Game Thoughts: I am absolutely disgusted by the Pats tonight edition

[Kjmass1]

With most drives starting at the 20, giving up 20 yards to take that risk on the onside isn't a a huge deal. The momentum lost of them letting them back in the game after that is.

 

[alvinnf]

Bill seems grouchy.....

 

[Kjmass1]

Gronk simply acting as a decoy would've done wonders today. Or even against Houston next week.

Like the Super Bowl with his broken ankle? Yeah that tricked them.

 

[Bella*chick]

I can't believe we went from undefeated to "Oh, still a good shot at a bye" in two lousy weeks.

And this was lousy.

I will forever wonder what would have happened if they had not had that stupid pooch kick, a decision that I believe is indefensible. Why hand them potential momentum? Just play the goddamn game without trying these stupid things.

And they had to go and reveal that awesome Brady play, which I'm sure they hoped they could keep under wraps a bit longer. But the worst was having such a momentum swinging play and then tossing a bonehead INT right after it. Just a horrible game.

 

[Kdo5]

Like the Super Bowl with his broken ankle? Yeah that tricked them.

I'm not endorsing the idea that he should have played as a decoy today but his injury (from what we have heard) is not close to a broken ankle or high ankle sprain...whatever it was.

 

[Rob0729]

Unnecessary ? Yes. But it didn't really affect the game overall I thought. Until then the defense seemed to destroy any offense the Eagles had and the offense scored twice in a row. If you gonna try something this is the time. That being said, I am not sure why we really needed to try it.



It's pretty simple. We have no one on the field that really requires double coverage consistently so other teams can now crowd the intermediate spaces and make it more difficult to get the ball to our replacement receivers. Obviously I haven't watched the all 22 film so far but I strongly assume that similarly to the Denver game they made us go deep by taking away our bread and butter.

Now if Edelman and Gronk are out there they can't get away with it so easily because those two need special consideration and open up space for everyone else.



Agree with everything. It was the second game in a row with awful situational football. They really deserved to lose this one the way ST played.

One play I want to add here that only few people are talking about is White not extending to get into the endzone on the play before the first INT. I think he could have tried to break the plane of the endzone but instead went down at the 1. If we score here, we win the game easily.



No clue. Can only assume Brady doesn't trust him or he just doesn't fit into the McOffense.



Quite honestly I assumed you were more rational than those people here that make a big deal out of the entire thing. He should take as much time as necessary to get that knee healed up. I'd rather play @CIN or @DEN with a fully functional Gronk than at home against either of those teams with him not feeling comfortable or being limited because we rushed him back for a couple of regular season games.



Yep. That was a pretty bad miss by the officials.



Here comes the really unpopular thing.. Hightower is more important to this team than Chandler Jones. Jones had a nice season but similarly to the last few years he could not maintain his momentum throughout the entire year. Hope he will be close to healthy come playoffs. Similar to Gronk I say rest him as long as necessary.. MCL sprains are no joke and we will need him in the playoffs.

Things will become dark and gloomy the next few days but overall it simply is what it is. We lost over 70% of our offensive production this year and yet it still takes the other team making huge plays, ST making huge mistakes and sometimes even the help of the refs to beat us. I can live with that because this team is mentally very tough.

I am not suggesting Gronk should play injured. Gronk seems to insist of waiting until he is completely healed. I think that is where he is wrong. Every other player comes back before they are 100%. Do you think Amendola is 100%? There is a point when an injury is healed enough where you can play even if you are only 85-90%. And Gronk has a knee strain, not an MCL sprain. It is basically a bruise.

As for the deep ball, even if no one is drawing double coverage, Brady and his receivers are not connecting on anything more than 15-20 yards other than a play here and there. The problem is with the depleted receiving corp, they cannot risk using one or two plays a drive on deep balls which are basically wasted downs. They don't have Edelman or Gronk to bail them on on third and longs (and Amendola is not Edelman in this area).

 

[PatsWSB47]

We threw up a stinker with a crippled team........I like our chances in the playoffs with our guys back. Relax.

 

[SVN]

Jeff Howe ‏@jeffphowe 41s42 seconds ago
Brady: "99-yard interception return, about as bad as you can do as a quarterback."

 

[ScottishPatriots]

I can't believe people suggesting putting Gronk with a gimpy knee in the game, i'd rather be the 3 seed with a healthy Gronk than the 1 seed with Gronk missing the playoffs.

This team is DONE if Gronk makes his knee worse and misses the playoffs, why would you risk that for a bye week?

 

[luuked]

They need to find a running game and STICK with it. They started to get away from it late in the 2nd quarter and then all but abandoned it from there out, despite having a ton of success early on. Brady might be the only QB in the league that can win without any running game, but it's getting him killed. They NEED to run the ball for an ENTIRE game and get some rhythm going. They need to fix that Oline somehow.

I really can't pin this loss on Brady at all. Sure, that 1st INT wasn't the best of decisions, but they happen. The 2nd INT seemed to be 100% on Lafell not running the right route or breaking it off wrong. Aside from that, Brady was nothing short of incredible dealing with the pressure and Oline failures once again. And the drops... got to stop dropping the ball.

All 22 will not be available until the middle of the week but I assume that the Eagles started to crowd the box a bit more and so we tried to exploit the available spaces. I feel like McD too often takes the cheese that the other team is offering. It works when we have our full offensive personal on the field because of the playmaking ability of most of those players. But when Brady is surrounded by (at best) mediocrity that drops 50/50 balls and runs unexpected routes then there is no point going after the holes that the other team leaves open.

Last year it didn't affect results so much so I thought we came out ahead but this year you really see why Emanuel Sanders has a so much bigger contract than LaFell.

 

[PatsWSB47]

Jeff Howe ‏@jeffphowe 41s42 seconds ago
Brady: "99-yard interception return, about as bad as you can do as a quarterback."

Duh

 

[SVN]

I am not suggesting Gronk should play injured. Gronk seems to insist of waiting until he is completely healed. I think that is where he is wrong. Every other player comes back before they are 100%. Do you think Amendola is 100%? There is a point when an injury is healed enough where you can play even if you are only 85-90%. And Gronk has a knee strain, not an MCL sprain. It is basically a bruise.

As for the deep ball, even if no one is drawing double coverage, Brady and his receivers are not connecting on anything more than 15-20 yards other than a play here and there. The problem is with the depleted receiving corp, they cannot risk using one or two plays a drive on deep balls which are basically wasted downs. They don't have Edelman or Gronk to bail them on on third and longs (and Amendola is not Edelman in this area).

People are comparing gronk's arm surgery and acl to this injury and think he needs to be 100%. Sure but he doesnt 4 weeks to be 100% . right now they miss the short passing game because they got no running game. We cant run the ball efficiently and tonight we threw too much vs an eagles team which is poor vs the run.

 

[JMC00]

But the worst was having such a momentum swinging play and then tossing a bonehead INT right after it

If you are putting the 2nd INT on Brady, that's just dumb. LaFell for whatever reason just stopped and allowed the defender to make a play on the ball if LaFell keeps running at worst that's an incomplete pass.

 

[SVN]

Rick Nicholas‏@rickyn828
@tomecurran penAlties aren't reviewable. How do you think the could have overturned PI ? Could they review the tip?
Tom E. Curran ‏@tomecurran 2m2 minutes ago
Tom E. Curran Retweeted Rick Nicholas
Yes. They review if it was tipped and if so, PI is wiped out.
Tom E. Curran added,

 

[alvinnf]

I'm not endorsing the idea that he should have played as a decoy today but his injury (from what we have heard) is not close to a broken ankle or high ankle sprain...whatever it was.

And your point is? Put an injured player out there as a decoy to pull coverage? not sure that was gonna be the answer today? Actually I am sure it wasn't the answer.

 

[Rob0729]

Because Brady doesn't have a deep bone bruise. Gronk's bread and butter is explosive movement that includes stopping and cutting. I really hate how you are trivializing his injury to be a "knee bruise". We don't really know the full extent but deep bone bruises usually involve small breaks that need to be dealt with otherwise you risk breaking the entire bone. Again we are not talking about a painful blue spot on your skin.

Again, I am not saying for him to play injured. I am saying he doesn't have to wait until that deep bone bruise is no bruise at all. A deep bone bruise is more of a pain management thing to begin with. At some point, it is going to be a minor bruise that might hurt some, but not limit him in any way.

Brady has played with a separated shoulder, a severe case of the flu, a bursar sack so inflamed on his elbow it was as big as a softball, a sprained ankle that he needed a walking boot when he wasn't playing, and a whole host of other injuries we don't know about. Brady gets no special treatment when it comes to injuries. In fact, he plays with injuries that would sideline most players.

 

[Dutchmaster617]

I envy you guys with jobs, I have absolutely nothing to do Monday or all week and for the second straight week I can't deal with the sports shows, wish I had a distraction, anyone in MA need a helper? I am dying to work.

 

[skspikex2]

I want to do this to the special team today.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

This team has gotten soft when faced with some adversity. I agree about gronkowski. Gronkowski at about 75 percent can still be a presence. This team seriously needs to stop the b leeding next week. It"s a night game. The texans will be pumped up.

 

[luuked]

I am not suggesting Gronk should play injured. Gronk seems to insist of waiting until he is completely healed. I think that is where he is wrong. Every other player comes back before they are 100%. Do you think Amendola is 100%? There is a point when an injury is healed enough where you can play even if you are only 85-90%. And Gronk has a knee strain, not an MCL sprain. It is basically a bruise.

I wrote it in another reply so I will keep it short here. It is not a bruise, it is a bone bruise. There is a huge difference between those two.

As for the deep ball, even if no one is drawing double coverage, Brady and his receivers are not connecting on anything more than 15-20 yards other than a play here and there. The problem is with the depleted receiving corp, they cannot risk using one or two plays a drive on deep balls which are basically wasted downs. They don't have Edelman or Gronk to bail them on on third and longs (and Amendola is not Edelman in this area).

I agree with everything you say. Like I wrote in another reply in this thread, I feel McDaniels "takes the cheese" that other team are offering him too often.