Game Thoughts Bills Edition

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Defense clearly has its issues but it's looked this bad in the past early on (2005, 2010, and even 2003 to some degree) and has ironed itself out. It will get better as time goes on and some of our guys come back. The safety opposite Chung is a concern for me though somebody is going to have to step up there and at least not be a liability.

The offense looks great but as I said before, and I'd feel this way even if we won yesterday..... We have to stop relying on Brady so much. As great as he is, he's not going to be able to do it all himself. Our last 3 playoff games have proven this, as good as the offense looks at times, one dimensional attacks make it that much easier for a tough January defense. Need to start running the ball more whether it is successful or not. And not just shotgun draws... pound the damn thing I'm sick of so much finesse. Yeah it's great for stats and regular season wins but how many times do you need to fail in the playoffs, how many times does a 2001 Patriots need to beat a Ram, a 2003/2004 Patriots shut down some of the best offenses of all time and one of the best QB's of all time in AFCCG/AFCDG, a 2007 you know what, finesse doesn't win balance wins.

 

[Rob0729]

BTW, one more point (thanks to Gresh and Zo). I have been saying for years that the league needs to adopt the college PI rules and yesterday pointed out why. The Brown PI in the end zone was clear case of that. I don't think the receiver had a realistic chance for the ball and at best could have broken up the play. But it put the ball on the one for the Bills. If it was a 15 yard penalty, the Bills might not have scored on that drive.

I know the people against this idea argue DBs will just tackle the receiver all the time on all long bombs to the endzone to avoid giving up the TD, but that doesn't happen in college. They also made the argument when they did away with the force out rule that defenders would just push receiver who are catching the ball in the air right next to the out of bounds yet I haven't see an increase in that.

 

[Kontradiction]

This game was a complete failure from top to bottom yesterday. Anybody that points the finger to one side of the ball or to one aspect should watch the game, because this was a team failure.

1. The offense: Brady was uncharacteristically bad yesterday. Granted, two of the INT's were not what you could consider "bad" throws, as they were deflected. But the other two, especially the force to Ochocinco, were bad throws into tight coverage. It didn't help that we all but ignored the running game for long stretches yesterday, either. The Bills were simply able to sit back in coverage for most of the game because they knew that we were going to ignore the running game for those stretches. On top of that, Chad Ochocinco, who had every opportunity to steal the spotlight yesterday, was once again nowhere to be found.

2. The coaching: Bill O'Brien called another bad game yesterday that, to me, brought back echoes of the Jets loss in the playoffs last year. Completely ignored the running game for long stretches of time and became too one-dimensional. I don't care who your quarterback is, if you become too one-dimensional over the course of several games in this league, it's going to catch up to you. Yesterday, late in the game, we were in the shotgun on 1st and Goal. Why? Ridley was breaking off 6+ YPC yesterday. Let him go in and do this thing. On that note, why was Ridley taken out yesterday in favor of BJGE? Ridley was killing the Bills when he was in yesterday while BJGE was struggling to even make it past the line of scrimmage. Why go away from a good thing, one that you KNOW is effective, in favor of putting a struggling player back in the game?

3. The defense: This is pretty much the reason why you can't allow all that yardage and pin your hopes on the opponent shooting themselves in the foot in the red zone. We... ONCE AGAIN... got lit up yesterday by an opponent that we should be shutting down. Outside of Wilfork, the D-Line struggled to drive Buffalo's O-Line off the ball on a consistent basis. The LB's were equally as bad, with Mayo completely over-pursuing on a regular basis, which killed our defensive backfield against both the run and the short pass. The OLB's were nowhere to be found for long stretches of the game yesterday, and Gary Guyton is continuing to get the nod over Dane Fletcher for some odd reason. The secondary outside of Arrington looked like trash. I'm not sure where the 2010 version of Devin McCourty went, but this 2011 version looks like the second coming of Duane Starks so far. And anybody that isn't throwing a good amount of blame on the safeties for the leaky secondary so far is out of their minds. Josh Barrett is a ghost 90% of the time. The only time he isn't a ghost is usually in the red zone where you see him trailing his man by a good 3+ yards for a costly gain or TD. Sergio Brown has looked absolutely horrible as well. On the Stevie Johnson bomb, he was completely out of position as Arrington was expecting him to be back there to cover the deep man. Instead, he bit on an underneath route leaving Stevie Johnson streaking down the sidelines. On top of that, he erased the only good play that Barrett has actually made by not turning his head around and costing the defense on a pass interference. Watching these two bumbling around in the secondary makes the decisions surrounding Meriweather and Sanders that much more questionable. From top to bottom, the same defense that took two steps forward last week, took four steps back this week.

The only facet in which we played well yesterday was the special teams. Other than that, we have A LOT of work to do on both sides of the ball. I hope those of you that were defending the defense valiantly last week were watching yesterday. This was a game in which we really could have used the defense to limit the amount of yardage they were giving up in order to get the ball back into our offense's hands more often. As it stood, the defense couldn't do that. The results speak for themselves.

 

[Kontradiction]

BTW, one more point (thanks to Gresh and Zo). I have been saying for years that the league needs to adopt the college PI rules and yesterday pointed out why. The Brown PI in the end zone was clear case of that. I don't think the receiver had a realistic chance for the ball and at best could have broken up the play. But it put the ball on the one for the Bills. If it was a 15 yard penalty, the Bills might not have scored on that drive.

The way our defense was playing yesterday, a high school football team would have scored on that drive.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

I was at the game yesterday, so I was really able to see some things from a different perspective (you see so much more at games then on TV)

1.)One of my biggest concerns with this team is the mistakes. The team is just not playing smart right now. They are one of the most penalized teams in the league and costly penalties played a big role in the Pats losing especially the Love roughing the passer and Browns PI in the endzone (I hate the PI rule being a spot foul). Brady didn't play smart either throwing the picks. One characteristic of Belichick football is usually smart football, but it is missing right now.

Agree with this generally, but there were some real suspect calls in that game, including the RTP on Love. The second PI on the interception was crap too. Uncatchable duck up for grabs. Mankins played particularly emotional yesterday and had some bad penalties. Those types of penalties hurt bad.

2.) I know the defense has a long, long way to go before they are remotely good, but I saw some good yesterday. The Pats did force the Bills to go three and out three of the first four drives in the second half (one in the first half), they had two INTs, they shut down the Bills for stretches in the game. The problem is they are a Jeckyl and Hyde defense and when they are bad, they are really bad.

Watching live, outside of 2-3 crucial drives, the defense was not bad at all, especially considering the crucial elements we had missing. Jeckyl and Hyde is a good way to describe it. I was more annoyed with Brady to tell you the truth, he was off all day. He looked uncomfortable, even those pressure wasn't an issue. Our offense made it very hard on a defense

Too many people are giving them a pass and focussing on the D. I don't care if you do score 31 points, 4 picks (2 in RZ and 1 pick-6) will almost guarantee a loss every game.

3.) Congrats to Welker for having a career game. The Pats definitely need to extend him. He leads the NFL in receiving yards and we cannot even really enjoy it.

Dude's a beast. Even more incredible live.

4.) I think the Pats need to use Stevan Ridley more. BJGE has not been nearly as effective last year and Ridley seems to be able to do more.
5.) I know they couldn't do it yesterday with Dowling and Chung out, but I think the Pats need to blitz far more. They barely have done it in the last two weeks. I know injuries to an already suspect secondary is a big reason for that, but they just aren't getting pressure for a four man front. The Pats need to get opposing QBs off balance because some of the problems with the secondary is because opposing QBs have all day to throw.

Agreed...... He was fun to watch and will probably be our feature back by years end. I was very impressed with him (and Solder). I spent a lot of time watching them.

6.) Anyone see Deion Branch? For all the bashing of Ochocinco and Edelman, Branch has gotten an undeserved free pass. He is either the #1 or #2 WR and he was completely shut out. I think his disappearance is a bigger screw up than what Ochocinco or Edelman did in a lot of ways.

Buffalo put it in their game plan to take Deion out of the game..... He was rarely open and doubled on just about every play. Ocho on the other hand

7.) Gronk each week is just showing how versatile he is. The guy is a deep threat, over the middle threat, and great blocker. And he is impossible to bring down.

The plays he makes are just sick....... We were basically in his hometown and most of the people in the stadium were worried about only 2 guys yesterday... Welker and Gronk.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

First, I am not writing off on Branch. I thought he had a bad game. It doesn't mean he won't get over 100 yards and 3 TDs next week. Don't put words in my mouth. I think it is fair to point out that I thought he had a bad game. He is a good WR and will continue to be good. I expect more out of Branch than Ochocinco. So if he doesn't perform, I will hold his feet to the fire more than Ochocinco too.

Second, I think you compared Ocho to Gaffney in giving him time just a few weeks ago. Gaffney is just the best comparison because he is the only WR who really came in with a similiar situation as Ocho and succeeded. No other WR has ever come in with no offseason and been effective on this team.

Third, I love how you are manufacturing this mythical agenda I have. I think Branch is a better WR (at least for this offense) at this point than Ocho even if Ocho lived up to expectations. Ocho is a different WR and can do different things, but I always expected Branch to be the #1 WR or #2 WR and Ocho as a big upgrade from Tate. So far I have been wrong.

Fourth, I said I could be wrong about how often Branch was doubled, but I saw guys like Gronk, Ochocinco, and Welker get double teamed on a lot of plays. You can't double team two and three receivers on every play especially against this offense.

Please don't try to manufacture an agenda for me. It wasn't my objective. I love Branch. I just thought he had a bad game. And again, I hold starters more accountable than back ups.

If you saw Ocho getting doubled then you were seeing things. Welker was doubled at times as was Gronk, neither was doubled consistently. Wes can often defeat that because of his unique quickness. Gronk can beat that because of his size and hands, and that's why the INT thrown to him was likely a miscommunication, Brady must have expected him to stop or come back and not run into the EZ or he'd have led him on the throw or put it up higher.

Branch is a whole different animal who couldn't consistently beat a double team in his prime... That is why he didn't get the deal he wanted out of Bill in 2006. But he had a knack for anticipating as well as seeing the same opportunities as Brady and that's why Bill persued bringing him back at a reduced cost, only yesterday there weren't any largely by design.

You need to learn to hold everyone on the field equally accountable because how each guy plays effects the other 10. Chad was targeted 4 times facing either single coverage he couldn't beat on a poorly run route that cost an INT or single coverage he did beat that resulted in a 9 yard reception and a dropped a TD pass and than against blown coverage for 19 yards and his only really meaningful catch of the day. For $6M that isn't nearly enough a training camp plus three weeks into the season.

Brady has been playing otherworldly thru the first two and a half games. A lot of what happened yesterday was predicated on bad luck and others mistakes as it was any mistakes he made. Sometimes the biggest mistake he makes is in trusting the wrong guys and other times it's in becoming fixated on connecting with the guys who have earned his trust. I've seen him have the occasional flustered WTF was that day. Yesterday wasn't one of them. It was the culmination of lots of uncharacteristic things...as well as something that is becoming too characteristic - unwillingness to commit to running the ball and incorporating play action when their pass protection was sound something I've begun to call the propensity for getting too cute.

The defense started out much better than anticipated, but penalties and miscommunication and more of the defensive version of the too cute factor (in this case man absent a pass rush and experienced safeties) seemed to lead them to unravel against a team that just would not quit.

 

[aluminum seats]

I suppose this is trivial, but I'm not sure where else to put it....Brady's effort to stop the ballcarrier after he threw the pick-6 yesterday was embarrassing. From what I could see, he had an angle on the guy. Come on, Tom, be a football player.

 

[condon84]

I suppose this is trivial, but I'm not sure where else to put it....Brady's effort to stop the ballcarrier after he threw the pick-6 yesterday was embarrassing. From what I could see, he had an angle on the guy. Come on, Tom, be a football player.

He did the same thing in the Miami game when he threw the pick on a quick screen.

While I understand the logic of him not risking his health, it doesn't look good. I'm sure, as bad as the defense is, they would have liked to have given the opportunity to hold the Bills there to a FG.

 

[BlueThunder]

I suppose this is trivial, but I'm not sure where else to put it....Brady's effort to stop the ballcarrier after he threw the pick-6 yesterday was embarrassing. From what I could see, he had an angle on the guy. Come on, Tom, be a football player.

Yes it is trivial...Brady risking an injury on that play would be assinine...He's not going to dive head first and try to tackle the DB...ain't gonna happen..he's not Favre (Thank God) !

Pats have enough injuries...they don't need Brady going down...

 

[Rob0729]

If you saw Ocho getting doubled then you were seeing things. Welker was doubled at times as was Gronk, neither was doubled consistently. Wes can often defeat that because of his unique quickness. Gronk can beat that because of his size and hands, and that's why the INT thrown to him was likely a miscommunication, Brady must have expected him to stop or come back and not run into the EZ or he'd have led him on the throw or put it up higher.

Branch is a whole different animal who couldn't consistently beat a double team in his prime... That is why he didn't get the deal he wanted out of Bill in 2006. But he had a knack for anticipating as well as seeing the same opportunities as Brady and that's why Bill persued bringing him back at a reduced cost, only yesterday there weren't any largely by design.

You need to learn to hold everyone on the field equally accountable because how each guy plays effects the other 10. Chad was targeted 4 times facing either single coverage he couldn't beat on a poorly run route that cost an INT or single coverage he did beat that resulted in a 9 yard reception and a dropped a TD pass and than against blown coverage for 19 yards and his only really meaningful catch of the day. For $6M that isn't nearly enough a training camp plus three weeks into the season.

Brady has been playing otherworldly thru the first two and a half games. A lot of what happened yesterday was predicated on bad luck and others mistakes as it was any mistakes he made. Sometimes the biggest mistake he makes is in trusting the wrong guys and other times it's in becoming fixated on connecting with the guys who have earned his trust. I've seen him have the occasional flustered WTF was that day. Yesterday wasn't one of them. It was the culmination of lots of uncharacteristic things...as well as something that is becoming too characteristic - unwillingness to commit to running the ball and incorporating play action when their pass protection was sound something I've begun to call the propensity for getting too cute.

The defense started out much better than anticipated, but penalties and miscommunication and more of the defensive version of the too cute factor (in this case man absent a pass rush and experienced safeties) seemed to lead them to unravel against a team that just would not quit.

I saw Ocho doubled once or twice. He wasn't doubled all game or anything. And I never said anyone was doubled consistently.

And I can hold people accountable as I see fit. I think players that the team depends on more deserve to be more accountable for their actions.

I am tired of arguing this. It was one of seven points. I am not trying to bring down Branch to build up Ochocinco. I am disapointed in Ochocinco thus far, but still holding out hope that he will turn it around. I think Branch is the best WR we have not named Welker and that won't change even if Ochocinco turns it around. I just felt he had a bad a game. Don't want to make a federal case over it.

As for the defense, it started out great at the start of both halves and unraveled. The good news is that they showed signs that they can be a good defense. Now they need to be consistent.

 

[aluminum seats]

Yes it is trivial...Brady risking an injury on that play would be assinine...He's not going to dive head first and try to tackle the DB...ain't gonna happen..he's not Favre (Thank God) !

Pats have enough injuries...they don't need Brady going down...

Sure, I understand that. But I think if he made a tackle and the Pats' D held, there'd be about a half dozen threads about how awesome it was. Just sayin.'

 

[letekro]

He did the same thing in the Miami game when he threw the pick on a quick screen.

While I understand the logic of him not risking his health, it doesn't look good. I'm sure, as bad as the defense is, they would have liked to have given the opportunity to hold the Bills there to a FG.

I'm sure that BB would vigorously nod in approval if Tom just ran into the stands whenever the defense got the ball. As far as not looking good, I think TB has earned everybody's respect regardless of his tackling prowess or lack thereof.

 

[BlueThunder]

This game was a complete failure from top to bottom yesterday. Anybody that points the finger to one side of the ball or to one aspect should watch the game, because this was a team failure.

1. The offense: Brady was uncharacteristically bad yesterday. Granted, two of the INT's were not what you could consider "bad" throws, as they were deflected. But the other two, especially the force to Ochocinco, were bad throws into tight coverage. It didn't help that we all but ignored the running game for long stretches yesterday, either. The Bills were simply able to sit back in coverage for most of the game because they knew that we were going to ignore the running game for those stretches. On top of that, Chad Ochocinco, who had every opportunity to steal the spotlight yesterday, was once again nowhere to be found.

Disagree partly...The throw to Chad over the middle was a sloppy route by Ocho....watch the replay, he rounded it off and gave McKelvin the inside shot...

2. The coaching: Bill O'Brien called another bad game yesterday that, to me, brought back echoes of the Jets loss in the playoffs last year. Completely ignored the running game for long stretches of time and became too one-dimensional. I don't care who your quarterback is, if you become too one-dimensional over the course of several games in this league, it's going to catch up to you. Yesterday, late in the game, we were in the shotgun on 1st and Goal. Why? Ridley was breaking off 6+ YPC yesterday. Let him go in and do this thing. On that note, why was Ridley taken out yesterday in favor of BJGE? Ridley was killing the Bills when he was in yesterday while BJGE was struggling to even make it past the line of scrimmage. Why go away from a good thing, one that you KNOW is effective, in favor of putting a struggling player back in the game?

Completely agree..also, BOB is too predictable...and when a good play is made on offense, I credit Brady possibly changing it at the line than BOB calling for it and having it work.

3. The defense: This is pretty much the reason why you can't allow all that yardage and pin your hopes on the opponent shooting themselves in the foot in the red zone. We... ONCE AGAIN... got lit up yesterday by an opponent that we should be shutting down. Outside of Wilfork, the D-Line struggled to drive Buffalo's O-Line off the ball on a consistent basis. The LB's were equally as bad, with Mayo completely over-pursuing on a regular basis, which killed our defensive backfield against both the run and the short pass. The OLB's were nowhere to be found for long stretches of the game yesterday, and Gary Guyton is continuing to get the nod over Dane Fletcher for some odd reason. The secondary outside of Arrington looked like trash. I'm not sure where the 2010 version of Devin McCourty went, but this 2011 version looks like the second coming of Duane Starks so far. And anybody that isn't throwing a good amount of blame on the safeties for the leaky secondary so far is out of their minds. Josh Barrett is a ghost 90% of the time. The only time he isn't a ghost is usually in the red zone where you see him trailing his man by a good 3+ yards for a costly gain or TD. Sergio Brown has looked absolutely horrible as well. On the Stevie Johnson bomb, he was completely out of position as Arrington was expecting him to be back there to cover the deep man. Instead, he bit on an underneath route leaving Stevie Johnson streaking down the sidelines. On top of that, he erased the only good play that Barrett has actually made by not turning his head around and costing the defense on a pass interference. Watching these two bumbling around in the secondary makes the decisions surrounding Meriweather and Sanders that much more questionable. From top to bottom, the same defense that took two steps forward last week, took four steps back this week.

The only facet in which we played well yesterday was the special teams. Other than that, we have A LOT of work to do on both sides of the ball. I hope those of you that were defending the defense valiantly last week were watching yesterday. This was a game in which we really could have used the defense to limit the amount of yardage they were giving up in order to get the ball back into our offense's hands more often. As it stood, the defense couldn't do that. The results speak for themselves.

Agree with almost all of above except that PI call on Brown ...Sergio never held the reciever and he should be entitled to his space....also think Bodden is over hyped as he got torched on a couple of plays where he was supposed to be in coverage...

The defense definately needs to grow up......Lets hope Chung,Dowling and Hernandez are back soon....Hernandez is alot more important to this Offense than Ocho will ever be....

 

[Garbanza]

Since when are Smith and Yeatman "good" TE prospects?

That's what everyone was saying. Do you have evidence that this is true or untrue? Obvioulsy Gronk #2 wasn't good enough....and Mills was resigned....so who is good enough? Just wondering.

 

[doesntmatter1]

I am seriously starting to think that our lack of a running game and predictable plays are on Brady and not BOB. Brady most likely lobs for all these passing plays or audibles at the line. Our offense looks very different when Brady is not in the game. Look at last years final game against miami. Brady ignored price but as soon as Hoyer came in, Price became superman. Why couldn't Brady connect with price the way every other qb has. The old brady didn't use to play favorites(welker) and the old brady would have attempted to tackle the guy that intercepted the ball(to hollywood to tackle your own mistake bothered me). I also hated Ocho's effort to tackle after two of the picks.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Good post.

The good: the offense.

I agree that we need to incorporate the run a little bit more. Passing this much is risky business in terms of TOs and injuries. Attacking the defense with a running game will get our guys a chance to hit them instead of taking the hits. Nevertheless, Brady is still the most dominant QB in the game and is the reason why we are who we are. He's not gonna have a lot of these types of games so If he decides to rip it 50 times and we win the game, why not.

The bad: the Defense.

This defense is horrible. We are playing a scheme that doesn't fit our personnel. Our DBs have shown the inability to play man coverage and while our pass rush is not helping, they are also not given enough time to develop because guys get so open so quickly. We don't have a Dwight Freeney or a Clay Matthews, so our pass rush needs a bit more time that our secondary doesn't allow. We need to switch back to zone. It would help our DBs and would play to their strengths. Our run defense also needs some work. They ran through our middle which is where our better players are. If we continue to play one gap, then these guys need to stay discipline and stay in their gaps. Our LBs are getting lost and not plugging the holes. Mayo looks lost out there as a OLB when the run is through the middle and Spikes played awful yesterday.

We are gonna ride and die with our offense. Our defense will get better, but they have a lot of work to do.

The "GOOD"

The offense?

Did you miss the FOUR picks? One of the picks was a "pick six"?

Ian

Seriously, is this what you want in this site?

 

[everlong]

I don't know if you can just remove runs to make a point like that though. Other than Brady's run, the others are designed running plays. They count as runs.

That said, they do need to be more committed to the run with leads. The Pats need a nice long 9 minute drive while up by 3 TDs to put a dagger in the hearts of opposing teams.

It's not that I'm removing them from the running totals but separating them for effectively setting up play action. The shotgun draw has it's place in the offense as well to keep the defense honest from that formation but it does zero for play action with Brady under center. Against a team like the Steelers the shotgun draw is the equivalent of running the ball to set up the pass and slow down the pass rush.

 

[ALP]

i read at one point that Branch was being doubled by the bills D, and thats why he was inneffective...not sure how true those rumors are though

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I am seriously starting to think that our lack of a running game and predictable plays are on Brady and not BOB. Brady most likely lobs for all these passing plays or audibles at the line. Our offense looks very different when Brady is not in the game. Look at last years final game against miami. Brady ignored price but as soon as Hoyer came in, Price became superman. Why couldn't Brady connect with price the way every other qb has. The old brady didn't use to play favorites(welker) and the old brady would have attempted to tackle the guy that intercepted the ball(to hollywood to tackle your own mistake bothered me). I also hated Ocho's effort to tackle after two of the picks.

No, they are on BOB because Brady doesn't determine the personnel on the field at any given time, although the calls and any adjustments or audibles he makes are predicated not only on what the defense is presenting but the options he has in changing the play from a personnel on the field perspective... The communication between the QB and the OC is not two way... Brady can't call for plays or personnel, he works within the confines of what the OC has called and the personnel he has sent onto the field. Or he calls a time out because he doesn't like any of his options against what a defense is presenting.

Manning is given three plays to choose from but he can also basically call anything he wants because the Colts don't feature the number of personnel packages we do. They opearte largely out of a base offense and seldom change things up. It's much more difficult to run a hurry up or no huddle offense when guys are shuttling in and out of the offense like rotational passrushers... Execution and everyone being on the same page becomes paramount. Otherwise the tactic causes as many problems for the offense as it was hoped to cause for the opposing defense.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Sure, I understand that. But I think if he made a tackle and the Pats' D held, there'd be about a half dozen threads about how awesome it was. Just sayin.'

How awesome something appears isn't what wins championships...