Why We Lost Today

[vandergraafgenerator]

Look-you can't write off the season based on ONE game. There's a long way to go, the Pats will be fine.

I wrote the season off (and it's not something that's primordial to me anyway)
when Brady didn't play one single down in pre-season.He was never right,
and I wrote it off as a 9-7 season. We'll see just how wrong I was (probably very).

 

[DaBruinz]

That's what makes the difference between a great quarterback and an average
one I guess. Vision and the technical ability to exploit it.

Kind of hard to exploit an ability when you have pressure on you from 2 directions and you are trying to avoid being sacked.

Its amazing how people think that Brady would have done better today.

BTW, please let me know the last time a team had two great QBs and they were fine with one sitting on the bench. I honestly have to go back to the 49ers when they had Montana and Young. I don't believe there has been a team since. And please don't say the 2001 Patriots because no one knew what Brady would be like.

 

[DaBruinz]

I wrote the season off (and it's not something that's primordial to me anyway)
when Brady didn't play one single down in pre-season.He was never right,
and I wrote it off as a 9-7 season. We'll see just how wrong I was (probably very).

If you wrote off the season when Brady didn't take a snap in pre-season, what made you decide to troll the boards?

Why even watch the games? Why not just go follow the Red Sox and ignore the Patriots? Why torment us with your meanderings?

 

[Patti37]

The answer is simple. Cassell stinks! And until the Patriots brass realize this, this team will have a 50-50 shot at winning every week.

O'Connell is young and inexperienced but he should has already shown more than Cassell has in 4 years. Cassell should have been cut in pre-season.

O'Connell will make mistakes along the way, but he is already a better QB than Cassell will ever be. Hopefully, Pats will expedite his training and he will start in 2 weeks.

So you think the defense had nothing to do with the Miami loss? It is all on Cassel's shoulders?

 

[Patti37]

With all the panic emotional threads and predictably idiotic suggestions by the Fantasy Football mentality crowd, it might be interesting to look at the myriad factors that resulted in today's debacle. In no particular order...

1. Poor defensive game plan preparation by the Pats coaches. The D seemed clueless to Miami's sweeps and formations.

2. Poor execution by the Pats Front Seven on run D. Not even CLOSE to the runner on may plays. Phins center owned Wilfork.

3. No substantive help by Rodney on run D.

4. No presure on Penny. ZERO sacks I believe.

5. Pass coverage by DBs poor. Penny hit 85% of his passes. Pathetic.

6. Slack coverage by the DBs, somewhat mitigated by lack of pressure on the QB by the MIA front seven.

7. Mediocre, at best, performance by the QB. Bad decisions and a fumble. I noticed Cassel looking for one WR and throwing to another but he was too indecisive and failed to make sufficient strong plays, the excellent TD toss one notable exception.

8. Pats #1 WR not following through on routes. Disconcerting at best.

9. Pathetic protection for the QB. Kaczur & Light notable examples. TEs pathetic assisting.

10. Too many same old slants and WR screens from Josh McD. I'm not calling for bombs away downfield, but there is such a thing as an occasional 20 yd throw pass play. See #9 for maybe why not.

BONUS
11. Pink Hat fans. EARLY in the game no noise whatsoever for the D. Admitedly they didn't play well but EARLY in the game we need noise on D.

Played Well...
1. STs with Hobbsie's KRs. OUTSTANDING.
2. Gost's continued consistent FG kicking.

Excellent analysis of the game. Not only was there little to no noise...I could not believe all the people who bailed in the third quarter.

I would also give some kudos to Mayo...he has good instincts and is fast...closes fast. He got pushed around a couple times but on the whole he played well. Once the game was out of hand I trained the binoculars strictly on him just to see how he was doing out there.

On of the highlights of the day...was the half time show that honored the hall of famers...I LOVE Stanley Morgan!!!! He and Grogan made those tough days special. I know it with never happen but Stanley should be in Canton.

I still have that sense of disappointment when I see Mike Haynes...still disappointed he went to the Raiders and didn't end his career as a Patriot..one of the best CBs ever. I will have that same disappointment about Ty Law.

It was great to see them honored. This part of the day made me smile.

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

So you think the defense had nothing to do with the Miami loss? It is all on Cassel's shoulders?

Like they say, "the most popular person on a team after a loss, is the backup QB."

It'll be this way all year. If the team loses, burn Cassel at the stake. If the team wins, wow Cassell is great, sign him to long term deal.

 

[Patti37]

Like they say, "the most popular person on a team after a loss, is the backup QB."

It'll be this way all year. If the team loses, burn Cassel at the stake. If the team wins, wow Cassell is great, sign him to long term deal.

I know...it is always the way....Pats fans wanted Michael Bishop as there QB at one point. If Cleveland keeps losing with Anderson at the helm, fans will be calling for Brady Quinn.

 

[Pats726]

ya well im counting them. Cuz they are games.

Hey..I heard Cassal won a few games of monopoly should we count those as wins?? With your logic we should...

 

[Pats726]

The play-book is open. What you clearly can't comprehend is that they can't go deep if the O-line isn't doing its job in protecting Cassel and in opening holes for the RB.

BTW, The Pats won 11 games and a SB and a 1st year starter with that "dink and dunk crap."

Good points..but logic never wins when one knows it all...

 

[billdog3484]

I don't want to blame the whole thing on Cassel because he cant tackle, thats not his job, but I would venture to say his poor play resulted in the team believing they had no shot to win. hes awful

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

I have so many things to type I am gonna spare y'all the details, many of which have already been mentioned in various posts.

I guess I just wanted to say it is one game, take it for what it is worth. It is behind us. Should it be used as a ruler by which all future games should be measured, no.

Calm the frig down to everyone who is panicing. The coaches will look at the film, there will be a lot of things to address. We have two weeks until the next game. We have a good team. We will make the playoffs, by then we should be able to iron out the mistakes.

We will be watching our team in the postseason, and by then they will be allright. You wanna hit your stride at the right time.

I can say with all honesty that I am looking forward to this year and that we will be a playoff team. We have lots to cheer 4....

 

[buile]

NE had trouble running past the line of scrimmage against Miami's dime... that's disappointing. And, is it me, or was the pocket small and shrinking quickly all day.

As for open receivers, sure a couple bad throws. When Thomas was wide open, the pocket was already collapsing around Cassel, and he probably switched to run-mode already, not looking downfield. As a backup QB, I think I'd rather have him protect the ball and run conservatively, rather than keep looking to make a throw.

The main thing I want eliminated from Cassel are the tipped throws.

 

[mgteich]

Third worst, but who's counting.

I'm not saying its ALL his fault. I'm just saying he isn't a very good QB and will never be. also, if he could sustain a drive a take some time off the clock,(take the pressure off the D) then maybe our D wouldn't of played like it did. They were tired, they knew the O wouldn't score that much so it put more pressure on them...along with incorrect reads.

WE COULD ONLY SCORE ONE TD AGAINST THE SECOND WORST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE. are you kidding me.




If our passing O is working...or running attack works...We score points...our D has less pressure...we win.

I think it was the Os fault just about as much as the D.

 

[kbbluepits]

All I gotta say is "Throw the damn ball to Randy Moss!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

No, no NO!

We lost because of Matt Cassel.

Chris Collinsworth said so so it's gotta be true.

 

[Mainefan]

I think what bothers me most about those who place the lion's share of the blame on Cassel is the superficiality of their observations. Unless I was watching another game yesterday, I saw the Dolphins run for 5 touchdowns and Pennington complete just about everything he threw. What, exactly, did Cassel have to do with that?

Our defense looked drugged. We were at least a step slower than Miami on practically every play. And the minute they did something unusual, we looked like we have no defensive gameplan at all.

We were outcoached yesterday. BB said it and he was right. Our defense simply wasn't ready for what Miami's offense could do. And I'm not so sure that if Miami had announced each play in advance, our defense would have done much better.

In the past, I've seen a defense too stubborn and too filled with pride to let itself be pushed around. Where was that stubbornness and pride today?

And the o-line. I'm getting a little tired of seeing the other guy's DE's run around Kaczur and flatten our quarterback. How can we expect more of Cassel in these circumstances.

What was missing yesterday was not skill. It was motivation.

 

[sieglo]

Cassel is 1-1 as a starter.

You can't throw it deep to Moss if the O-line can't give Cassel enough time to set. And, had you actually watched the game, you'd know that they didn't.

You clearly have quite a few screws loose if you think that Cassel is to blame for the absolutely horrid defense that was on the field in the 1st quarter.

I generally agree with the first post of this thread. It was an accurate assessment of what happened -- a massive and unprecedented defensive failure.

But I think McDaniels is going to have to do better if the Pats want to have a good season. If the o-line is having trouble with protection, then roll Cassel out to give him more time. He's a wuick, highly maneuverable guy who can make pplays with his legs. Roll him out, send Moss deep, and then see what happens. At some point, you have to trust Cassel to make a good decision. And he has the arm to throw the deep ball.

The Pats also have to work on their screens. There was some really poor execution on these yesterday, which resulted in at least one turnover. Not good.

 

[Garbanza]

With all the panic emotional threads and predictably idiotic suggestions by the Fantasy Football mentality crowd, it might be interesting to look at the myriad factors that resulted in today's debacle. In no particular order...

1. Poor defensive game plan preparation by the Pats coaches. The D seemed clueless to Miami's sweeps and formations.

2. Poor execution by the Pats Front Seven on run D. Not even CLOSE to the runner on may plays. Phins center owned Wilfork.

3. No substantive help by Rodney on run D.

4. No presure on Penny. ZERO sacks I believe.

5. Pass coverage by DBs poor. Penny hit 85% of his passes. Pathetic.

6. Slack coverage by the DBs, somewhat mitigated by lack of pressure on the QB by the MIA front seven.

7. Mediocre, at best, performance by the QB. Bad decisions and a fumble. I noticed Cassel looking for one WR and throwing to another but he was too indecisive and failed to make sufficient strong plays, the excellent TD toss one notable exception.

8. Pats #1 WR not following through on routes. Disconcerting at best.

9. Pathetic protection for the QB. Kaczur & Light notable examples. TEs pathetic assisting.

10. Too many same old slants and WR screens from Josh McD. I'm not calling for bombs away downfield, but there is such a thing as an occasional 20 yd throw pass play. See #9 for maybe why not.

BONUS
11. Pink Hat fans. EARLY in the game no noise whatsoever for the D. Admitedly they didn't play well but EARLY in the game we need noise on D.

Played Well...
1. STs with Hobbsie's KRs. OUTSTANDING.
2. Gost's continued consistent FG kicking.

I can actually understand Cassel laying an egg. I can actually understand Kazcur laying and egg since he really isn't all that good to begin with. However, the egg the defense laid is very alarming to me. I need someone to explain to me how this "all-star" cast got completely undressed. Run defense -POOR! Pass defense -Poor. Line penetration - Poor! I haven't seen this sort of output in a long time. I was embarassed for them. The coaching staff deserves whatever critisism they get today. Where were the adjustments?

 

[borg]

Cassel throws a flutter ball.
Cassel is very inaccurate.
Cassel stares down his target.
...
The defense is susceptible to the outside run and they know it. When the play appears to be headed outside, the LBs and safeties move laterally to overcompensate, freeing up the inside on the Brown fake handoff, run up the middle. Nice job by Miami coaches.
The defensive coverage seems confused with TE and RB pass coverage
The secondary allows huge cushions...nothing new here.

 

[AzPatsFan]

The Cassel haters are out in force, to shoot the innocentand bayonet the Team. Stick it were the sun don't shine.

Get a Defense that doesn't yield 35 points on five easy TDs. Fortunately, Belichick is not as dumb or as panic-prone as most of you.