Idle Thoughts - The I'm glad it's over edition

Disclaimer: My computer was down all day so I was unable to participate in any of the pregame discussions. For no apparent reason, it came to to life when I made a last ditch attempt to start it, just before the game ended. So I thought I'd write this with a completely blank slate.

1. Overall I thought the offense didn't play as well as it looked and the defense played better than it ended looking like.

2. Our offense has been so good that when it scores "ONLY" just around 30 points, it looks like it left a lot of points on the table, and this week was no different. Basically the offense played well for about 50 minutes and then seemed to go out of its way to prove it wasn't running it up.

Again, like last week at the end of the game all the imagination seemed to dry up. Maybe Lewis' abdomen was giving him a problem, but they didn't seem to use him as creatively as they had earlier in the game . I saw one nice screen play and never saw another.

3. IIRC, in the first 3 quarters the Pats punted one, and punted 4 times in the final quarter. I can't recall them move the ball so poorly at the end of the game this year. You almost have to remind yourself that they scored 34 points without any turn overs (except the punt fiasco)

4. I heard a lot of mediots talking about how teams are overcoming injuries on the OL and crap like that. But think about. The Patriots scored 34 points, generated over 420 yds of offense in a very hostile environment, starting an rookie UDFA C, two 4th round rookies, and a 2nd year player who was on the PS on Monday, and a Vet who was playing out of position,( plus Josh Kline).

On one hand it was an outstanding job by those guys in very difficult circumstances. On the other hand if Cannon is hurt for any length of time, it could be a problem, especially as we will be seeing some very good DL's over the next 3 games

5. I was impressed by the fact that if you take away Blount's long TD run; he STILL averaged over 4.4 very hard yards per carry running against 8 man fronts. He ran hard.

When he was in TC, I remember noting in one of my reports that Blount looked fairly comfortable catching the ball in drills, and hoped he'd get more easy looks this season. So, I found it interesting to learn that tonight was Blount's first TD catch of his career.

6. Edelman had a poor game for him, but Amendola picked up the slack. I hope his hand isn't seriously hurt.

7. I can see how the ref could call Chandler's catch offensive interference, but in actuality all he was really guilty of was being just massively bigger than the guy who was trying to cover him. Just one of those things.

8. My biggest complaint of the offense was not getting another 3rd and 1 on a run they obviously asked the ball boy to call. Lewis ran a 3rd and 2 that looked so eerily like the Kevin Faulk 2006 playoff 4th and 2 in Indy, it gave me the chills. Also it pissed me a little off that the lack anything that resembled an aggressive offense allowed the Colts to get another garbage time TD and 85 yds of passing offense.

9. The defense I felt played a lot better than the 27 points would seem. One was a gift PI on McCourty. He had just as much right to that position, plus the ball was vastly overthrown and uncatchable. The Pats didn't get all the bad calls in this game, but this was one of them.

10. Malcom Butler is just about 6 inches away from making most of the TD's caught on him disappear. I think his play has improved in every game this season. He is making more plays on more balls and just might be one of the better tacking CB's in the league.

11. Over all the Colts have 3 excellent WR's in Johnson, Hilton, and Moncreif, plus 2 better than average TE's and I thought the Pats secondary played decent coverage on them, especially when you figure how much zone the Pats played last night.

12. I had one pet peeve last night and that was the coverage by NBC. I was FURIOUS by the pregame coverage. It was like listening to Felger. Everything was either about Indy and Luck's injury, and anything about the Pats had to do with deflategate or revenge. I wanted to put my fist through the screen and rip Bob Costas' throat out. I probably only ended up listening to about 20 minutes of it, and every time I came back to it, I ended up only being able to stand about 5 minutes more before I had to change the channel

Once again they made it seem to me that the only reason Brady played the first 4 games was a Federal Judge got him off on a technicality. They seemed to ignore that Brady was framed by the league in a sting started by the Colts, and framed the narrative more as a power issue between the League and the PA.

These people know everything that we know. They KNOW that nothing happened that night. They KNOW that Brady didn't do anything, and they KNOW the information that started the entire fiasco was false and REMAINED false on purpose. So when they continue to portray it like an issue with 2 legitimate opposing viewpoints it drives me nuts.

13. .....And then the game started and I reached a level of infuriation that I didn't think it was possible for me to reach. For the next 3 hours I spent theevening yelling things like "you motherfu*ker" or F**K you" incessantly at either Collingsworth or Michaels for various asinine remarks they would make.

They never stopped making excuses for Luck for virtually everything bad he did, or good the Pats did. They incessantly talked up the job the Colts did on the OL, while remaining virtually silent that the Pats were starting 3 rookies and had lost 2 starting LT's and ended up having to play a kid who was on the PS on Monday. Evidently every team can overcome those conditions put up 34 points and over 420 yds of offense, but let me tell you more about what a great job the Colts have done over the last 3 games.

Those 2 assholes also continued the constant "revenge" talk and "deflategate" harangue for most of the night. It was almost like they were opening rooting for the Colts. Collingworth failed to comment after the replay showed the PI on McCourty was more than worth commentary, yet on multiple occasions opined that plays where Pats rushers were being tackled they were somehow complicit in the foul.

In the end I spent most of the night just irritated at the broadcast. I couldn't wait for the game could end before I could turn them off. I didn't watch a second of the post game. If you saw the post game presser that Brady gave, and saw how pissed off he seemed, THAT's how I felt.

14. Yes it sucks that Denver won another game they could and should have lost. But on one hand I envy them the fact that over the first 6 games of the season, Denver has been forced to play through some very close games. When you play in a lot of close games like that you develop a kind of mental toughness that become invaluable during tough times of the season, especially the playoffs.

I hope we never have to play a close game the rest of the season, but I will gladly sacrifice a few of my nerves for the experience of winning a couple of nail biters over the course of the season.

15. And its Jets week. I'm trying to figure out which I hate worse. The fact that the Jets are a 4-1 team with and excellent defense and a well balanced and competent offense, or the fact that they seem like a well organized, quiet team led by a HC I can respect. I miss the Rex/Jets combination. There was so much to hate

I'm not sure what our OL will look like next week, but this will be its severest test to date. Of course this will be the the Jets biggest offensive test. Unfortunately I'm not exactly if we will be able to show the Jets our best offensive effort given how many adjustments we are going to have to make to protect our OL.

This will kick off a great week of football discussion. It's going to be strange that most of the discussion is going to focus on football for a change. I'll be first and start the discussion that while Fitzpatrick isn't close to an elite NFL QB, he is perfectly capable to perform what the Jets need him to do with the talent they have around him, to have plenty enough offense to support that defense.

16. I'm not sure how much of the success the Colts had on shutting down Gronk was due to how the Colts were covering him, or how much was due to the limits on the offense that were caused by the loss of Solder in during the original game planning, and then what they had to do after losing Cannon in the first period. But I think it bears watching. Josh is going to have to be creative this week in thinking ways to get him open.

17, Akeem Hicks popped a couple of times, at least to me on some running plays. Maybe it was the fact that he was wearing #72 which you oldtimers will remember was Larry Eisenhower's number on defense before it became more familiar as Matt Lights' number. Anyway, anyone else notice him? D. Easley also popped a couple of time tonight, but not enough as I'd like. Again the snap counts this week will be interesting.

18. I am officially on the "I worried about Jerrad Mayo" list. I find it troubling that in a game without Hightower playing he wasn't credited with a single tackle. I'm not sure that he's fully back from his knee, or if he CAN come back from his knee, but prior to the injury the man was a tackling machine. Now he's barely getting on the stat sheet.

19. Jamie Collins is starting to garner the notice nationally that he's already getting locally. He really can be spectacular.

Pardons for the many editorial mistakes I made on this, it's almost 3am and I'm too damned tired to go back and correct them. I'll do it in the morning.

(actually I didn't make as many grammar mistakes as I usually do, but I did make 3 mistakes in the sentence telly you I will correct my mistakes)

Awesome write up as always! Agree totally about Collinsworth and Michaels. They openly acknowledge people are sick of hearing about Deflategate and then carry on yapping about it.

I hate Sunday night games. I hate NBC, I hate Dan Patrick, I hate Dungy, I hate Collinsworth, I hate Michaels, I hate Michelle Tafoya. Rodney is the only one I don't hate.

Great analysis, Ken. The famous 4th and 2 play to Faulk was on MNF though, not in the playoffs. It also wasn't in the 2006 matchup, but rather the 2009 regular season meeting.

I've always felt that certain journeymen QBs such as Fitzpstrick were better than people state, particularly with an improved supporting cast of talent with those skill position players. When Geno Smith got punched and lost his job, I started to wonder if the NYJ would be better than many here thought. Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker are adequate WR targets, and Chris Ivory is a very decent big bodied RB. I don't see an "easy" game, although I do expect to win.

Denver not only is winning close games with close to ZERO production from their quarterback, but they're winning on the road. They've already played and won 4 road games in the first 6 weeks....Even if they "only" go 6-4 from here on out with 6/10 games at Mile High Stadium (hard to imagine), they're still going 12-4. They will compete with N.England and Cincy for the two bye spots, and it's looking like a team with a very good record will be forced to play on WC weekend. At this point, all 3 teams are basically 0-0 for the purpose of that exercise. Let's hope DEN and CIN start losing, and we keep winning.

I'm not tying in Gronk being slowed down to the injury situation of Solder/Cannon in the least. As a matter of fact, I think he was lined up right much more than he was left. I don't think it was coincidental that Gronk started getting going when IND was forced to replace safety Mike Adams with a no named special teamer.

I agree that listening to that commentary was brutal, but what else do you expect? You claim that these mediots definitely know for a fact that it was a setup and that Brady and the team did nothing wrong. I disagree. I think they are playing the "CBA" technicality angle that we all expected them to play. We all knew that questions would remain, and that the media would point out the fact that the only issue that overturned the decision was due to the interpretation of the CBA. That doesn't surprise me in the least, nor would it surprise me to find out that many of them still have doubts as to what occurred.

The absence of Mayo has become a bit of a concern, no doubt about that one.

Very well said as usual..

The issue with tv announcers is that they know the Pats are not popular nationally, so they play to the low information viewers subtly to try to demonstrate why the Pats are not liked and why America should like any team besides the Pats..

#12 seemed a little off last night, he did not seem to be seeing the field as well as he usually should, and often did not see open receivers.. glad to see he was trying to get the ball to Chandler, which will take pressure off of Gronk... but as usual he ground out this victory. Hate to see ints like that one, as it really was not Brady's fault.

The blowout that was predicted did not happen, but a win is a win, there are no style points.

I agree about Mayo, he is not the same player he used to be.. wise move to renegotiate his contract.

The whole football world now knows what an athlete #91 is, we already knew that..

Well I decided weeks ago that I will only watch this game on mute and it seems like I did not regret it. Generally I feel that US sports commentary does little else apart from reminding you that the game returned from ad break amd should be cut out completely. Unfortunately they never manage to align the sound of the radio station with tha game so its impossible to switch to that to. I will ptobably start listening in Spanish at least I can learne alanguage this way.

supafly said:

IND was forced to replace safety Mike Adams with a no named special teamer.

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While I would have agreed with you any other day, I think Colt Anderson has gone from no named special teamer to someone we all know quite well now, for all the wrong reasons

One thing I'd like to complement on your Edelman thought: I think I saw (discount Losing my religion playing in my head) Edelman trying to catch with his body, rather than with his hands. On the interception, he was guilty of letting the ball hit him in the pad. I think his finger is a bigger than discussed problem, although one that can get better

I couldn't agree more about Malcolm. It seems like the only time he gives up anything of significance, it's because the receiver had to make a spectacular/lucky catch.

JayNM said:

One thing I'd like to complement on your Edelman thought: I think I saw (discount Losing my religion playing in my head) Edelman trying to catch with his body, rather than with his hands. On the interception, he was guilty of letting the ball hit him in the pad. I think his finger is a bigger than discussed problem, although one that can get better

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Yes. Before the INT I was yelling at the TV - stop throwing to Edelman! He can't catch with that finger! He had two easy drops before that, then that (almost) killer INT. I wish they would come up with two categories of INT - OY (on you, Mr. QB) and NOY (not on you). That was a NOY for Brady.

Fixit said:

I couldn't agree more about Malcolm. It seems like the only time he gives up anything of significance, it's because the receiver had to make a spectacular/lucky catch.

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He played really well. I only wish he'd turned around on that first TD of Indy's as he might have been able to pick it off or at least knock it down, which he did for the rest of the night when called upon.

It was a good win. The offense should be credited for playing as well as it did, considering that:

--In-game injuries can be the most difficult to navigate. The Pats had to adjust on the fly to the Cannon and Edelman injuries

--The injury to Cannon was, obviously, one where the Pats were already covering for a significant injury

--Lewis was clearly not at full strength

Add some credit to the Colts for playing Gronk relatively well (and as you mention, no turnovers to benefit from), I'd say getting 34 was a good night's work.

Defensively, if Mayo is used as a role player, then it will be fine, but he clearly isn't the same guy. Still recovering? I think that's probably wishful thinking. Hightower was missed, and will hopefully be back against the Jets.

--Ditto for Sheard, who has proven himself to be exactly what we hoped he would be.

--I think Logan Ryan is holding up OK, and Butler continues to impress. I think the front 7 can be better--need to see more consistent pressure from Jones, and it would be great if the flashes Easley's showing become more consistent as well. If the big guys can solidify the middle (limit Ivory next week) I think the Pats win relatively easily.

Oh, and I wish people would stop whining about announcers...Collingsworth, Simms, whoever. Visit any opposing fan board and you'll see all these yahoos crying that this guy or that guy "always roots against us." It just sounds pathetic. The game thread (which can be a scary, reactionary place anyway) is rife with it. Not a good look for us.

I agree with Ken that I am glad this one is over. I was very nervous leading up to kick off and I thought the Pats, particularly Brady, looked very tight for the whole game. The bad feeling I got when Indy marched down the field and scored on the first drive of the game did not subside until the Giveaway (the Game) Play. Then I couldn't believe the Pats O turtled in the 4th and gave the ball back to Indy with over 3 minutes left and only down by 13. Too much time! Then of course they marched down the field and scored and I am thinking, "OMG, that one point we are short is going to kill us."

Luckily for me, BB continues to play chess while everyone else is playing checkers. Of course we have a play to fix that! All the Pats linemen in the middle fall to the ground and Chandler Jones vaults over BOTH lines to block the extra point. The look of surprise on Adam Vinatieri's face was an added bonus. For all the trickery called by the Colts, the Pats had the only successful trick play of the night. Of course the aforementioned sucky broadcast does nothing to highlight the significance of that play. I also thought it took the last of the air out of the Colts' balloon.

Tough game though. The injury bug has come a callin', just in time for Jets week.

We should have won by three scores. Played alot of zone coverage.

PatsDeb said:

I agree with Ken that I am glad this one is over. I was very nervous leading up to kick off and I thought the Pats, particularly Brady, looked very tight for the whole game. The bad feeling I got when Indy marched down the field and scored on the first drive of the game did not subside until the Giveaway (the Game) Play. Then I couldn't believe the Pats O turtled in the 4th and gave the ball back to Indy with over 3 minutes left and only down by 13. Too much time! Then of course they marched down the field and scored and I am thinking, "OMG, that one point we are short is going to kill us."

Luckily for me, BB continues to play chess while everyone else is playing checkers. Of course we have a play to fix that! All the Pats linemen in the middle fall to the ground and Chandler Jones vaults over BOTH lines to block the extra point. The look of surprise on Adam Vinatieri's face was an added bonus. For all the trickery called by the Colts, the Pats had the only successful trick play of the night. Of course the aforementioned sucky broadcast does nothing to highlight the significance of that play. I also thought it took the last of the air out of the Colts' balloon.

Tough game though. The injury bug has come a callin', just in time for Jets week.

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We are playing the fish on Thursday night as well. Ughhh. I hope we get lafell back. I am dissapointed with our wr depth. Dobson major failure

PatriotsPimp136 said:

We are playing the fish on Thursday night as well. Ughhh. I hope we get lafell back. I am dissapointed with our wr depth. Dobson major failure

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Yes, Dobson inactive again. I hope they can get Edelman's finger right. Brady obviously relies on him a lot.

I thought Brady was actually fantastic with accuracy last night, not a bad game at all. But with Edelman being his less than reliable self, and the Colts flooding he zones, the Patriots went into a hole in the 4th qtr. I think they were trying to prevent Brady from getting hit with the offensive line shifting around like that.

If there is one player I am really down on, it is Freeney. I know it is not his fault, but man o man I don't think he has what it takes. Hopefully Bostic can move in and take his spot if Hightower isn't back ASAP.

Pats injuries have piled up the last few weeks: Tarell Brown, Solder, Hightower, and now we worry about Sheard, Slater, Edelman, Dion Lewis, Cannon.

Since Dobson has disappeared, this team now needs Lafell back, and they need Wendell to take Kline's spot.

I almost felt like Lewis was on a pitch count where they knew they needed him but also knew they didn't want to have him exacerbate the injury and miss extended time.

The injuries at tackle are really disconcerting especially with two divisional games in 4 days coming up. Both teams have very good DL's that have given the Patriots trouble in recent years.

Please extend Jamie Collins as soon as the CBA allows and don't mess around. Hopefully by signing him early you can get a Gronk type contract where the player gets long term security and the team gets long term value. If they let this go the McCourty route somebody is going to throw 12-14M/year with a lot of guaranteed money at him and likely that's going to be a divisional foe. I don't want to face him twice a year in his prime.

Unless he's willing to come back at a highly discounted rate this is the end for Mayo. The distance between Hightower and Mayo is nearly that of Lewis and White.

Harmon has morphed into a good safety and Ryan the same both in the slot and outside.

Big week for the DL coming up. They cannot allow the Jets to own the clock and limit the offenses chances especially give the situation at tackle. You sandwich a couple of long drives by them with a 3 and out by us and this could be a long day.