Game Thoughts:

[Rob0729]

Here we go:

• Kudos to the interior of the O-line today. No Stork. Connolly goes out early. And they still kept the Bills' DTs relatively quite. I said that Wendell at center was actually a good thing in a game like this since the center needed to be quick rather than big and physical. Although they lined up over center more than I expected they would, the Bills split their DTs out wide and the center is often uncovered.

• That said, I am concerned about Solder still. Some of his blown assignments were just bonehead reads which hopefully will be fixed when Connolly and Stork get back into the line up. I didn't think he got overpowered or just let Hughes get by him as much, he misread blocking assignments.

• What a difference two weeks make. Two weeks ago people were talking about Brady declining and today he is likely the AFC OPOY and now worthy of mention in the MVP race. His best game of the year. HOF type of performance.

• I know it sucks that it has taken this long for the offense to start clicking, but people buried them far too quickly and Brady does in fact have weapons on offense. Ten receivers caught passes today. Several of the receivers could actually still get much better. This has the potential to be one of the better offenses the Pats have had in the last few years with LaFell becoming a legitimate consistent receiving option. The Pats also showed they could go vertical.

• Gronk is almost Gronk. He is damn close to returning to 100%. He is currently a match up nightmare, but he should soon be a match up impossibility. He has gotten much of his speed back and he is definitely a lot more fearless than he was earlier in the year.
• One concern is defending the TE. Still an issue. It will only be tougher without Mayo who I am concerned is done for the season. Hopefully with Hightower coming back soon, they will be able to try a few things.

• Speaking of Mayo. If this is the end of his season, I feel sorry for the man. Second year in a row. He is the centerpiece of the defense. Huge loss. Next man up.

• Other than the last scoring drive by the Bills where they played soft and the drive that Mayo went down where I think they struggled to figure out how to replace Mayo, I felt the defense did a solid job. It won't show in the stats, but I felt they forced 5 punts and turned over the ball on three other drives.

• The loss of Ridley is going to be big if he is out for the season or an extended period of time. He was having a really good season and I don't trust either Vereen or Bolden to carry the load. The Pats may have to look to see who is out there in either free agency or a trade. Maybe it is time to see if White can repeat his garbage time performance against the Chiefs in a real game.

• For all those people who trash McDaniels about not doing adjustments, this game is proof they are wrong. After they were average in the first half, they scored on their last five drives. Excellent job by him.

• I never thought Tyms would make the active roster nevermind getting in a game. I am glad he proved me wrong. Hopefully he can continue to prove me wrong going forward.

 

[patfanken]

Great Job Rob, I'll try not to repeat to much when I get to my own thread. But in general I can't reiterate too much how impressive that win was......even without all the injury concerns. That is a good Buffalo team, coming off a big road win, playing in an electric environment......and the Pats responded, not just once, but on SEVERAL occasions. Just about EVERY time the Bills started to gain momentum, the Pats responded to take the air out of the stadium. That is just hard to do and takes a huge amount of mental toughness.

We got 2 huge questions answered today. 1. the Pats have a legitimate championship offense, and 2. The offensive line coach is capable of preparing his players.

OK, time for me to get to my own thread. See you in about an hour.

 

[Rob0729]

Great Job Rob, I'll try not to repeat to much when I get to my own thread. But in general I can't reiterate too much how impressive that win was......even without all the injury concerns. That is a good Buffalo team, coming off a big road win, playing in an electric environment......and the Pats responded, not just once, but on SEVERAL occasions. Just about EVERY time the Bills started to gain momentum, the Pats responded to take the air out of the stadium. That is just hard to do and takes a huge amount of mental toughness.

We got 2 huge questions answered today. 1. the Pats have a legitimate championship offense, and 2. The offensive line coach is capable of preparing his players.

OK, time for me to get to my own thread. See you in about an hour.

You can always repeat my thoughts. Sometimes people have different takes on the same thing that enhances the other.

 

[Patstopia]

Vareen needs to be a little more N/S and a lot less shimmy and shake. You don't need to break a big run every time. But you do need to advance the ball and not stop and shake every play. I do think the loss of Ridley will be a huge loss for us.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

As long as Gronk is healthy, I doubt we'll really feel the loss of Ridley [saying this as a Ridley fan/defneder over the years]. Pass has always been our strength and we've just needed a RB who is a reasonable threat to handle the carries and keep us from being completely one dimensional. Like I said in the other thread I hope one of the rooks can step up because I'm not a fan of Bolden aside from ST's. Other than that pretty much agree with all your points.

 

[Rob0729]

One thing I forgot. Casey Walker looks to be another Chris Jones/Silva Selvega in season pick up off of someone else's practice squad. He looks to be a solid rotational guy and most importantly allows the Pats to use Wilfork at DE where he is far more effective than at NT.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Wilfork was a beast today. Stopped the run and gave a lot of push all day.

 

[woolster22]

Here we go:

• Kudos to the interior of the O-line today. No Stork. Connolly goes out early. And they still kept the Bills' DTs relatively quite. I said that Wendell at center was actually a good thing in a game like this since the center needed to be quick rather than big and physical. Although they lined up over center more than I expected they would, the Bills split their DTs out wide and the center is often uncovered.

• That said, I am concerned about Solder still. Some of his blown assignments were just bonehead reads which hopefully will be fixed when Connolly and Stork get back into the line up. I didn't think he got overpowered or just let Hughes get by him as much, he misread blocking assignments.

• What a difference two weeks make. Two weeks ago people were talking about Brady declining and today he is likely the AFC OPOY and now worthy of mention in the MVP race. His best game of the year. HOF type of performance.

• I know it sucks that it has taken this long for the offense to start clicking, but people buried them far too quickly and Brady does in fact have weapons on offense. Ten receivers caught passes today. Several of the receivers could actually still get much better. This has the potential to be one of the better offenses the Pats have had in the last few years with LaFell becoming a legitimate consistent receiving option. The Pats also showed they could go vertical.

• Gronk is almost Gronk. He is damn close to returning to 100%. He is currently a match up nightmare, but he should soon be a match up impossibility. He has gotten much of his speed back and he is definitely a lot more fearless than he was earlier in the year.
• One concern is defending the TE. Still an issue. It will only be tougher without Mayo who I am concerned is done for the season. Hopefully with Hightower coming back soon, they will be able to try a few things.

• Speaking of Mayo. If this is the end of his season, I feel sorry for the man. Second year in a row. He is the centerpiece of the defense. Huge loss. Next man up.

• Other than the last scoring drive by the Bills where they played soft and the drive that Mayo went down where I think they struggled to figure out how to replace Mayo, I felt the defense did a solid job. It won't show in the stats, but I felt they forced 5 punts and turned over the ball on three other drives.

• The loss of Ridley is going to be big if he is out for the season or an extended period of time. He was having a really good season and I don't trust either Vereen or Bolden to carry the load. The Pats may have to look to see who is out there in either free agency or a trade. Maybe it is time to see if White can repeat his garbage time performance against the Chiefs in a real game.

• For all those people who trash McDaniels about not doing adjustments, this game is proof they are wrong. After they were average in the first half, they scored on their last five drives. Excellent job by him.

• I never thought Tyms would make the active roster nevermind getting in a game. I am glad he proved me wrong. Hopefully he can continue to prove me wrong going forward.

I know we had a back and forth regarding our center and the defensive alignment...a few times they stunted over C and won. Many more times Wendell won the assignment. Kudos.

Mayo will be a large loss.

Ridley done for the season would be a offensive ender...save Dobson/Tyms expanding the field and the oline avoiding concussions.

Who replaces Ridley? Bolden? White? Lol, none are close to his level when, say, running the football. Vereen proved inadequate as well after Ridley went out today...

But, to your credit, Wendell played a hell of a game today. He had a couple stunts go through him, however Devey was on the field for significant minutes...And God Damn was he noticeable the way no lineman ever wants to be...again....

 

[woolster22]

Here we go:

• Kudos to the interior of the O-line today. No Stork. Connolly goes out early. And they still kept the Bills' DTs relatively quite. I said that Wendell at center was actually a good thing in a game like this since the center needed to be quick rather than big and physical. Although they lined up over center more than I expected they would, the Bills split their DTs out wide and the center is often uncovered.

• That said, I am concerned about Solder still. Some of his blown assignments were just bonehead reads which hopefully will be fixed when Connolly and Stork get back into the line up. I didn't think he got overpowered or just let Hughes get by him as much, he misread blocking assignments.

• What a difference two weeks make. Two weeks ago people were talking about Brady declining and today he is likely the AFC OPOY and now worthy of mention in the MVP race. His best game of the year. HOF type of performance.

• I know it sucks that it has taken this long for the offense to start clicking, but people buried them far too quickly and Brady does in fact have weapons on offense. Ten receivers caught passes today. Several of the receivers could actually still get much better. This has the potential to be one of the better offenses the Pats have had in the last few years with LaFell becoming a legitimate consistent receiving option. The Pats also showed they could go vertical.

• Gronk is almost Gronk. He is damn close to returning to 100%. He is currently a match up nightmare, but he should soon be a match up impossibility. He has gotten much of his speed back and he is definitely a lot more fearless than he was earlier in the year.
• One concern is defending the TE. Still an issue. It will only be tougher without Mayo who I am concerned is done for the season. Hopefully with Hightower coming back soon, they will be able to try a few things.

• Speaking of Mayo. If this is the end of his season, I feel sorry for the man. Second year in a row. He is the centerpiece of the defense. Huge loss. Next man up.

• Other than the last scoring drive by the Bills where they played soft and the drive that Mayo went down where I think they struggled to figure out how to replace Mayo, I felt the defense did a solid job. It won't show in the stats, but I felt they forced 5 punts and turned over the ball on three other drives.

• The loss of Ridley is going to be big if he is out for the season or an extended period of time. He was having a really good season and I don't trust either Vereen or Bolden to carry the load. The Pats may have to look to see who is out there in either free agency or a trade. Maybe it is time to see if White can repeat his garbage time performance against the Chiefs in a real game.

• For all those people who trash McDaniels about not doing adjustments, this game is proof they are wrong. After they were average in the first half, they scored on their last five drives. Excellent job by him.

• I never thought Tyms would make the active roster nevermind getting in a game. I am glad he proved me wrong. Hopefully he can continue to prove me wrong going forward.

I know we had a back and forth regarding our center and the defensive alignment...a few times they stunted over C and won. Many more times Wendell won the assignment. Kudos.

Mayo will be a large loss.

Ridley done for the season would be a offensive ender...save Dobson/Tyms expanding the field and the oline avoiding concussions.

Who replaces Ridley? Bolden? White? Lol, none are close to his level when, say, running the football. Vereen proved inadequate as well after Ridley went out today...

But, to your credit, Wendell played a hell of a game today. He had a couple stunts go through him, however Devey was on the field for significant minutes...And God Damn was he noticeable the way no lineman ever wants to be...again....

 

[woolster22]

One thing I forgot. Casey Walker looks to be another Chris Jones/Silva Selvega in season pick up off of someone else's practice squad. He looks to be a solid rotational guy and most importantly allows the Pats to use Wilfork at DE where he is far more effective than at NT.

I didn't notice where he was lining up as much as he had a few tackles short after mayo went out...

 

[MrNathanDrake]

Mayo isn't as big of a loss this year as he would've been a few years back (remember the Gary Guyton years?)

Not a knock against him, but Collins and Hightower are damn good and should make losing Mayo less impactful.


I really wish we re-signed Dane Fletcher now. He plays with a lot of heart and energy.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

Wilfork was a beast today. Stopped the run and gave a lot of push all day.

Not to mention the three screen passes that he read and disrupted. He is the leader of that defense, especially with Mayo gone, and that sort of performance is exactly what the Pats need out of him.