Game Thoughts: They Might Be Giants, but they didn't win the game edition

• I said this in the game thread, the football gods want the Pats to go down in flames and Belichick keeps giving them the middle finger. The Edelman injury scares me because it doesn't sound like he will be back all that soon if he is on crutches and a walking boot. But this team is still showing the intestinal fortitude to carry one where most teams would have folded with this many injuries.
• Kudos to Malcom Butler. His best game as a pro. He had a big boy assignment against arguably one of the best WRs in the league and shut him down for the most part. That TD on the Giants' second play was as much or more on McCourty as it was Butler.
• Adam Vinatin-who? Anyone who still talks down Gostkowski because he doesn't make big kicks in big situations (yes, I am talking about you Tony Maserati) have nothing to say anymore. You don't get more clutch than that kick unless it is in a playoff or Super Bowl situation. No disrespect to Adam Vinatieri, but Stephen Gostkowski is the best kicker this team has ever had.
• After a horrible first half, the defense played very well in the second half. The CBs behind Butler and Ryan are still a concern and this team desperately needs Collins back, but I think this is a Super Bowl caliber defense. I blame a lot of the problems in the first half on the Giants totally throwing out what they have been doing all year and doing a completely different game plan than they typically run. The Pats eventually adapted.
• I hate Ed Hochuli. Absolutely hate him. He has the most inconsistent and one sided officiating crew in the NFL. If the Pats lost, it wouldn't be the reason why, but some of the calls the Pats got and the non-calls the Giants got were absolutely ridiculous.
• I know they were concerned about protecting Brady and several plays showed why there was a concern, but I was not happy about the conservative nature of the play calling after the opening drive. Sure the first drive was a fairly conservative play calling, but the Giants adjusted especially when Edelman went out. McDaniels should have opened it up a bit before the 4th quarter.
• I know Brady was so so today, but he becomes a different QB in the 4th. He still made some mistakes and some of them could have been costly, but he still becomes a must better QB in the fourth. It is almost like he is Ali and likes to play a Rope a Dope.
• I don't hate Scott Chandler, but the guy has worse hands than Dobson ever had. Yet he keeps on getting the ball thrown to him and Dobson rides the pine. I know at least until today, the WR position is far deeper than the TE position, but Chandler has been a disappointment.
• Two bonehead plays that could have cost the Pats the game - Harmon tripping Amendola on the punt return that should have gone for a TD and David Andrews committing a holding penalty that would have sealed the game and ended up being a 10 point swing. The first one didn't matter because the Pats scored a TD anyway. The second one was far more of a risk of costing the Pats the game.
• It is good to see the Pats beat an above average team with all these injuries, but this team needs to get a lot healthier if they want have any shot at winning a Super Bowl. Barring a complete meltdown, they are going to get a bye because no one from the AFC South or West have a shot of winning it IMHO, but they are going to have a hard time beating Cincy or several teams in the NFC (or someone from the AFC who might get hot in the playoffs) in their current state.

BradyFTW! said:

I was with you up until you said Gost was the the best kicker we ever had.

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BradyFTW! said:

I was with you up until you said Gost was the the best kicker we ever had.

I love the guy, but between the 3 SBs and the snow bowl he still has a ways to go to catch up to Vinatieri.

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I.M. Fletcher said:

That David Andrews penalty in hindsight was atrocious.

It's a pull play over the right end and you can't hold your NT from the backfield?

He has been a battler all year given his humble beginnings, but that play alone will put thoughts of stork back in the coaches head ASAP.

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BelichickFan said:

Quick note, lost TD from Andrews hold wouldn't have clinched the game, would have put us up by 8.

Cincy worries me, the likes of Carolina not so much.

Nice job as always.

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Rob0729 said:

Here we go:

• I said this in the game thread, the football gods want the Pats to go down in flames and Belichick keeps giving them the middle finger.
• I hate Ed Hochuli. Absolutely hate him. He has the most inconsistent and one sided officiating crew in the NFL. If the Pats lost, it wouldn't be the reason why, but some of the calls the Pats got and the non-calls the Giants got were absolutely ridiculous.
• I know t.....
• Two bonehead plays that could have cost the Pats the game - Harmon tripping Amendola on the punt return that should have gone for a TD and David Andrews committing a holding penalty that would have sealed the game and ended up being a 10 point swing. The first one didn't matter because the Pats scored a TD anyway. The second one was far more of a risk of costing the Pats the game.
• It is good to see the Pats beat an above average team with all these injuries, but this team needs to get a lot healthier if they want have any shot at winning a Super Bowl. Barring a complete meltdown, they are going to get a bye because no one from the AFC South or West have a shot of winning it IMHO, but they are going to have a hard time beating Cincy or several teams in the NFC (or someone from the AFC who might get hot in the playoffs) in their current state.

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Rob0729 said:

It wouldn't have clinched the game, but the Pats stopped the Giants from scoring a TD when they were only up by one. Odds are likely they would have stopped them from scoring the TD and the 2 point conversion.

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Gumby said:

Did you Read yourself? IMO the Andrews Penalty was one of those made up ones. He didnt pull on the guy or Even hold tight (arms to me looked like he intentionally let go as Soon as dl got past him), but the ref flagged him for the DL Falling down from his own inertia

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fourhour said:

Vinatieri isn't a Patriot anymore. WTF Cares?

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LightSkinSmurf said:

Doesn't mean we have to act ignorant and forget how clutch he was for us.

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Rob0729 said:

I'm sorry, but it was a good call.

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livinginthe past said:

Its one play, dude.

Also Stork is currently busy manning a hugely understaffed tackle position.

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Rob0729 said:

We cannot discount Gostkowski because he hasn't had the opportunity to kick game winning kicks in the Super Bowl. The guy is more accurate and consistent than Vinatieri was. There is little doubt if he was in the same situations that Vinatieri had, he would make those kicks.

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The Gr8est said:

I was going to post my own thoughts but I'll piggy back off of yours.

On Chandler, this isn't the first time this season that I have thought he will be one season and done with the Pats. I don't know how it is that he gets to be a Pats killer, but he has horrible hands, and I wouldn't be surprised if Brady stops looking for him.

With the Edelman injury, did anyone else think it was too bad that Welker signed with the Rams last week? He might have been a good fill-in depending on how long Edelman is out.

While BB would not want to intentionally plan to lose a game, I wonder if some of the inactives could have played in a more crucial game if necessary, but he used this game as a team building game, and with the way it turned out, if that was his plan, he drew to a Royal Straight flush.
* Of course I don't think the Edelman injury was part of the calculation.

Overall I think the Giants suffered more injuries than the Pats did, and our OL doesn't look to have added to their injuries.

With Denver losing the Pats got a little breathing room where they can afford to lose a game and still get a 1st round bye. Now in Cincinnati will cooperate a bit.

The importance of Jamie Collins to our defense was glaringly apparent today.

While I don't believe in fate, this game had a couple interesting anomalies that ended up being synchronistic.
1- Both teams scored an unlikely long TD with on a poor play by the secondary.
2 - Both teams had a big TD at the end overruled, that would put a significant hurt on the opposing team, only to have the score negated and having to settle for a FG.

I don't buy the idea that the Giants are the Pats' kryptonite, and they can't beat them, and is no different than expecting heads on a coin flip since the last three times were heads.
Still, I was glad to see the Pats pull this game out which will get the monkey,. or belief in a monkey off the Pats' back by beating the Giants, in the manner that they did, on the Giants home field.

Aaron Dobson, you dodged a potential bullet with Edelman getting injured. You won't get cut, now DO something with the opportunity.

I don't know how he did overall, but Akiem Hicks had one outstanding play in stopping a run in the backfield.

What a gamer Matt Slater is!

Pats need to get some good news soon in the injury and walking wounded department or we will not be able to compete post season. They are getting too thin in too many positions.

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