Post your thoughts on the game

[CheerforTom]

I figure it'll be nice to have a spot where we can all put down things we felt about the game. Mine:

1) Cassel played his best game of the season. He was solid in the pocket for the most part and made very good throws. This was the first time all season where I felt confident (as opposed to unsure) that our passing game would get the job done.

2) The pressure created by the front seven was HUGE. Bulger was definitely shellshocked by the end of the third quarter; if anyone was in the backfield at all his passes simply were not good. A big part of this was the success in getting to him, but extra credit goes to Big Sey for waxing him even when he got a successful pass off. Stuff like that led to him being scared, plain and simple. It's been a while since I've seen that happen to a foe of the Pats.

3) Wheatley seemed to do well coming in for Hobbs. I didn't hear his name called after coming in which is an achievement for a guy replacing the #1 corner. Anyone have thoughts on that?

4) The O-line did much better this game. That combined with Cassel moving better in the pocket and a healthy amount of rollouts led to a much more successful passing attack.

5) Our single biggest problem right now is our vulnerability to the deep ball. We can't keep consistently giving up 40+ yard passing plays and expect to win games. In the past I used to watch a QB throw deep against us and hope it would be picked off; now I just cringe.

 

[Patslifer]

Cassel did a good job today. Still needs to improve, but he is on the right track.

We have no deep passing game, and it hurts us.

The D did pretty good, but the inability to defend the deep ball, or get off the field in long 3rd down situations (at times) will hurt us if me make the postseason.

I don't think we have a playoff caliber D this year.

 

[Gainzo]

The Pats did what they needed to do.

I want to give a big shout out to the crowd today. They were standing on every 3rd down and making noise.

I'm one of the people who sold my season tickets this year and it seems like the people buying those tickets are doing a great job.

Even the red seats were full early in the 4th quarter!

 

[MoLewisrocks]

We have a deep passing game when we pass protect AND Randy hangs they on to the ball.

We have no running game with Faulk (who can't be the workhorse indefinitely or it will hurt us in other areas and risk him late in the season) and Benny because this OL can't multi task. They were much better this week on pass protection, but MIA as run blockers. We can't be one dimentional and expect to just keep eeking out wins. Hope one of Morris or Jordan is back soon but from what we're hearing it isn't going to be any time real soon. Hopefully Neal will work his way fully back soon too.

But within the AFC through week 7 there is only one team with a playoff caliber D and they have such a one dimentional O so who knows how they will end up.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I don't think we have a playoff caliber D this year.

Not at the moment but they can and I think they will improve towards the end of the year, I think the potential is there to be a top 5 D before the year is out.

Cassel is obviously getting better, his pocket presence was much better although he seemed to fall back to some old habits in the second half. Still, good to see improvement.

The D looked better at times but had some breakdowns, they have to stiop the breakdowns and play better as a unit.

Hopefully we get Lamont and Sammy back to keep our offense more balanced but it was good to see Cassel lead a comeback win.

Overall, an encouraging game. IMO

 

[Patslifer]

Not at the moment but they can and I think they will improve towards the end of the year, I think the potential is there to be a top 5 D before the year is out.

Cassel is obviously getting better, his pocket presence was much better although he seemed to fall back to some old habits in the second half. Still, good to see improvement.

The D looked better at times but had some breakdowns, they have to stiop the breakdowns and play better as a unit.

Hopefully we get Lamont and Sammy back to keep our offense more balanced but it was good to see Cassel lead a comeback win.

Overall, an encouraging game. IMO

Whats frustrating is the inability for the d to get off the field on third and longs. I'm sure someone will post some stats saying otherwise, but, to me, it seems like for the last few years, the d has had trouble getting off the field in long passing situations. It seems like our opponents are able to convert 3 and 12's and 3rd and 10 much to often through the air.

 

[mgteich]

DEFENSIVE BACKS
Wilhite, Richardson, and Wheatley are all getting game experience that should help us late in the year. Add a healthy Hobbs, O'Neal and Lew Sanders and we are OK at corner. Meriweather and Sanders can hold their own at safety. Spann is the #9 defensive back. Going into the season, we need a starting CB, a starting nickel, and some backup who can start in the future. Apparently, we have all of that.

OFFENSE
Cassel is getting game experience that should help us late in the year. He is improving in each game, especially in his reads. Moss, Welker and Faulk are awesome (but we knew that). The offensive line is better with Yates and Kaczur on the bench or inactive.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Forgot to add, two interceptions were'nt really Cassel's fault, one tipped and one Welker fell down.

 

[Rob0729]

1.) The Patriots defense has always been predicated on the play of the front seven and they proved it again today. When they were agressive and pressured Bulger even if they didn't get close to him, the defense held up. When it didn't, it went wrong (a few times horribly wrong).
2.) I think the Pats actually outplayed the Rams more than the score indicated. The Rams got a few lucky breaks, a tipped ball interception and reception and an interception because Welker tripped. A few dropped passes could have really helped to run up the score. Not playing the homer excuse game, but the Pats could have won this game by 2 TDs if they sharpened it up a bit.
3.) The Fox announcers were the worst I have ever seen. Decided not to go to the game because I limit myself to no more than 4 a year now and I figured before the season that this was a must miss, but if I knew these two bozos were calling it I would have went to the game. Now we know what fans of the rest of the league that aren't playing in a marquee game get week in and week out. If Brady was playing, it would have been enough to get a better broadcast team. Add the fact that there were HD problems early in the game (missed the rushing TD all together), it was a miserable viewing experience.
4.) I think Cassel is maturing as passer. He has more of a pocket prescense and a comand of the offense. He led a game winning TD drive at the end of the game and was a huge reason the Pats one. Few expected that a few weeks ago.

I'll probably have more later, but this is it for now.

 

[mgcolby]

- O-Line protected better, and I'm not sure if the run blocking was as bad as it seemed. I think Faulk missed a couple of holes. But they surely didn't abuse Clifton as mush as the Scientist believed they would. They attacked him several times, especially early without a whole lot of success.

- Moss needs to pull his head out of his ass. Anyone who wants to complain about the lack of the deep ball should really start to focus on the man who can't raise his hands above his chest. It is getting old fast, yeah he had some big catches across the middle, but he needs to be more aggressive for some of those "deep balls" especially the ones in the end zone. He is now our most talented offensive player he needs to step up.

- Welker had some uncharacteristic drops today, hopefully he returns to form next week.

- Mike Wright was very good inside today, getting consistent penetration/pressure, he didn't always seem to make it to the QB, but he was a big factor in setting up the Edge rushers to be one on one on the outside.

- The defense is giving up the big play, but what makes it even more frustrating is that they are in position to make the play, but simply do not. Except the Avery TD pass today, Sanders blew the coverage. Hopefully this starts to change, but overall the D played well enough to win.

- Cassel is really improving, I wish he would have hung out in the pocket a little longer on a couple of those runs today - but then again we don't see what he sees downfield. His receivers let him down today, yet he never showed any major frustration with it. That is a sign of maturity and it was impressive to see. We can win with this guy! We are in a great position to win this division and a bye. I'm not getting ahead of myself, I realize we have a long way to go. But earlier this week their were folks who truly beleived that a bye was a pipe dream and that is simply not the case.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I figure it'll be nice to have a spot where we can all put down things we felt about the game. Mine:

1) Cassel played his best game of the season. He was solid in the pocket for the most part and made very good throws. This was the first time all season where I felt confident (as opposed to unsure) that our passing game would get the job done.

2) The pressure created by the front seven was HUGE. Bulger was definitely shellshocked by the end of the third quarter; if anyone was in the backfield at all his passes simply were not good. A big part of this was the success in getting to him, but extra credit goes to Big Sey for waxing him even when he got a successful pass off. Stuff like that led to him being scared, plain and simple. It's been a while since I've seen that happen to a foe of the Pats.

3) Wheatley seemed to do well coming in for Hobbs. I didn't hear his name called after coming in which is an achievement for a guy replacing the #1 corner. Anyone have thoughts on that?

4) The O-line did much better this game. That combined with Cassel moving better in the pocket and a healthy amount of rollouts led to a much more successful passing attack.

5) Our single biggest problem right now is our vulnerability to the deep ball. We can't keep consistently giving up 40+ yard passing plays and expect to win games. In the past I used to watch a QB throw deep against us and hope it would be picked off; now I just cringe.

I think you're right on target, though 1 & 4 are really the same thing. As I've said right from the beginning of the season, I've found it tough to primarilly blame Cassell for the majority of sacks. It's very difficult for any QB to do well in the environment he played in for many games - and now we're seeing him play much better now that the OL is coming together.

No doubt they need to work harder without Brady's awsome pocket presence - but they simply have no choice.

This is about as well as we could expect them to do given the injuries and circumstances - the two losses were BAD losses with the team playing just embarassingly awful, but I think the humiliation of those games really helped pull the team together as well.

 

[maryjane]

Pats played OK against a mediocre team. Playing that way against good teams will result in embarassing losses.

I think they get slaughtered against a good team.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

Mike Vrabel has been invisible all season long. He is very slow off the line of scrimmage when rushing the passer. I think they need to really consider bringing in some fresh legs like Crable on third downs to replace Vrabel. The same can be said about Bruschi.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

It was great to get a win. A loss would have been crushing as I felt we thoroughly outplayed the Rams and they caught some huge breaks. The 2nd pick was thanks to Welker slipping down, the drops were pretty infuriating, the punt that Washington barely missed downing inside the 5. But the team prevailed.

I've been giving the opposing DB's more credit than getting on Moss for not making the big catches but it's getting to the point where he eventually HAS to start coming down with these tough grabs. We will need it in the bigger games.

My tvants was freezing late in the game so I didn't see the portion where Hobbs was injured.... anyone have a good look at Wheatley? Would like to hear your thoughts.

As many have said, this was Cassel's best game. Converted some 3rd and long's, and led a 4th quarter comeback. Both were things skeptics said he couldn't do for us but he's doing them. And before I say it, I'm NOT comparing him to anyone okay, but some times in that pocket he looked poised and patient like the guy he is replacing. He's made major progress and if this continues, as it should, BB once again looks like a genius not bringing in a Vet QB. Good job by the Oline as well, which goes hand in hand with that pocket poise.

I said in the Colts game thread, the one thing that disappointed me was BJE only getting 9 rushes. And many of those were in short yardage situations where it's fairly obvious what we want to do. Let the guy run the ball. Especially when we're facing the Colts' weak run defense, which I'm assuming will be without Morris and Jordan. Cassel had 33 pass attempts, 4 rushes if you take away the 3 kneels, so he dropped back 37 times. Faulk and BJE combined for 22 carries. That's a 37:22 ratio. I'm confident the approach will be different for the Colts defense but in general you like to see more balance.

Great game from the front 7. Big Sey is back! The sack by Adalius turned it around for our defense today. Let's hope the pressure continues.

 

[Brady to Brown]

- O-Line protected better, and I'm not sure if the run blocking was as bad as it seemed. I think Faulk missed a couple of holes. But they surely didn't abuse Clifton as mush as the Scientist believed they would. They attacked him several times, especially early without a whole lot of success.

- Moss needs to pull his head out of his ass. Anyone who wants to complain about the lack of the deep ball should really start to focus on the man who can't raise his hands above his chest. It is getting old fast, yeah he had some big catches across the middle, but he needs to be more aggressive for some of those "deep balls" especially the ones in the end zone. He is now our most talented offensive player he needs to step up.

- Welker had some uncharacteristic drops today, hopefully he returns to form next week.

- Mike Wright was very good inside today, getting consistent penetration/pressure, he didn't always seem to make it to the QB, but he was a big factor in setting up the Edge rushers to be one on one on the outside.

- The defense is giving up the big play, but what makes it even more frustrating is that they are in position to make the play, but simply do not. Except the Avery TD pass today, Sanders blew the coverage. Hopefully this starts to change, but overall the D played well enough to win.

- Cassel is really improving, I wish he would have hung out in the pocket a little longer on a couple of those runs today - but then again we don't see what he sees downfield. His receivers let him down today, yet he never showed any major frustration with it. That is a sign of maturity and it was impressive to see. We can win with this guy! We are in a great position to win this division and a bye. I'm not getting ahead of myself, I realize we have a long way to go. But earlier this week their were folks who truly beleived that a bye was a pipe dream and that is simply not the case.

Great point about Cassel's maturity. He had every right to get pi$$ed off several times. Instead he acted like # 12. He played better today than he did last week IMO. This kid can write his own price over the next 3 months.

 

[mcgov1]

Yates, Bruschi and Hobbs (not his return ability) are severe weakness. They ran right at Teddy. He was a great player but now is a weakness. Seymour, Thomas and Faulk were immense

 

[MassPats38]

Pats played OK against a mediocre team. Playing that way against good teams will result in embarassing losses.

I think they get slaughtered against a good team.

Sure. The mediocre team coming off consecutive wins against the 6-2 Redskins and the 5-3 Cowboys. Any thoughts on the concept that a team may be more than its record and sometimes teams sync after the start of the season? What exactly are the good teams at this point in your opinion?

 

[Rob0729]

Mike Vrabel has been invisible all season long. He is very slow off the line of scrimmage when rushing the passer. I think they need to really consider bringing in some fresh legs like Crable on third downs to replace Vrabel. The same can be said about Bruschi.

If the Pats felt that there was a possibilty Crable was better than Vrabel even in certain situations, don't you think they would at least activate the guy during games? Vrabel isn't having a stellar year, but you might be overstating that. He has put pressure on the QB in some of the games eventhough he isn't getting to the QB other than the opening game.

 

[Horace's Ivories]

- - Moss needs to pull his head out of his ass. Anyone who wants to complain about the lack of the deep ball should really start to focus on the man who can't raise his hands above his chest. It is getting old fast, yeah he had some big catches across the middle, but he needs to be more aggressive for some of those "deep balls" especially the ones in the end zone. He is now our most talented offensive player he needs to step up..

According to Kevin Faulks postgame quote. He was told by Randy not to extend the hands and just let the ball land in the breadbasket. This seems like a decent approach to prevent telegraphing to the defender that the pass is almost there. Who knows...

 

[Deus Irae]

According to Kevin Faulks postgame quote. He was told by Randy not to extend the hands and just let the ball land in the breadbasket. This seems like a decent approach to prevent telegraphing to the defender that the pass is almost there. Who knows...

Well, I'd say that the past couple of weeks should have Moss re-evaluating that position.