and down against the pass. The team essentially traded Kelly for Easley, Spikes for Collins, Revis and Browner for Talib. They designed a smaller, quicker defense.

That said, Browner looks very good against the rush. For a tall DB, great technique getting low and driving straight into Forte. Revis is also an excellent tackler.

Would be nice to fix the middle of the defense. Teams still finding a lot of success rushing straight up the middle over Wilfork. Consistently yielding 5-6 yards per carry. As long as teams are successful running while the Patriots are ahead by 25 points it's not a huge problem, but a concern. The Pats have been much better stringing the outside runs to the sideline.

Nice to see Ayers get a sack. He was on the ground a lot, though - he seemed to come in low a lot, and the left tackle just leaned down on him and dropped him to the turf. But could be a nice surprise as a cheap in-season replacement. As others have noted, Easley had his best game. Ninkovich played the edge pretty well, stuffing the outside run.

Tight ends continue to hurt the Patriots - not as bad as the Patriots hurt them, though.

Special teams
Have to give it up for the militia's air-musket of the AC/DC riff. Funny stuff.
Don Jones playing the part of Matthew Slater. Impressive.
Great blocking on the Edelman punt return.
Gostkowski continues perfect (but for one bad snap this season), booming the ball out of the end-zone frequently, and the coverage is a lot better than last year.

condon84 said:

First reaction is that I love our commitment to the run.

It paid dividends for our passing game. Play action was a killer.

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This.

Bears guy on O talked about Easley and how the sky is the limit for him based on what he saw yesterday...something to that extent.

Brady_to_Moss said:

Bears guy on O talked about Easley and how the sky is the limit for him based on what he saw yesterday...something to that extent.

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Where? I'd be interested in hearing/reading those comments.

Reiss on Easley in the 1st quarter:

1. Rookie Dominique Easley drew a critical holding penalty (12:42) that stunted the initial momentum the Bears had on the opening drive. He aligned in a two-point stance in a wide split to the outside shoulder of tight end Martellus Bennett, and took an initial step to the inside that initially opened up the edge for running back Matt Forte. But Easley showed good play recognition and the ability to shed Bennett’s block attempt to re-establish his outside position. That led Bennett to hold him, which looking back, was a big play in the game. Easley had talked about having patience on the edge compared to playing inside, and that was a good example as he filled in for the injured Chandler Jones. He was competitive on the edge again at 7:59 on a 4-yard Forte run.

2. Easley perfectly executed against a designed screen pass on third-and-19 on the opening drive, sacrificing his initial rush against left tackle Jermon Bushrod (6-foot-5, 320) to chip Forte. That effectively blew up the play. So we often talk about defensive linemen and their impact on the game through the lens of sacks and pressure, but Easley’s edge-setting and play recognition on drawing the hold, and then stopping the screen, were just as high-impact plays.

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http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...42/patriots-1st-quarter-review-easleys-impact

Nice to hear.

SEA_Pat said:

I hope Bill went into the locker room and said to the DL and LB "If I see any of you doing a Tulloch-bration, you're immediately being released."

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Right, if a guy does something that could get him injured and on IR, it would be devastating if we lost him, so we should cut him first.
Just kidding with you, but it struck me as funny.

Urgent said:

They could be 117-1, and it would not make up for the pain of that day. That one stings. Still remember Dent picking up Craig James and shaking him until the ball fell out. There was a very exciting first two minutes, followed by utter humiliation by a much better team. Pats gave up as many sacks as Chicago gave up rushing yards.

Still nice to beat the modern Bears, though.

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C'mon, let's face facts. The Pats didn't deserve to be on the same field with the '85 Bears.

I got excited at the beginning, then Lin Dawson's knee exploded.

Lamarr Houston, torn ACL, done for the year.

With this and the Tulloch injury, newsflash to defenders:

Don't jump after you make a play.