My game thoughts:
Brady Showed pretty clearly tonight why he is better then manning. Less "weapons" yet he absolutely lit the "vastly improved" denver defense up. The difference in arm strength was glaring today, Brady threw darts through the wind, manning threw ducks.
Minitron showed that yes, he hasn't not lost it, he was just not the focus the last few weeks, Huge punt return, Lots of great catches.
Amendola with a couple of HUGE first downs
Gronk was very gronk today, Despite the very scary attempt by ward to end his season, again.
Our running game was off all day, but the denver D is good against the run, and we had a rookie touting the rock so it was to be expected.
Ayers with an Awesome sack.
Chung acting like he belongs on a superbowl caliber defense. He was the person on D for a couple of big plays by denver, but Short of getting flagged for a penalty I don't see how his coverage could have been much better.
The broncos missing a field goal because the kick hit the upright in the 5 foot section that was added this off season because BB made the suggestion that the uprights be increased 5 yards. Suck it manning, you're not the only one that can get something changes to benefit you.
Should have had more interceptions then we did, but i guess ill just have to live with those 4 turnover's on downs!
After that HORRIFIC Pass interference that led to the broncos first TD i thought the game was going to go down hill quick, but then the refs swallowed their whistles for a couple of quarters before they got the call that things were getting out of hand, and marched denver down the field with a bunch of BS ghost penalties to try and keep the game close.
The amount of manning face we were given today was great.
The amount of ball washing the announcers gave manning was ABSURD. anytime the patriots got anything in their favor there was reviews, and slow mo replay, and reviews, and calls to mike carey to see "hey do you think the patriots got away with something there?" And then any time the broncos got a call nothing but praise for the refs, and how much of a general manning is out there.
Worried the broncos are going to have a chip on their shoulder the next time we meet, we embarassed them today.
Up 3 scores with 4 minutes to go why is gronk running seem routes?
To Five head's credit, the ducks were not true ducks, he threw a damn good spiral in most of them. However, he was lofting and dropping his passes into buckets rather than throwing them through windows.
This was a very well executed game in all three phases. The defense was lights out in the first half and seemed to let up a touch in the second. Looked like more zone on the scoring drives (admittedly I missed much of the early third finishing up the smoked wings), followed by more man after. This team seems to have the horses to shut teams down manning up and letting the cards fall.
The offensive line gets the game ball. Vollmer seemed to struggle a bit, but outside of that, they looked fantastic. Case in point, qb sneak in second and three. I hope stork stays healthy, he looked great tonight. That could certainly be a huge addition to a fairly established line (returning starters being shuffled anyways), allowing a luxury bpa (on the oline) pick to have massive impact in the next few years. The run game was anemic, but the line seemed to get good push and created veins that could have been taken advantage of.
Gray reminds me of a slightly more talented, young BJGE. He has slightly more "wiggle," and seems a little more explosive. He also sends to have a knack for avoiding negative plays, and seems to have the similar ability to drive into contact and fall forward (not quite as good as BJGE in his last few years in this regard). He seems to be a solid depth back. Not someone you want to rely on as your runner, but someone who can effectively run due to injuries. Good bye bolden.
The mayo injury may be a blessing in disguise. Ayers looks to be a steal for the swap of picks. Walker looked decent when I was paying attention. Surely walker is no threat to rush the passer, but he seems to be a solid large body demanding attention on the line.
Collins. He was all over the place early. Loved the tone setting toss of sanders in the first three and out. He seemed solid enough in coverage and did a great job timing his blitzes when called on.
Chung?! My wife even gave me **** for how I've been railing on him at times this year. He played great today. If he can consistently perform like this the secondary gets scary to oc's league wide.
As far as gronk and the seam, fu(k ward and the hell with Stat-on Manning. How many of that papa John's butt boy's touchdowns have come within five yards of the end zone? Ten yards? Gets pulled after throwing a lateral to break the single season passing record but it doesn't get overturned? I hope he chokes on some garbage commercial crust.
Edit: in regards to gronk, he seems to be running over his toes rather than upright. Hence the ability to avoid having his knee blown up on the first reception. I think this is a cognizant adjustment he is performing instinctually at this point. Rather than running upright looking to run through smaller safeties he seems to have adjusted to protecting himself by lowering his shoulder, falling forward with momentum, and possibly delivering quite the hit to any safety attacking him low while in a potentially compromising position. I noticed the same tendency with a few of his subsequent receptions, and it gives me great confidence in his health going forward.
