Official Patriots vs. Dolphins Post Game

[State]

It was not an easy catch, it was a play that could have been made and if it was it would have been a great play like the Hooman TD catch was a great play, but him not making the play doesn’t make him a choker it was a 50/50 ball in any situation. Danny had a reception on 10/14 targets for 131 receiving yards today, his play put us in the situation that allowed us a chance to win in my opinion Danny Amendola played his best game in a Patriots uniform today and came up big for us. I wish he made that catch but his not making it should not take from a very impressive game by him. That is coming from me one of the most anti-Amendola people on this board

I agree with this. I would like to add that he didn't use his body to shield the defender from the ball, which guys sometimes do by twisting away in order to get a better handle on the pigskin.

I bet Amendola, as a great competitor, feels awful he wasn't able to come up with the game-winning play. Got to give the defender kudos for being aggressive. Tough catch, but makeable.

It's a game of inches.

 

[RayClay]

Let's face it, we are so undermanned right now that it's pointless to expect anything more than a one and done or two and done as the third seed in the playoffs. Let's focus on next season, a good draft and hopefully some noise in FA and hopefully a healthy season next year.

See ya

 

[JMarr]

Stop giving Pats fans a bad name by blaming every loss on the refs.

Can I "like" this post about a thousand times?

We lost. Get over it. This is about the 6th game this year the Pats had no business even having a shot to win in the final seconds. Their luck ran out today.

 

[borg]

My biggest gripe of the game with the offense play calling was 1st and goal on that 16 play drive.

1st and 10 at MIA 10 (Shotgun) T.Brady pass short left to J.Edelman pushed ob at MIA 4 for 6 yards (N.Carroll).
2nd and 4 at MIA 4 (Shotgun) T.Brady pass incomplete short right to D.Amendola.
3rd and 4 at MIA 4 (Shotgun) T.Brady pass incomplete short middle to J.Boyce (J.Wilson).

Not running it on 2nd and goal from the 4 is just head scratching.

Excellent insight.
I wish I still had my stats from NE's past few years in the playoffs....The common theme in all of them is that McDaniels abandons play action. And the term "abandon" is understating it. IMO, he pulls Brady out from under center far too often and the result is a LB corp that never has to hesitate.

 

[Observer]

You're 100% right about the poor tackling. That definitely needs to be addressed. However, overall the DBs played a decent game today (not great but pretty decent). They completely took Clay out of the game besides one six yard catch. Wallace's TD was due to a coverage breakdown where Cole played him to hand him off to Gregory but Gregory was in a terrible spot. That is easily fixable going forward. Talib essentially shut down Hartline for most of the game aside from the 3rd and 17 where the D played back to keep the ball in front.

The issue is that if this had happened last week, I would be okay with "fixable going forward". But there was a lot on the line today, and this is where we need to see what they are made of because the D is simply not going to get any better. The offense at least has some weapons that will come back. That is what is the most disappointing. With a lot on the line, the D could not rise to the occasion - same story we have seen in past years.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

I'm not sure why anyone thought today would be an easy game, Brady is 6-6 in Miami, they're always tough down there even when they have lesser teams.

Anyone else think Nance started saying Armin-dolah just to piss us off?

Ghost had a bad game, missed FG, although not a chip shot and the kick out of bounds were uncharacteristic mistakes that may have cost us the game.

 

[TruthSeeker]

A win would have won them the division. This loss probably bothered him more than others. It bothered me too. A lot was on the line today. Made me wonder if they even have a chance to do much in the playoffs.

I really don't think they will do much in the playoffs. No fault of their own mind you, this team is just way too wounded. You can talk about next man up and all, but typically, the next man up is no where close to being as good as the injured player. You can't replace Gronk with Hooman and Vilfork with Vellano and Mayo with Hightower, and Dobson with Collie, and expect to go far in the playoffs. Eventually these injuries catch up with you. I truly feel with even half of these injuries we'd be the 1st or 2nd best team in the AFC. But we are asking too much of THIS team, way too many injuries. I'm not shocked by this loss, but very proud of this team regardless. One of my favorite Pat's teams ever, never give up !

 

[JMC00]

Can I "like" this post about a thousand times?

We lost. Get over it. This is about the 6th game this year the Pats had no business even having a shot to win in the final seconds. Their luck ran out today.

Guess you missed the Jets and Panthers games.

 

[State]

Can someone answer my earlier question about putting in Josh Kline instead of switching Cannon with Solder and replacing Marcus with Svitek? Kline _definitely_ isn't ready for prime time.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Of course we all like to win every game ... however:

Ryan Tannehill is becoming a very good QB ... certainly #2 in our division.

The Dolphins have a decent defense and decent DL who can rush a QB.

Our OL is undermanned right now ...

Give Brady just a 1/2 second more today here and there and we win by 10 or so.

Not blaming the OL ... but our inability to give Brady more time and our inability to slow Tannehill cost us the game today ... not the refs and not Amendola.

 

[PatsSox363804]

I really don't think they will do much in the playoffs. No fault of their own mind you, this team is just way too wounded. You can talk about next man up and all, but typically, the next man up is no where close to being as good as the injured player. You can't replace Gronk with Hooman and Vilfork with Vellano and Mayo with Hightower, and Dobson with Collie, and expect to go far in the playoffs. Eventually these injuries catch up with you. I truly feel with even half of these injuries we'd be the 1st or 2nd best team in the AFC. But we are asking too much of THIS team, way too many injuries. I'm not shocked by this loss, but very proud of this team regardless. One of my favorite Pat's teams ever, never give up !

This is where I'm at, I'm just going to enjoy the rest of the season and if they somehow manage to pull off the improbable great. My expectations are low. Hey, it worked with the Red Sox this year so who knows.

 

[Bella*chick]

I thought we had the game won but it was a terrible mistake by Ghost and then what I thought was fairly obvious holding on that 4th and five. But what can you do.

Given what we had to work with we should not have played as well as we did. I am disappointed but not devastated. I just want to get through to next week's game and hopefully Thompkins and/or Dobson can be back.

Julian effin' Edelman. He is really something else.

 

[The_Riddler]

See ya

Bye bye, see you at the draft

 

[DaBruinz]

- The refs are an absolute TRAVESTY to this league. It's disgusting. They CANNOT and HAVE NOT called a single close NFL game properly or consistently this year. Makes me puke. In a league where ONLY 16 games are played in the regular season, every call should be made correct & consistent. This isn't the MLB with 162 games, or the NBA or NHL with 82. ONLY 16! The room for error and sheer incompetence should be ZERO.

- Hightower is embarrassingly bad. Even my friend who has never played football in his life, was screaming at him to TURN AROUND on the Miami go-ahead TD pass. The chunky piece of lard thought it would be wise to show the QB his ass instead.

- O-line is awful. So many crucial 3rd downs they've screwed up this year.

- Ghost had a terrible game which was flat out UNACCEPTABLE. That missed field goal and the screwed up kickoff should not have happened, no matter who the kicker is.

- Matt Patricia should be fired. What the hell is Arrington, our SLOT CB doing covering an obvious X receiver? Moreover MIKE WALLACE, one of the quickest in the league. Even worse, why put our backup CB/special-teamer only on him to replace a hurt Arrington?!?!? Meanwhile Talib is covering a complete nobody that isn't even worthy of his attention.

- BB should have called a timeout on that 4th and 5. Would've gave the Dolphins time to reconsider going for it & perhaps choose to punt, but also helps in getting the proper play in there to stop an expected short pass.

The O-line was playing with Mankins out of position, Kline in at LG and Cannon at RT. And yet, it was the MIDDLE (Wendell/Connolly) that was beat on on the Wake Stunts. That's gonna happen occasionally. But it is Wendell's responsibility to pick up the stunt, not Kline.

Not sure why Talib was on Matthews and not Wallace on the Wallace TD, but that is what was called. And it blew up in their faces because Cole was out of position and couldn't make the tackle.

Saying a 48 yard FG should be hit every time is just wrong. Not to mention that it looked like it went over the goal post so should have been called GOOD. The only issue I had was the screwed up kick-off. Not sure why O'Brien called for the Coffin Corner there, but it clearly wasn't executed properly. That's the ONLY issue I have with Gostkowski.

Finally, the Pats had the PERFECT defense called out for the 4th and 5 play. Had Sims not held Ryan (or it had been called properly by the refs) then Clay is down with a loss of 2. Instead, Ryan was held. McCourty over-ran the play and was taken out by Claybo. Fletcher got held and taken down and nearly wiped out Gregory who was the one who was able to get an arm on Clay and make the play.

 

[RayClay]

Bye bye, see you at the draft

Hope we get the worst pick!

 

[WhoaDirty]

Can I "like" this post about a thousand times?

We lost. Get over it. This is about the 6th game this year the Pats had no business even having a shot to win in the final seconds. Their luck ran out today.

Why would you say "had no business ..."? It's not like they were getting calls handed to them right and left by the refs. They played well enough to put them selves in position to win at the end, just came up short.

 

[State]

And the other hand came over the top of Amendola's head and swatted it away.

Just watched it again on stop-motion. The ball was underthrown - Amendola had the guy beat but had to slow up.

Ah well. Let's face it, this is a really beat up team. But one without quit. And anyone calling Amendola a "bust" or "joke" is the latter, period. He had a great game.

I hope they keep him and Edelman.

I hope I don't sound as though I'm on the "I hate Josh Kline" bandwagon, but once he was inserted the O-line fell apart. He made multiple mental errors and allowed a couple of free shots at Brady, which I think diminished his confidence in his protection.

Is it possible that The Great One, Dante, let us down a little? This Kline fella wasn't ready for being a starter. Keep Solder in there...and who knows? Improved chances for another dynamic, improbable comeback.

Or replace him with Cannon, and re-insert Svitek at RT. Is this armchair general onto something?

I love the fight in this team. They'll be just fine in the playoffs. We fans get too spoiled. I still think we can make it to the SB, but will lose to the Seahawks.

 

[DaBruinz]

Actual reasons we lost:


1.) Ghost poor play - missed field goal, poor kickoffs Gost had ONE bad kick-off. The one that went out of bounds. The rest were what BB wanted.

2.) Tannehill made some great throws when it mattered

3.) His receivers made some great catches when it mattered

4.) Ballsy call by Philbin on 4th down Not really. Pats had it sniffed out. Only the hold by Sims allows that play to happen

5.) Clay makes a play and converts the 4th down

6.) Our offensive line became a MASH unit

7.) Missed tackles by defense in particular Cole and some poor angles on tackles most notably Gregory

8.) Lack of Red Zone weapons

9.) Reduction in deep play weapons

We didn't lose because of the refs. We didn't lose because Amendola chocked (geez). We didn't lose because TB choked (double geez).

The refs contributed to the loss. Saying otherwise is being ignorant.

 

[groundgame]

Great to watch an NFL game where referees let them play.

 

[DaBruinz]

that says it all they get 4 sacks in the game and the QB still has a rating over 120 that's some really bad coverage

sacks have very little to do with QB rating.