Rants and raves while spotlighting Donald Thomas ...

[woolster22]

Rewatching the game, the kids looked good. Was watching a crap feed this afternoon, but have my dvr giving me heart attacks as we speak.

First drive, looked great. Handles dareus no problem. We pick up a first behind him pulling. Good pass pro, swapping men with solder on the bomb to gronk. Td comes over his back (nice run).

Second drive, Thomas manhandled dareus as Ridley slips by for eight. Then our genius oc calls a back shoulder fade on third and two...hey coach, wtf?

Third drive, more great pass pro, solder is the one having trouble passing off. Looks like he whiffs on cut on boldens ten yard sprint outside to the left to end the first. Again, great job handling the exchange with solder in pass pro. Seems the bills are stunting Anderson/dareus every drop back. How about some st love for Cole? Great play to trap buffalo on their own one.

On boldens huge run after the pick he does a great job getting to the second level sealing off 42 to break the run big instead of a short gain for a couple. Solid pass pro follows. Again makes a great block on the second level, solder missed Williams on a cut and he blows up golden in the backfield. Lloyd speed one off his helmet...and wide right!

Cunningham looks good?!

Fifth drive, more good pass pro and gronk must not have wiped the ky off his hands before hitting the field...great coverage by Chung on the ensuing td, if he turns his head to find the ball maybe he makes the play. Either way, great pass, great catch.

Sixth, pp looks good. Had his way on Ridley first run with help from solder, he and Wendell dominate on the next run to get Ridley to the second level. Again, clears his man out of the play on Ridley s run. Vollmer gets beat, Thomas runs into Williams and vereen his him. Abortion. Gets away with a good after being beat on the next screen. Follows up by doing a great job setting the point in the pocket. Gets beat again after miscommunication with vollmer and Brady, strange play. Follows up by pancaking his man on the following run. This kid can run block. More great meat moving on the awful third down spot. Looked like a back up here, but again, great run blocking. Even the announcers suffered why they didn't go for it. Really gost? There are plenty of soccer players out there that I'm sure would love your pay check...

Cj spiller, holy ****. Hey Chung, nice angle.

Thomas needs to get nasty and play to whistle. Commits to helping solder when the center gets beat. Brady still had decent time though. Wes. Dude...How did you confuse gronks ky infused catcher mits as your own? And see a shrink, you looked nuts after that on the sideline.


Bills from the eight...spikes throws an ol and makes the stop. Follows that up with the forced fumble. Dude came to play.

Guess who we run behind from our ez? My boy Thomas. Gets meat moving and Ridley gets nine. More of the save on second. Granted, solder was helping with a double on both plays.

Start of second, more good pass pro, swapping with center this time. Got great push on boldens yard game, nobody else did though. Owned dareus again on the following play, buying Brady time to let gronk drop one. Then gets beat swapping to Anderson but recovers enough to push him across Brady's face.

Tracy white runs down Jackson from behind? Que? Love the d, love and Vince callinrg out while everyone else float around...spikes tips a would be big play to Chandler. Lucky. Jackson. Spikes going after lineman. Chung, dude. Gregory, even worse, maybe. Wtf? You two are getting picked on.

Thomas pancakes his man while pass blocking. He and the center blow up the left side on a run to the rg. Zone right, turns his hips back against his motion, and sets and edge, Bolden picks up ten plus. Ridley off his butt after he dominates again. Pulls on a play fake and makes his block, gronk drops another td. Pancakes his man on Ridley short gain. Owns Anderson on the swap, buys Brady time (he gets pushed back a yard father and Brady can't escape) to find woody for the td.

Kids looks good for all the nature he had been receiving, but I thought he looked good in pre season too.

If fitz didn't suck, McCourty would have been torched a few times instead of a few picks. Chung and Gregory should take notes in how to defend Chandler, the rookie gets it...holy punt batman. Damn it Wilson, make a play to get the team off the field, then hold on point coverage...

Thomas starting to assert his will. Gets pushed back but keeps his man from making the play on the next run. Again, chips his man, picks up and pages back the back side of the stunt and dominates him. Clears his man well out of the play. Then moves meat and seals the second level. Announcers noting Thomas doing a good job, but lacks the nastiness of mankins. Sure enough, Thomas gets rag dolled, then Brady almost gets his knee blown out by the perp. Thomas gets pushed back, but slides his man to the right allowing Brady to sneak in for the rare td. Bb looks old. "**** you *****es." I love tb. Gost didn't miss the ep?

Hey Chung, you suck. Nink makes a great play, not because he made the sack, but because he sacked fitz into Glenn, who had been eating Jones's lunch all day. Chung gets lucky when fitz can't hit a wide open Jones. Chung sucks again, not quite as bad as the bills punter though lol.

Again, Thomas gets movement and seals the safety, if Ridley broke it he was gone. Bills leaving him alone on pass plays now...gets movement and enough of a blazing safety to pop a ten yard gain or so, instead of a loss. Pulls on a play fake and gronk is wide open (second time today, this time gronk catches it).

Mr Jackson, this is Mr spikes...

Thomas, seals his man and Ridley rips off ten plus off his butt. Thomas, solder, Wendell dominate, and allow the cut back for ten or so. Next play, Thomas engages two before solder chips in on one. Bolden rips off a huge gain behind them. Finally Josh goes back to the left for the td. Holy road grading goodness on the run setting up the td.

Vince. Ouch. Medic! Again, better an and that's a td. Spikes...wow, probably getting a fine though.

Nice seal by Thomas, Bolden gets six. Fells leaves Bolden one on one with and and Bolden drives him four yards back for the score. Wow.

Is the ball boy "special?" Drunk? Both?

Fitz misses an open Johnson. Gregory sucks again. Almost doesn't count deirdorf. Fitz bails out Chung again, Johnson was wide open behind the coverage. Wilson, McCourty, white all get burned in the last td.

Too bad spikes hates contact...lights somebody up on the inside kick. Thomas continues to own in the run game. Needs to finish plays and get nasty. He has the ability, just needs the mean streak. Lol, gumble "Mario Williams, where has he been today?"

Lol at that pick. Ridley tried to fumble...dog. house.

Thomas looked darn good. A few bad plays, but just as many pancakes. This kid has some serious potential. Yeah him to play through the whistle and get a little nasty...waters who?

That said, safeties looked terrible. McCourty should have given up a few td s, not two picks.

 

[Joker]

Like most Pats fans, I was worried about Thomas starting today and no mankins...it just proves ONCE AGAIN, this guy, Scarnecchia is the BEST O LINE COACH in the NFL...he consistently makes chicken salad out of chicken sheeit...frankly, I was stunned at how well the O line played in the 2nd half

 

[woolster22]

Like most Pats fans, I was worried about Thomas starting today and no mankins...it just proves ONCE AGAIN, this guy, Scarnecchia is the BEST O LINE COACH in the NFL...he consistently makes chicken salad out of chicken sheeit...frankly, I was stunned at how well the O line played in the 2nd half

People doubted Thomas all week. I thought he looked great in pre season and wasn't too worried. His downfall in my eyes is the lack of aggression in finishing out a play. He makes his block and that's that. A few times he was standing around watching instead of continuing to maul another poor sob.

 

[doesntmatter1]

I too thought thomas would do fine. I honestly feel a healthy mankins wouldn't have done better(im not the biggest mankins fan). Also, i am extremely happy that we won, but i don't feel like this was a statement game or whatever. If we didn't have all of those miscues in the beginning we could've won like 70-20. The Bills were simply outclassed everywhere and there is no excuse for allowing us to run for over 200 yards. The Bills just suck.

I got to say it, if BJGE was running for us there would be no way he racks up anywhere close to the the yards bolden and ridley got. His lack of explosion would've made it impossible.

Wilfork's hit was almost as nasty as the kyle love gif floating around. That needs to be on highlights reels everywhere. Spikes was hitting hard. And Tavon Wilson is a ninja out there. I notice everyone out there(good and bad) but him. Its weird because he is always around the ball. Just makes plays without celebrating and just vanishes.

 

[DarrylS]

Scarnecchia is the man.. or at least until some team sacks Brady more than once in a game.. Solder is coming to his own, however do not discount the play of Fells...

The play of the safeties was concerning, McCourty looked better..

Bolden is my new binkie, replacing BJGE.. something about UDFA's that make an impact, brings a tingle to my fanaticism...

 

[upstater1]

Thomas has a ton of ability, always has. He won a starting job outright in his first rookie camp precisely because he was punching people out on the line of scrimmage. some longtime NFL defenders were saying his forearms and hands come at you like hams and deliver a blow. But, he never played football in high school. He learned by playing 3 years of college. one year as a walk-on. He was cut because he was incredibly raw and didn't have a grasp of pass protection (at UConn, they never threw the ball, they ran, ran, ran and Donald Brown got to 2,000 yards behind Thomas).

Another aspect of this guy is that he was a very smart excellent student at UConn who was playing pickup games with the basketball team as a freshman when Darius Butler (also a good basketball player) noticed him, and told the football coach about him. They cajoled Thomas to come out for football, and he finally gave it a shot. Played for 3 years, graduated, and found himself starting on an NFL team in rookie camp.

He is pretty cerebral. His high school didn't even have a football team.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

I watched Thomas alot in this game and thought he was dominant. Much better than at any time he was at RG. I wonder if he's better suited to LG? If so, I wonder if Makins is versatile enough to slide on over to RG?

 

[PatsFan2]

Wow seems like we found a poor mans Brian Waters...the timing couldn't have been better...Great work Dante Scar.

 

[mgteich]

Yes, Thomas is a much better LG than a RG.

Mankins is also a much better LG than a RG. I wouldn't take an all-pro LG and move him to an unfamiliar spot at RG. IMHO, Mankins is not an all-pro RG. IMHO, Mankins would be better at LT than at RG.

Curiously our issue is at OT, not at OG. We are just fine at OT with Solder and Vollmer (when he's healthy). Cannon seems better suited to being developed to be a starter at RG, but for the second year he is needed as a backup OT. IMHO, we are short a backup OT. Cannon is a fine #4 OT while developing at RG.

C: Wendell, McDonald/Tennant
LT: Solder, ????
RT: Vollmer, Thomas, Cannon
RG: Connolly, Cannon
LG: Mankins, Thomas

I watched Thomas alot in this game and thought he was dominant. Much better than at any time he was at RG. I wonder if he's better suited to LG? If so, I wonder if Makins is versatile enough to slide on over to RG?

 

[naF staP]

I thought he looked great yesterday!! I also thought Fells looked great at TE, made some great blocks!

 

[neuronet]

Then our genius oc calls a back shoulder fade on third and two...hey coach, wtf?

Yes, that had me worried. Empty backfield on 3rd and two, so the D has no uncertainty about what we are doing, with a risky play against an excellent corner. Though in JD's defense, it was probably up to Brady which route to target.

Maybe BB took over play calling in the second half. :rocker: