Game Thoughts

[wiggins!]

Some notes I tracked down about New England's pass rush against Henne and turnover results. It's from ESPN Research department:


Entering Week 4, Dolphins QB Chad Henne had been an inconsistent passer when facing four or fewer pass rushers, completing only 57.4 percent of his passes with a touchdown and an interception. The struggles continued on Monday night as the Patriots picked off three Henne passes when dropping seven or more defenders into coverage.

Chad Henne Passing by Number of Pass Rushers
Monday vs Patriots:

4 or Fewer
yds / att 6.5
TD - INT 0-3<<<<
passer rtg 49.3

5 or more
14.7
2 - 0
158.3


>>Patriots: 3 Int when rushing 4 or fewer in Weeks 1-3

 

[mgcolby]

Ninko's 2nd interception was perfect. He sat on the route and undercut it at exactly the right moment.

Exactly. And the ball that Chung returned was a step in the right direction for him. Marshall looked like he was going to hit him with a jerk route, but stopped instead. Chung bit hard on that against Bess and this time read it right and stayed in position to defend it, which actually led to the pick. Otherwise Chung bites and is chasing Marshall and that ball falls incomplete.

Some folks on here would benefit from watching shows like Playbook and picking up Pat Kirwan's book. It will really help them understand what they are actually watching, especially for those folks that have never played organized football at the high school level or above.

 

[bradydaman29]

In Ninkovich's defense on that 1st pick, sure it was right to him, but how many times have you seen db's not catch it when it's right in the bread basket? Plus, once Marshall became a defender after Nink had the ball, he did a good job holding onto it as Marshall tried to pry it loose.

 

[Deus Irae]

What caused him to throw those picks. Sometimes coverages or pressure causes those picks. Henne is going to take the blame for bad throws, but the Pats could have caused those bad throws. Even so, what do bad throws have to do with the Pats stopping three other drives and only allowing scores on two of ten drives?

Picks 1 and 3 were on Henne/"communication". Nothing caused the Dolphins to throw them.

I didn't comment on the rest of your statement.

 

[shirtsleeve]

That point I agree with you. I didn't think the pass rush was great. But the defense did step up at time to stop drives that had nothing to do with INTs on bad passes.

Just like we saw with the LB play before tonight...the rush was there, it just was not quite getting to Henne. Its almost there. The LB's seem to be getting "it" better. The secondary is still an almost there...but tonights effort will go a long way toward these kids listening to BB to get "it" right too. I expect now, a growth with these kids.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Great win, but I think people are forgetting that first half a bit too quickly.

I see your point but a close 1st half followed by a 2nd half where the Pats pull away for the W was the trademark of the Championship seasons.

More precisely I think you're referring to the poor D in the 1st half and the gelded offense where by circumstances we were fortunate to be that close. I'm trying to forget it.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Im going to bed, the loonies are out in full force

 

[RayClay]

I think it's the perfect bye week appetizer for a young team. Obvious emotional lift, camaraderie etc. Hopefully some confidence and teamwork emerges just from a positive vibe and a weeks work.

On the other hand, the outstanding special teams play masked an offense and defense that were hardly outstanding before the big plays.

So, there's plenty to work on in the bye week.

Not being a downer, but the special teams play changed the whole complexion of the game and we can definitely use the work.

 

[Deus Irae]

I see your point but a close 1st half followed by a 2nd half where the Pats pull away for the W was the trademark of the Championship seasons.

More precisely I think you're referring to the poor D in the 1st half and the gelded offense where by circumstances we were fortunate to be that close. I'm trying to forget it.

Something like that, and an excellent win.

 

[Deus Irae]

Im going to bed, the loonies are out in full force

This is a game thoughts thread, not a cheerleader thread, so I think bringing up the first half is appropriate. Some people seem to think otherwise.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Chung postgame exemplified BB's attitude. Said he needed to study the film extensively to see what worked and why. Both he and Nink were jacked but said there was lots of room for improvement.

 

[The Dynasty]

The team is a very poor tackling team, that was a problem in both the first and second halves

 

[AzPatsFan]

Tomorrow we will hear Felger and Mazz talk about how dreadful the defense was because they only forced one punt.

Their campaigns to get Belichick fired, has had a minor setback at 3-1. Especially as this 1/4 of the season, is the part of the season, (early), when the Defense would be most raw and inexperienced.

:bricks:

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

There are plenty of plusses and minuses from this game. Posting critical observations is NOT the same thing as going all Felger, negative citing only selective evidence for am agenda.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Originally Posted by cmasspatsfan
Im going to bed, the loonies are out in full force



This is a game thoughts thread, not a cheerleader thread, so I think bringing up the first half is appropriate. Some people seem to think otherwise.

Wasnt referring to you

 

[Deus Irae]

Wasnt referring to you

In that case, my bad, and my apologies.

 

[condon84]

You're right Rob0729. Unfortunately we're forgetting that it's flavor of the month to dissect and pick on the Patriots defense even in light of a very good all around performance.

Some people refuse to give praise for the sake of it. Ninkovich scared the crap out of me on that first drive. He went on to make 2 picks and a sack.

The one real criticism I have for tonight is our blitz packaging. That needs a whole lot of work and communication still.

I praise our STs and our offense. Why can't I be critical of our defense if they deserve it? Our offense answered the bell and had two momentum swing drives, one long one in the first half to keep our defense off the field and another in the second half after the Jets had cut the lead to 20-14.

But the main reason why we won is because of our STs. They had a record setting night. They caused a 14 point swing within 3 minutes to start the second half. I do credit our defense for causing a three and out on the DOlphins first possession in the second half. THey looked good. Made some adjustments and our DBs played closer to the LOS. However, after that sequence, it was back to swiss cheese for the most part.

 

[Rob0729]

The team is a very poor tackling team, that was a problem in both the first and second halves

Tackling is still an issue, but they did make some great tackles at key moments (like McCourty's tackle on the fourth down play).

 

[Rob0729]

I praise our STs and our offense. Why can't I be critical of our defense if they deserve it? Our offense answered the bell and had two momentum swing drives, one long one in the first half to keep our defense off the field and another in the second half after the Jets had cut the lead to 20-14.

But the main reason why we won is because of our STs. They had a record setting night. They caused a 14 point swing within 3 minutes to start the second half. I do credit our defense for causing a three and out on the DOlphins first possession in the second half. THey looked good. Made some adjustments and our DBs played closer to the LOS. However, after that sequence, it was back to swiss cheese for the most part.

So with eight minutes left in the game and up by 20, the defense allowing the Dolphins to get 5-8 yards a clip for a long substained drive while not giving up any big plays is swiss cheese defense and not allowing the Dolphins hang themselves by letting them use the clock against themselves? I know if the Pats allowed the Dolphins to cut the lead to 13 with a minute left, they would be in trouble. I think the Pats allowed them to have the short passes on the last few drives by design as long as they couldn't hit Marshall or Bess down the field.

BTW, the Dolphins last two drives with Henne took 13 plays and only got 54 yard one ending on downs and the other with an INT. That was by design in that they were getting a lot of plays, but not a lot of yards. With a 20 point lead, you can do that.

 

[condon84]

So with eight minutes left in the game and up by 20, the defense allowing the Dolphins to get 5-8 yards a clip for a long substained drive while not giving up any big plays is swiss cheese defense and not allowing the Dolphins hang themselves by letting them use the clock against themselves? I know if the Pats allowed the Dolphins to cut the lead to 13 with a minute left, they would be in trouble. I think the Pats allowed them to have the short passes on the last few drives by design as long as they couldn't hit Marshall or Bess down the field.

No, I'm talking about the drive after we go up 27-13. Miami goes down the field, which included a couple of 3rd and long, I think one of them was a 3rd and 20, and looked like they were going to score until Henne gave us his second gift of the night. It was not so much as Miami coming down the field again, but how they went about doing it on that drive and for most of the night, even when the game was still competitive. Yeah, we only gave up 7 points in the first half, but Miami went up and down the field. It wouldn't stick out to me as much if this was something the Patriots were accustomed to defending pretty well, but it's been an emphasis, we knew it was our weakness, and we saw miami exploiting it again. Yes, we were fortunate that Ninkovich capitalized on Henne's mistake, but the bigger issue is that the glaring weakness once again reared it's ugly head.

Silver line is we won and that's all that matters. But there's still some MAJOR issues with our defense that needs to be fixed.