Re: The offficial Patriots Chargers POST game thread.
My reactions.
And amazing that the Post Game thread from a 4pm game is on page two. That many topics other than the game? Wow.
QB
Again, shockingly accurate. Something that was really fun to see was the 9-second 20-yard drive without a timeout to get in field goal range at the end of the half. How can you fake to the inside with five seconds left and no timeouts and get the defense to bite? Apparently your jedi mind tricks work on me. One or two plays Brady held the ball too long. In one early play, a big rusher came right up the middle; Woody blocked him in the belly, holding him up for a second. He ovewhelmed Woodhead and came straight into Brady. Brady probably could have released when Danny gave him the extra second, since he was directly in Brady's line of sight. A great season is 4000 yards passing. Brady must be on pace for about 7000 yards through two games. He'll hit 4000 if he averages 200 a game from here out. Lots of no-huddle offense, especially against the bigger defense.
RB
Sort of hoping BJGE wouldn't run it straight in with time running out, but will always take the seven points. That last ~18 yard run certainly improved the running stats a bit, and should make the Red Zone run more of a threat. Before that BJGE struggled a bit. I really like the look of Ridley, have all pre-season although I wasn't a big fan of drafting him. I'd love to see more of him in games. I have to wait for another angle in the replays to see what Woodhead did. You just cannot see the guy in play. I thought he got nailed on the TD; you just see bodies flying where he was. Then in the replay you see him duck out, making everyone miss. Based on his success, can a four-foot RB be far behind?
WR
Branch continues to make it look easy. He just gets open. I am surprised at how well he is contributing right now. While Belichick has adapted a lot of his positions - from 5-9" 4.30 speed CB's to big 6-1 guys; from 6-5 OLB's to 6-1 guys; from two-gapping hole-pluggers to penetrating DT's; from 6-3 agile OT's to 6-7 guys; from 300 pound pulling guards to 350 pound monsters -his preferred WR is still the slippery 5-8" guy.
TE
A huge competitive advantage here. G1 can block the DE and then release, then run over the safety. Hernandez can get open on any safety. Let's hope Hernandez isn't out - the reports of a significant limp in the locker room are troubling. If he is, and Sea Bass is back, I wonder if we will see Solder catch a pass. Lining up G1, G2, and Solder is sort of unfair. G1 did get run over once in pass protection by Philips. When Philips limped off it really helped the protection. I didn't even notice Barnes.
OL
Tremendous protection. Unfair protection. Brady completely reset on a couple plays. Unlike last week, the receivers adapted their routes when covered and the line had picked everyone up. They struggled to open good holes against the 3-4. For most of the game the running game was stuffed, forcing the ball into Brady's hands. If I was playing the Patriots, I'd almost encourage the defense to give up three or four yards on every running play, to take the ball away from Brady. Hollow victory when you take away the Patriots running game.
DL
OK, I'll assume part of this was the no-Gates plan. Pretty limited pressure. It looked like Rivers was hit less than Henne last week. Anderson had the nice last-drive sack, but he seems to offer the exact pass rush each play: Hard first three steps, pause, hard three steps. Not much swimming, ripping, spinning. Interesting that Haynesworth is not starting. Love, I think, this week, and Wright last week. Hopefully that will come. Very good goal-line defense with three DT's. Several three-men-down looks later in the game. Haynesworth seems far more dominant in run defense than pass defense - he and Wilfork really stop up the line, but are not generating much inside rush yet. BIG smile on the interception. And he could go all - oops, out of gas.
LB
Again, assume a big part of the plan was negating Gates. Watching the game, not terribly noticeable until the end, and maybe because they were shutting down their guys and no need to focus the camera. Mayo finally made one big play, a Bruschi type of play, when the SD running back inexplicably stopped running forward and made a U-turn and dropped the ball. Mayo launched himself over the guard and crashed into the back. Very athletic. He made a good play to stop the ballcarrier inside the one that led to the 99-yard drive, after McCourty stood up the blocker. Little blitzing in this game.
CB
Tough game. Second consecutive 400+ passing effort. McCourty's guy was consistently open. McCourty, as noted above, made a great stop of the blocker on the fourth-down goal-line play, a game-changing play. Giving up 170+ yards to Jackson was tough. Thank goodness Floyd left the game. Take out Gates, below-average second and third receivers. You'd think they could double Jackson or something. Shocking that Dowling went down again. That hasn't happened since the pre-season, or his last season of college before that. Or... And what happened to Bodden? He's the fourth corner now, behind McCourty, Dowling, and Arrington. Arrington took a triple hit to the head: hit the crashing receiver (fullback reception?) on the back of his head, then head crushed into the field, then took the leg of the safety on the rebound. Ouch.
S
Revolving door. Chung out for a while, came back with a cast. Seeing Ihedigbo on defense isn't comforting when the team is getting torched. Interesting that Sergio Brown said he hadn't had an INT since high school - he was a good enough DB to make the NFL, but had zero INT's in college.
ST
Gostkowski can bury the ball when he wants. Nice corner kick by Mesko. Hope the Mesko injury isn't bad - that will screw with the roster. Maybe just not punt next week - don't studies show teams should really never punt outside their 20? The bend of the leg didn't look terrible. Huge coverage by Slater. Nice coverage by White.
Lots of injuries. I hope none are as serious as the two last week.
Great throw by Rivers in that tight spot - that looked like an INT - and yet Jackson swooped in at the perfect time to grab it for the TD. Hats off to him!
