idle thoughts - London wrap up.....

[PatsWickedPissah]

The upcoming game in Miami has Trap Game written all over it. That is going to be a very tough game.

Not a trap anymore with Miami's position in the AFCE

 

[UK_Pat37]

Special shutout to the 150 members and family of the UKPatriots who are all a nursing sore throats this morning!

Also, to the moderating team who put on some fantastic events over the weekend. Most notabl James Cuff, whose efforts made for a fantastic Pre game party which helped raise thousands of pounds for the Charitable Foundation.

 

[Nunchucks]

Nice write up, echoed many of my own thoughts.

After that first long TD pass, I was sure this was going to be one of those games, a scorefest where I would be tense and uncomfortable for the next 3 hours. I did read somebody blame that long pass on McCourty, my thoughts on that...anybody who thinks that was McCourty's fault, obviously knows absolutely nothing about football and really should just stop watching the game before they hurt themselves.

Hightower makes some good plays and some bad plays.

Rookies make mistakes, that is why they are rookies.

The Rams offense is a mess, I am not heartned by the Patriots defense in this game. They still have a lot to prove.

Yes, that was Wilfork covering a RB out of the backfield...WTF is that all about?

 

[NYCPatsFan]

Is Miami ever really a "trap" game? They are a division rival that used to woodshed us twice a year for decades and still has given us crap regularly during Brady's entire career. I doubt the team takes them lightly, they have a legit defense and a better offense than the last 3 teams we played.

I agree. One thing going for us is the bye week, that will give us more time to get prepared specifically for the Fins.

Ken - how much do you think Josh's familiarity with the Rams helped us in keeping their O and D @ check?

I am aware that Fisher would have made some major changes once took over, but don't know how significant the changes would have been (thinking of how Gruden and the Bucs walked over his former team in the SB a few years back).

 

[Kontradiction]

final thoughts.

WTF is Vince chasing down an RB on a checkdown pass?

I did see that. or was it a dream?

No, you saw it. It was one of the more awesome points of the game (the other being Gronk's second touchdown celebration).

 

[Fixit]

a. If you ever wanted proof that total passing yards is a useless statistic- Mark Sanchez threw for only 20 fewer yards than Tom Brady on Sunday. Both had zero picks. who would have thought that given the 2 scores

Sanchez threw an awful red zone pick.

 

[patfanken]

In all honesty... that was actually a pretty good route-throw and catch.

Annoying it happened but a good play is a good play.

You see THAT's the problem, Jsull. Other teams simply can't just run a good play. Any good plays that occur from the other side are the result of Patriot ineptitude, malfeasance, and poor coaching. The sooner you understand that, the sooner you can be as miserable as they are.

What is so inconsistent from the "haters" is that using the same logic they are so willing to use on Pats players, Gronk actually isn't any good, its just that every one he plays against just sucks out loud.

 

[patfanken]

Hightower (ROLL TIDE!) did have a massive hit on Bradford that forced them to take a time-out. Just sayin'....... I'll be interested in seeing how that plays out for Bradford this coming week.

I guess my take on the whole Jones/Hightower thing is that although we SEE what's happening on SOME of the field, and most times we see the D-line pretty well, we still don't know just WHAT scheme was called, and what each player's responsibility is on each play.

It could be that Hightower was being asked to seal off one side while Jones rushed on this play or that play, or his job was to primarily engage a certain player. We fans just don't know so although we can kick and scream (and drink and beat the coffee table) we're still fairly out of the loop, just watching from afar, as it were.

V/R

I certainly hope that your point of view is the correct one. Like I said, nothing he's done looks horrible (except the injury), but nothing seems to reach the level of impactfullness that we expected. Granted the hit on Bradford was a good one, but, be honest, haven't you expected more. A few more forced fumbles, sacks, a pick or 2

Maybe we can blame the coaches for not using him in impactful situations. He rarely rushes the passer. I think my displeasure is less about Hightower himself, and more about my own expectations, and the surprisingly advanced play of Jones. I think most of us would have been thrilled if they knew that Jones would end up with 6 sacks his rookie season. Not 6 sacks in 8 games and a lot more pressures, forced fumbles and other big plays....plus be a rock in run defense.

Hightower probably isn't playing badly....just badly in comparison with Jones.

 

[patfanken]

Sanchez threw an awful red zone pick.

Thanks for the catch. I missed that. You'd think I'd know better than to think that Sanchez could go a game without a pick . But the point was that in today's NFL a bad QB can throw for a lot of yds, just like a great one can. I think I was surprised when I saw the score of that game and the amount of passing yds Sanchez accumulated, and then compared it with Brady's day. Just a 20 yd difference. It only goes to show you how meaningless that total passing yd stat is.

 

[everlong]

If you rewatch the game I think you'll find Hightower did a lot of things that won't show up in the stat sheet. He was stout in run defense and allowed others to make tackles and had good coverage in passing situations. I had been critical of the LB play a few times this season but this was a game where they were very effective even if they didn't make the glamorous plays.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Despite missing two games and being limited in two others — he suffered the injury on a sack in the first half against the Bills — Hightower has 28 tackles, two sacks, one fumble recovery and one touchdown.

That was in the first 7 games, two of which he missed and two of which he was limited in.

BostonHerald.com - Blogs: The Blitz» Blog Archive » Dont’a Hightower working to prevent future hamstring injuries

 

[DaBruinz]

I certainly hope that your point of view is the correct one. Like I said, nothing he's done looks horrible (except the injury), but nothing seems to reach the level of impactfullness that we expected. Granted the hit on Bradford was a good one, but, be honest, haven't you expected more. A few more forced fumbles, sacks, a pick or 2

Maybe we can blame the coaches for not using him in impactful situations. He rarely rushes the passer. I think my displeasure is less about Hightower himself, and more about my own expectations, and the surprisingly advanced play of Jones. I think most of us would have been thrilled if they knew that Jones would end up with 6 sacks his rookie season. Not 6 sacks in 8 games and a lot more pressures, forced fumbles and other big plays....plus be a rock in run defense.

Hightower probably isn't playing badly....just badly in comparison with Jones.

Hightower had a good TFL last week. I don't believe that Hightower is playing worse in comparison to Jones. They are playing different positions so there really isn't a comparison to make. Also, Hightower tends to come off the field in passing situations where Jones doesn't.

Jones has exceeded expectations, to this point. Hightower is meeting the expectations that I had for a Rookie LB in the Pats defense (outside the injury).

 

[The_Riddler]

Great insight as always, thanks, just wanted to correct you on the following:

Miscellaneous

a. If you ever wanted proof that total passing yards is a useless statistic- Mark Sanchez threw for only 20 fewer yards than Tom Brady on Sunday. Both had zero picks. who would have thought that given the 2 scores

Sanchez threw a horrible pick at the Miami goal line and all of Taco's yards were a result of an absolute "garbage time" "game over" Miami sit back defense at the end of the game, that's were those useless yards came from. Taco was frigin Horrible..............

 

[patfanken]

I think you have a serious reading comprehension problem. Breer's article was one the the better and more balanced national pieces on this team in a while. You've posted more wrongheaded hatchet job attempts at analysis than Breer has over the last few seasons...and often when they weren't warranted and were purely personally emotion fueled in the moment kneejerk reactions.

I don't have a "comprehension" problem, Mo. I just don't like Albert Breer as a reporter. I never have, I don't think he's close to the level of Bedard and Reiss, or even most of the rest of local writers. I find him to be lazy, and now that he's "national" doesn't offer much that you can't get anywhere else. As to that particular article, I found it fraught with innuendo, half truths, and anonymous hearsay.

I mean Mo, when PFF, and football outsiders, 2 readily accessible ratings sources, both call your OL among the better lines in the league, even WITH all the injuries; it"s either lazy or stupid to write that the Pats OL is a problem, even if you don't like either of those 2 ratings organizations (...and I'm not a big fan of PFF). He wrote that story like it was still August and all those questions had more validity.

And when it comes to courage of convictions, I find it comical that someone prone to absolute meltdowns is playing the pathetic people card when it comes to anyone rationally discussing the problems this team HAS experienced in the first half of this season. There are a lot of knuckleheads here who live to point the finger from game to game if not play to play particularly at targets of opportunity like say the QB... And while they may be vocal (although less so after a win like this) they remain in the minority.

Now I have held my meltdowns down to just 2 in 10 years, and while they were epic, they were heartfelt (if wrongheaded) And my meltdowns have nothing to do with Breer's lack of the courage of his convictions. I don't like the guy. Lets leave it at that.

Don't make the mistake of painting everyone with your broad guess that showed you brush.

On this point I apologize. It is wrong to paint anyone with the broad brush I did. Through there were certainly people who deserved it, not everyone did.

I certainly don't want to discourage reasonable criticism of the team. My complaints about when we us the empty backfield, not enough play action passes and the desperate need to create more passing pressure from stunts and blitzes is on record. Its a fans' right to complain. Its in our Constitution, but the key word here should be "reasonable". My complaint is when it goes past that level of civility.

Again, doing so just underscores a comprehension problem. This team (coaching staff) took a different more balanced and less regimented or agenda driven approach to this game. That is what some of us have been calling for. The players seemed to respond and simply make plays like a talented team should. It started on offense, because that will always relieve pressure on a young and inexperienced defense, and it carried over to that unit as a result allowing talent and instinct to emerge as schematic reins eased up a bit.

Well Mo, the comprehension problem is more on your side than mine, since I pretty much agree with what you wrote here and stated it in my post. You must have missed it. (given the length I can see how it happened)

Each team and season is a process. You can't force comfort and chemistry on your offense at the expense of flumoxing it and exposing your defense to the point you handcuff it and it starts going backwards. That is kind of what coaching put this team through early on this season. They seem to have begun to realize that and adjusted the approach, and that is a good thing.

Well I'm sure your thank you note from BB and his staff for pointing this out is on the way.

I don't disagree with anything that you wrote here, because it "seemed" like that was exactly what they did. But I would caution you tto remember this. The most valuable lessons I have taken from my many years in football has taught me how much I DON'T know. The reality is that, we as fans, don't have near enough information to make some of draconian and often unfair judgements we sometimes make.

There might have been some good reasons why Patricia wasn't blitzing more earlier in the season, or why McDaniels wasn't using the play action pass more often, or always seems to go empty backfield on 3rd and 2. Maybe there weren't and they were being every bit as pig headed as some thought. The point is that we don't know and we should at least acknowledge that their might be things we just aren't privy to that creates an opinion we don't like, before we just throw someone under the bus. And in doing so we can raise the level of civility on this board

 

[Gwedd]

I certainly hope that your point of view is the correct one. Like I said, nothing he's done looks horrible (except the injury), but nothing seems to reach the level of impactfullness that we expected. Granted the hit on Bradford was a good one, but, be honest, haven't you expected more. A few more forced fumbles, sacks, a pick or 2

Maybe we can blame the coaches for not using him in impactful situations. He rarely rushes the passer. I think my displeasure is less about Hightower himself, and more about my own expectations, and the surprisingly advanced play of Jones. I think most of us would have been thrilled if they knew that Jones would end up with 6 sacks his rookie season. Not 6 sacks in 8 games and a lot more pressures, forced fumbles and other big plays....plus be a rock in run defense.

Hightower probably isn't playing badly....just badly in comparison with Jones.

Agree with all of this.

 

[Fixit]

It only goes to show you how meaningless that total passing yd stat is.

I agree a zillion percent.

 

[TruthSeeker]

final thoughts.

WTF is Vince chasing down an RB on a checkdown pass?

I did see that. or was it a dream?

I've seen Vince with those responsibilities a few times - and he's looked good doing it! Kudos to the Patriots for finding innovative ways to shut down the running back from the backfield.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

final thoughts.

WTF is Vince chasing down an RB on a checkdown pass?

I did see that. or was it a dream?

Vince played it like a screen, abandoning his rush to play the RB. For a moment it looked like he got there a bit late as the ball arrived, but then showed an amazing burst of lateral quickness and great footwork to track down the RB. Truly an athletic feat for such a huge guy.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

final thoughts.

WTF is Vince chasing down an RB on a checkdown pass?

I did see that. or was it a dream?

He's a frustrated DB trapped in a DT's body. Look at how he smiles when he gets one of his two career interceptions and thinks he's Deion Sanders......

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

C. Given that I coached a long time and have a better knowledge of what I DON'T know than most, I really shouldn't be one to complain about the coaching, especially since I thought both Matt and Josh both had great games. I just found it frustrating that I almost had to scream myself hoarse calling for Josh to call more play action passes, and then hve them work so well when utilized today. "See Josh. It's a lot easier than you think if you let it be.":

And I screamed myself hoarse...again... with others, calling for more blitzes and stunts, which also worked so well today.

I guess what I'm saying here is "Its about FREAKIN' time guys". You shouldn't have to wait for dolts like me before you start calling more of this stuff. We have the 5th best rushing attack in the league. Play action is going to work. We have a too young and inexperienced secondary with injuries. We need to create some pressure. What's so hard about that. Common Sense, right?

Nice to see it finally happen, and nice to see it work out so well

Note on the play-action...

Yes, the Pats used it quite effectively in London and it was long overdue. They need to continue that going forward. Very happy to see that.

That being said, the Rams looked clueless in defending against it. If the tables were turned, we'd be complaining today on how badly our D bit.

The Pats' success was clearly a combination of good execution by the O and very bad D by the Rams. It's never just one or the other.

Regards,
Chris