The OFFICIAL Patriots vs Bills PostGame Thread

[cmasspatsfan]

Clutch roughing the passer penalty he should know better. Same with Mayo and hitting a player who was out of bounds.

I saw the replay three times and still dont see a penalty on Spikes, they just played it again on the 5th quarter and Fauria and Zo both said it was a bad call, it looked worse than it was because his helmut came off, the ref must have assumed it was a hand to the face. Fitzy is a ******* for crying about it, its football for christs sake.

 

[DaBruinz]

Clutch roughing the passer penalty he should know better. Same with Mayo and hitting a player who was out of bounds.

The Roughing the Passer call was BS. Spikes helmet didn't hit Fitzpatrick's. The reason that Fitzpatrick's helmet came off is that 1) it wasn't strapped on properly and 2) Spikes 270lb body slid across the facemask after Fitzpatrick was on the ground.

 

[Sciz]

Yeah, I didn't like that penalty. Lunging head to head is one thing. Running straight forward into him is another. If they don't want Spikes' head to be by Fitz's, then the alternative is for Spikes to dive at Fitz, which is most likely going to be worse.

 

[vyrago]

My Gawd!! Does this team always have to scare one to freakin' death?

 

[DaBruinz]

I'll believe this when he does something about it - call someone out, fire someone, cut someone, something.....anything besides his normal "we did some good, some not so good.....we still have work to do".....yada, yada, yada

Dean Pees, Corwin Brown, Adalius Thomas (just to name a few) are all waving at you. And before you say that Pees contract as up, I know. And the Patriots CHOSE not to bring him back. And they did fire Brown. They benched Thomas. They also cut Haynesworth, remember..

People seem to forget that we have an extremely young defense. They expect them to be playing like the 2003 or 2004 defense that had 8 or 9 guys starting who had been here for 3+ years... Wilfork is the only guy on defense with more than 4 years experience in this defense. THAT should tell you all something.

 

[TinhWoodhead]

ok didn't hear the announcers at the bar about woodhead, but it sure looked like brady could have tried to run it for a few yards.

wouldn't have made a difference, it was 3rd and goal.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

My Gawd!! Does this team always have to scare one to freakin' death?

get use to it for this year

 

[PATSNUTme]

Another pants changer of a game today.

But, two stat's really stand out 6-3 & 3-0.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

The quick snap was a really stupid call, and it almost cost the team the game.

Agreed. A total head scrathcher. First down at the opponents two with under 3 minutes to go and you are up by 3. Why in the world would you not run the play clock down to 1 second and run relatively straight ahead? You have 3 plays to get 2 yards of rushing. You plow ahead for the score? Game over. You don't get in? The clock end up under 2 minutes (or take away their timeouts) and make the chances of the opponent getting a TD MUCH smaller due to a lack of time. Just a total wtf.
I know JM/BB were thinking 'the bills were expecting us to take the play clock down to a second and drive right up the middle. It was an advantage to quick snap and sweep right to catch them off guard, score and put the game away'. But it was an unnecessary strategy given the score, clock and field position.

 

[Fball]

I saw the replay three times and still dont see a penalty on Spikes, they just played it again on the 5th quarter and Fauria and Zo both said it was a bad call, it looked worse than it was because his helmut came off, the ref must have assumed it was a hand to the face. Fitzy is a ******* for crying about it, its football for christs sake.

He got his head driven into the ground. Brady yells at the officials when someone brushes his leg.

 

[RodThePat]

Agreed. A total head scrathcher. First down at the opponents two with under 3 minutes to go and you are up by 3. Why in the world would you not run the play clock down to 1 second and run relatively straight ahead? You have 3 plays to get 2 yards of rushing. You plow ahead for the score? Game over. You don't get in? The clock end up under 2 minutes (or take away their timeouts) and make the chances of the opponent getting a TD MUCH smaller due to a lack of time. Just a total wtf.
I know JM/BB were thinking 'the bills were expecting us to take the play clock down to a second and drive right up the middle. It was an advantage to quick snap and sweep right to catch them off guard, score and put the game away'. But it was an unnecessary strategy given the score, clock and field position.

Agreed. Belichick/Josh really outsmarted themselves there.

 

[DaBruinz]

If Ridley didn't get a penalty after that then that bad play call probably wouldn't have mattered. We'd prob score there. Patriots have taken way too many dumb penalties this season.

Again, Ridley wouldn't have been in that position to take that penalty had the Pats used the clock on first down the way you're supposed to.

 

[Foxypats]

I am not sure if this team can beat Hou or the 49ers with this D, Even the jets on their turf will be tough. Something has to happen soon. I can't believe that we dont have enough talent at least to field an average D.

 

[moejr]

Another nail biter but a win is a win and I'll take it. Hopefully Talib will integrate into our system and be the help we need in the secondary.

As for firing coaches BB can get rid of McD and Patricia anytime now.

 

[JoeShmoe]

What an up and down game. Shouldn't expect anything else against a Divisional Rival that has a lot of TALENT at RB(Jackson and Spiller) and it's receivers (Chandler, Johnson and Jones). Just wish that people would remember that they have talent and that talented players can make plays. Would help the chicken littles to stop from over-reacting.

The play that almost cost the Pats the game was the 1st and goal from Buffalo's 2 yard line in the 4th quarter that they tried to quick snap. Hello. It's late in the 4th quarter and your TRYING to run time off the clock. Let the Buffalo defense get set. LET time run off the clock. So what if they stop you on 1st down. It runs the time down to the 2 minute warning OR it forces Buffalo to use a time out. Either way, it puts you in the driver's seat.

I don't understand why the Pats played so much ZONE today. They had so much success with the MAN coverage against the Rams and with Gregory back, they could have move McCourty back to CB opposite Dennard and been better off for it. And I attribute much of the issues that Dennard had today with not playing in press coverage...

The Pats secondary is so new to Belichick's zone defense that they've not really had time to acclimate to it. Nor has there been much in the way of continuity back there because of the injuries.

I really hate how McDaniels rotates the RBs. So many times, it just stunts the momentum that the team builds up. Not only that, it sends a clear signal to the defense that the new RB is gonna be the one getting the ball.

The Pats didn't run enough play-action or enough screens today.

Woodhead had a great game, but them sitting him on the bench in the 4th quarter didn't make sense to me. Should have had him out there instead of Branch, IMHO.

The play-calling after the fumble recovery on the 1 yard line was a head scratcher. You've got a RB in Ridley who has been tearing it up, us him.

The defense, for all its faults, pulled another one out today with two timely turnovers. The fumble and recovery on the Pats 1 yard line and then the interception by McCourty in the endzone. The two forced fumbles give the Pats 16 on the year to go with 10 interceptions. The Pats have recovered 12 of the 16 forced fumbles.

The whole zone thing is more evidence of poor coaching, the young secondary to a man look happier and much better playing press man but Bill and the coaches persist with this soft zone approach where the team get gutted like a fish. It marks no sense , perhaps someone can explain why he persists at it because its beginning to look outdated and something this set of players just don't do we'll. why on earth not play to your strengths?

 

[Mike the Brit]

What an up and down game. Shouldn't expect anything else against a Divisional Rival that has a lot of TALENT at RB(Jackson and Spiller) and it's receivers (Chandler, Johnson and Jones). Just wish that people would remember that they have talent and that talented players can make plays. Would help the chicken littles to stop from over-reacting.

Spiller and Jackson are excellent, particularly when the defense is spread out defending the pass. CJS was one of my rare college football binkies so it's bittersweet to see him show his talent.

The play that almost cost the Pats the game was the 1st and goal from Buffalo's 2 yard line in the 4th quarter that they tried to quick snap. Hello. It's late in the 4th quarter and your TRYING to run time off the clock. Let the Buffalo defense get set. LET time run off the clock. So what if they stop you on 1st down. It runs the time down to the 2 minute warning OR it forces Buffalo to use a time out. Either way, it puts you in the driver's seat.

Strongly agree. Punching it in on the goal-line didn't go well today, but Ridley is a great weapon.

I don't understand why the Pats played so much ZONE today. They had so much success with the MAN coverage against the Rams and with Gregory back, they could have move McCourty back to CB opposite Dennard and been better off for it. And I attribute much of the issues that Dennard had today with not playing in press coverage...

The Pats secondary is so new to Belichick's zone defense that they've not really had time to acclimate to it. Nor has there been much in the way of continuity back there because of the injuries.

Hard to tell on the screen, but it did seem like they kept on with a strategy that Buffalo had an answer to

I really hate how McDaniels rotates the RBs. So many times, it just stunts the momentum that the team builds up. Not only that, it sends a clear signal to the defense that the new RB is gonna be the one getting the ball.

Quite right. Was it just coincidence that Ridley was so much more successful than Vereen? I don't think so.

The Pats didn't run enough play-action or enough screens today.

Sounds plausible, but hard to tell from the TV angle.

Woodhead had a great game, but them sitting him on the bench in the 4th quarter didn't make sense to me. Should have had him out there instead of Branch, IMHO.

The play-calling after the fumble recovery on the 1 yard line was a head scratcher. You've got a RB in Ridley who has been tearing it up, us him.

Respectfully disagree. Having the QB in the shotgun in the endzone should be a good strategy for a team that's confident in its short-passing game. Welker's drop was awful.

The defense, for all its faults, pulled another one out today with two timely turnovers. The fumble and recovery on the Pats 1 yard line and then the interception by McCourty in the endzone. The two forced fumbles give the Pats 16 on the year to go with 10 interceptions. The Pats have recovered 12 of the 16 forced fumbles.

But I still don't know how Buffalo came up with that last one. Did they really?

Thanks for your comments.

 

[YearbookCurfew]

Pats won and that alone makes me happy.

 

[JMC00]

@GregABedard
According to @amaliebenjamin, Ryan Fitzpatrick used the word "punk" when talking about Brandon Spikes at the podium.

Aw did the ivy leaguer not like being legitimately hit?

 

[DaBruinz]

Edelman did absolutely nothing, Branch had an okay day, and 2 of Welkers drops were HUGE and catchable.

Welker only had 2 drops today. A drop is considered a catchable ball.

BTW, Edelman was the one who had that really good kick-off return late in the game.

As for doing something on offense, he wasn't out there much. Kinda hard to do something when your not on the field much. And yes, I know that Brady chewed Edelman out after one series. Why? No one knows for certain, but it's likely that Edelman ran the wrong route or failed to make a read that Brady did. But, people like you seem to forget that this is only Edelman's 4th year playing WR ever. Not like Welker who played WR all through HS and College. He's still learning the position.

 

[Sciz]

As for firing coaches BB can get rid of McD and Patricia anytime now.

And replace them with whom?