The OFFICIAL Patriots vs. Dolphins POST-Game Thread

[kpreh]

I'll stick with what I said in the game thread -this team just isn't what it once was-you just have to look at it that way and take what you get. I'm too old to get worked up about this stuff anymore

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

OT: Dez Bryant cares more about his place among the NFL's elite more than winning a d*am football game. It's pathetic and I'm so happy we didn't draft that guy.

What did he do?

 

[PatsBoy12]

Most of last week and the first half this week, Brady was locked on Gronk.
When he stopped doing that, he and the offense looked a lot better. For this team to have any kind of offensive success, Brady has to spread it around. Hopefully Dobson's play int eh second half today inspired some confidence in him from Brady.

I still can't figure out why Ridley isn't getting more touches. He averaged over 6 a carry today and just looks so much faster to the hole than anyone else. Still hurt maybe? Keeping his legs fresh?

What else? Cheap holding call on that Gronk touchdown callback, but really can't argue about the refs (but the Phins sure can).

I like Dane Fletcher a lot. He's all over the place out there.

Can't believe they won this game. Gutsy. And while I think this team has been gutted with injuries, they're going to win the division. Phins and Jets haven't played each other yet and Buffalo beat Miami in Miami. Amazing.

Can't disagree with anything in this post. Thanks for injecting quality and perspective to a forum that's been lacking both seemingly since the start of the regular season.

 

[Don_the_patfan]

Dont know what i just saw. I can tell you this though Pats are 6-2 with No Wilfork,Mayo,Talib and now Vollmer. They can grind it out. Leave you with this. The following players should be on the field full time and will shine by the end of this season:

Ridley- Is money the best of what we got let the man run the ball. No gimmicks with any other Rb's.

Dobson- He can get open and Brady needs to look for him. Will only get better.

Ryan- I mean did you look at the stats. Impact player who is a rookie.

I am still trying to make sense of that first half. When I do I'll come back here lol.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

team will go nowhere come playoffs...but i think they at least get there

Everyone keeps saying this. It's like you guys have never watched football before.

Tell me if you thought the Ravens, who went 1-4 down the stretch last season, would win it all.

Tell me if you thought the Giants, who needed to win the last 2 games of the regular season just to qualify for the play-offs, would win it all.

Recent history tells us that anything is possible, yet nobody seems to believe it. It just happened. Twice.

Tell me if you thought the Patriots would win in 2001 after starting the season 3-4. Even though it happened already to us once, you still can't believe it could happen.

I just don't get it. I'm not betting on it, and I'm not saying we're the favourites, but history (both recent and within our own franchise) has proven that "point" to be absolutely false. So everyone needs to quit repeating it over and over and over as if it means anything.

 

[Onedaful]

What did he do?

He was fighting with Witten and someone else. Just briefly caught it

 

[PatsBoy12]

What did he do?

He threw multiple tantrums during the game. You'll see it all over ESPN tonight, I'm sure.

 

[RIpats88]

Dobson has been making some nice strides each week

 

[RayClay]

Defense played great. Offense didn't use our best runner when Brady had a hand injury resulting in 2 to 1 time of possession and spotting Mia 14 points.

Don't understand why, but making up for Mayo, Wilfork, Talib and Kelly the D looked great IMO. I love the effort of our young DTs, knowing they just aren't physically able to be who they are replacing. great backups for the future and Jones has some rush skills.

I hope we appreciate when we see Spikes pushing two OLs into the QB that things like this just don't happen on other teams. They fold and start giving up 8 yards a carry. I salute you all!:americaflag:

 

[PatsBoy12]

Jamie Collins played poorly and Thompkins did little (a great block at one stage), but this was a really good game for the rookies. Logan Ryan really starting to look like a playmaker.


And Devin McCourty is a beast.

He's played well all season. Safety is definitely a more natural position for him.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

It appears that we will be limping into the playoffs. Can we have that bye week now please?

 

[andrewgarrr]

Tell that to the 2007 Giants. :bricks:

They played football in '07?

 

[DaBruinz]

team will go nowhere come playoffs...but i think they at least get there

Says the guy who was belittling the team throughout the game thread..

 

[Uncle Rico]

...

Dobson- He can get open and Brady needs to look for him. Will only get better.
...

Good showing by him today. I missed the first target, which folks on the game thread said was dropped, but liked what I did see. That one play in the middle, he did a nice job breaking off tight clutchy coverage and getting open, right where TFB expected him to be.

 

[Sticky Caulk]

Tell that to the 2007 Giants. :bricks:

I can see it now. Super Bowl. Brady drops back, throws it up to Gronkowski, HE CATCHES THE BALL AGAINST HIS HELMET! UNBELIEVABLE! Flag on the play. Holding Solder.

 

[Bella*chick]

I have always respected you, even when I haven't agreed with you, but how can you be so sure about a statement like this one? This game alone should be evidence that a lot can change in sports in a very short period of times. This means some of the teams being considered elite now could fall off and teams that have question marks now can improve. Heck, we've seen it just about every year in NE, win or lose in the playoffs. This team often gets better as the year progresses. Young players are gaining valuable experience right now and that should only benefit them come playoff time.

I'm not saying we should be comfortable with this team right now. I'm not saying that there aren't major question marks. I'm just saying that we should have a little more faith in this team. They're winning despite everything they've faced before and during this season. I don't believe any other team could do what the Pats have done. I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic about this team. The young players are showing me the mental toughness of veterans and our veterans are continuing to simply "do [their] job." I'm encouraged.

Yes, I agree. I'd like to add that I agree they'd get nowhere in the playoffs NOW maybe, but there's a lot of time left and hopefully we'll heal up just a bit in some areas. Meantime, it's a GOOD thing to be gritting out wins.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Tell that to the 2007 Giants. :bricks:

Heck, even we should take a lesson from that in reverse. We looked great (obviously) for most of that season and how did it end? Magical catch or not, you should never take anything for granted in sports (and if life).

 

[FalconHeavy]

now that everythng is fine and dandy, WTF is the idea behind benching ryan and ridley in the first quarter? we all saw what they did once they were in the game.

 

[SEA_Pat]

It's amazing how different a team can look over the course of one game.

I loved the blitzing, it was clear that we were going to get killed if we didn't change it up, and kudos to Matt Patricia for switching the game plan. Haven't seen aggression like that since the days of Pete Carroll's defenses. If the secondary plays as well as they have, why not switch it up and take more chances, it certainly turned the game around today. With the offense struggling and our run defense mortally wounded up the middle, it makes sense to try to get big plays on D rather than play our usual Bend but don't Break.

I would be bitterly complaining about the refs if I were a Miami fan. But the refs giveth, and they taketh away, as we saw last week. Miami collapsed like a house of cards once momentum started to swing, that shows a lack of toughness.

Don't know what happened to the offense, after being bullied they suddenly turned the tables and became the bullies. Nice to see. Sad about Seabass, that didn't look good at all.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Good showing by him today. I missed the first target, which folks on the game thread said was dropped, but liked what I did see. That one play in the middle, he did a nice job breaking off tight clutchy coverage and getting open, right where TFB expected him to be.

And I'll add that the pass was exactly why I'm so adamant in my assertion that Brady IS NOT NEARLY done being great. He hasn't played well for stretches this season. I have to concede that. However, look at everything that has gone on around him - loss of talent, an inconsistent O-Line (downright putrid at times), questionable play calling (also downright putrid at times), and injuries to key players. What could you expect? You obviously aren't going to put up HOF numbers with all of those issues. I guarantee you we'd be seeing a completely different Brady had just a few of those things been different.