A couple of new points now that my computer is charged for another hour or so. My computer is dying my friends, and it is tough to watch. On to the next one.
1. As an extension to my point that more and more teams are going to the philosophy that it's OK to throw the ball to a covered receiver because in an age where the rules so drastically favor the offense, big receivers (6'2+) abound and are almost ALWAYS bigger than the coverage people, and when you throw a ball up for grabs, the odds are in your favor that something good will happen. (catch or penalty).
That is NOT the philosophy that we run here. Brady has spent the last 15 years being hardwired NOT to throw to covered receivers. Receivers, for the most part, have to get se.paration in order to see the ball. The back shoulder throw when the DB has his back turned, is without a doubt nearly impossible to cover if its thrown well. It shouldn't be a shock that Brady rarely throws that pass, and when he does, it usually doesn't end well. Clearly Brady isn't comfortable throwing that kind of ball. It goes against 15 years of training and execution.
That is why we've always had the short, shifty, quick guy in our offense. This year we were blessed with THREE of them. Now we are down to 1, and I think its time that Josh and Brady start to think more vertically and join the crowd, even if its just a bit. When we go 4 wide now, aside from Amendola, we will have Dobson, Lafell, and Gronk out there. Those are all guys 6'3 and over. Different skill sets require different schemes.
2, Losing Edelman had a huge impact on the offense. It was bigger because it happened during the game. It will be a little less painful going forward because we will have a full week to prepare for it. And what does this team do better than any team in the league? Prepare for games. Look for the Pats to think more vertical next week for all the reasons I mentioned above.
3. This might be blasphemy, but there was a very small part of me that could have lived with a loss. It would have ended all the 16-0 talk, plus we had a ton of excuses ready made to ease the pain. I know I'm not alone in that thinking.
4. Very impressed with the Giants. They have injury issues of there own (Anukamara, Cruz, Donnell, the DT, Beason, and had 2 starting OLmen missing by the start of the 2nd half, and that's just off the top of my head), yet they played hard and that offense looked very effective. As they get some of their guys back I think they will prove to be a very hard out if they get into the playoffs. I should remind you, that in 2001, The Pats lost a hard fought game, at home, to what was the consensus class of the league to go 5-5. They didn't lose another game that season. Spooky.
5. That being said, there were almost as many should'ves and would'ves in this game for the Giants as we had in those 2 superbowls. The worst was the time management at the end of the game.
6. How many of you were half hoping that the throw to Beckham at the end of the the game was ruled a TD. That would have put the Pats down 6 with 201 to play and a TO. I could have lived with that. Especially when you figured that if the clock had been managed well, the Pats would have been left with just a minute and no TO's to get into FG range.
7. We've managed to OL disaster for 3 games now. The effects are starting to show, and people need to be coming back. BTW- It's not so much the talent, but the experience. No one out there last night had much. Kline in his 3rd year was the "old man". How ridiculous is that.
That being said. Shaq Mason can run. He is a monster when he pulls. I think that kid will be an all pro some time in the future.
