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There are an awful lot of lessons that can be learned from this game as painful as it was. First among them is one that we probably know, but rarely believe. "On any given Sunday", any team in the NFL is good enough to beat another, regardless of how lopsided the 2 teams are PERCEIVED. Too often that "perception" is driven by a media looking for absolutes when there really are none in the game....and that what makes it so special and fun to watch.
We tend to forget so quickly that the differences in athletic ability from team to team is razor thin. That gap closes even further as injuries take out some of the "special" players every team has. In the end every team is trotting out a lot of what a lot of people call JAGs, but who in reality are all very good football players. If fact these so called "JAGs" are world class athletes who have risen to the top 3% in their field. Every team has between 45 and 50 on their roster. The elite teams have up to 8 "special" players, like Brady, Gronk, and Collins, etc. But the reality is that the vast majority of the players in the league are pretty much equal in ability.
Which leads us back to the original point, that it really shouldn't be that big of a surprise when a bottom feeder upsets an elite team. And the Pats game wasn't the only one where a so called bad team would take a so called elite team to the wire. The Lions/Packers, and Saints/Panther come to mind very quickly. In both those games the "bad" team should have won a game in which they were expect to lose by digits.
Remember this is a game where the average margin of victory is around 7 points. That just one blocked punt, one pick six, on punt return for a TD. So when all three happen in one game, the only thing surprising about the result was how close the game really was at the end.
The Negatives
1. There were SO many of these, that they must have been hard to list. But I'm sure that by now, every one of them have been dissected and discussed in full. From Brady throwing 2 incredibly bad picks, to the most curious coaching decisions of the season, to totally unexpected bad special teams play, to the continued inconsistent OL play . So I won't bother repeat them now, it would just be too painful.....except for one.
2. With over 2 minutes left at the end of the game, 3rd and 13, I thought the Eagles were doing us a favor by dropping back to pass. The pressure was good enough to get a free rusher who missed the QB, and still plant Bradford, yet the Eagles successfully completed a first down pass that ended the game.
In a game filled with painful moments, this one really was the final straw for me. Granted the Pats would have been left with likely needing a drive over 85 yards with just over 2 minutes and no TO's. But they SHOULD have had the chance.
This defense is good. They allowed just 14 points, just 120 passing yards, and 240 yds of total offense. BUT if this is to really be a "championship defense", they are going to have to make big stops like this one. BTW- Kudos to Sam Bradford who stood in there to make that clutch throw.
The Positives.
1. From the outset it looked like the Pats weren't playing with the same energy that we've been accustomed to this season. I don't know how good their practices were during the week, but over the first 3 quarters they looked "off". Just a fraction late. Not paying as close attention to those small details. The end result was a 21 point deficit with under 8 minutes to play.
So the fact that our team could come back to the point were they SHOULD have had a legitimate shot to tie the game HAS to be viewed as a positive. It is a credit to their mental toughness and competitiveness that they refused to pack it in those last few minutes of the game.
2. So despite the shaky OL play, the lack of weapons, and a 21 point 4th quarter deficit, the offense still managed over 430 yds of offense and 4 TD's It SHOULD make most of us feel a bit better about the potential of the offense to survive without Lewis, Gronk, and Edelman as the season closes.
3. The running game improved, averaging over 4.3 ypc, even though it had to be jettisoned when the Pats fell so far behind.
4. While I would have liked to see the run game defense get a little tighter, (and I'm sure it will when Hightower returns) allowing just a 4.0 ypc isn't horrid, especially when a majority of the yards came in the first half.
Meanwhile, allowing just 120 passing yards in this day and age, is nothing short of phenomenal. The DL provided so decent pressure to Bradford, even though it only resulted in one sack. The negative on that is that there was the opportunity for several more sacks that were missed by sloppy play.
5. Scott Chandler continued to show he can be someone who can be counted on to be a competent receiving option, and James White was another guy who took advantage of his opportunities, and exceeded expectations.
Individual Disappointments.
1. Brandon Lafell - His receiving total was disappointing. With all we have lost, he needed to make a few more plays
2.K Martin - He's another guy I was hoping to have a "break out" game, and contribute over 70 yards in receptions and fill that Edelman role as the quick twitch inside guy. Maybe it's too soon to reasonably make those kinds of expectations.
3. Bill Bellichick- He's the guy who in charge of getting his team ready to play the game. They weren't as ready as they should have been. Plus some of the coaching decisions that were made, especially on the kicking game were very curious.
I would have thought that kicking deep after the last Pats TD would have been the wiser choice. They needed a 3 and out regardless. I would have much rather have the Eagles punting from their 25 from than our 50. And of course the drop kick was too cute by a half. But then again, it is THAT kind of "arrogance" that has made the Pats great, even though it jumps up and bites you every once in a while.
General Comments
1. Like I said this was a week for learning some of the lessons that are fundamental to the game of football. Unfortunately most of the time it takes a loss, a self inflicted wound, for those lessons to be absorbed. Hopefully those "lessons" didn't come at too high a price, and we can finish this season on a 4 game win streak and still have the AFC come through Foxboro.
2. Another lesson we needed to RElearn was how important special teams have been to the overall success of this team over the years. Historically the Pats have been among the top ST's units on an annual basis. Up to the Eagles game, they had been rated #1 in a lot of those services.
Clearly the ST's unit failed on Sunday on a lot of levels, and it was the biggest reason for the loss. The last blocked kick for a TD was 6 years ago. I don't know when the last punt return for a TD happened, but I bet it was a while ago.
3. I imagine Nat Ebner is getting heat for allowing the free rusher in for the block. I would point out that another Eagle on the right side had also come free first, and Ebner when for him. The guy who blocked the kick, broke through a mcro-second later. Ebner was faced with a "Hobson's choice".
4. I hope people now understand that NONE of these last 4 games are going to be easy, for all the reasons that were discussed at the top. They never were going to be easy, despite what the media was telling us. Most telling is the fact that 3 of these last 4 games are going to be on the road. That makes them tough games by definition. The second factor is that the Patirots are EVERYBODY's superbowl game, and Sunday's loss will have them all smelling blood.
5. So what do the Pats have to do to come out of this mini losing streak. Nothing more than what they've done for the last 15 years. Put their heads down, get to work, tune out the "noise", ignore the injuries, and DO THEIR JOBS. If they do that, they can finish this season at 14-2, and let the chips fall where they may for the playoffs.
6. They are playing the last quarter of the season for a bye. It could be that 3 of these last games will be with teams that will be "desperately" fighting for a playoff bid. They say that the "desperate" team often is the one more likely to win. Well the Pats don't have to worry about a playoff bid, but they ARE playing for that bye, and it's a bye they "desperately" need.
We tend to forget so quickly that the differences in athletic ability from team to team is razor thin. That gap closes even further as injuries take out some of the "special" players every team has. In the end every team is trotting out a lot of what a lot of people call JAGs, but who in reality are all very good football players. If fact these so called "JAGs" are world class athletes who have risen to the top 3% in their field. Every team has between 45 and 50 on their roster. The elite teams have up to 8 "special" players, like Brady, Gronk, and Collins, etc. But the reality is that the vast majority of the players in the league are pretty much equal in ability.
Which leads us back to the original point, that it really shouldn't be that big of a surprise when a bottom feeder upsets an elite team. And the Pats game wasn't the only one where a so called bad team would take a so called elite team to the wire. The Lions/Packers, and Saints/Panther come to mind very quickly. In both those games the "bad" team should have won a game in which they were expect to lose by digits.
Remember this is a game where the average margin of victory is around 7 points. That just one blocked punt, one pick six, on punt return for a TD. So when all three happen in one game, the only thing surprising about the result was how close the game really was at the end.
The Negatives
1. There were SO many of these, that they must have been hard to list. But I'm sure that by now, every one of them have been dissected and discussed in full. From Brady throwing 2 incredibly bad picks, to the most curious coaching decisions of the season, to totally unexpected bad special teams play, to the continued inconsistent OL play . So I won't bother repeat them now, it would just be too painful.....except for one.
2. With over 2 minutes left at the end of the game, 3rd and 13, I thought the Eagles were doing us a favor by dropping back to pass. The pressure was good enough to get a free rusher who missed the QB, and still plant Bradford, yet the Eagles successfully completed a first down pass that ended the game.
In a game filled with painful moments, this one really was the final straw for me. Granted the Pats would have been left with likely needing a drive over 85 yards with just over 2 minutes and no TO's. But they SHOULD have had the chance.
This defense is good. They allowed just 14 points, just 120 passing yards, and 240 yds of total offense. BUT if this is to really be a "championship defense", they are going to have to make big stops like this one. BTW- Kudos to Sam Bradford who stood in there to make that clutch throw.
The Positives.
1. From the outset it looked like the Pats weren't playing with the same energy that we've been accustomed to this season. I don't know how good their practices were during the week, but over the first 3 quarters they looked "off". Just a fraction late. Not paying as close attention to those small details. The end result was a 21 point deficit with under 8 minutes to play.
So the fact that our team could come back to the point were they SHOULD have had a legitimate shot to tie the game HAS to be viewed as a positive. It is a credit to their mental toughness and competitiveness that they refused to pack it in those last few minutes of the game.
2. So despite the shaky OL play, the lack of weapons, and a 21 point 4th quarter deficit, the offense still managed over 430 yds of offense and 4 TD's It SHOULD make most of us feel a bit better about the potential of the offense to survive without Lewis, Gronk, and Edelman as the season closes.
3. The running game improved, averaging over 4.3 ypc, even though it had to be jettisoned when the Pats fell so far behind.
4. While I would have liked to see the run game defense get a little tighter, (and I'm sure it will when Hightower returns) allowing just a 4.0 ypc isn't horrid, especially when a majority of the yards came in the first half.
Meanwhile, allowing just 120 passing yards in this day and age, is nothing short of phenomenal. The DL provided so decent pressure to Bradford, even though it only resulted in one sack. The negative on that is that there was the opportunity for several more sacks that were missed by sloppy play.
5. Scott Chandler continued to show he can be someone who can be counted on to be a competent receiving option, and James White was another guy who took advantage of his opportunities, and exceeded expectations.
Individual Disappointments.
1. Brandon Lafell - His receiving total was disappointing. With all we have lost, he needed to make a few more plays
2.K Martin - He's another guy I was hoping to have a "break out" game, and contribute over 70 yards in receptions and fill that Edelman role as the quick twitch inside guy. Maybe it's too soon to reasonably make those kinds of expectations.
3. Bill Bellichick- He's the guy who in charge of getting his team ready to play the game. They weren't as ready as they should have been. Plus some of the coaching decisions that were made, especially on the kicking game were very curious.
I would have thought that kicking deep after the last Pats TD would have been the wiser choice. They needed a 3 and out regardless. I would have much rather have the Eagles punting from their 25 from than our 50. And of course the drop kick was too cute by a half. But then again, it is THAT kind of "arrogance" that has made the Pats great, even though it jumps up and bites you every once in a while.
General Comments
1. Like I said this was a week for learning some of the lessons that are fundamental to the game of football. Unfortunately most of the time it takes a loss, a self inflicted wound, for those lessons to be absorbed. Hopefully those "lessons" didn't come at too high a price, and we can finish this season on a 4 game win streak and still have the AFC come through Foxboro.
2. Another lesson we needed to RElearn was how important special teams have been to the overall success of this team over the years. Historically the Pats have been among the top ST's units on an annual basis. Up to the Eagles game, they had been rated #1 in a lot of those services.
Clearly the ST's unit failed on Sunday on a lot of levels, and it was the biggest reason for the loss. The last blocked kick for a TD was 6 years ago. I don't know when the last punt return for a TD happened, but I bet it was a while ago.
3. I imagine Nat Ebner is getting heat for allowing the free rusher in for the block. I would point out that another Eagle on the right side had also come free first, and Ebner when for him. The guy who blocked the kick, broke through a mcro-second later. Ebner was faced with a "Hobson's choice".
4. I hope people now understand that NONE of these last 4 games are going to be easy, for all the reasons that were discussed at the top. They never were going to be easy, despite what the media was telling us. Most telling is the fact that 3 of these last 4 games are going to be on the road. That makes them tough games by definition. The second factor is that the Patirots are EVERYBODY's superbowl game, and Sunday's loss will have them all smelling blood.
5. So what do the Pats have to do to come out of this mini losing streak. Nothing more than what they've done for the last 15 years. Put their heads down, get to work, tune out the "noise", ignore the injuries, and DO THEIR JOBS. If they do that, they can finish this season at 14-2, and let the chips fall where they may for the playoffs.
6. They are playing the last quarter of the season for a bye. It could be that 3 of these last games will be with teams that will be "desperately" fighting for a playoff bid. They say that the "desperate" team often is the one more likely to win. Well the Pats don't have to worry about a playoff bid, but they ARE playing for that bye, and it's a bye they "desperately" need.
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