A Couple of Things Lost in the Shuffle in the loss to Arizona

[Rob0729]

A couple of things lost in the shuffle of yesterday's loss:

• Belichick took away what you do best - People don't realize how impressive it was that the Pats held Fitzgerald to one reception for four yards. The last time Fitzgerald was held to one reception was December of 2010. The last time he was held under 23 yards was December of 2004 (his rookie year). The Pats went into the game with the intention of taking Fitzgerald out of the game and they did it better than any team has in recent history.
• Half of Cards' scoring came on 9 total yards of offense - The Cards scored 20 points and 10 of them came off of nine total yards of offense. The Cards' second field goal was on a drive that started on the Pats' 25 (off of Brady's pick) and ended after three downs on the Pats' 17. The other drive started on the Pats' two yard line after the blocked punt and it took three tries to get in.

 

[tatepatsfan]

I don't think you'll get much disagreement: the D did it's job, and it did it well. In addition to the points you raised, it forced two turnovers, including one that should've miraculously set the offense up for the win.

 

[DarrylS]

Posted this on another thread..

I was listening to Troy and Welker this AM, and they were talking about how the Offense is behind across the league. They contended that before the first preseason game there used to be 24-25 practices, not that number is not hit until the first game.. so the whole repetititive thing is different.

The Giants played really well offensively, but other O juggernauts like Green Bay, New Orleans and the Patriots have not hit their stride yet.. so this may not be unique to the Patriots..

Do not think you are going to know a lot until about game 4....

Our defense is much different though..

 

[Tunescribe]

A couple of things lost in the shuffle of yesterday's loss:

• Belichick took away what you do best - People don't realize how impressive it was that the Pats held Fitzgerald to one reception for four yards. The last time Fitzgerald was held to one reception was December of 2010. The last time he was held under 23 yards was December of 2004 (his rookie year). The Pats went into the game with the intention of taking Fitzgerald out of the game and they did it better than any team has in recent history.
• Half of Cards' scoring came on 9 total yards of offense - The Cards scored 20 points and 10 of them came off of nine total yards of offense. The Cards' second field goal was on a drive that started on the Pats' 25 (off of Brady's pick) and ended after three downs on the Pats' 17. The other drive started on the Pats' two yard line after the blocked punt and it took three tries to get in.

Absolutely true. Also lost amidst everyone's expectations of this being a gimme for the Pats is Arizona's defense becoming something special. Everybody was looking at Kolb's mediocrity and overlooked their true (defensive) strengths vs. our shaky offensive line. Still, the Pats had ample opportunities to pull it out. And, don't forget Ebner's whiff on contain that allowed the blocked punt.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

No doubt the arrow is pointing clearly up where the defense is concerned.

The only thing I am concerned with on offense (presuming Hernandez comes back eventually) is the right side of the OL. It could be this teams Achilles if Dante can't work his magic.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

If you look at how the defense performed the first 2 weeks, we could have been 2-0 with the offense doing next to nothing, and just not turning it over.

In week 1, the defense gave up 13 points. However they scored 7 on Hightower's TD. So the offense only needed 7 points to win the game, which they could've gotten off the Edelman return that started in Tennesse territory. In week 2, you can really only pin 10 points on the defense, and combined with another good Edelman return they gave us the ball in AZ territory. So you really only needed >10 pts from the offense, one of the drives starting in the opponents territory. Problem is the offense was pitiful in week 2, turned it over in our own territory, and we had a punt blocked.

That is a defense capable of carrying a team. Granted, we still have to see if they can do it against the better offenses. But so far the defense has been oustanding no denying it.

 

[signbabybrady]

Really sux that a missed kick overshadows yesterdays defensive performance.

Spikes is showing time and time again that he has a knack for the big play at the big moment. And Jones and Hightower had their moments yesterday as well Jones more then Hightower. Tavon Picked up the fumble and early on appears to be a guy who is around the football alot and has cleaned up on a tip for a pic and this recovery.

The secondary shut down Fitz!

We fairly consistantly got pressure, there were a few moments we werent getting thru but for the most part it was there.

To me the run D again was extremely impressive. From my eye it looked their backs were actually running fairly well with purpose unlike Johnson last week who just never really got the wheels rolling, yet we still contained there whole group including Kolb to around 100.

If you want to beat us on the ground you have to beat us to the perimeter because Love and Vince are not giving any ground up the middle and the LBs are in the middle to clean up their havoc. I really wish they had been more stubborn at the goal line and tried to pound it in because they weren't getting by credit them for a good screen call there.

 

[BradyManny]

The defense did its job. I don't know why people say we didn't "deserve" to win yesterday's game. We've won a lot of game the last four years with just one unit playing well. The defense played elite ball yesterday, and in the NFL, that earns you a victory more often than not. It still took a ton of inopportune plays and a couple questionable calls to do us in.

 

[Ivan]

Posted this on another thread..

I was listening to Troy and Welker this AM, and they were talking about how the Offense is behind across the league. They contended that before the first preseason game there used to be 24-25 practices, not that number is not hit until the first game.. so the whole repetititive thing is different.

The Giants played really well offensively, but other O juggernauts like Green Bay, New Orleans and the Patriots have not hit their stride yet.. so this may not be unique to the Patriots..

Do not think you are going to know a lot until about game 4....

Our defense is much different though..

Agreed. I heard Belichick the week they started the 3 pre season games in 10 days stretch and he said that installation was what would be affected most, and I think that's what we are seeing play out right now. The Patriots are going to have to use September as an extension of their pre-season in terms of finishing off the installation of various parts of their overall system. This obviously doesn't mean they are sacrificing games for it but they are having to do some foundational work they would have preferred to have done in August.

 

[Ivan]

The defense did its job. I don't know why people say we didn't "deserve" to win yesterday's game. We've won a lot of game the last four years with just one unit playing well. The defense played elite ball yesterday, and in the NFL, that earns you a victory more often than not. It still took a ton of inopportune plays and a couple questionable calls to do us in.

They didn't execute well enough on too many occasions yesterday and it cost them, that's why people are saying they didn't deserve that game.

 

[Rob0729]

They didn't execute well enough on too many occasions yesterday and it cost them, that's why people are saying they didn't deserve that game.

Except if the the Woodhead TD stood or the Gostkowski kick went through, people would be saying the same thing about the Cards.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

The defense did its job. I don't know why people say we didn't "deserve" to win yesterday's game.

Anytime you make the multiple simple errors we did when the game was there to take, you deserve to lose. The players and the coaches, made frustratingly horrible errors and decisions yesterday. Arizona did not play an amazing game, maybe not even a great game, but they managed it very well outside of the RB fumbling and they took advantage of every opportunity. We didn't. They deserved it IMO.

 

[BradyManny]

Anytime you make the multiple simple errors we did when the game was there to take, you deserve to lose. The players and the coaches, made frustratingly horrible errors and decisions yesterday. Arizona did not play an amazing game, maybe not even a great game, but they managed it very well outside of the RB fumbling and they took advantage of every opportunity. We didn't. They deserved it IMO.

Every team makes simple errors every game. If one of the following three simple things happen: 1) Refs call Rhodes for the egregious hold of Gronk in the EZ 2) Refs do not call borderline, at best, and largely inconsequential hold on Gronk or 3) Ghost makes his FG, we win. And we would've deserved it.

The defense made several plays, including forcing and recovering a fumble in an almost hopeless situation.

And look, give credit to the Cardinals D, too. It's not like our offensive woes were purely on the Pats. That team showed up, too. But the bottom line is, our defense was elite yesterday, and if we won a W from that, I am fine winning ugly that way. We used to do it all the time.

 

[Ivan]

Except if the the Woodhead TD stood or the Gostkowski kick went through, people would be saying the same thing about the Cards.

I doubt that, the Cards were double digit underdogs on the road against a team picked by most to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl and they would have barely lost, that's hardly undeserving. They played a good game overall, the same cannot be said about the Patriots.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

A couple of things lost in the shuffle of yesterday's loss:

• Belichick took away what you do best - People don't realize how impressive it was that the Pats held Fitzgerald to one reception for four yards. The last time Fitzgerald was held to one reception was December of 2010. The last time he was held under 23 yards was December of 2004 (his rookie year). The Pats went into the game with the intention of taking Fitzgerald out of the game and they did it better than any team has in recent history.
• Half of Cards' scoring came on 9 total yards of offense - The Cards scored 20 points and 10 of them came off of nine total yards of offense. The Cards' second field goal was on a drive that started on the Pats' 25 (off of Brady's pick) and ended after three downs on the Pats' 17. The other drive started on the Pats' two yard line after the blocked punt and it took three tries to get in.

Belichick also took away what Brady does best, his ability to make plays with his playmakers. That was the rub, and it blew up in his face situationally when Hernendez went down.

 

[BradyManny]

They didn't execute well enough on too many occasions yesterday and it cost them, that's why people are saying they didn't deserve that game.

No team has perfect execution. All that matters is the final score.

The Patriots missed two field goals and threw an end zone interception in SB38 and still won. Did they not deserve to win that game?

There's two teams out there at all times, both capable of forcing the other team to make errors, both capable of making errors themselves.

 

[Rob0729]

I doubt that, the Cards were double digit underdogs on the road against a team picked by most to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl and they would have barely lost, that's hardly undeserving. They played a good game overall, the same cannot be said about the Patriots.

Who cares about who the underdogs were and what happened last year? The Cards have won 9 out of their last 11. I dismissed it last week, but after Sunday I think their defense is legit.

If the Cards lost yesterday, the story would be all they had to do is hold onto the ball and kill the clock and they did the one thing they couldn't do and turn over the ball.

 

[Rob0729]

Belichick also took away what Brady does best, his ability to make plays with his playmakers. That was the rub, and it blew up in his face situationally when Hernendez went down.

C'mon, it wasn't that bad. And towards the end, he let Brady give it to his play makers a lot. Earlier in the game, he did too and it was poor execution (Brady overthrowing a wide open Gronk on a deep pass and Welker dropping a critcal third down pass that went through his hands.

 

[JackBauer]

Spikes is showing time and time again that he has a knack for the big play at the big moment.

Yeah, but do we really want to re-sign the guy?

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Every team makes simple errors every game. If one of the following three simple things happen: 1) Refs call Rhodes for the egregious hold of Gronk in the EZ 2) Refs do not call borderline, at best, and largely inconsequential hold on Gronk or 3) Ghost makes his FG, we win. And we would've deserved it.

The defense made several plays, including forcing and recovering a fumble in an almost hopeless situation.

And look, give credit to the Cardinals D, too. It's not like our offensive woes were purely on the Pats. That team showed up, too. But the bottom line is, our defense was elite yesterday, and if we won a W from that, I am fine winning ugly that way. We used to do it all the time.

I wouldn't put yesterday's mistakes in the 'common' category. It was an uncharacteristically sloppy and poorly coached effort IMO (except on defense).