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

[Rob0729]

Looking at their schedule. They can go 10-6. They will beat the titans and cowgirls on the road. Playing them on the road won't be easy.

I watched much of the game today. It wasn't all that impressive. The Giants lost their pass rush after JPP got injured and Eli was Eli throwing ill timed pick.

Again beating a bad team and winning in overtime against an average team doesn't make them hot. It means they are winning games they should.I still think they are a Ryan Fitzpatrick meltdown waiting to happen.

But they still could go 10-6. Still think they lose their last two games.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I better see an angry and focused team at the texans. This team has literally lost that mental toughness. It would be nice to have gronk but i doubt he will play

I didn't see a team that had given up.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

I didn't see a team that had given up.

I am talking about during the game early.
It would be nice to play through the whole game. We made the eagles look like world beaters. They are not a great football team.

 

[Rob0729]

I better see an angry and focused team at the texans. This team has literally lost that mental toughness. It would be nice to have gronk but i doubt he will play

I didn't see this team lose its mental toughness. They made stupid mistakes, but they were still fighting down by 21 points in the fourth.

 

[FCB02062]

I watched much of the game today. It wasn't all that impressive. The Giants lost their pass rush after JPP got injured and Eli was Eli throwing ill timed pick.

Again beating a bad team and winning in overtime against an average team doesn't make them hot. It means they are winning games they should.I still think they are a Ryan Fitzpatrick meltdown waiting to happen.

But they still could go 10-6. Still think they lose their last two games.

....and the patriots are losing games they should win...they've coughed up 14 point leads two weeks in a row...

 

[KoolAid]

I would imagine they didn't have the best week of practice after The Snow-job at Mile High last week.

 

[memento]

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.

I hear the New England Patriots are looking for receivers

I am not suggesting Gronk should play with a gimpy knee. I am saying he should be treated like everyone else and not expect to sit out until he is 100%. The guy has a bone bruise, not sprained ankle. It is a pain tolerance thing not a ligament thing. A bone bruise is not something that can get re-aggravated. It is either he can play with the pain or not.

If this was any other player who wanted to wait until he was 100% to recover from a bone bruise, people would be calling for him to be cut for being a pansy.

Jamie Collins was out 4 weeks with a sore throat. None of these guys are getting cut if they can't pull off the Chris Harper practice squad switch. Injuries will be considered in contract negotiations.

I don't doubt Gronkowski or Collins' toughness. Players want to play, and if they don't want to play I believe it's because someone can play better than them injured.

 

[Froob]

Yeah having Ebner kick instead of Gostowski was probably pretty dumb. I guess it's not much different than Gost just onsiding it. I think people made it a bigger deal than it was but still not the best decision. Should have kicked it deep on the last kickoff.

 

[Froob]

Question on the trick kickoff play...

What do you think the real intent was? Was that the depth that was intended? Or was it supposed to go further but Ebner mishit his dropkick? Or maybe not as far? Or in a different direction?

(It'll also be interesting to see when it turns out the last time in NFL history a kickoff was dropkicked.)

Is it safe to assume the drop kickoff would have been banned had Patriots recovered it?

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

I didn't see this team lose its mental toughness. They made stupid mistakes, but they were still fighting down by 21 points in the fourth.

My problem's during the game. They made a great try at the comeback.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

Here we go:

• Despite the fact, they did try to make it interesting at the end of the game, this was by far the most disgusting game I have seen by the Pats in a while. The Pats should have won this game by two or three TDs. Stupid coaching decisions (the pooch punt on the kick off), special teams (dogged it for giving up 14 points), Brady (two stupid throws on INTs), o-line, and everyone else. Absolutely disgusting.
• Let's start with that pooch punt onside kick. You are up 14-0 and in control of the game. The downsides of doing something like that far out weigh the positives. Since Ebner kicked it 20 yards down field, the chances of the Pats recovering it were minimal. Got too cute and gave the Eagles a shot to get back in the game.
• I don't get why since Edelman has gone down that McDaniels and Belichick have decided to become a vertical offense. There have been a few big plays over the last four weeks, but they have been outweighed by the many drive killers that have happened far too often.
• Stupid mistakes is the difference today. As I said that coaching decision to onside kick was big. They screwed up the blocking assignments on the block punt for a TD. Brady should have thrown away that pick six rather than force it into Amendola covered tight by two defenders. Brady made a bad decision on the other pick.
• I don't know why James White doesn't get more involved in the passing game. He isn't close to what Dion Lewis or even Shane Vereen, but he has proven to be a receiving option for Brady. But they seem to use him sparingly until the game is starting to fall apart.
• I know this isn't a popular position, but I think Gronk needs to get over himself and realize he isn't above the team or that he deserves special treatment. The "I'll come back when I am 100%" crap isn't going to fly. He needs to be everyone else on the team and if you can play even if you are not 100%, you play. We have heard stories of Brady playing when he was hurt so bad that he needed to have help taking off his shoulder pads because he cannot lift his arm over his head, The Pats have zero margin for error after a loss today and they need to win all the rest of their games. If he is still not healthy enough to play, that is one thing. But it is a diva position to expect to sit out until you are 100%. I never liked how they babied him last year.
• On that third down conversion right before the two minute warning by the Eagles, the RT clearly moved before the ball was snapped. Should have been a penalty.
• They also desperately need Hightower back. He seems to have affected the pass rush and run defense more than when Collins was gone. I think Collins may be the better player, but Hightower is the steak and potatoes guy. The defense only gave up 14 points and played lights out at times, but it was a bit deceiving since the Pats' offense was on the field so much due to the Eagles scoring on special teams and defense and the onside kick.
• The good news is barring a disaster, the worst this team can do is end up being the #3 seed. Sooner or later the Pats are going to win a game and the Jets are going to lose one. So the division is an almost certainty. But now the first round bye is anything but a lock. Denver has the tie breaker and unless Gronk comes back and is close to his former self next week, the Pats are likely to lose at least one more game.

No team is immune to laying an egg once in a while. Not even the Patriots.

Even if we wind up going 12-4 (probably the worst case scenario absent calamity) and only getting the 3 seed, I still like our chances if we're healthy.

 

[VrabelJr]

This game smelled of a team that had a 2-3 day hangover from the loss in Denver. We're usually better than that. No time to sit around and pout and lick our wounds. We're going into a prime time game against a team that is playing quite well.

 

[FCB02062]

If Pats don't get edelman & gronkowski back before the season ends they'll be playing WC weekend vs Pittsburgh or the NYJ...
Today was a must win if u wanted a bye. They have a built in excuse because due to injuries their offense went from a fine tuned ferrarit to my mothers old schittbox 86 Pontiac 6000 because lewis, edelman & gronkowski went down.

 

[Rob0729]

....and the patriots are losing games they should win...they've coughed up 14 point leads two weeks in a row...

And I am not talking about the Patriots. I am just contesting that the Jets are a hot team.

 

[ViperGTS]

I want to see more aggressiveness out of the CBs. There is zero and I mean ZERO reason to play so soft of coverage that there is 8 yards between you and the receiver on 3rd and 11. Zero. You should be right up in his grill. It's getting annoying. He breaks, you break. If the receiver (average receiver) is losing you on cuts at the sticks, you don't belong in the league. <------ last part is a bit much I know. I'm just pissed.

 

[SVN]

I didn't see this team lose its mental toughness. They made stupid mistakes, but they were still fighting down by 21 points in the fourth.

They were dumb thats all. Panicked after the pick 6 and tried too many things. Never went back to establishing the patient drive with their running game.

 

[SVN]

This game smelled of a team that had a 2-3 day hangover from the loss in Denver. We're usually better than that. No time to sit around and pout and lick our wounds. We're going into a prime time game against a team that is playing quite well.

One of the msot weird weeks with gronk's joint statement to lafell talking about BB's video sessions which didnt please BB .

 

[Tom meets Kaepernick]

I want HFA because I've just recently seen a team screwed out of a win because of the officials. We lose HFA and we have to go on the road to Denver or Cincinnati and have to deal with them as well as a potential Goodell screwjob. Patriots get screwed out of a playoff game on the road and no one is gonna bat an eye. We get hosed at home in Gillette and perhaps that turns a few heads. Maybe I'm just a conspiracy nut but Goodell is probably beating himself off at the thought of the Patriots having to play on the road.

 

[JMC00]

This is not an excuse but

Pats- Played a SNF screw job game on the west coast, so basically 5 days off

Eagles- Played an early morning Thanksgiving game, 90 minute flight away, 9 days off

 

[Bruins29]

Today was a must win if u wanted a bye. .

As frustrating as this was it no more more a must win than any other game. If we win out and Denver loses to Cin then we get HFA. This was in no way a must win for a bye since we still control out own destiny with SOV/SOS over Cin.