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- Jul 11, 2005
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The offense looked like ****. The run game seemed mediocre. The protection looked porous. The passing game looked liked there was no coordination, the QB looked discordant and confused.....and the game ended up 30-6, it was never in doubt after the first 5 minutes of the third quarter, and the offense easily left 14 points on the table.
So there were we have it. We have finally come to a point where a 24 point win can be looked at as being below minimum expectations, and "only" a workman-like job. Think about it. How is THAT for being spoiled fans who are rarely satisfied with anything. However for a good part of the game, that was the way I was feeling and I bet a lot of you felt the same way, more dissatisfied than happy, more critical than pleased. That is just SOOOOOO wrong, and I desperately want to relieve myself of this feeling.
Disclaimer: I watched this game in a bar, so it was hard to concentrate on the sound, and which offensive and defensive linemen where shuffling in the game. It was also loud and I missed a lot of the announcing so I couldn't hear a lot of the details I would have liked to know, like who made tackles, penalties blocks, etc.
1. There are 2 major questions that I would hope to know about after people get to see the coaches tapes on Wednesday or after people rerun the TV feeds in the next couple of days. One is to figure out what took so long to figure out the pass blocking patterns. Brady was sacked 5 times in the first quarter and a half or so, and yet pretty much wasn't touched more than a couple of times after that. Second I really need to know what exactly consists of offensive pass interference because I no longer have any idea any longer.
2. The Pats had at least 3 offensive pass interference calls that each cost them a LOT of yardage and at least 2 scores in this game. Now I am someone who generally is looking for the officials to call some things on the offense s often as I can. I WANT offensive passing interference to be called when it occurs. I WANT it be illegal to throw picks by blocking someone's way. So when you turn your shoulders into someone, or throw a hip at someone you SHOULD be flagged.
HOWEVER it didn't even come close to that happening that way in this game. In 2 of those cases the crossing receiver simply crossed into the defender's path, a path he had just as much right to as the defender. No shoulders were turned, no hips checked. In the best case, Edelman just was running his route and ran into a defender. The contact was just as much initiated by the defender as Edelman. I wouldn't have known what the ref would have wanted him to do. Unless they want to eliminate all crossing patterns what do they expect. Do they want the receiver to have to avoid the defender or run from him? I don't think that's the intent.
In 2 of those calls, there were no where else the receivers could have gone, and in one call the "shoulder turn" was so light I felt it was a pretty weak. I know BB's staff is really trying to iron out exactly what the refs want in this play since it is such a big one for the team. I can see them getting better at it recently simply by running them less like basketball picks What the ref's can't do is to reward the defender for simply being lazy and running into the receiver and not even try to get out of the way. The receiver has just as much right to the right of way as the defender. I thought the Pats did a much better job today and didn't get rewarded much and it cost them a lot in the first half of the game. This official's crew didn't call this penalty well in this game.
3. The Pass protection looked horrid in most of the first half. About the only time we had decent protection that half there was a penalty that cost us 25 or 35 yds....and the 10 more. The thing was that we KNEW it was going to get straightened out eventually, only this week it took 3 more drives to get if fixed.
On one of the post shows they thought it was Gronk and Williams protecting Solder and Cannon on the left side, but I specifically saw them more than a few times on the right as well, so it JUST wasn't that. I saw Andrews at least once whiff on a middle rush. The thing is that I know I DON'T know enough about the pass protection rules to know exactly who was at fault most of the times, but it will need to come out......AND get better.
I think Goog's comment fits well this week too. The OL blocking is "good enough", not good".
4. Hardy is a very bad guy who is very good at just one thing at being a football player. I hated that he had some success at the start of the game, and I LOVED the fact that at after about the first and a half quarter he completely disappeared with just one more QB hit for the rest of the game (on Julian's TD). Nothing but bad things should ever happen to that guy. I'm not sure for a fact, but I watch pretty closely after the game, and I don't think anyone purposely took the time to say anything to him afterward, like they did with so many others.
5. This was the best job the defense did on the rushing game thus far this season. IIRC about 80 yds in about 23 carries was solid work given how much of an effort the Cowboys put into it. Certainly wasn't a shut down job, but like every other session so far, it was better than the one before and that is the most important aspects of it when the result is a win.
6. They were credited with 3 sacks (2 more by Sheard) but it really seemed to me that by the beginning of the 4th quarter we had ceased to rush the passer hard and left him the shortest of dump offs right through a healthy chunk of garbage time.
7. The secondary once again improved. 188 passing yards in the passing game is better than just OK on a team's home field. IIRC it was the best pass defense that was played against one of Weeden's games. They made a point to stop Witten and he didn't catch a pass until the 3rd quarter and wound up with 32 yds all told. And part of the fact I'm not a Millionaire is due the fact that I thought I was going to be cute and pick Witten as my TE today.
8. Stephen Gotskowski is scary good. He had another 10 yds at least in the 57 yarder. I think the limits are pretty arbitrary on where he's stopping these days with decent wind.
9. On a side note, I don't think I'd ever run a kick out of the endzone. There are at least 3 things that could go wrong when you do (penalty, fumble, not get it out to the 20, etc) and only one when good thing when you do which only happens about one every 10 kicks, when it gets past the 25 ydline. It makes taking it out not EVER worth it. It is a shame though since it's one of the most exciting plays in the game.
So there were we have it. We have finally come to a point where a 24 point win can be looked at as being below minimum expectations, and "only" a workman-like job. Think about it. How is THAT for being spoiled fans who are rarely satisfied with anything. However for a good part of the game, that was the way I was feeling and I bet a lot of you felt the same way, more dissatisfied than happy, more critical than pleased. That is just SOOOOOO wrong, and I desperately want to relieve myself of this feeling.
Disclaimer: I watched this game in a bar, so it was hard to concentrate on the sound, and which offensive and defensive linemen where shuffling in the game. It was also loud and I missed a lot of the announcing so I couldn't hear a lot of the details I would have liked to know, like who made tackles, penalties blocks, etc.
1. There are 2 major questions that I would hope to know about after people get to see the coaches tapes on Wednesday or after people rerun the TV feeds in the next couple of days. One is to figure out what took so long to figure out the pass blocking patterns. Brady was sacked 5 times in the first quarter and a half or so, and yet pretty much wasn't touched more than a couple of times after that. Second I really need to know what exactly consists of offensive pass interference because I no longer have any idea any longer.
2. The Pats had at least 3 offensive pass interference calls that each cost them a LOT of yardage and at least 2 scores in this game. Now I am someone who generally is looking for the officials to call some things on the offense s often as I can. I WANT offensive passing interference to be called when it occurs. I WANT it be illegal to throw picks by blocking someone's way. So when you turn your shoulders into someone, or throw a hip at someone you SHOULD be flagged.
HOWEVER it didn't even come close to that happening that way in this game. In 2 of those cases the crossing receiver simply crossed into the defender's path, a path he had just as much right to as the defender. No shoulders were turned, no hips checked. In the best case, Edelman just was running his route and ran into a defender. The contact was just as much initiated by the defender as Edelman. I wouldn't have known what the ref would have wanted him to do. Unless they want to eliminate all crossing patterns what do they expect. Do they want the receiver to have to avoid the defender or run from him? I don't think that's the intent.
In 2 of those calls, there were no where else the receivers could have gone, and in one call the "shoulder turn" was so light I felt it was a pretty weak. I know BB's staff is really trying to iron out exactly what the refs want in this play since it is such a big one for the team. I can see them getting better at it recently simply by running them less like basketball picks What the ref's can't do is to reward the defender for simply being lazy and running into the receiver and not even try to get out of the way. The receiver has just as much right to the right of way as the defender. I thought the Pats did a much better job today and didn't get rewarded much and it cost them a lot in the first half of the game. This official's crew didn't call this penalty well in this game.
3. The Pass protection looked horrid in most of the first half. About the only time we had decent protection that half there was a penalty that cost us 25 or 35 yds....and the 10 more. The thing was that we KNEW it was going to get straightened out eventually, only this week it took 3 more drives to get if fixed.
On one of the post shows they thought it was Gronk and Williams protecting Solder and Cannon on the left side, but I specifically saw them more than a few times on the right as well, so it JUST wasn't that. I saw Andrews at least once whiff on a middle rush. The thing is that I know I DON'T know enough about the pass protection rules to know exactly who was at fault most of the times, but it will need to come out......AND get better.
I think Goog's comment fits well this week too. The OL blocking is "good enough", not good".
4. Hardy is a very bad guy who is very good at just one thing at being a football player. I hated that he had some success at the start of the game, and I LOVED the fact that at after about the first and a half quarter he completely disappeared with just one more QB hit for the rest of the game (on Julian's TD). Nothing but bad things should ever happen to that guy. I'm not sure for a fact, but I watch pretty closely after the game, and I don't think anyone purposely took the time to say anything to him afterward, like they did with so many others.
5. This was the best job the defense did on the rushing game thus far this season. IIRC about 80 yds in about 23 carries was solid work given how much of an effort the Cowboys put into it. Certainly wasn't a shut down job, but like every other session so far, it was better than the one before and that is the most important aspects of it when the result is a win.
6. They were credited with 3 sacks (2 more by Sheard) but it really seemed to me that by the beginning of the 4th quarter we had ceased to rush the passer hard and left him the shortest of dump offs right through a healthy chunk of garbage time.
7. The secondary once again improved. 188 passing yards in the passing game is better than just OK on a team's home field. IIRC it was the best pass defense that was played against one of Weeden's games. They made a point to stop Witten and he didn't catch a pass until the 3rd quarter and wound up with 32 yds all told. And part of the fact I'm not a Millionaire is due the fact that I thought I was going to be cute and pick Witten as my TE today.
8. Stephen Gotskowski is scary good. He had another 10 yds at least in the 57 yarder. I think the limits are pretty arbitrary on where he's stopping these days with decent wind.
9. On a side note, I don't think I'd ever run a kick out of the endzone. There are at least 3 things that could go wrong when you do (penalty, fumble, not get it out to the 20, etc) and only one when good thing when you do which only happens about one every 10 kicks, when it gets past the 25 ydline. It makes taking it out not EVER worth it. It is a shame though since it's one of the most exciting plays in the game.
