Denver vs NE post game thread

With all the downfield blocking the broncos do prior to catches you'd think the refs wouldn't call motion penalties when players are set, or on the pint switch when the ref delayed Brady, there was no false start. None at all.

What a great game to watch. A few things that really stood out:

- Defense did a great job of mixing up their coverage and blitz to keep Peyton guessing. I think this was Patricia's finest work.

- It would be interesting if someone could break down how many times our DBs covered specific receivers on Denver. From watching it on TV, Browner was on D Thomas quite a bit. And Revis was on Sanders a good amount as well.

- Great blitz scheme. Going right up the middle is the best way to disrupt Peyton, and for our defense to be able to time it as well as they did says a lot about the kind of preparation our coaches did for this game.

- As great as Brady's pocket presence and footwork has been for his entire career, I would say he looks even better this year. He looks as confident as he's been in the pocket pre-knee injury. And you can tell he's been working on his accuracy while on the run. This guy must have no life other than football, lol.

- The difference between Brady's throws vs Peyton's throws is quite significant. Brady's tight laser spirals vs Peyton's wounded duck throws shows why Brady will always have an advantage in bad weather games vs Peyton.

- The drive that we had after Denver scored on that INT in the 3rd quarter was the most significant in the game IMO. It only netted a FG, but Denver was starting to get momentum and had we gone 3 and out and given the ball back to their offense, who knows what would have happened. That was a HUGE drive to answer what Denver did and to keep their offense off the field.

Belichick8384 said:

Saw the whole thing. The pass interference was blatant as he was all over the receiver, the encroachment was blatant because the guy put his hands on the O-linesman before the snap and the O-linesman didn't move till after he put his hands on him, and the defensive holding was blatant because he was, well, holding the guy. I don't get how you missed things so obvious. They even showed the replay of the penalties after they happened. Each one. It was in slow motion for Pete's sake. Each of them were clear as day and are the type of thing that is avoidable with discipline

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If you are talking about PI at the 1 it was a terrible call. The contact the announcers talked about was in the 5 yard area and not what they called because they spotted the ball at the 1
They called PI on the breakup which was not PI at all.

luuked said:

I think the only way he wins the MVP vote is if we end up with the #1 seed. Otherwise the ******** stats argument will once again make people vote for Manning.

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Rodgers, Luck and even Big Ben are all playing out of their minds right now as well and have MVP equity. Fortunately, Brady has a chance to go up against two of them this month, so we'll see how it goes. Too early to talk about it, but what a difference a month makes.

Interestingly reiss thinks our oline struggled in the 3rd Q
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...s-third-quarter-review-ol-struggles-resurface

SVN said:

Interestingly reiss thinks our oline struggled in the 3rd Q
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...s-third-quarter-review-ol-struggles-resurface

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Keep in mind that Reiss is a reporter not an analyst.

i think gronk should be getting some mvp love.

I was so damn tired from school that i just fell asleep 10 min's before the game started, i was trying to avoid knowing what happened before i watched the game but no success (A fact that made me feel so good, if we had lost the game i would watch the rerun with a nasty stomachache) . I only knew we won, i didn't know by how much or any stats and i sat down to watch it last night and what can i say? this team, who is not going to be at the top of the AFC at season end only cause we have a tough tough schedule before us is so damn unpredictable! i mean i loved every aspect of our play although we must have pressured manning aggressively from the start and not only from the 2nd half and i'm not speaking about the LB's, they did a great job faking blitzez and stuff im talking about the Dline, Jones's absence was felt. Brady was throwing lasers, the long pass to Lafell which he overthrow a bit (winds fault?) seemed like the ball came out of his arm so easily and brady himself seemed to be throwing without any effort all game long. ani mabsut.

Based on what we know to date, I don't think any team in the NFL, away or home, should be favored against this Patriots team - as of right now.

That comes with big asterisks of course... staying healthy is the biggest one, but a case of the dropsies was also evident last game. Brady's having to do what he does with too little time too often, and is taking hits. It's amazing what he's getting done without a primo O-line.

On the positive side, LaFell, when he holds onto the ball, seems to really be a find. Amendola is not worth the money but is starting to play a bit part, at least. Wright disappeared, but Gronk dominated - as he does whenever healthy.

My biggest worry is whether we get a full season out of Gronk. We haven't for a while, and I don't count on him being there in the end until I see it happen.

PP2 said:

It was that perp who got arrested a few weeks ago, the one with Brady's helmet tattooed his head.

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Oh.

He looks like Dimitroff though.

To hell with ward, forehead and the Broncos. Revenge is a dish best served cold and I hope the beating is worse in the playoffs should both teams make it.

Another I gotta add is that POS Ward went after Gronk's knee again.

True classless move. You'd think these guys would respect each other more above all else as peers and have a little more common decency. One thing about going low, another thing launching himself into another peers knees and the same knees you injured just a year ago.

F him.

RelocatedPatFan said:

Yes, he did have a hand of the receiver, but didn't actually move/reroute/twist/turn the receiver. That would have been a good non-call in my opinion. Considering this happened early in the game, I thought we would be in for a long game (meaning that there'd be a ton more calls of this type made. I was pleasantly surprised they let them play a bit).

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No not that one. I was talking about the one that was the 1st of 3 penalties in a row on the way to the Broncos' 3rd TD. That one was blatant. I'm on the fence about the one early in the game, in the endzone.

I guess this post could apply to anybody who was under the assumption I was talking about the one in the endzone. It was not. I'm talking about the 3 penalties that happened in a row.

ausbacker said:

Keep in mind that Reiss is a reporter not an analyst.

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Keep in mind that Reiss also cited specific examples.


Kinda hard to argue with that..

Sparetire said:

I was so damn tired from school that i just fell asleep 10 min's before the game started, i was trying to avoid knowing what happened before i watched the game but no success

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You need to pay attention to sentence structure and punctuation in school if you want us to be able to read what you're writing. Does not need to be perfect, just coherent & decipherable.

Following Bruschi's praise of Patricia, more analysis of Patriot strategy for beating Manning. Beautiful use of personnel made it possible:

The Patriots forced Manning to hold the ball much longer than he likes to. Prior to the game, Manning was spending an average of 2.11 seconds in the pocket, and his average time before throwing was 2.22 seconds, the shortest and second-shortest times in the NFL, respectively. The Patriots blitzed him on only 8.5 percent of his dropbacks, a season low, and the resulting glut of coverage left Manning spending an average of 2.5 seconds in the pocket and 2.64 seconds before passing. With the extra time, Manning attempted a season-high 25 passes that traveled at least 11 yards in the air. He completed only 11 of them, his lowest completion percentage on such throws this season. His 10.44 average air yards per throw was also a season high. Focusing on coverage, the Patriots broke up a total of 11 passes (nine knocked away and two intercepted), the highest total for Manning in a game since at least the start of the 2006 season. Manning's timing appeared off throughout; he completed just 5 of 11 third-down passes and converted a season-low 27.3 percent of those throws for first downs.

FINAL ANALYSIS
Every defense is a mix of pressure and coverage, but on this occasion, the Patriots beat Manning by focusing more on the latter. They took away his "easy" throws underneath, and he didn't make them pay for it downfield.

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http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...denver-vs-ne-post-game-thread.1113168/page-15

So as I understand it, the lack of pressure and focus on underneath coverage forced him to take the longer ball opportunities where (1) his accuracy is less and (2) wind was more of a factor. Good "Rocket Scientist" thinking.

Disclosure: I have a JPL Rocket Scientist T-shirt.

PatsWickedPissah said:

So as I understand it, the lack of pressure and focus on underneath coverage forced him to take the longer ball opportunities where (1) his accuracy is less and (2) wind was more of a factor. Good "Rocket Scientist" thinking.

Disclosure: I have a JPL Rocket Scientist T-shirt.

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Easy to say of course, but more difficult in the nuts and bolts. Who predicted the extensive 3 and 4 man rush using varied personnel or the coverage schemes that used, among other things, Browner on DT , Chung on JT, and Butler on ES? It took a creative and dynamic look to make that strategy work.