Game Thought: The Pats De-Horse Shoed Them Edition

[50-yard-line]

#2 Arrington/Browner were not so good. Arrington did well keeping with Hilton on a few plays. However he had several bad plays. The one which bugged me the most is when he bumped into Browner and it left a TE open for a 20 yard gain. Browner on the other hand played his usual physical style but just got out played tonight. I think Browner can not match up with true TEs. Against pure pass catching ones I have seen him do fine and just knock them around but he was unable to slow down Allen with his bumps and just got out run after them. Something to monitor in the future but luckily there are not many pass catching TEs that are also just more physically imposing than Browner.

Gotta disagree on this one point. I thought Arrington played great last night - even on special teams.

Browner got in a matchup that was giving him fits, so the Pats adjusted. That will happen with everyone (except maybe Revis - is there anything he can't do?). A couple of time, Fleener seemed just too strong for Browner to use his own strengths to slow him down.

Keep in mind: Luck has now had 8 games in a row over 300 yards. Indy has a great passing offense with superb weapons, speed and route-running. Well, Luck barely got there last night (303), at home, in a dome, and with NO RUNNING game. Take away two big plays (the Revis miscommunication on Wayne and the big out to Fleener) and that might be the worst performance of Luck's young career. AT HOME, on a field that has one of the best home-field advantages in football.

And I don't believe that Pats have ever won at Lucas Oil before last night.

 

[JMC00]

Well, Luck barely got there last night (303), at home, in a dome, and with NO RUNNING game. Take away two big plays (the Revis miscommunication on Wayne and the big out to Fleener) and that might be the worst performance of Luck's young career. AT HOME, on a field that has one of the best home-field advantages in football.

And really the only reason he got over 300 was Richardson coming open in the flat for 21 yards with 5 minutes to go on Indy's last drive.

 

[SVN]

BTW, I can't wait for Felger and Mazz to act like idiots tomorrow after spending the first half of the season how the Broncos are better, more talented, and tougher than the Pats. I am sure Felger will be a douche in that it is too early to determine anything.

The narrative this AM- Broncos oline is bad, their running game is non existent etc etc . When Pats lost - Brady is old.

 

[Rob0729]

The narrative this AM- Broncos oline is bad, their running game is non existent etc etc . When Pats lost - Brady is old.

Actually Mazz has already Tweeted the storyline:

Really no excuse now for Patriots finishing with anything other than the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

https://twitter.com/TonyMassarotti/status/534375328626798592

Now it is going to be a month of Felger and Mazz killing the Pats for not getting the #1 seed even though they are in first place in the AFC. I can hear it now:

"You know we have a rule here on the show that we don't kill someone for something we haven't done yet, but Belichick really blew this golden opportunity to lock up the number 1 seed which they still basically have a two game advantage over the current division winners because they let Welker and Mankins go and didn't spend the money to get Emmanuel Sanders."

 

[Rusty Coupe]

The Colts had 19 yards rushing, Luck had 15 of those. Ninkovich and Collins set the edge and funneled everything towards the middle, great job by both of them all game.

Maybe it's just snow in the general vicinity of the Colts that makes them play poorly.

 

[Rob0729]

One thing I did forget to mention is how it is funny with all these comparisons with the Pats and Broncos six weeks later:

• Back then, the Pats' o-line was a mess and the Broncos' o-line was amazing. Now the Pats' o-line has been solid (with some exceptions) for much of the last six games and the Broncos o-line is a mess.
• Back then the Broncos defense was aggressive and physical and the Pats' was soft and passive. They have almost flipped.
• Back then the Broncos built the most dominant team in the NFL with marquee free agents like Demarcus Ware, Aquib Talib, and TJ Ward. Now many of those guys look old (Ware is almost non-existent for much of the last three week).
• Back then, the Broncos had no weaknesses and the Pats have a ton. Currently, the Broncos have a lot of question marks and seem to have peaked before the Pats' game. The Pats really don't have a glaring weakness right now based on the last six games.
• Back then in comparison, the Pats didn't give Brady enough to work with because they are cheap. Now the Pats have the second best offense in the league and have scored over 40 PPG.
• Back then Manning was better than last year and Brady looked to be declining with age. Now Manning has difficulty throwing down the field in a dome and can't move the ball without a few of their and Brady (barring a bad first half last night) is a leading candidate for MVP.

Granted unlike Brady (well other than Trent Dilfer and Steve Young on MNF), people will make excuses for Manning. But the Pats and Broncos have really flipped roles from where they were in the first month of the season. The Pats look to be on a role to HFA in the AFC while the Broncos look to be in for a fight with KC for the AFC West.

 

[Oswlek]

I have some game thoughts a big picture thoughts. Also the internet was down yesterday for me and I realized how much I enjoy being able to talk in the game thread and listen to all your thoughts. You guys are great : )

#1 Chung with a silently good performance. I don't think I saw his jersey more than a few times that night. That has to have been a good sign.

#2 Arrington/Browner were not so good. Arrington did well keeping with Hilton on a few plays. However he had several bad plays. The one which bugged me the most is when he bumped into Browner and it left a TE open for a 20 yard gain. Browner on the other hand played his usual physical style but just got out played tonight. I think Browner can not match up with true TEs. Against pure pass catching ones I have seen him do fine and just knock them around but he was unable to slow down Allen with his bumps and just got out run after them. Something to monitor in the future but luckily there are not many pass catching TEs that are also just more physically imposing than Browner.

#3 The run O will exploit bad run Ds but get stopped by good run Ds. The Patriots run O has been sporadic and this is because of a pure talent limitation. They have run wild on the bad run Ds but against better ones like Denver they have been shut down. I expect that to be the case the rest of the season.

#4 If the Patriots don't win the SB (injuries aside) it will be because of Brady likely. This team is legit on D. They basically held the Colts to 13 points (cause 7 were gift wrapped) and Denver to 21. That is impressive.

#5 Wait and see on the run D. It has been impressive the last 2 games no doubt but before we start to crown them shut down caliber lets wait to play a legit NFL back. Forte ran for about 140 yards on them only a few weeks ago. These next 2 weeks will be more revealing as the quality in RBs and run games is about to go up.

Overall very pleased though.

Good post.

2) I have to admit to not seeing the play you referenced (even Pats games don't take precedence to "The Good Wife" in my house. Yes, I'm whipped), but from what I saw Arrington looked pretty good. Hilton is excellent and his stats indicate solid coverage. Are you sure you aren't just letting a play or two cloud your judgement? I agree about Browner, that was his worst game to date.

3) Maybe. It certainly is possible that they worked on their run game during the bye. Even considering Indy's defense, NE's run game to date gave no indication that that kind of performance was forthcoming.

5) This I disagree with. I've been pretty vocal lately about how NE's run defense issues from early in the year had little predictive value for remainder of the season. Considering the improved depth and play at DT, as well as the LBs performing more cohesively, I don't think we are in a "wait and see" mode at all. This is a legitimately good run defense. Not great, but we won't see a repeat of the Jet game any time soon.

 

[SVN]

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/f...17/knee-jerk-reactions-week-10-patriots-vs-co

quite funny.
is he talking about iapatsfan and co. ?

 

[Rob0729]

http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/f...17/knee-jerk-reactions-week-10-patriots-vs-co

quite funny.
is he talking about iapatsfan and co. ?

Where is iapatsfan? His boy Jamie Collins is playing a Pro Bowler. I figured he would be doing cartwheels over the fact that Collins has overcome his deficiencies of being the slowest LB in the NFL.

 

[SVN]

Where is iapatsfan? His boy Jamie Collins is playing a Pro Bowler. I figured he would be doing cartwheels over the fact that Collins has overcome his deficiencies of being the slowest LB in the NFL.

His 9-7 record prediction is in danger . Just one more to go.

 

[mgcolby]

I think KC is a good team as well. They have DEN @ AZ and @Pitt coming up. They could win all 3 and finish 13-3.

There is no way they win all three. I think they beat Den at home for obvious reasons, but they will lose one if not both road games against AZ or Pitt.

 

[mgcolby]

Rob great thread and I agree with most, but as well as Gray ran last night I thought several times if that was Ridley he would have busted that for 20 or 30 yards. Now obviously we know Ridley isn't carrying the ball 38 times without fumbling, so this is kind of a moot point, but if Ridley carried the rock last night 38 times he probably rushes for damn near 300 yards. I think Gray is a shiftier/faster version of Law Firm.

 

[woolster22]

I don't know if other's noted on that Tyms INT that Vollmer, who gave up the pressure on that play, had been off the field the previous play and had been replaced by Cannon. I suspect it was just rotation but it seems strange to take a RT off the field for just one play.

Could be that Vollmer reported as eligible. He then needs to come off the field for a play before lining up as a tackle again.

 

[rochrist]

Reis

According to one source, Chung had 30 snaps last night while Ryan had 36, Arrington had 48 and Browner and Revis played almost every snap.

Reiss has him at 34 of 58 snaps.

 

[rochrist]

Good post.

2) I have to admit to not seeing the play you referenced (even Pats games don't take precedence to "The Good Wife" in my house. Yes, I'm whipped), but from what I saw Arrington looked pretty good. Hilton is excellent and his stats indicate solid coverage. Are you sure you aren't just letting a play or two cloud your judgement? I agree about Browner, that was his worst game to date.

3) Maybe. It certainly is possible that they worked on their run game during the bye. Even considering Indy's defense, NE's run game to date gave no indication that that kind of performance was forthcoming.

5) This I disagree with. I've been pretty vocal lately about how NE's run defense issues from early in the year had little predictive value for remainder of the season. Considering the improved depth and play at DT, as well as the LBs performing more cohesively, I don't think we are in a "wait and see" mode at all. This is a legitimately good run defense. Not great, but we won't see a repeat of the Jet game any time soon.

The Good Wife? Seriously. Good God man, buy a second tv!!

 

[Kdo5]

Gotta give credit to Kyle Arrington. He has been something of a whipping boy during his time with the Pats. He has had his ups and downs but he has been playing well, better than Dennard and Ryan for sure. For the amount of criticism that had been lobbed at Arrington over the years, we should give him credit for playing exceptionally well against an exceptional offense and receiver.

 

[SVN]

Actually Mazz has already Tweeted the storyline:



https://twitter.com/TonyMassarotti/status/534375328626798592

Now it is going to be a month of Felger and Mazz killing the Pats for not getting the #1 seed even though they are in first place in the AFC. I can hear it now:

"You know we have a rule here on the show that we don't kill someone for something we haven't done yet, but Belichick really blew this golden opportunity to lock up the number 1 seed which they still basically have a two game advantage over the current division winners because they let Welker and Mankins go and didn't spend the money to get Emmanuel Sanders."

Now they claim there is no excuse for this team to not win the SB. Its just hilarious.

[Patriots] have got to win it this year. You’ve recovered after a horrendous first month, and you’ve basically decimated the competition since. Brady’s proven he can still play at a high level. They’re healthy, relatively speaking. The second-most important guy on the team, Rob Gronkowski, is healthy and dominating. You paid money for Darrelle Revis, and he’s worked out. They’ve proven themselves on the road. They’ve proven themselves inside and outside. They’re proven themselves running the ball and defending the pass. They’ve proven themselves stopping the run. They’ve proven what their ceiling is. Now there’s no excuse. It’s time to win a championship. It’s all lined up for you.”

Whatever the patriots have done so far they have done it on their own. ITs not like someone has done them a favor by handing them 8 wins. So what does it mean excuse ? I dont get these guys. 6 weeks ago they didnt have any weapons and mazz was mocking marcus cannon as mankins replacement on his show.Now they ahve no excuse.
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/11/17/felger-mazz-stars-aligning-for-patriots-super-bowl-run/

 

[Joker]

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