The Official Patriots vs Broncos POST game thread

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Had to miss first half unfortunately. Caught the 2nd half and saw Dennard in there! He looked good from what I saw, can someone give me a good review of how he and Wilson performed today. If those 2 are as good as they looked in the 2nd half, we could have drafted 4 regulars on defense this year, that'd be pretty incredible.

The 4th and 5 I thought was an okay decision. It was on Denver's 35 so it wouldn't have looked as bad if we didn't lose 20 yards or whatever, if you punt you're most likely only going to net 20-25 yards at best so the risk is definitely worth the reward in that situation. It might be a tougher decision if there's less a minute left in the game or something.

This offense looks more dynamic than any previous offense we've had, especially if Lloyd and Brady can finally start connecting deep then I think it'll be truly unstoppable. I got no major problems with constantly passing on first down even when we are gushing the opponent on the ground, but I DO have an issue with the spread on first down in that situation, in fact I hate it pretty bad. AT LEAST line up in the base formation and give them the threat of a possible run call, why take the run out of the equation AND make yourselves predictable? Also I think Ridley's workload is a little higher than I like, would love to see more Bolden/Vereen though Ridley clearly is the man right now and should be getting the significant majority. Other than that, it's great to have JMD back I feel like he's going to do great. Anytime you see 54 runs in the box score it's a great sign that we're in control.

To be honest, I kind of breathed a sigh of relief when Ridley fumbled in that situation. It was a costly fumble that he'll hear about and learn from, but not costly enough to cost us the game. Of course that was before Manning drove straight down the field in little to no time, but then Mcgahee bailed us out anyways. The fumbles are bound to happen no matter who it is (even BJGE is fumbling nowadays) so glad one of them happened now, and hopefully there aren't too many more of em.

 

[DaBruinz]

Very good game by Ninkovich. Had a sack and 2 forced fumbles. I'm sure we'll keep hearing from people that he's not a decent 4-3 LDE and that we need someone better.

 

[PATSNUTme]

I think that BB should have put Ridley back in the game. Although Bolden did a nice job on that final drive.

 

[RodThePat]

Except that both Flacco and Fitzpatrick have shown they can make the elite throws. They just aren't consistent doing so.

There are about 28 QBs in the NFL that can make elite throws on a semi-regular basis. That's why they are in the NFL in the first place. It's laughable to use that as an excuse.

 

[BritPat]

Except that both Flacco and Fitzpatrick have shown they can make the elite throws. They just aren't consistent doing so.

It's not elite throws they're having to make though, which is the bigger worry. Simple out routes, fade routes. I'm not worried with McCourty, he gets it. The others don't.

Dowling and Dennard need to see more playing time at RCB. I might be tempted to let Dowling play a few snaps at Safety too.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I'm more concerned with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Joe Flacco looking like Peyton Manning when they're playing our secondary. Which they did in concurrent weeks.

You're kidding, right? Chandler Jones, Cunningham, and Ninko were being mauled by the Ravens O-Line and no calls were made on any of the blatant holds in that game.

Fitzpatrick threw FOUR interceptions in the game and the final score wasn't even close.

 

[CityOfChampions]

Yes, the secondary sux so badly. Let's just forget that it was Peyton Manning throwing the ball. I mean, he's not a 1st ballot Hall of Famer or anything. I mean, he's so bad that he makes Sanchez look like Johnny Unitas, right??

Seriously people, the secondary is NOT as bad as you think. You need to stop your complaining and realize that Manning is still an exceptional player and that he's got some damn good receivers. And they ARE going to make plays on our young defense.

Yeah because this was the only game the secondary played poorly. The secondary is bad and people on this message board need to realize people have differing opinions and are free to express them.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

You're kidding, right? Chandler Jones, Cunningham, and Ninko were being mauled by the Ravens O-Line and no calls were made on any of the blatant holds in that game.

Lets not blames the refs..there were bad calls on both side that game

 

[supafly]

Positives:

-Ninkovich finally came to play :rocker:

-Dennard

-The Patriots rendition of Foster/Tate is successful again, this time against a top 10 rushing defense. Ridley was great (minus the fumble), but I don't want him having 28 carries every week. Bolden had an up and down game but closed the game well.

-Welkah

-TFB with another solid game.

Negatives:

-Chung is awful. Not average, awful. He has been riding a reputation from one sick MNF game against the dolphins two years ago. The point of double coverage is to help the damn CB in coverage, he is useless. I would start looking at giving Ebner a shot in his place, or just start Wilson-Gregory.

-Mccourty....sigh

-Moore. I love his playmaking, but at 5'9 4.53 forty, he isn't an NFL caliber athlete at the CB position. Keep him on smaller, slower WRs, but not Demaryius Thomas.

Great thoughts.

I certainly agree with Moore. He definitely can be a contributor on this team, especially considering that he is a back of the roster guy. If he were anything else, he would not have been let go in the past and he'd be our #1 CB.

Putting him on Thomas was a head scratcher for sure. I am still not convinced that he wouldn't be better off as a safety here, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Kontradiction]

Yes, the secondary sux so badly. Let's just forget that it was Peyton Manning throwing the ball. I mean, he's not a 1st ballot Hall of Famer or anything. I mean, he's so bad that he makes Sanchez look like Johnny Unitas, right??

Seriously people, the secondary is NOT as bad as you think. You need to stop your complaining and realize that Manning is still an exceptional player and that he's got some damn good receivers. And they ARE going to make plays on our young defense.

The secondary has improved over last season but there's still a very sizeable room for improvement. That much simply cannot be denied.

Dennard did look very good today, though.

 

[robbomango]

Someone tell me you were extremely nervous when we were moving the ball after the 4th down conversion, about to make it a one score game with 5+ to play.

Just tell me you got nervous, and I'll feel a little bit better about that disaster of a defensive performance.

Please.

I'm extremely nervous every time we play Mr Potato head....

 

[Boomer B]

Trade woodhead for cornerbacks that look at the ball instead of the player.

What team is gonna trade a good corner for Danny F'n Woodhead?

 

[RodThePat]

The front seven made crucial plays to win us the game. Brady was fantastic in the first half. The running game was great pretty much throughout. The secondary is the only area of the team that didn't contribute A SINGLE THING to the victory. That may sound harsh, but apart from some plays made by Dennard, they didn't make things hard for Manning at any point.

 

[DaBruinz]

The game should have been over after the McGahee drop. We got the ball back after they scored their second TD, did nothing with it. Got the ball back with great field position after stopping them on fourth down, did nothing with it. Were it not for Ninkovich making a play, we would've been in a dog fight, and this might have gone down in history as the "Ridley fumble" game. Had we had any good drives after we put 31 on the board, the Broncos would've put away. They kept clawing back because we let off the hook.

So give the BRONCOS some credit. FFS. You're acting like they have no talent and the Pats should have put 80 on them. Hello. Did you bother to even look at the Broncos defense coming into the game? They were one of the better ones in the league. They were top 10 in both Pass Defense and Run Defense.

Also, you seem to have missed that on those drives both Mankins and Vollmer came out. Cannon and Thomas came in pretty much cold, that late in the game. Coming in that late is hard is tough for O-linemen because they aren't going to be used to seeing what the defense has been doing. And it showed.

 

[JFK]

Belichick is too strict.
Ridley didn't deserve to be benched in my opinion.

 

[CityOfChampions]

Belichick is too strict.
Ridley didn't deserve to be benched in my opinion.

Belichick should've benched McDaniels after that 4th and 5 call :bricks:

 

[supafly]

The secondary is bad and people on this message board need to realize people have differing opinions and are free to express them.

I absolutely agree about people having differing opinions and being able to freely express them.

Of course it helps to try and be as fair as possible, while not limiting oneself to just the pluses or minuses that each player brings.

There are things that have been much better in the secondary, although the bar was set rather low last year of course. The problem with the secondary is that we are seeing poor play from the safeties as a whole, and the CB's (who have been better in many aspects) are just not playing consistently enough to this point.

DaBruinz also makes a good point that we played one of the best QB's in the history of the NFL too, but I agree that the play of the CB's needs to be stepped up and some bad habits broken.

Luckily we may be able to shuffle some players around to try and solve that problem too.

 

[RodThePat]

So give the BRONCOS some credit. FFS. You're acting like they have no talent and the Pats should have put 80 on them. Hello. Did you bother to even look at the Broncos defense coming into the game? They were one of the better ones in the league. They were top 10 in both Pass Defense and Run Defense.

Also, you seem to have missed that on those drives both Mankins and Vollmer came out. Cannon and Thomas came in pretty much cold, that late in the game. Coming in that late is hard is tough for O-linemen because they aren't going to be used to seeing what the defense has been doing. And it showed.

I give the Broncos a lot of credit, their defense played pretty well in the second half. Thing is, I think this offense is too good to have the ball in their hands 4 times, needing only a FG or a 5 minute drive to ice the game and come away empty. This is a problem, and it ended up costing us two Superbowls and the Baltimore game (horrendous calls aside).

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Belichick is too strict.
Ridley didn't deserve to be benched in my opinion.

kid is young...belichick is sending him a message..i have no issue with it

 

[BritPat]

Belichick is too strict.
Ridley didn't deserve to be benched in my opinion.

I'm fine with that. The team was driving for the win, you can do a lot of things in that situation, but putting the ball on the ground is ABSOLUTELY the last thing you can do.

He's still young, he runs hard - had he just gone down rather than trying to twist to gain an extra yard, he'd have been fine. Fears will get on him hard in practice this week, and he'll be fine.

Ball-security and turnovers will be the big thing in practice full stop this week though. The Seahawks have a fast, physical defense, and they generate turnovers. Need to really practice hard this week.