Familiarity with Pats as much to blame?

[Gumby]

Anybody care to opine - was it the Wash WRs familiarity with playing against the Pats scheme in practice that helped them be so successful?

Or was it simply our Safetys suk?

Just looking at the numbers:

Stallworth
season avg: 1.4 rec 15 yd (7 games played)
vs Pats: 4 rec 96 yd
Gaffney
season avg: 3.7 rec 54 yd (13 games played)
vs Pats: 6 rec 92 yd 1TD
Moss
season avg 4.25 rec 46 yd (8 games played)
vs Pats: 3 rec 81 yd 1 TD

Moss actually was below his avg for receptions; but Gaffney and Stallworth were multiples better.

That seems to indicate to me that Gaffney/Stallworth had some idea of how to attack a BB defense.

 

[PatsDeb]

Anybody care to opine - was it the Wash WRs familiarity with playing against the Pats scheme in practice that helped them be so successful?

Or was it simply our Safetys suk?

Just looking at the numbers:

Stallworth
season avg: 1.4 rec 15 yd (7 games played)
vs Pats: 4 rec 96 yd
Gaffney
season avg: 3.7 rec 54 yd (13 games played)
vs Pats: 6 rec 92 yd 1TD
Moss
season avg 4.25 rec 46 yd (8 games played)
vs Pats: 3 rec 81 yd 1 TD

Moss actually was below his avg for receptions; but Gaffney and Stallworth were multiples better.

That seems to indicate to me that Gaffney/Stallworth had some idea of how to attack a BB defense.

They've been gone for a while, particularly Stallworth. Face it, our secondary stinks, and yesterday was the worst game yet.

 

[RobertWeathers]

We can all agree that for 90% of the time, the defense was terrible.

I don't think it had much to do with them as receivers knowing the system. They may have been a little more revved up for the game than usual.

I do think that Shanahan KNOWS how to exploit a BB defense better than maybe anyone.

So when you add those three factors together, as it pertains to what happened yesterday thats what you get. Lots of long drives.

 

[NEGoldenAge]

The play at safety was horrendous yesterday.

 

[PonyExpress]

Running straight, then turning left or right, or continuing straight, or stopping are all solid ways for an opposing wide receiver to attack this defense. I don't believe that necessarily favors players with experience against the Pats' "scheme".

 

[PatsDeb]

Running straight, then turning left or right, or continuing straight, or stopping are all solid ways for an opposing wide receiver to attack this defense. I don't believe that necessarily favors players with experience against the Pats' "scheme".

LOL. I do think that Shanahan is a pretty smart coach, and he has BB's number in some ways, so he prepared his team well to attack the Pats' weaknesses, which were on full display for all but about 2 plays. But, in the end, Mayo, who had been invisible all game, was in the right place at the right time and held on. Pretty much all you can ask for at that point.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Washington had the ball or 36 minutes.

I'm still trying to figure out the officiating.

Wierd game.

Just look at the fact the offense held the ball for 23 minutes, we score 34 points, and the biggest story is a sideline blowup.

 

[TriplecHamp]

No offense to the OP but every week theres a new excuse for the secondaries poor play.

 

[ATippett56]

No offense to the OP but every week theres a new excuse for the secondaries poor play.

Certain Patriots fans can't come to grips with the fact that the New England Patriots defensive secondary lacks talent.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Certain Patriots fans can't come to grips with the fact that the New England Patriots defensive secondary lacks talent.

Yeah but we have already come to grip with your lack of posting talent.

It's not hard to recognize the obvious.

 

[ATippett56]

Yeah but we have already come to grip with your lack of posting talent.

It's not hard to recognize the obvious.

Not as obvious as your insulting remarks with anyone who disagrees with your point of view.

 

[highlander2190]

I think there were many factors to the poor secondary play yesterday:

1. The safeties were just plain horrible yesterday. A lot of plays happened where the safeties should have been there on coverage, but were 6 or more yards away from the play or further.

2. Shanahan is a veteran coach and understands BB well enough to beat him.

3. The officiating was poor in that game and was just plain terrible, neither team was favored by the calls, but it most certainly didn't help that almost all our penalties came in 3rd down situations for our defense.

4. McCourty was still getting out of his post injury slump at the beginning of the game. They took advantage of it and moved the ball down field through him, and allowed them to stay in the game. Luckily, he stepped up towards the end of the game and that made the difference.


I think that it was definitely one of the worst games of the season from the defense all around, but I'd rather them get his kind of play out of their system now rather than in the playoffs. We still won the game despite bad play. The better idea to think about is that this is still a team without Chung or Spikes, and we may be able to add some stability to the defense once they return.