Quick Post Game Thoughts, Game 2: Chargers at Pats

[Rob0729]

1.) Another game, another otherworldly performance by Brady. Even with him being a little shaky after he got that bad hit, he was unbelievable.

2.) People are trashing McCourty and the secondary, the real problem today was the pass rush. The Pats barely blitzed and that could be part of it, but Rivers had all day. When you give Rivers four or five seconds throwing to a big receiver like Jackson, he is going to make plays. I will chock this up to the Pats playing conservative on the blitz until the players pick up the schemes. That said, they did dial up the pressure and made the turnovers when they had to.

3.) Not happy with the injuries. Supposably Hernedez was limping badly in the lockerroom. The Pats can't afford to lose him. Hopefully he will be ok.

4.) So much for Branch not having a catch in the preseason. Perhaps he knew he was going to catch so many in the regular season that he wanted to let others get them in the preseason.

5.) Ochocinco is picking up the offense. He had a big catch early, but I saw him get open on other plays but Brady went to other receivers like Gronk on his TD catch.

6.) To think people wanted to cut Mark Anderson. Not a great player, but two games, two sacks.

7.) One of the most underrated thing about the defense in this game was how they shutdown Gates. It was obviously the gameplan.

8.) Kudos to Dan Connolly. He had a bad snap on one of the shotguns, but he hasn't made us miss Dan Koppen just yet.

9.) Gotta like the goal line defense. this is the second game in a row that the Pats made a huge goalline stand.

10>) Even with Mesko out, I thought going on it on 4th and 4 was stupid. Let Brady punt it 20 yards. It would have been a better move.

 

[upstater1]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

What about the 25% chance that Brady/Welker/Ghost gets the punt blocked and possibly returned for a TD?

 

[patsfaninpa]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition too. I thought Vincent Jackson played unreal. He saved Rivers two more int's. One on that 3RD and long that Barrett mis-judged. And, on the td that made it 28-21. He was awesome. Don't know how you can cover a guy like him. Chargers are a physical team. Their rb's ran very hard.

I thought there were 3 bad calls that hurs. a. Carter's hit can't be a penalty if they want to call it tackle football. b. Bodden illegal contact? WTF?? Revis has his hands all over wr's 15-20 yards down the field and no penalty. 7 yards and a flag. Please. C. The Tom Brady Rule. I guess it doesn't apply to Tom Brady.

Punt at their 37. Go for it at own 45. Don't know about those two decisions BB.

Our offense is ridiculously good. Hope Hernandez ok. Can live for a week or two without him. But, we need him to win big games. OL was fabulous. Receivers were good. What can you say about the offense that isn't good. TFB. Enjoy him while we have him fellow Pats fans. We will never see another like him on our team.

 

[everlong]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

I said to a friend of mine Brady is going to pooch this inside the 5 just like in 03. I was so sure of it, shocked when he passed.

They can probably get by without a few of the injured players the next two weeks but if they lose Hernandez and Dowling for as long as the Jets game that's going to be trouble.

 

[Lurks_All_Day]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

animooted for the ages, sir.

Well done!

 

[Rob0729]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition too. I thought Vincent Jackson played unreal. He saved Rivers two more int's. One on that 3RD and long that Barrett mis-judged. And, on the td that made it 28-21. He was awesome. Don't know how you can cover a guy like him. Chargers are a physical team. Their rb's ran very hard.

I thought there were 3 bad calls that hurs. a. Carter's hit can't be a penalty if they want to call it tackle football. b. Bodden illegal contact? WTF?? Revis has his hands all over wr's 15-20 yards down the field and no penalty. 7 yards and a flag. Please. C. The Tom Brady Rule. I guess it doesn't apply to Tom Brady.

Punt at their 37. Go for it at own 45. Don't know about those two decisions BB.

Our offense is ridiculously good. Hope Hernandez ok. Can live for a week or two without him. But, we need him to win big games. OL was fabulous. Receivers were good. What can you say about the offense that isn't good. TFB. Enjoy him while we have him fellow Pats fans. We will never see another like him on our team.

Unfortuantely the Carter call was right. It was a good call for a better bad rule. I hate the rule, but it is right.

Also, Revis is not going to get called for PI because there is a star syetm in football. It isn't as bad as in basketball, but it is there,

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

No enough pass rush on rivers tonight...he got his yards but also made some key mistakes

Mccourty was so-so tonight..nothing great and not horrible


Pissed when i heard about Hernandez..he was limping in 3rd but stay out there for the game...guess it was bad after the game..not good

 

[BradyMossWelker]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

I know its hard to cover Jackson but I thought McCourty was supposed a shutdown corner. Last year Pats fans were saying he was the third best corner in the league. I don't see Revis or Asomugha having that performance. As I don't see Brandon Flowers, Talib, Samuel or Hall having it either.

 

[DaBruinz]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

Unfortuantely the Carter call was right. It was a good call for a better bad rule. I hate the rule, but it is right.

Also, Revis is not going to get called for PI because there is a star syetm in football. It isn't as bad as in basketball, but it is there,

Sorry, Rob, but it was not the correct call on Carter. The call the ref announced was for leading with the crown of the helmet. Which was incorrect. Carter led with his facemask.

Also, carter was already in the air by the time that Rivers let go of the ball, there is no way to stop that..

 

[DaBruinz]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

I know its hard to cover Jackson but I thought McCourty was supposed a shutdown corner. Last year Pats fans were saying he was the third best corner in the league. I don't see Revis or Asomugha having that performance. As I don't see Brandon Flowers, Talib, Samuel or Hall having it either.

Well, if you don't think that Samuel would have that issue, you are fooling yourself. Samuel is not a pressure corner. Nor is he a shut-down corner. The problem is that you were having a 5'9, 190 lb Cb try to bumb and run with a 6'5 235 lb WR. It automatically works against McCourty to do that.

 

[Patspsycho]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

Sorry, Rob, but it was not the correct call on Carter. The call the ref announced was for leading with the crown of the helmet. Which was incorrect. Carter led with his facemask.

Also, carter was already in the air by the time that Rivers let go of the ball, there is no way to stop that..

He led with his facemask but the ref made his call based on the judgement that his "hairline" was below the point of contact, which in my opinion is a very stupid change to the the rule.

 

[captain stone]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

Their rb's ran very hard.
Too hard, in some cases. What Tolbert did to Arrington should be a PF penalty.
If the Omissioner were truly serious about player safety, then No Player should be allowed
to lead w/ the helmet, either on offense or defense. Tolbert bent his head so far down,
it was actually below his waist when he rammed it into Arrington, whom he intended to injure.
That there is no penalty against this action proves that all about which the suits in NYC care
is Offensive Player Safety, Defensive Players Be Damned. Disgraceful, but not surprising.

I thought there were 3 bad calls that hurt us.
a. Carter's hit can't be a penalty if they want to call it tackle football.
That was a textbook tackle on a QB. Complete bullshyte, but as I mentioned,
this is what the suits want - Arena League offense. Chicks dig the TD pass.

b. Bodden illegal contact? WTF?? Revis has his hands all over wr's 15-20 yards down the field
and no penalty. 7 yards and a flag. Please.
Classic over-officiating. Walt Anderson's crew sux. They should be soccer zebras instead.

c. The Tom Brady Rule. I guess it doesn't apply to Tom Brady.
During all of the highlights of all of the games on the 12-min replay on NFLN On Demand,
every time a QB was hit at/below the knees, a penalty flag was thrown. Hell, every time that
Sanchize The Gay Blade was hit at all, he looked longingly at the zebra and, what do you know,
a hankie was thrown.
Every time, that is, exc. for Brady. This also happened at least once on Monday.
The blatant disregard for Brady's health is shocking in its openness and is an obvious attempt
to eliminate the NEP from SB contention in favor of the NYJ. This is CameraGate X 1M.

Punt at their 37. Go for it at own 45. Don't know about those two decisions BB.

As Everlong noted, I also expected/hoped for a pooch punt. Going for the 1st down was foolish,
esp. given the ease at which SD was moving the ball. But once again Lady Luck spread her legs,
and the defense was given another turnover.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

I know its hard to cover Jackson but I thought McCourty was supposed a shutdown corner. Last year Pats fans were saying he was the third best corner in the league. I don't see Revis or Asomugha having that performance. As I don't see Brandon Flowers, Talib, Samuel or Hall having it either.

You musn't watch much other real football... Samuel in particular is not remotely shutdown. He's opportunistic and a ball hawk but he costs you almost as much as he gains you at times. On this team with the no name safeties he'd be a disaster, kinda like he was here for all of 2005 and early in 2006 (a year when half of his INT's came off of Fumblepepper and Rex who were really bad QB's fronting really bad offenses). He came on late that season but INT's against bad QB's elevated his mediot driven profile. Ellis Hobbs beat him out for LCB that year in camp (and he whined) and he only regained the position due to Hobbs injuring his wrist in preseason and playing RCB in a cast instead. That's why the Eagles traded for Nnamdi and added Rogers Cromartie and have toyed with the idea of moving away from Asante for the last couple of seasons... He will get his, but often ultimately at your expense.

 

[supafly]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

As Everlong noted, I also expected/hoped for a pooch punt. Going for the 1st down was foolish,
esp. given the ease at which SD was moving the ball. But once again Lady Luck spread her legs,
and the defense was given another turnover.

Actually Captain, this is exactly why I think Belichick did it, not that I mean to nit-pick your statement, b/c I think it's certainly fair and natural to question the calls in those instances. I definitely do too.

I think that SD was indeed moving the ball with extreme ease, as you say, and that we needed to take a shot to keep the drive moving, field position be damned. We've seen him do this before under this scenario, most recently in the Indy game.

Put it this way, I certainly don't buy into the notion that it was done due to the Mesko injury, as BB said. If that were the case, they could have had Brady pooch-punt it, or even Gostkowski drop a punt 35-40 yards for much better field position. Obviously we'll likely never know the true answer, but I would tend to believe that the SD offense moving the ball at ease had a lot more to do with it at the time than Mesko's injury---but who knows?

 

[Froob]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

I love dmac but he's been bad. #15 nearly burned him bad for a long bomb but dropped it. And he left v jax wide open in the endzone. Hope he gets it together. Size isn't the sole reason hes been bad.

 

[captain stone]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

Actually Captain, this is exactly why I think Belichick did it, not that I mean to nit-pick your statement, b/c I think it's certainly fair and natural to question the calls in those instances. I definitely do too.

I think that SD was indeed moving the ball with extreme ease, as you say, and that we needed to take a shot to keep the drive moving, field position be damned. We've seen him do this before under this scenario, most recently in the Indy game.

Put it this way, I certainly don't buy into the notion that it was done due to the Mesko injury, as BB said. If that were the case, they could have had Brady pooch-punt it, or even Gostkowski drop a punt 35-40 yards for much better field position. Obviously we'll likely never know the true answer, but I would tend to believe that the SD offense moving the ball at ease had a lot more to do with it at the time than Mesko's injury---but who knows?

Fair point. Heck, if the play worked, I prob. would've called it brilliant.

I wonder how covered Gronk was at that moment. It would seem that he'd be unstoppable
running 5 yards & simply turning around. Ben Coates made a living doing exactly that.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

Fair point. Heck, if the play worked, I prob. would've called it brilliant.

I wonder how covered Gronk was at that moment. It would seem that he'd be unstoppable
running 5 yards & simply turning around. Ben Coates made a living doing exactly that.

If your body can take the beating, there are a lot of catches and a lot of money to be made as a TE doing 5-8 yard curls.

 

[patfanken]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

Fair point. Heck, if the play worked, I prob. would've called it brilliant.

I wonder how covered Gronk was at that moment. It would seem that he'd be unstoppable
running 5 yards & simply turning around. Ben Coates made a living doing exactly that.

In the replay they showed from behind the QB, you can clearly see Gronk being tackled as the ball is being thrown to Branch who was being hit in the head as he made his cut for the ball. (I should admit that I thought the hit on Branch was incidental and I would have not called a penalty, but given what they called on Boddin, I thought I'd mention it)

 

[ivanvamp]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

What about the 25% chance that Brady/Welker/Ghost gets the punt blocked and possibly returned for a TD?

Just curious how you arrived at that figure of 25%. Thanks in advance.

 

[captain stone]

Re: Quick Post Game Thoughts

In the replay they showed from behind the QB, you can clearly see Gronk being tackled as the ball is being thrown to Branch who was being hit in the head as he made his cut for the ball. (I should admit that I thought the hit on Branch was incidental and I would have not called a penalty, but given what they called on Boddin, I thought I'd mention it)

Just finished re-watching the entire sequence, but didn't see a behind-the-QB view of the 4th-down play, so I can't comment on Gronk.

A couple of things I did see, however:

- Hernandez was clearly hurting during that series. B & T should've scrapped the hurry-up for at least one down after his last catch so that he could've been removed in favor of another WR or RB or TE. He was doing them no good being on the field afterwards.

- That dirty SOB Garay again tries to injure Brady by diving at his knees while Brady is going backwards but still in the pocket, and yet again not one hankie is thrown. Absolutely feckin disgraceful. To make matters worse, Light is called for a ticky-tack holding penalty on the very same play. Unfeckinbelievable. Mankins never should've let Connolly try to handle Garay one-on-one.

- Terrible spot by the zebras after Welker's screen pass on 2nd down. The ball was placed almost a full yard farther behind where he landed. What was 3rd/4 should've been 3rd/3, and if Bill knew that he was going on 4th down, then a couple of well-designed running plays prob. would've done the job.

- Just as the ball was coming to Branch, Jammer literally slaps him right in the facemask. He doesn't grab it,
but he delivers a blow to the head regardless.

- Nice tackle by Edds on Tolbert to prevent him from gaining another 1st down a couple of plays later. Tolbert then proceeds to fumble on 2nd/4. Justice is served.

- Finally, Walt Anderson's crew sux criminally bad. I hope I never, ever see them again, for Brady's sake.