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Ok, no need for a preamble. This is the "definitive edition", because this clearly IS the team we hoped it would be when this season started. Not great all the time, but when they need to be they rise to the occasion and have proven they can bounce back from adversity This is our best shot at the championship since 2007
Just a bunch of amorphous disconnected thoughts (sort of like the Pats first half offense.
) Let's get to it.
1.I didn't see the KC game, but I don't think I've see the offense look this disorganized, uncoordinated, or execute so poorly as we saw.in that first half. And while it might have been worse in KC, I can't image it was was much worse than Brady's personal performance that half. My friends it looked ugly out there. And while we managed to leave the field with a 14-13 lead at the half, there was no question who was the better team for that first 30 minutest on both offense AND defense.
2. I was much less worried about the success that the Miami offense was having. A lot of it came from gadget and scheme kind of plays (read option, etc) that I felt they would eventually catch up with. And I was right. One of the things I think we have clearly seen over the length of this tough stretch of games including today, is that whatever we see from the defense in the first half, it will get better in the second. And that goes for GB, SD, and today.
3. There was a thread this week from someone who opined that he'd like to see more of Gray. Well today he got more ammo for his argument. What impressed me most about Gray was his quick feet and ability to gain yards after initial contact. 62 yds on 11 carries was impressive, especially when you think he lost a 13 yd gain to a penalty. When you add that performance to the fact Blount looked sluggish and slow, you'd think Gray would earn some more snaps next week.
4. No sacks and relatively few hurries and hits, I think the OL did well against one of the best pass rushes in the league this week. Certainly not perfect, but even most of Wake, Vernon, and Oddrick's best rushes were highly contested. Even in the first half Brady had enough time to throw the ball.
5. We did a thread on depth earlier this weekend and I could help but think of this after Arrington went down with the hamstring. Think about his. From 2009 to last season if we had lost a key secondary to an injury, his replacement would have most likely been a rookie, UDFA (or both), or some refugee from someone else's dust bin, or even a WR on loan. Now next week when we go to replace Arrington, we can go to Alphonso Dennard, who has been a very effective CB for us the previous 2 seasons. And even though he is clearly having some problems this season, he's a far great upgrade to the usual player an injury forces us to go to.
6. I know its not a huge sample, but I continue to see improved play from both Wilson and Harmon at the S position. Those were NOT wasted draft picks like some people have said. I really feel strongly that if anything happened to Chung, he could be more adequately replaced than in any time in recent history.
I think it will be worth a thread next week to discuss the fact that ONCE again, BB is well ahead of the curve in trying to find the hybrid S/CB and stop looking for the big hitting SS prototype. I think that much like the run stopping LB (Spikes) the old SS type is fast losing his impact and has become a limited down kind of player. Just look at the problems very highly drafted safeties like Pryor (jets) and Vacarro (saints) have had this year when they were forced to play outside the box. As much as I'm sure BB still loves Rodney Harrison, the time when his kind of a player could dominate has been over for a few years now.
So even if you disagree with the individual players BB selected (Wilson and Harmon), his thought process to be looking for exactly THAT kind of player was ahead of the curve.
7. You couldn't say he looked quick. But Brady's run showed him to be faster at 37 than he was at 24. I just wish he had slid at the end, though I love him more because he didn't.
8. No question in my mind but for a healthy Gronk, the Pats would have 2 more Lombardi's on their wall. He really is the most dominant non-QB in the NFL and only JJ Watt is close. Twice he lined up outside and beat CB's deep, and can the very next play line up inside and wham block at DT. He's just one of those guys who makes everyone around him better. And you can't help but love the joy with which he plays the game.
9. Better and better. More and More. The are the Jeopardy answers to the questions, how is Jamie Collins playing as the season goes on? And, how many big plays is he getting? I was beginning to think I was going to have to wait until next year before I'd start to see what I'm seeing in both the quality of "big plays" I'd be seeing and the volume of them. Even some of his misses were impressive that he even got that close.
If he played on a defense that just let him go and attack every down (think Aldon Smith) he'd be a household word by the end of next season. To his individual detriment and the Pats ultimate gain, he is too flexible and valuable a tool in our defensive arsenal to simply just do that. However I just can't help but think about the chaos having he and Chandler Jones lining up next to each other on the outside might bring.
Just think of having a pass rushing arsenal of Ninko, Jones, Collins, and Hightower, PLUS the thought of Easley starting to reach his potential. That would be a nightmare for OC's to plan for and a myriad of possibilities for even a rocket scientist to project.
10. I saw this the other day and felt it was worth repeating. The last Patriot to have 8 sacks or more 3 years in a row before Rob Ninkovich was......... Andre Tippett
11. The all powerful GB Packers went up to play the moribund Bills today and that great Bills defense handed them their heads. But in the end its just another example of the fact that it is HARD to win on the road against everyone. And from what I can infer from the Aaron Rodgers post game, some of those perfect throws he threaded in there in the Pats game, he missed against the Bills. Unfortunately the media will have to delay Aaron's deification for a few more weeks
12. Denver's win at SD will likely mean the Pats are going to win out to keep home field advantage. The Jets will throw the book at us. They seem to play almost everyone hard. This will be their superbowl and Rex's swan song. The Bills will be playing for their playoff life, so we will get their best as well. I'm really glad that that game will be at Gillette.
If you think that those game will be walk overs, just look at how tough Jax played the Ravens. How tough the Vikes played the Lions. How tough a battered SD played Denver. How tough a battered Texans played the Colts on the road. Any of those one score games could have been lost.
13. The AFCN seems to get a lot of respect even though they got to play against the horrid NFCS and the almost equally horrid AFCS. I doubt that any AFCN team would have done any better vs the AFCW, and NFCN. The AFCN will likely get 2 teams in the playoffs, but it wouldn't be shocking to see them both go out quickly.
14. Summary - Bad job all around for the first 30 minutes. Their asses were saved by a couple of timely plays during that time. It goes to the credit of both the players and coaches that they could turn things around so quickly (on both sides of the ball) after entering the 2nd half so dramatically behind in momentum (which might tell you something about the real importance of "momentum" ).
We can nit pick a lot of things (and we will), but this is a really good team that is built to beat other really good teams. Like every year, the rest of the way, they are capable of losing a game, but my money, if they play their best and so does the other team, the Pats are going to win. If this is the year, the Pats are going to get those good call and magical bounces, they should be hoisting another Lombardi banner down in Foxboro.
Just a bunch of amorphous disconnected thoughts (sort of like the Pats first half offense.
) Let's get to it.1.I didn't see the KC game, but I don't think I've see the offense look this disorganized, uncoordinated, or execute so poorly as we saw.in that first half. And while it might have been worse in KC, I can't image it was was much worse than Brady's personal performance that half. My friends it looked ugly out there. And while we managed to leave the field with a 14-13 lead at the half, there was no question who was the better team for that first 30 minutest on both offense AND defense.
2. I was much less worried about the success that the Miami offense was having. A lot of it came from gadget and scheme kind of plays (read option, etc) that I felt they would eventually catch up with. And I was right. One of the things I think we have clearly seen over the length of this tough stretch of games including today, is that whatever we see from the defense in the first half, it will get better in the second. And that goes for GB, SD, and today.
3. There was a thread this week from someone who opined that he'd like to see more of Gray. Well today he got more ammo for his argument. What impressed me most about Gray was his quick feet and ability to gain yards after initial contact. 62 yds on 11 carries was impressive, especially when you think he lost a 13 yd gain to a penalty. When you add that performance to the fact Blount looked sluggish and slow, you'd think Gray would earn some more snaps next week.
4. No sacks and relatively few hurries and hits, I think the OL did well against one of the best pass rushes in the league this week. Certainly not perfect, but even most of Wake, Vernon, and Oddrick's best rushes were highly contested. Even in the first half Brady had enough time to throw the ball.
5. We did a thread on depth earlier this weekend and I could help but think of this after Arrington went down with the hamstring. Think about his. From 2009 to last season if we had lost a key secondary to an injury, his replacement would have most likely been a rookie, UDFA (or both), or some refugee from someone else's dust bin, or even a WR on loan. Now next week when we go to replace Arrington, we can go to Alphonso Dennard, who has been a very effective CB for us the previous 2 seasons. And even though he is clearly having some problems this season, he's a far great upgrade to the usual player an injury forces us to go to.
6. I know its not a huge sample, but I continue to see improved play from both Wilson and Harmon at the S position. Those were NOT wasted draft picks like some people have said. I really feel strongly that if anything happened to Chung, he could be more adequately replaced than in any time in recent history.
I think it will be worth a thread next week to discuss the fact that ONCE again, BB is well ahead of the curve in trying to find the hybrid S/CB and stop looking for the big hitting SS prototype. I think that much like the run stopping LB (Spikes) the old SS type is fast losing his impact and has become a limited down kind of player. Just look at the problems very highly drafted safeties like Pryor (jets) and Vacarro (saints) have had this year when they were forced to play outside the box. As much as I'm sure BB still loves Rodney Harrison, the time when his kind of a player could dominate has been over for a few years now.
So even if you disagree with the individual players BB selected (Wilson and Harmon), his thought process to be looking for exactly THAT kind of player was ahead of the curve.
7. You couldn't say he looked quick. But Brady's run showed him to be faster at 37 than he was at 24. I just wish he had slid at the end, though I love him more because he didn't.
8. No question in my mind but for a healthy Gronk, the Pats would have 2 more Lombardi's on their wall. He really is the most dominant non-QB in the NFL and only JJ Watt is close. Twice he lined up outside and beat CB's deep, and can the very next play line up inside and wham block at DT.
He's just one of those guys who makes everyone around him better. And you can't help but love the joy with which he plays the game.9. Better and better. More and More. The are the Jeopardy answers to the questions, how is Jamie Collins playing as the season goes on? And, how many big plays is he getting? I was beginning to think I was going to have to wait until next year before I'd start to see what I'm seeing in both the quality of "big plays" I'd be seeing and the volume of them. Even some of his misses were impressive that he even got that close.
If he played on a defense that just let him go and attack every down (think Aldon Smith) he'd be a household word by the end of next season. To his individual detriment and the Pats ultimate gain, he is too flexible and valuable a tool in our defensive arsenal to simply just do that. However I just can't help but think about the chaos having he and Chandler Jones lining up next to each other on the outside might bring.
Just think of having a pass rushing arsenal of Ninko, Jones, Collins, and Hightower, PLUS the thought of Easley starting to reach his potential. That would be a nightmare for OC's to plan for and a myriad of possibilities for even a rocket scientist to project.
10. I saw this the other day and felt it was worth repeating. The last Patriot to have 8 sacks or more 3 years in a row before Rob Ninkovich was......... Andre Tippett
11. The all powerful GB Packers went up to play the moribund Bills today and that great Bills defense handed them their heads. But in the end its just another example of the fact that it is HARD to win on the road against everyone. And from what I can infer from the Aaron Rodgers post game, some of those perfect throws he threaded in there in the Pats game, he missed against the Bills. Unfortunately the media will have to delay Aaron's deification for a few more weeks
12. Denver's win at SD will likely mean the Pats are going to win out to keep home field advantage. The Jets will throw the book at us. They seem to play almost everyone hard. This will be their superbowl and Rex's swan song. The Bills will be playing for their playoff life, so we will get their best as well. I'm really glad that that game will be at Gillette.
If you think that those game will be walk overs, just look at how tough Jax played the Ravens. How tough the Vikes played the Lions. How tough a battered SD played Denver. How tough a battered Texans played the Colts on the road. Any of those one score games could have been lost.
13. The AFCN seems to get a lot of respect even though they got to play against the horrid NFCS and the almost equally horrid AFCS. I doubt that any AFCN team would have done any better vs the AFCW, and NFCN. The AFCN will likely get 2 teams in the playoffs, but it wouldn't be shocking to see them both go out quickly.
14. Summary - Bad job all around for the first 30 minutes. Their asses were saved by a couple of timely plays during that time. It goes to the credit of both the players and coaches that they could turn things around so quickly (on both sides of the ball) after entering the 2nd half so dramatically behind in momentum (which might tell you something about the real importance of "momentum"
).We can nit pick a lot of things (and we will), but this is a really good team that is built to beat other really good teams. Like every year, the rest of the way, they are capable of losing a game, but my money, if they play their best and so does the other team, the Pats are going to win. If this is the year, the Pats are going to get those good call and magical bounces, they should be hoisting another Lombardi banner down in Foxboro.
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