Pats/Cowboys Thoughts

[Ochmed Jones]

A couple of thoughts.

It looked like the Pats needed a series or three to reconfigure/reallign the offense after the injury to Watson. But once McDaniel figured it out, the offense was lights out for the rest of the game. Let's hope Big Ben is not out too long.

I think Dallas showed every team that we face for the rest of the year that the middle of our defense is old and slow (But don't even think about callig them soft.) The Bruschi, Seau and Harrison's need some downs off. That means guys like Alexander and Merriweather need some meaningful snaps per game through the rest of the year.

As sad as this may sound, I think Miami was looking ahead at us and got steam rolled by Cleveland. I know we struggle down there in the heat, but I am hoping we focus real hard on Maimi or they could surprise us!

 

[scout]

Those Brady stats are incredible. Makes you wonder further, why a coach wouldn't go for it from the four on 4th down. Question; was that the first time this year that we have been behind? Because, if we win the coin flip its like an automatic score.

 

[Mainefan]

2) Randy Moss's presence has taken this team from good to great.

Randy has been great, but I think the team would be almost as good without him. Welker is fantastic, Stallworth is excellent, Watson has been very good, Faulk is always reliable, even Kyle Brady has turned out to have better hands than advertised. If any one of our WRs is injured, we'll be just fine--and having Troy and Chad as possible standins will diminish the damage.

 

[Ring 6]

i may get yelled at for saying this but i will give my 2 cents anyway-

i think our defense still needs improvement. Sure we held the cowboys to 20 pts but our offense is really carrying us by sustaining long drives and scoring points making the opposing teams play from behind and keeping our D fresh. We held the ball for 38mins.
if we had last yrs offense with this defense we could be in more trouble.

I think you have to look at the defense in the context of the offense.
If we had this years offense last year, the D would have allowed more points.
If you have last years offense this year, the D would be allowing fewer points.

You just cannot say the D we played, including scheme, personell, and level of play would have been the same if we were only scoring 21 points all day.

By the way, after the TD that put them ahead, look at what the D did. (its listed above)

 

[Ring 6]

I know. NE's sacks are very respectable. I just don't think they get decent pressure when they are *not* getting sacks.

For instance, would you say that Dallas got better pressure against NE than NE did against Dallas? I would. But sacks were roughly the same.

I think the pressure was very equal on bith sides. (And they blitzed all day long)
The extra pressure you would like to see wasnt there because we didnt blitz so much, which also meant the 250+ WR yards we had on offense werent matched by the Cowboys.

 

[cstjohn17]

Randy has been great, but I think the team would be almost as good without him. Welker is fantastic, Stallworth is excellent, Watson has been very good, Faulk is always reliable, even Kyle Brady has turned out to have better hands than advertised. If any one of our WRs is injured, we'll be just fine--and having Troy and Chad as possible standins will diminish the damage.

If you asked me last year how much difference a single WR could make on an offense I would have said not much. Take a WR like Stallworth, very fast, productive, high yards per catch but not a game changer.

I was dead wrong, I understood that the CBs may have to back off and Safeties would have to stay a little deeper but I underestimated the impact of a true #1 WR.

Just having Moss on the field changes game plans and allows the QB to make easier reads on what the defense is doing. If he has a Safety over the top he is double covered and someone underneath or on the far side is in 1:1, if the Safety stays in the middle he is single covered and he gets the ball.

The Patriots offense would have been good but not excellent. The are just like Indy in the fact that once the offense starts to score it puts enormous pressure on the opponents to keep up. Teams may abandon the run and become one dimensional or force passes into tight coverage. I grew up in Edmonton and the Oilers from the 80s did the same thing, their offense truly was their best defense.

Another thing I have noticed on very good offenses is that the WRs don't drop passes they should catch. Look and Wayne or Harrison, from the Patriots look at Branch/Givens during their playoff runs. When they are winning the ball never hits the ground, 3rd downs are converted. The opposite is true for middle of the road teams, balls are dropped, drives stall and it just spirals down hill.

 

[jaytyme]

I think you have to look at the defense in the context of the offense.
If we had this years offense last year, the D would have allowed more points.
If you have last years offense this year, the D would be allowing fewer points.

You just cannot say the D we played, including scheme, personell, and level of play would have been the same if we were only scoring 21 points all day.

By the way, after the TD that put them ahead, look at what the D did. (its listed above)

We did what we planned to do. we contained romo and tried to make him outgun brady. were it not for the strip-sack TD return, we would never have been behind in the second half

What we lacked on D yesterday, (6.5/rush and slow developing receptions over the middle) can be corrected with the return of seymour. his return will do the following:

1.) create more push and less time for opposing QB's
2.) shore up the run D
3.) occupy a TE or RB to double Seymour (not necessary for Green)
4.) allow us to rotate 4 starting caliber linemen (fresher)