Game Thoughts: Nice to have a hard fought "home' win in San Diego Edition

Here we go:

• As ugly as it got, I never once thought the Pats would lose this game. The offense crapped the bed in the third quarter, but the Pats dominated in almost every phase for most of this game. The two turnovers was a 10 to 21 point swing. The Pats shot themselves in the foot on a couple other occasions. The Pats were clearly the better team today.

• This defense reminded me of the 2003-2004 defenses. It was aggressive. They did a lot movement on and off the line to confuse Rivers and the offense. A lot of delayed blitzes and players faking blitizing and dropping in coverage at the last second. This is the Genius Belichick type of defense we know and love.

• I can't remember the last time I have seen a dominant performance by a MLB/ILB on this team that Collins had tonight. He was all over the place. I was a little concerned that he could be a liability against the run, but he was a stud getting into the backfield for tackles for a loss. The Pats will need to consider keeping Collins here at this position even after Hightower comes back.

• The o-line had another bad game. I don't think it was as bad as last week, but needs to be better. Solder got most of the blame, but I thought he did fairly well after getting beat early.

• Keenan Allen shouldn't even collect a paycheck this week after spending this game vacationing on Revis island. Revis had him blanketed all night.

• Collinsworth talked about how Belichick must be upset about all the penalties that Browner is getting, but I don't know if he minds about a lot of them. Yes, he has the occasional costly penalty, but if you notice that every week the guy he is assigned to wears down as the game goes along. Floyd beat him early and absolutely disappeared as the game went along. I think Belichick wants Browner to test the refs and get as physical as possible even if it costs the Pats a holding call or two because eventually, it shuts down the receiver he is covering all together.

• I almost forgot how versatile and good Sealver Siliga can be. He made an immediate impact in both the passing and running game.

• Julian Edelman in many ways is better than Welker ever was. Granted Welker was better at some things that Edelman isn't. I think though that Edelman is more of a dangerous down the field threat and has more big play ability. Welker was more dependable and could turn a two yard pass into a 10-15 yard gain which is not as much Edelman's forte as much.

• The Chargers figured out a way to slow down Gronk, but unlike most receivers, he a perfect game plan to stop him still couldn't shut him down. They are the first team that consistently chipped him off the line and many times with multiple players. Gronk still had 8 catches for 87 and a TD.

• There were still far too many mistakes. The Pats shot themselves in the foot on a lot of offensive drives. Too many stupid penalties (Tyms unsportsman-like conduct and Arrington's tripping). A couple drives ended in the red zone were some bad coaching and some bad execution. Need to clean all this stuff up before the playoffs.

• People were worried about Patrick Chung on Gates and even though he had a lot of help at times (and other people covered him too), he did an excellent job covering him. Granted they ran Gates on routes in Chung's wheelhouse. I think he is very good in coverage in the 5-10 yards range. When he has to cover farther down the field, that is when he gets in trouble.

• I was encouraged by this game. This is the type of game the Pats have lost in the playoffs in recent history. The opposing team shut down the offense for a long period of time and the defense responded by only giving up 7 points. I think this offense cannot be held down all game, but the defense showed that they can potentially hold a great offense down for most of the game,

Forgot two.

Everyone was complaining all week about the pass rush, but tonight showed they certainly can rush the passer when they want to. And two of their best pass rushers weren't even in the game. Last week, the game plan was to keep Rodgers in the pocket. This week it was to rattle Rivers. That is the biggest difference from this week and last week.

Remember before this six game stretch when people were talking 3-3 or 2-4. The Pats went 5-1 and all the teams other than Bears are still in the playoff hunt with three games left (all five would be in the playoffs if the season ended today). And the Pats totally dominated four of the six games.

Rob0729 said:

• I can't remember the last time I have seen a dominant performance by a MLB/ILB on this team that Collins had tonight. He was all over the place. I was a little concerned that he could be a liability against the run, but he was a stud getting into the backfield for tackles for a loss. The Pats will need to consider keeping Collins here at this position even after Hightower comes back.

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When the Pats play predominantly in sub they don't have a true MLB, and there's plenty of room for both Hightower and Collins. Mayo may well be our 3rd best LB next season.

Rob0729 said:

• Collinsworth talked about how Belichick must be upset about all the penalties that Browner is getting, but I don't know if he minds about a lot of them. Yes, he has the occasional costly penalty, but if you notice that every week the guy he is assigned to wears down as the game goes along. Floyd beat him early and absolutely disappeared as the game went along. I think Belichick wants Browner to test the refs and get as physical as possible even if it costs the Pats a holding call or two because eventually, it shuts down the receiver he is covering all together.

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I've been saying this for a while. I want Browner to stay aggressive and physical - he sets the tone for the back end of the defense. Eliminating the dumb penalties is good, but you are going to have penalties when you are as aggressive as he is, and I'll take it. There have also been a lot of bogus calls on him, as there were tonight. But it's well worth it, all things considered.

I was constantly amazed at the crowd out there. It frikkin' SOUNDED like a new England home game. If you were listening in on the radio, you could be forgiven for thinking they were playing at Gillette.

The chants of "DEFENSE!" when our defense was on the field, and the prolonged and loud chants of "BRADY! BRADY! BRADY!" must have been demoralizing, if not angering, to the Chargers.

I guess the second surprise to me was that none of the announcers ever mentioned it, though it could clearly be heard ALL GAME LONG!.

mayoclinic said:

When the Pats play predominantly in sub they don't have a true MLB, and there's plenty of room for both Hightower and Collins. Mayo may well be our 3rd best LB next season.

I've been saying this for a while. I want Browner to stay aggressive and physical - he sets the tone for the back end of the defense. Eliminating the dumb penalties is good, but you are going to have penalties when you are as aggressive as he is, and I'll take it. There have also been a lot of bogus calls on him, as there were tonight. But it's well worth it, all things considered.

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Yeah, I wasn't even thinking about sub packages and where LBs are aligned in sub packages.

Do we still have a VIP game thread on our board?

I spent the game watching alone at home. Wanted to post in the game thread but...jeezus.

Rob0729 said:

Here we go:

• Collinsworth talked about how Belichick must be upset about all the penalties that Browner is getting, but I don't know if he minds about a lot of them. Yes, he has the occasional costly penalty, but if you notice that every week the guy he is assigned to wears down as the game goes along. Floyd beat him early and absolutely disappeared as the game went along. I think Belichick wants Browner to test the refs and get as physical as possible even if it costs the Pats a holding call or two because eventually, it shuts down the receiver he is covering all together.

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I absolutely love and agree with this point you make. I was thinking the exact same thing. Browner brings that physical factor we've been missing for a while.

That coupled with Revis makes an incredible synergy for the defense.

Gwedd said:

I was constantly amazed at the crowd out there. It frikkin' SOUNDED like a new England home game. If you were listening in on the radio, you could be forgiven for thinking they were playing at Gillette.

The chants of "DEFENSE!" when our defense was on the field, and the prolonged and loud chants of "BRADY! BRADY! BRADY!" must have been demoralizing, if not angering, to the Chargers.

I guess the second surprise to me was that none of the announcers ever mentioned it, though it could clearly be heard ALL GAME LONG!.

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I just got out the game. You are absolutely 100% right. Among upper view seats are about 80% patriots fans, and I was yelling hearts out when the defense was out there. It really felt like a patriots home game and the charger fans left like halfway though 4th quarter.

Gwedd said:

I was constantly amazed at the crowd out there. It frikkin' SOUNDED like a new England home game. If you were listening in on the radio, you could be forgiven for thinking they were playing at Gillette.

The chants of "DEFENSE!" when our defense was on the field, and the prolonged and loud chants of "BRADY! BRADY! BRADY!" must have been demoralizing, if not angering, to the Chargers.

I guess the second surprise to me was that none of the announcers ever mentioned it, though it could clearly be heard ALL GAME LONG!.

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can barely talk right now. There was an absolutely enormous Pats tailgate, even Kraft crashed it about an hour before kickoff. Just awesome all around, might as well have been a home game.

Almost all of the Chargers fans were great, but a small group was looking to cause problems after the game. But even they thought better of it once they saw how outnumbered they were.

Also, like hellolin said, half of the Chargers fans in my section left immediately after the Edelman TD.

Mark12 said:

I absolutely love and agree with this point you make. I was thinking the exact same thing. Browner brings that physical factor we've been missing for a while.

That coupled with Revis makes an incredible synergy for the defense.

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After Browner got flagged, everyone was still high fiving him and stuff. He's clearly a leader on the D, and I think the flag pissed the rest of the guys off on his behalf because between plays they were visibly more energized after that.

BradyFTW! said:

After Browner got flagged, everyone was still high fiving him and stuff. He's clearly a leader on the D, and I think the flag pissed the rest of the guys off on his behalf because between plays they were visibly more energized after that.

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Yep. Players have said exactly that.
https://twitter.com/mikegiardi/status/541842901357977600

Wilfork, McCourty and Browner himself believe that hit that Browner was flagged for was a big play, a momentum boost for the Pats

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The penalty BB should be mad at is Arrington. 2 and 29 and Arrington throws the most obvious trip I have seen in a while. What is otherwise not third and 10 turns into first down for a 20 yard play and a 10 yard penalty tack on. I like Arrington but that was just F'n stupid given the situation....

Good points, Rob. Thanks for sharing.

I haven't re-watched last week's Packers loss, but I disagree that the OL looked worse last week. I thought that one of the primary reasons why we couldn't get anything going (not to mention the ridiculous decisions by Brady at times) tonight was due to the intense pressure that seemed to be constant. While it was bad at times last week, I personally thought that tonight was worse.

Let's hope the Chargers can get that much pressure next week vs. Manning. It'd be nice to see the Broncos end up having to play an extra game as a 3 seed, as unrealistic as it may be.

I thought Matt Patricia deserved kudos for an excellent gameplan and for dialing up a lot of pressure from different places that clearly confused the Charger's OL.

Another thing I saw was, once again, they were using Arrington to blitz or rush almost like a LB. They really like using him for that (never use other DBs it seems) and it's surprising to me how effective it often is. I thought Arrington actually had a great game OTHER THAN that boneheaded trip.

The Jumbo package was not as effective as I expected it would be. The Chargers D played much better up front than I expected, and I think they as a team came in and played very hard because they really needed the W and saw the Patriots as vulnerable. That the Patriots beat them while shorthanded and getting screwed over by the refs speaks volumes about where we're going. I expect them to handily beat the Bills, Jest and Fishies.

This was a "blue collar" win on the road against a pretty good team.. hearing the "Brady" chants in the background was great, too bad Collingsworth/Michaels did notice.

Defensively we smacked them in the mouth, several times, last night was a swiss army knife effort as many contributed and a lot of combinations were used.. offensively we did not do as well. IMO that is a good thing, as our bane the past couple of years has been an unreliable defense.. San Diego is a very good offensive team.

With this stretch under their belt, what will it mean for the last three games??.. I anticipate the same level of play, but most of these games have been very intense..

Thought the Browner penalty was not, and something that the refs thought they should do.. but not sure about another review situation, the games should not be extended any more than they are.

There were so many players who stepped up and just did their jobs.. the Edelman passing TD was a thing of beauty.. Gronk should get hazardous duty pay, as it seems the way they want to defend him is beat him up..

DarrylS said:

Thought the Browner penalty was not, and something that the refs thought they should do.. but not sure about another review situation, the games should not be extended any more than they are.

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You know on the one hand I am still angry about that penalty because what followed was a big play. But then when I think more about it I wonder how the referees are supposed to see this correctly in real time. Even under ideal circumstances when they have a clear view from the right angle it might not be that easy to see this correctly.

This can only be fixed via the video review. Maybe BB's proposal to make more things challengeable is indeed the way to go.

Some quick game thoughts:

Siliga is really good. He kept his shoulders square to the LOS and did a good job of holding his ground. I'm gonna do a write up about his game later in the week when the all-22 tape is up.

The OL continues to struggle. Solder was pushed around a lot. A lot of the times it looked like he was on roller skates. But because of Bradys fast release it wasn't always noted. The OL as a whole really struggled with the run. Time to draft some good guards and continue to rebuild this line.

There are few times that I've seen national football media agree as much on something as they did in saying that the call against Browner on the pick TD last night was horrendous and that those plays need to be reviewable. NFL has to do someting about that. I agree with the NFL that the head to head hits of old need to be gone. Those are just bad for the game in the long run. But you can't just throw a flag just because it looks like a hard hit when its shoulder to chest. Make the play reviewable as it can be very hard to see in real time.

luuked said:

You know on the one hand I am still angry about that penalty because what followed was a big play. But then when I think more about it I wonder how the referees are supposed to see this correctly in real time. Even under ideal circumstances when they have a clear view from the right angle it might not be that easy to see this correctly.

This can only be fixed via the video review. Maybe BB's proposal to make more things challengeable is indeed the way to go.

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What would be the end point for situations that can be reviewed?? I am more in favor of adding an official or two, and more conferring on controversial calls... but more officials means more cutting into the bottom line for the owners...

Mark12 said:

I absolutely love and agree with this point you make. I was thinking the exact same thing. Browner brings that physical factor we've been missing for a while.

That coupled with Revis makes an incredible synergy for the defense.

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O.T but was I the only one that thought Collinsworth was crapping on Browner throughout the game?