Hello again, I used to bore people here a few years ago and decided to try it once more. Please feel free to print this off and use it later if you suffer from insomnia.
We all know how exciting that game was. I went from having no doubt it was a win with 8 minutes to go to thinking an L was about to put thrown up 3 minutes later. Gifts like that are always to be cherished.
* I have to admit to feeling a bit self-satisfied when Maroney was the best runner and Watson the best receiving TE. Both guys have gotten far more guff than they deserved and I've never really wavered in my belief in them.
Of course, it is only week one so they have plenty of time to muck it all up or get injured again, but I'll enjoy it for a week.
* Maroney did have one really terrible block on a sideline Welker pass. It was interesting because with the spacing of the OL, all he really had to do was run up into the gap and stand there. It would have forced the DE/LB (I don't remember who it was) to run right over him to get to the QB. Instead, he lunged towards the defender allowing for a couple things.
1) It gave an opening between Mankins and Koppen.
2) Maroney was now moving away from Brady, leaving him susceptible to a swim and toss move, which is precisely what the defender did.
That Brady was able to get that ball away with Schoebel coming around the end and another guy running right at him was remarkable.
* Watching Brady at anything less than perfect was really quite strange. Despite the exemplary stats, he had one of the worst games I've seen from him in a while. Aside from a handful of overthrows, he had a number of plays where a better throw would have gotten an extra 5-15 yac. One play that stood out was a 4 yard pass to Moss. The defender was coming from behind and to Moss' right (he was on the right side of the field, so the defender was coming from the sideline) and the middle of the field was vacant. A pass leading Moss towards the middle gets an easy 10 and probably 15. Instead, Moss has to stop and reach up, giving the DB time to make a nice little pop.
Of course, he was all Brady on the final two drives. The second Watson TD was incredible. Threaded between two defenders, Brady had about 5 cubic feet of space to work with and he absolutely nailed it. Great catch as well, seeing as how Watson had to jump and twist to get in position to catch it.
* I made a complete shot in the dark prediction about Galloway that proved completely baseless. Now the biggest "surprise" is what the hell he offers to this offense. As far as I can tell he had one ball tossed in his direction that was essentially a throwaway. Color me unimpressed.
* The prediction I felt certain about was regarding the defense. They always take time to gel. We always wonder about them for a month or two and then most often they come alive at the end of the year. This year will be no different and people need to adjust their expectations a little. This team is running a base 4-3 with tons of new contrtibutors all getting a feel for each other. To expect them to be dominant immediately is not realistic.
Despite their struggles, the allowed 17 offensive points even though Buffalo kept getting the ball in good field position after missed 4th downs and a missed FG.
I predicted Buffalo to score 13 points not because I expected much better performance but because I expected the offense to make Buffalo one dimensional. It happened, but a bit later than I thought.
* Some issues to keep an eye on with the defense are pass rush (obviously) and what Buffalo did awesome at yesterday, play recognition. NE rushers got sucked in on nearly every screen and rarely did the MLB force the receiver back to the middle. By contrast, you could see Buffalo defenders racing towards the receiver before Brady even turned to pitch the ball.
* Interesting that NE went 4-3 considering how poorly Buffalo has handled 3-4 teams of late.
* One more thing on the defense, I never felt Buffalo was as bad as people said. It seemed general consensus on Edwards was that he is a JAG at best, but I've always been impressed with him. Since I didn't watch a snap of Buffalo last year I thought he must have fallen off, but from what I saw last night he is still the quality guy I thought he was in 2007. And Buffalo did a nice job of exploiting NE's WR coverages by going underneath and screening. Again, the problem was recognition and tackling, and I expect both to improve.
* After the bull**** RTP on Wilfork, did anyone notice that he spent the next couple plays running around in a "I didn't touch him" pose?
* I have to admit, I hate the look of the old uni's. Can't stand it. When I see them I expect the team to play poorly. I almost think the uniforms are a cause of NE's struggles last night. Almost.
* Gruden felt that AD's RTP was ticky tack, but I expected flag because the whistle had blown before AD even started his tackle. The Wilfork one was ridiculous, though. Refs need to understand the laws of physics and how a retreating QB is always going to be hit "low". He wasn't even hit that low, anyway, as it started at Edwards' hip and slid down. Again, because of physics.
* Perhaps that really was Todd Light out there trying to block Schoebel? I doubt he could have done much worse.
* As late as with 6 minutes left, I had no doubt NE would win. Buffalo's defense was gassed and a NE TD was all but preordained. I expected NE to hold Buffalo to a FG and drive down to tie it at 20, putting pressure on Buffalo for the first time all night. When Buffalo ran yet another successful screen play and crossed the line, I have to admit to saying, "now they've got a 5% chance of winning... at best."
* Back to the defense once more. In 2003 NE allowed 24 offensive points to a Buffalo offense that would prove inept by midseason. In 2004 they allowed 24 points to Indy despite getting two Edge fumbles inside the 20. IIRC, the late game sack by Willie was the only one all night. Frankly, Indy should have put a 40 sopt on the board as easy as they moved the ball. In both seasons they had terrible days, blowing a 31-10 lead against Indy in 7 minutes and allowing 20+ points to a horrible Texan team in 2003. In 2004 they blew an 11 point lead to AJ Feeley's 4-12 Dolphins, and that was late in the season when things should be clicking.
Even good teams have bad days. Feel free to formulate question marks, but forming any conclusions after one game is a fool's errand.
* I thought Vollmer looked very good when he was out there, even when matched up against Schoebel 1:1. Does anyone else read something into his replacing Light at times?
* Brady's pressers are always a treat. He is very eloquant and I like how he always mentions his own mistakes, but only good plays by other teammates. I don't get how anyone could listen to him and think he is the arrogant SOB opposing fans accuse him of being.
All told, despite the concerns on the defense, I place the blame for yesterday's near-loss squarely on the offense. Four drives inside the 40 and another inside the 5 ended up netting 6 points. The defense makes a nice stop after Brady and Co. tie it up and then they immediately blow the momentum with a pick 6. A couple other drives ended with dropped balls and missed passes. A reasonable offensive performance and NE is leading that game 20-7 at halftime and the final score looks quite a bit closer to the 38-14 blowouts NE put up in early 2007.
I welcome your thoughts. Thanks for reading this whole thing. :blahblah::sleeping:
