- Joined
- Jul 11, 2005
- Messages
- 15,539
- Reaction score
- 27,586
Nice report, but I have to totally disagree with you on 2 major points
1. The Panthers ARE a good team, but they didn't come close to out playing the Pats in that game. If anything, the Pats were the far better team and if not for Cam Newton's individual heroics, the Pats major blunders (the fumble the 2 major penalties, to name just a few), the Ref's incompetence on both the McCourty hold, as well as the final play, and the contusing barrage of injuries to Talkib, Spikes, etc, The game wouldn't have been close.
The Formidable Panther Defensive front which throttled the Niner elite running game allowed the Pats to move the ball well on the ground. And the same front that had 6 sacks and 6 more QB hits were held to 2 first have sacks. One was do to a great scheme that allowed a man in unopposed and another because a bad scheme that forced Wendell to block a man 2 gaps away. Once they got that straightened out, IIRC there was a coverage sack in the 2nd half.
Conversely, the potent Panther running game, except for Newton's scrambles, was completely throttled by the no names on the Pats defensive fronts. Both results were totally unsuspected by us all.
2. That the OL had a bad game. Except for the few exceptions mentioned above the Pats OL had far the better play overall on the Panther front 7
We lost that game because of some really dumb un Pats-like plays in the first half, some bad luck, some bad calls, and a few more injuries. It was a close hard fought game where the Pats simply ran out of time at the end. Or as BB usually says, the winning team just made more big plays than the losing one.
BUT the point remains the Pats were definitely not out played by the Panthers
1. The Panthers ARE a good team, but they didn't come close to out playing the Pats in that game. If anything, the Pats were the far better team and if not for Cam Newton's individual heroics, the Pats major blunders (the fumble the 2 major penalties, to name just a few), the Ref's incompetence on both the McCourty hold, as well as the final play, and the contusing barrage of injuries to Talkib, Spikes, etc, The game wouldn't have been close.
The Formidable Panther Defensive front which throttled the Niner elite running game allowed the Pats to move the ball well on the ground. And the same front that had 6 sacks and 6 more QB hits were held to 2 first have sacks. One was do to a great scheme that allowed a man in unopposed and another because a bad scheme that forced Wendell to block a man 2 gaps away. Once they got that straightened out, IIRC there was a coverage sack in the 2nd half.
Conversely, the potent Panther running game, except for Newton's scrambles, was completely throttled by the no names on the Pats defensive fronts. Both results were totally unsuspected by us all.
2. That the OL had a bad game. Except for the few exceptions mentioned above the Pats OL had far the better play overall on the Panther front 7
We lost that game because of some really dumb un Pats-like plays in the first half, some bad luck, some bad calls, and a few more injuries. It was a close hard fought game where the Pats simply ran out of time at the end. Or as BB usually says, the winning team just made more big plays than the losing one.
BUT the point remains the Pats were definitely not out played by the Panthers
