Patriots at the 1/2 way mark - 5 pleasant surprises & 5 dissapointments

[fillylabinga]

I'm not sure I agree with that. He's been beat by quite a few tackles this year. Mankins has been called for a couple fouls, but hes played much better than Neal.

Agreed. I think Neal has been the weak link on the offensive line so far. Admittedly its pretty anecdotal evidence, but he got beat bad for a sack yesterday and I haven't seen any big blocks in space on pulls/screens which I think of as being his trademark.

 

[mr3putt]

He saw time at ST and got that offsides call.

Upside

Seabass
Butler
McGowen
Ghost

Down

Sanders ( he sucks)
Thomas
Injuries to running backs
No 3rd receiver

 

[fillylabinga]

I'm going to add a few people that haven't mentioned since I pretty much agree with everything that has been said so far.

Surprises:

1. Pioli's departure and the draft. Was Pioli holding BB back all this time? After a couple stinkers the Pats had what looks like their best draft in years. Who knows who is really making the decisions in the FO, but it feels like we're in good hands for as long as BB is running things.

2. The lack of impact of the lack of coaching continuity. Pees has given the impression of being more of a caretaker than a defensive mind in his own right, but the defense seems like it could be better than it has been in years. O'Brien has tough shoes to fill now that McDaniels looks like a genius in Denver, but despite some missteps the O seems to be back on track. I keep on expecting the departures to catch up with BB but that hasn't been the case.

3. Aiken. Somehow he became the captain of the special teams and a decent receiver to boot. I'm hoping that Tate steps up and becomes the #3 guy, but Aiken has done an admirable job of filing in. He had a couple good catches the other day.

4. Ingram. I don't know if anyone else was worried about having a rookie take over after the many blissfully uneventful years of Lonnie Paxton, but I was a little concerned. I haven't noticed Ingram which means he is doing his job.

Disappointments:

1. I would call the rest of Special Teams mildly disappointing. Gostkowski has been good on kick-offs but only so-so on FGs. The kick coverage has been solid, but we haven't seen much on the return side. Maybe Tate will change all that (if he's not hurt!) since he looked pretty good yesterday.

 

[mr3putt]

2. The lack of impact of the lack of coaching continuity. Pees has given the impression of being more of a caretaker than a defensive mind in his own right, but the defense seems like it could be better than it has been in years. O'Brien has tough shoes to fill now that McDaniels looks like a genius in Denver, but despite some missteps the O seems to be back on track. I keep on expecting the departures to catch up with BB but that hasn't been the case.

Huh?

OC and DC have been bizarre this year.
Bring back Romeo and Charlie

 

[IcyPatriot]

This thread is ridiculous ... if we have learned anything it's that the Patriots are essentially a new team from week to week. Yesterday Vince Wilfork was the DE and Wright was the NT and it worked ... it could have sucked ... right? Vince could have gotten hurt and Belichick would have been an idiot for playing him out of position for all we know.

The Patriots are 16 separate chapters of surprises is the way I see it.

You left out the biggest surprise of the big ... TBC ... reborn as a hybrid of Willie Mac and Mike Vrabel. But he could disappear and Burgess could be the hero of the next 3 weeks and Adalius Thomas could be the hero of the 3 after. Maroney could have 6+ games with 200 total yards and Sanders could have 10 tackles next week.

I don't look at anything as a pleasant surprise or a disappointment on this team. Next weeks hero could be a waiver wire pickup on Thursday ... who knows and who cares ... we win more than we lose ... and that is pleasant enough.

 

[IcyPatriot]

4. Ingram. I don't know if anyone else was worried about having a rookie take over after the many blissfully uneventful years of Lonnie Paxton, but I was a little concerned. I haven't noticed Ingram which means he is doing his job.

Chris Hanson reached for every snap yesterday. Not one was perfect or near perfect. I wasn't worried that Belichick made the wrong choice but Ingram has a ways to go is the way I saw it yesterday. The field goal snaps have been good enough so on that note ... he's doing a good enough job because we all know Belichick cares little about punting.

 

[Xplicit]

The lack of discipline against the option really got me pissed yesterday. That **** took seconds to teach in high school and at the NFL level guys don't know what to do. One guy gets QB the other gets pitch man, if all else fails, turn the QB in and stay pitch. They got burned by it, a timeout was called and then a few plays later a pitch was called and there was no adjustment. That's if I'm remembering it correctly. The coaching this season has had me yelling at the TV more than I ever have.

 

[pats1]

THis seems similar to the Brace "dissapointment".


It all hinges on the guy who is out playing him being bad, and thats not the case.

McGowan is really good. He's a find. That doesn't mean Sanders is playing poorly.

Right, it's a difficult situation. Comparable to Marquise Hill being behind Warren, Seymour, and Green.

 

[unoriginal]

The lack of discipline against the option really got me pissed yesterday. That **** took seconds to teach in high school and at the NFL level guys don't know what to do. One guy gets QB the other gets pitch man, if all else fails, turn the QB in and stay pitch. They got burned by it, a timeout was called and then a few plays later a pitch was called and there was no adjustment. That's if I'm remembering it correctly. The coaching this season has had me yelling at the TV more than I ever have.

There was an adjustment. The first time TBC got hung up between the QB and the pitch man and Pat White ran for a big gain.

After the adjustment Adalius Thomas forced a pitch but McGowan and the corner didn't get to the pitch man (Ricky Williams).

At least IIRC.

 

[Xplicit]

There was an adjustment. The first time TBC got hung up between the QB and the pitch man and Pat White ran for a big gain.

After the adjustment Adalius Thomas forced a pitch but McGowan and the corner didn't get to the pitch man (Ricky Williams).

At least IIRC.

There was nobody on the whole right side of the field on that second option. Cant really know if an adjustment was made because if it was, it was a piss poor job.

 

[Xplicit]

Anyone else screaming at their tv about getting pressure on Henne? I must have said it 50 times lol. He was getting a lot of time to throw, the few times we blitz he flopped.

 

[IcyPatriot]

There was nobody on the whole right side of the field on that second option. Cant really know if an adjustment was made because if it was, it was a piss poor job.

Pat White had made 1 passing attempt and 4 rushing attempts before yesterdays game. The Patriots had little to go in in preparing for him. He got us twice andthen we adjusted well I thought. Also ... Pat White is a heck of an athlete - he will make a few more miss him in his career.

 

[SidelineSid]

Agreed. I think Neal has been the weak link on the offensive line so far. Admittedly its pretty anecdotal evidence, but he got beat bad for a sack yesterday and I haven't seen any big blocks in space on pulls/screens which I think of as being his trademark.

I have to disagree. He's one of the more solid members of our o-line. For all of the press that Light, Mankins, and Koppen get, we tend to run alot to the right. In fact, if you look back at some of our long runs this season, not many, quite a few were to the right (see Maroney's long run against Tennessee).

 

[SidelineSid]

Anyone else screaming at their tv about getting pressure on Henne? I must have said it 50 times lol. He was getting a lot of time to throw, the few times we blitz he flopped.

You're right. The thing that I can't figure out is how do we get consistent pressure on the QB. What do we have to do? Denver has Elvis Dumervil and they are cleaning up. We have at least TBC, and we are struggling. Adalius Thomas has to step up. Mike Wright has to step up. Big Vince Has to step up. Ty Warren has to step up. We have to talent on the line to cause some problems. We need to execute better.

 

[DarrylS]

You're right. The thing that I can't figure out is how do we get consistent pressure on the QB. What do we have to do? Denver has Elvis Dumervil and they are cleaning up. We have at least TBC, and we are struggling. Adalius Thomas has to step up. Mike Wright has to step up. Big Vince Has to step up. Ty Warren has to step up. We have to talent on the line to cause some problems. We need to execute better.

Need to put this in perspective, BB and his D have always focused on the strength of the opposition... in this case stopping Brown and Williams, which the team did a very good job of.. when you do this, other things fall off... i.e. the pass rush.. I suspected that Henne would have a good day, Williams and Brown did not...

Time and time again posters lament the pass rush, while in reality this morning we have the 7th best defense, and 4th best passing defense in the whole NFL... maybe we do not have a lot of sacks, but have to look at a big picture here...

 

[pdangle]

This thread is ridiculous ... if we have learned anything it's that the Patriots are essentially a new team from week to week.

The Patriots are 16 separate chapters of surprises is the way I see it.

You left out the biggest surprise of the big ... TBC ... reborn as a hybrid of Willie Mac and Mike Vrabel. But he could disappear and Burgess could be the hero of the next 3 weeks and Adalius Thomas could be the hero of the 3 after. Maroney could have 6+ games with 200 total yards and Sanders could have 10 tackles next week.

I don't look at anything as a pleasant surprise or a disappointment on this team. Next weeks hero could be a waiver wire pickup on Thursday ... who knows and who cares ... we win more than we lose ... and that is pleasant enough.

Just busting balls IP, but a philosophy forum somewhere now weeps for the loss of such profound introspection.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

What are your top 5 pleasant surprises and 5 dissapointments at the half way mark?

They could be either team group related or a player or coach alone.

Pleasant Surprises

1 - Safety group - Who knew how good of a tandem that the Brandon boys would be together on defense and so good that the alleged leader of the defense,James Sanders does not see much play.

2 - Tom Brady - I think many of us would have put Tom is the dissapointing catagory the first several games but seeing him gradually get back in the groove and stand tall and unafraid in the pocket again is something we hoped would happen by now .... and it has.

3 - Sabastian Vollmer - While SeaBass has yet to go up against the real tough guys at DE like he will in Freeney this week,he still looks extremely solid in protecting Brady's blindside and missing Light has been a bit easier with this rookies continued progression.

4 - Darius Butler - This rookie has made some big stops and has covered his man well and has taken away time from the veteran Shawn Springs which shows BB could very well think this kid is ready for a possible full time starting position in 2010

5 - Benjamin Watson - This TE was this years version of Matt Cassel who just about everyone thought he was a goner and cut before week 1 but he has made some clutch catches and played a big role in 2 wins this season and is having his best year yet,Ben has become a taget of Brady on 3rd and long and he has hung on to the ball this year.

(Runnerup: Edelman gets some love but with his injury he has to fall down a bit)

Dissapointments

1 - Joey Galloway - Is there any other choice at #1 but this player who many thought still had the speed and skills to become a super great #3 receiver? - Joey had never got in tune with this team and his diminishing skills and age were getting more obvious every game.

2 - The loss at the Jets was a dissapointment,especially after all the trash talking Rhodes and Ryan were doing

3 - The loss at Denver when the team had the game in control was especially dissapointing and losing to a former coach stings a bit more

4 - I was hoping the team would have broken the record of 72 points scored against the Titans but BB had mercy,They certainly could have if they wanted to in that game.

5 - The Colts,our biggest nemesis continues to find ways to win and remain undefeated..at least until this sunday

Disagree that Brady was "disappointing" in the first few games. He was better than I think any of could have reasonably expected. Otherwise, completely agree on all your other "pleasant" points.

All losses are disappointing. But, the Jets' loss was "wrong place, wrong team, wrong week" for a QB recovering from a lost season and a D that was still finding its legs, so I don't find it especially disappointing; trash talk is trash talk and i don't let it bother me any more than i think the team lets it bother them.

Agree on the Broncos' loss for many reasons. We overlook that we win the game in regulation if Ghost makes an FG he usually makes. We, myself included BTW, all gave him a pass on that because of his great play in general, but I don't see Number Four missing that kick in a close game in Denver and it's my one "pass" this season for Gostkowski. I have a feeling that a couple of big games between now and February are going to come down to his leg from between 40 and 50 yards; at some point, if he's going to replace Adam in the hearts and minds of many of us, he's going to have to make some big kicks that help pick up a Lombardi.

Agree on Galloway, but maybe that's our fault for having unreasonable expectations.

I'm not disappointed in the Colts winning ways; that's out of the Pats' control. I'll only be disappointed if we don't beat them this Sunday night.

Also disagree on running up the score on TB. Why put players at risk for reaching some bogey no one ever heard about and that would have been forgotten again as soon as it was broken?

I'd replace one of those "disappointments" with the injury to Fred Taylor. I never expected 16 big games out of his well-worn body and legs, but I was hoping we'd be able to see more of what he could have done for us.

Thanks. Nice thread.

 

[Horace's Ivories]

Pleasant
- anyone named Brandon (even Tate)
- O-Line
- CB play at times

Not so-
- Pass rush
- CB play too far off the ball at times
- RB injury bug

 

[tobias funke]

Denver sacked Roethlisburger more than a couple times last night.

Where did it get them?

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Denver sacked Roethlisburger more than a couple times last night.

Where did it get them?

And the Pats had no sacks against Tennessee. It's a miracle they won that game. . . .