Game Thoughts: The Pats have blown out the Lions & Bengals & Bears this season Oh my! edition

Speak for yourself with that itty bitty stuff.

PlainOldEd said:

Speak for yourself with that itty bitty stuff.

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my ex-wife got me a set of tweezers and a magnifying glass for Christmas a few years ago...I used it as exhibit B during divorce proceedings...don't even ask about exhibit A.

Just a thought. I'm not sure, but I'd be willing to bet that when the stats come out on Tuesday, most of of the moderate pressure the Lions managed to put Brady come in the first half ,and although the offense wasn't as successful in the 2nd half, the protection got better as the game went a long. That's pretty cool I think.

Another good move by Belichick the GM, bringing in DeGuglielmo to replace the retiring Scarnechia.

Just think we can have Gronk, Edelman, LaFell, Wright and Vereen on the field at the same time. That's more quality receiving threats then most teams. Last year Amendola was our 2nd leading receiver and Dobson was 5th. This year Amendola is 6th and Devlin has more catches and yards then Dobson. It took just two years to redo the offense. Bolden our 3rd leading rusher from last year is just a special teams player now.

Brady had to endure one year while Belichick rebuilt the offense around him and still made it to the AFC title game last year. Denver was loaded last year and this year we are more talented then they are.

Not many teams can rebuild and still be one of the top teams.

Rob0729 said:

• I am not one to cry about the refs, but they were awful and one sided all game. On the Brady interception, the defender clearly interfered with Gronk tackling him before the ball was remotely there. The OPI on Gronk was BS. The only time they called anything on the Lions when it was so obvious that they had to call it.

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I now this point has been discussed and we all agree. But one thing I wanted to point out is that the defender actually altered Gronk's body while he was going for the ball. How much Force does that take as Gronk can move well and he's 265 pounds" I'd say a defender has to put quite a bit of effort into that and it would be a penalty every single time.

mayoclinic said:

Casillas is a good player. Smart, versatile. Great STer, but also a solid LB. He's a nice addition, like so many others this year.

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I expect him to see more snaps, especially if the Pats play a team that has a stronger receiving RB than TE. He looks solid in coverage and has the speed to match-up with smaller guys. I'd rather see him split-out on a Reggie Bush type than Collins or Hightower.

Yesterday was the first time in a long, long time that I remember our defense consistently getting pressure with a four man rush.

mayoclinic said:

No kidding. Revis, Browner, Lafell, Wright, Ayers, Casillas, Branch, Blount. That's just unreal. 2 guys who revolutionize our defense, 2 guys who significantly diversity our offense, and 4 guys who provide tremendous depth and versatility. The Pats have added those last 4 players in mid-season alone. It's amazing how much people were whining earlier this season about "not having enough weapons" and "not keeping pace with Denver" in terms of personnel.

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Just think of how much more talent they could have acquired if they were "all in."

This comment by Robert Mays has piqued my interest.

In Miami and Arizona, the Lions have faced two of the league’s best defenses over the past month; the Patriots defense, though, doesn’t compare to either of those. New England has its vulnerabilities, and the Lions failed to take advantage of any of them. Matthew Stafford had another miserable day — 18-of-46 for 264 yards — but the running game might have been even worse. Joique Bell averaged just 2.5 yards per carry against what’s been, at best, an average run defense.

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Despite my low opinion of Bill Simmon's football acumen, I like the commentary over at Grantland. Barnwell has come a long way since being the worst writer on Footballoutsiders and Mays does a good job of highlighting underappreciated areas of the game.

That said, they've surprised me a few times this season with slow reaction analysis. A few weeks ago - I think it was heading in Denver, but even if not it was certainly after NE's OL issues had passed - Bill Barnwell emphasized how much NE's OL was struggling and how it was a serious problem for them. And now this. I mean, I understand that Chicago had some rushing success on them and the Jets game wasn't that long ago, but NE completely dominated Indy's running game and Denver didn't do much better. Even if you discount the small sample, wouldn't it be prudent to at least mention the uptick in NE's run D? Particularly after all the additions to the front seven in the past month?

I guess I don't understand football analysis sometimes. Everyone understands that teams evolve. It's become a cliche to say that you just need to get hot at the right time. No one of even moderate sense would say that how a team plays in September is who they'll be all year. And yet, we still seem to give those early struggles/triumphs disproportionate weight when looking at a match up.

But maybe I'm missing something.

VrabelJr said:

Yesterday was the first time in a long, long time that I remember our defense consistently getting pressure with a four man rush.

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Didn't it just happen two games ago?

It should be noted that Detroit's OL blows. And that was before losing their LT on the first snap of the game.

Oswlek said:

Just think of how much more talent they could have acquired if they were "all in."

This comment by Robert Mays has piqued my interest.



Despite my low opinion of Bill Simmon's football acumen, I like the commentary over at Grantland. Barnwell has come a long way since being the worst writer on Footballoutsiders and Mays does a good job of highlighting underappreciated areas of the game.

That said, they've surprised me a few times this season with slow reaction analysis. A few weeks ago - I think it was heading in Denver, but even if not it was certainly after NE's OL issues had passed - Bill Barnwell emphasized how much NE's OL was struggling and how it was a serious problem for them. And now this. I mean, I understand that Chicago had some rushing success on them and the Jets game wasn't that long ago, but NE completely dominated Indy's running game and Denver didn't do much better. Even if you discount the small sample, wouldn't it be prudent to at least mention the uptick in NE's run D? Particularly after all the additions to the front seven in the past month?

I guess I don't understand football analysis sometimes. Everyone understands that teams evolve. It's become a cliche to say that you just need to get hot at the right time. No one of even moderate sense would say that how a team plays in September is who they'll be all year. And yet, we still seem to give those early struggles/triumphs disproportionate weight when looking at a match up.

But maybe I'm missing something.

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Our run D is playing better, but it isn't entirely because of execution or talent. Here are a few other things helping us out:

1) We're scoring a ton of points. You won't be running against us if we are up by 2-3 TDs.
2) Indy's run game ranks 26th if you take away Luck's 200 yards of scrambling
3) Denver's run game is in the bottom 3rd of the league.
4) Detroit was without an incredible Guard (Warford) and Reggie Bush and even with them, they are 25th-30th in rushing.

So to reiterate, I think our run D is improved but we've also helped our run D out by scoring a ton of points and playing against teams that aren't very good at running the ball anyway.

Oswlek said:

Didn't it just happen two games ago?

It should be noted that Detroit's OL blows. And that was before losing their LT on the first snap of the game.

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Against Denver? Not really.

VrabelJr said:

Against Denver? Not really.

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Of course it did. It wasn't just a line up four defensive lineman and dominate the OL type deal, but they absolutely got consistent pressure with just four rushers.

VrabelJr said:

Our run D is playing better, but it isn't entirely because of execution or talent. Here are a few other things helping us out:

1) We're scoring a ton of points. You won't be running against us if we are up by 2-3 TDs.
2) Indy's run game ranks 26th if you take away Luck's 200 yards of scrambling
3) Denver's run game is in the bottom 3rd of the league.
4) Detroit was without an incredible Guard (Warford) and Reggie Bush and even with them, they are 25th-30th in rushing.

So to reiterate, I think our run D is improved but we've also helped our run D out by scoring a ton of points and playing against teams that aren't very good at running the ball anyway.

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I'll grant you that this accounts for some of that, but not nearly all. No running game is bad enough that 14 rushes for 4 yards can ever be fully discounted. I'd also contest that the scoring is a primary contributor when you consider that Denver was within two scores in the second half and Indy was only trailing 28-20 with 13 minutes to go. And even then, scores generally suppress gross yardage but it will inflate per play metrics. Instead, NE held Denver to 2.5 ypc and Detroit to 3.6 ypc (with their lead RB going for 2.5).

FWIW, Denver went into NE with a mildly above average running game, and one that was trending up. There is no metric whatsoever that justifies calling them a bottom 3rd running game. Even after struggling against NE and StL, FO still has them rated 17th in the league.

We'll agree on much, but I think we are still off by a good amount as to degrees.

Let's see who we have coming up...

Hmmm.

Packers and Eddie Lacy. Lacy to date: 154/672, 6TD rushing. 29 catches for 335 and 3 TDs receiving. Will that be a test?

Chargers and Ryan Matthews, just back (and just banged up again.) Against the Rams, 12 carries for 105 yards and a touchdown. But he won't have the sample size to be called a challenge if we stuff him.

Miami - Lamar Miller. Meh. We might know his name by the end of the season. You don't get points for stuffing Lamar Miller.

JEST. 'Nuff said. I think Chris Ivory is the big bad wolf there unless Vick runs for more.

And we finish up with Buffalo, with the ageless Fred Jackson and the forever on-the-verge-of-greatness-if-Jackson-would-just-die-already CJ Spiller.

All in all, the Pats' run D has the potential to get embarrassed, just based on who they could give up a big day to.

They don't have the potential to truly raise eyebrows in a positive way. Lacy is probably the toughest lift on this list, and even if he has a down game, he has been up and down all season. It would be a good day if Lacy ends up with 35 yards, but it still wouldn't "seal the deal" about the run D.

Seeing the Chiefs and Jamaal Charles again in the playoffs might give the Pats' run D legitimacy, but until then... we can have this argument all day long and twice on sunday, as the saying goes.

We're on to Green Bay. Next question?