Odds and Ends on the Victory

[Bostonian1962]

1. Mayo still very much in the mix for Defensive Rookie of the Year, with 8 more tackles. The kid can play.

2. Richard Seymour may finally be back. I'll rip him when he stinks, so I'm here to praise him when he plays well, and against the Broncos, he played well.

3. As Maverick said in another post, Cassel is bringing back memories of Bledsoe holding on to the ball forever. It's painful to watch. It's even worse when they show the downfield replay pointing out the various players that were wide open. Will it get better the more he plays? We're going to find out.

4. Bravo to Hansen, who had 3 punts for for 39.0 yard average, and all 3 of them were inside the 20.

5. The Ghost continues the make us all say Adam who?

6. Shout out goes to Merriweather, who continues to look active out there, and even showed "hands" in his pick.

Anybody want to add any stray thoughts as you saw it? Feel free.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

1. Mayo still very much in the mix for Defensive Rookie of the Year, with 8 more tackles. The kid can play.

2. Richard Seymour may finally be back. I'll rip him when he stinks, so I'm here to praise him when he plays well, and against the Broncos, he played well.

3. As Maverick said in another post, Cassel is bringing back memories of Bledsoe holding on to the ball forever. It's painful to watch. It's even worse when they show the downfield replay pointing out the various players that were wide open. Will it get better the more he plays? We're going to find out.

4. Bravo to Hansen, who had 3 punts for for 39.0 yard average, and all 3 of them were inside the 20.

5. The Ghost continues the make us all say Adam who?

6. Shout out goes to Merriweather, who continues to look active out there, and even showed "hands" in his pick.

Anybody want to add any stray thoughts as you saw it? Feel free.

Good points.

Cassel needs to get rid of the ball quicker but with this being his 5th start, I think he did pretty well.

Out ST looked good out there last night and made some great plays.

I think our team is finding its comfort zone and will work hard this week to correct the O-line issues.

GO PATS!!

 

[TruthSeeker]

Perhaps I'm in a negative mood (usually I'm very optimistic), but I was just not that impressed by the win despite the huge advantage on the scoreboard.

Denver's defense stinks. We've seen it when other teams play them and we sure saw it last night. The Patriots did not solve their problems running the ball last night; they just played a team that has major problems stopping the run. When they play a team with a better than average run defense, I'm thinking that their running game will revert to somewhere between mediocre and average. Time will tell.

Denver made critical turnover after critical turnover. Sure, give the Patriots credit for forcing some of these, but the ball bounced right as well. I will say that the Patriots pass defense looked much better than expected. The defensive line got some push and Denver players were often pretty well covered. We'll see if the Patriots can keep that up, but last night was a very good sign.

Cassel's sacks are a drive killer against a better defense. The offensive line has proven to be a weak link and Cassel makes it look like a sieve the way he waits around to be tackled. Perhaps this will improve a little, but I'm not too hopeful. I expect almost all of these problems to be there in 2 months which is why I advocate a switch to O'Connell at some point in the season. On the postive side, he did quite well not to turn the ball over. However, that throw on the overturned interception was pathetic showing his worst attributes - indecision (the receiver was open and he was going to throw it) holding the ball too long and then the occasional awful throw (he threw it so badly the receiver couldn't even get a hand on it).

All in all, I'm very grateful for the win, but most of the underlying problems we've seen over the start of the season still seem to be there. It's a very different game if Denver doesn't shoot themselves in the foot with 5 (I think) turnovers.

 

[blackglass3]

I have a complaint...do the ESPN guys not have a stat checker? At least twice I heard them say that was Meriweather's second INT. Um, guys, it's his third. One against Lord Favre, one against the Niners, and this one. That equals 3.

 

[xmarkd400x]

I think that Cassell does the right thing by holding on to the ball. He doesn't appear comfortable enough to "wing it" and just run around and throw the ball. I'd rather have a sack than a fumble or INT.

Taking a sack can be the smart play. I feel like most of the time, it is (for Cassell - if it were Brady it would be another story).

 

[muzz]

You'd think they have access to info like that wouldn't ya.

 

[fillylabinga]

On the one hand, forget the score. Yeah, the Pats won big, but pretty much everything went their way (especially with injuries to their 2 best players) and once they got rolling things just got worse and worse for Denver.

Still, this was a convincing win. In particular, the improvement of the running game was notable and really encouraging.

Granted Denver doesn't have a good defense. But the Pats were up big, Denver knew they were going to run the ball to kill the clock and still the Pats were able to run successfully. And run well with a no-name rookie RB at that. Any NFL team should be able to stop the run when the KNOW it's coming and yet Denver couldn't. That late rushing touchdown when Green-Ellis when in untouched and they showed Heath Evans looking for someone to block...I mean when is there a goal line rush when the FB has no one to block!?!?! When does that happen? It can only happen when EVERY other man on the line is winning their one on one battles.

Anyway, the running game looked great. The passing game...not so much. The Pats averaged 6.8 yards per rush and only 6.1 yards per pass. I don't care what Cassell's passer rating is...that sucks. It just goes to show what a meaningless statistic QB rating is--I would rather Cassell throw an incompletion than take a sack.

I have been in the camp that you can't criticize Cassell for having poor pocket presence when he's only played a handful of games over the past 7 years, but I'm starting to think that he's not going to come around. He's fine on the screens and short stuff, but when he does a deep drop it's a disaster. I can't believe we don't have another QB on the roster who can do the dink and dunk just as well and can at least move around in the pocket and throw the ball away. Still, I'm going to restrain myself and wait 2 more weeks before I call for his head.

 

[blackglass3]

You'd think they have access to info like that wouldn't ya.

Maybe the Favre INT doesn't count. Because, you know, it's Favre. He's just having fun out there!

 

[chrisfx811]

-Ellis & Morris were running how they need to run. Not much dancing, just hitting the hole, making a guy miss, and getting good yardage.

-The o-line still stinks. They got moving downhill more in the 2nd half as the Denver D looked gas, but by and large their pass protection was crappy once again. The number of sacks they're giving up is ridiculous, and the fact that the only answer seems to be 'well, Tom Brady would have gotten rid of the ball sooner' , is scary. Some of these sacks are happening as soon as Cassel completes his drop-back.

-Ellis Hobbs played well imho. I still don't always like our scheme of playing so far off guys, but it worked yesterday and Denver imploded, and the D didn't 'break'.

-Mayo is progressing nicely. Wilfork still makes stupid, heat of the moment mistakes.

-Randy & Wes can make plays like last year, but the loss of Donte Stallworth has made the shortcomings of Gaffney more glaring.

-Cassel is missing a lot of easy reads. I'd guess some of it stems from wanting to get Randy the ball and stretch the field, but he needs to watch film of TfB pre-2007, and realize that hitting the open guy over middle for 8-15 is better than doing the Bledsoe, hoping to complete the 60 yarder 1 out of 8 times.
*Maybe BB will be in his ear, that Bledsoe's out of the league, and Tom is in the running for GOAT, so copy the right guy.

 

[muzz]

Maybe the Favre INT doesn't count. Because, you know, it's Favre. He's just having fun out there!

Of course it doesn't, Favre is God, he never throws picks, or does anything else wrong for that matter.
Can't get on a God ya know!

 

[ScottieC]

Maybe the Favre INT doesn't count. Because, you know, it's Favre. He's just having fun out there!

Dude, that's the funniest post of the week! :singing:

 

[40yrpatsfan]

I've been hopeful about Cassell, but after last night I feel less optimistic. He seems to be regressing as far as seeing the field and making good decisions. He made a good dump off to Watson and good TD throw to Moss in the ez. Other than that, he looked indecisive, even when he had plenty of time. Troubling.

On the positive side was the running game and the overall defense. Seymour and James Sanders in particular looked very good.

 

[Metaphors]

- Cassel has two fatal flaws and both are correctable. He is reluctant to throw over or through/between coverage. It is too bad since he has the arm to pull it off. Also when pressured, he stops looking downfield at the exact time when he should be either delivering the ball or throwing it away (he is going to get hit anyway so why not get rid of it). Experience can make these issues better, but we will have to wait and see how the season progresses.

- Seeing Watson get some catches and DThomas getting a good number of snaps was a serious positive last night. With the TE's more involved, someone is always going to be in a clear (meaning easy to diagnose) mismatch situation with a single linebacker or safety. They also give more options at the LOS to max protect or block on a screen or draw. I see Cassel becoming much more comfortable in the 2-TE set vs. the spread.

- The Pats are pretty much exactly where they should be after 6 games. Losing Brady was going to mean a rollercoaster ride for a while and that is exactly what happened (squeaker, solid win, horrific loss, solid win, bad loss, great win). Being 5-3 at the turn (meaning a split between STL and at IND) would put the Pats on course for a 10-11 win season. That should be enough to make the playoffs and could even win the division. With Indy, Dallas and SD (with their starting QBs mostly intact) having serious struggles, things could definitely be worse.

- The return of the big hitting defense was the single biggest outcome from the Bronco game. It is amazing how many good things happen when you hit the opposing skill players, not just trip them up or push them out of bounds. Fumbles, drops, injuries (dings, not career enders) and a top-ranked offense starts to look rank and offensive.

- People mention defensive coverage and pressure like their are completely distinct but the word "complementary" keeps coming up...and I think it is really appropriate. The Pats defense seemed totally in sync and the results speak for themselves. Much like the Jets game earlier.

- Remember when Belichick had Troy practicing at CB and we all thought he was crazy...but then CBs starting dropping like bank stocks and Troy played a big role in the secondary? Well I was reminded of this when Jordan was brought in. I couldn't figure out how he fit on the roster. In retrospect, I should have put money down that Maroney and Morris would end up on IR before Halloween.

 

[Bostonian1962]

Good points.

Cassel needs to get rid of the ball quicker but with this being his 5th start, I think he did pretty well.

Out ST looked good out there last night and made some great plays.

I think our team is finding its comfort zone and will work hard this week to correct the O-line issues.

GO PATS!!

Agree totally. Don't give up on Cassel this early. I'm stating the obvious when I say he's holding onto the ball too long, and not finding open receivers. He's young. Now, if it turns out he just doesn't have the vision, never will, and this doesn't improve, then we can discuss further.