Good Stuff. Some thoughts ...
1.Not to toot my own horn (right ), but pre game I felt that Jamie Collins on Fleener was the best match up, and it turned out to be right on the money. Talk about having a break out game. 6 tackles, one sack, 3 QB hits, 2 tackles behind the LOS, 2 pass defensed, and a pick. Now that is a full game at all 3 levels of play.
BB was very patient with this kid and it took most of the season for him to come to the fore. But this kid could be just what the LB corps needed. Great speed, freakish athleticism, surprising versatility, and a great attitude, and when he came to the Pats, he had no role. Now he does. He's our wild card. He's the opposing D's worst nightmare and our plug in match up problem. He is the kind of talent who make DC's love to come to work, especially if you are set up to run week to week defenses. You can't expect this kind of production every week now, but he certainly makes next year look really exciting.
Collins has scary potential. As I've mentioned elsewhere, he's changed positions (QB -> DB -> LB -> DE) or coordinators/schemes every year since finishing high school, so it's remarkable how quickly he's progressed. Next year will be the first time in 5 years that he hasn't had to change positions or deal with new coaches or systems, so I expect a quantum leap. As Patchick noted in the postgame thread, just the ability to match up with TEs would have justified the pick, but Collins offers so much more.
2.I watched Chandler Jones very closely this game. He had no sacks, but had a few hurries and hits. He could never get around the LT and often was run past the QB. Surprisingly, his best move was a straight bull rush. There were a number of times when he walked the T right back into Luck's face. I thought it was impressive since I think he has room to get stronger. I wish he had used it more often. Jones still isn't good enough to get by a decent OT one on one too often.
That being said, Jones is an excellent all round player, who sets the edge well and is good against the run, and while he might never lead the league in sacks, I wouldn't be surprised if he averaged double digits for his career here. He has a great motor, and OC's have to account for him. After Wilfolk. Mayo and McCourty, he's the next cornerstone player and will likely be a captain soon.
BTW- IIRC I think he had more success on the rush when the Pats put him inside a few plays. He's good now, but I think his best years are still ahead of him
Jones played 98.1% of the defensive snaps during the regular season (Ninkovich played 95.6%; they had the highest snap counts of any DEs in the NFL this year), and IMHO he kind of wore down and lost just a touch of explosiveness, which impacted his ability to get to the passer down the stretch. In addition, both DEs were clearly focusing on gap control and not allowing Andrew Luck to make plays scrambling (only happened once when Jones lost his gap), and were willing to give up something to ensure that.
I love Jones and agree that he's a cornerstone player. But I think there is a greater need to draft another DE to play in a rotation with Jones and Ninkovich and keep people fresh than there is at DT given the emergence of Siliga and Jones, depending on how the veteran DT situation is resolved in the next 3 months.
3.Pretty cool that our fill in, no name DT's each had a sack. Yes I know some will say Velano's was a trip, but I think the reason the refs didn't throw the flag was that Joe never stuck his foot out, Luck simply tripped over his foot while he was engaged with a blocker. BTW- I think that was Chris Jones' 7th sack. If at the start of the season I told you we'd have a DT with 6 or 7 sacks, we'd have all thought we had died and gone to heaven.
In fact think about this, including this playoff game. Cjones has 7, Velano has 3, Siliga has 3, Tommy Kelly had 2.5, and even Supoaga has 1. That's16.5 sacks from our inside rushers. Who've thunk it was possible.
I think Siliga has been a terrific find. He and Chris Jones look like long-term "keepers" to me. Joe Vellano gives great effort, but I'm less sure about him for the long term. All things considered, our depth at DT has improved tremendously moving forward.
5.While I watched Luck close the gap every time the Pats took a 2 score lead, it was clear to me that the Colts only moved the ball when he made simply perfect throws, like the first TD to Brazill. He made several very difficult throws over the course of the game, but I always felt that these throws were so difficult that he wouldn't be able to do it throughout the game. That eventually he'd be just a little off and these great throws would become picks...and they did. They actually should have picked Luck off 5 times. There was that time when McCourty and Dennard ended up defending each other and dropping a pick early in the game.
16.Luck's the real deal. He'll get better, and that's a scary thought. The Pats scouted him well, and trapped him a few times. He also needs a better run game. There is just too much pressure on Luck to carry that team. Its too early for him to do it in the Playoffs. This early in Brady's career he wasn't required to do as much as Luck is being forced to do. So for now BB has his number, but that can change.
Luck throws a deep ball, but he's become too much of a gunslinger, trying to do too much without a defense or running game. Many of his completions were into very tight windows, and most of the long completions had few YAC. I'll generally trade those completions for 4 INTs, and 14 points off of INTs. He needs to learn to be more patient and not try to do too much.
6.For the most part I thought the secondary played very well. It was very rare that anyone was running free in the secondary. Most of the time, Luck's completions had to be perfect throws against decent to good coverages. In fact the only 2 completions that pissed me off, were the key 3rd down and long completion to #17, just prior to the first Brazil TD. Arrington was there to defend it, but seemed not to know where the receiver was. The other was Brazil's 2nd TD over McCourty, who simply lost his cushion. This play tarnished an other wise solid performance by Devon.
7.This secondary is so much better with a healthy Dennard on the outside. You could really see the difference. I'm almost tempted to use a Ty Law comparison, or a mini-Ty Law comparision. He's very physical, has good ball skills, a nose for the ball, and is a good man to man cover guy. He had excellent position on the first Colt TD, the ball was simply perfectly thrown and the receiver made the catch, despite Dennard's hands right on his arm. You shouldn't blame the DB on those kinds of passes, rather you should tip your cap to the QB and WR (Like THAT's ever going to happen )
8.Steve Gregory disappointed many Pats fans here, by having a very solid and clean game. He had a couple of pass defenses and 6 tackles with no misses. What are the haters ever going to do now. :roll eyes:
11.Blount is a guy who hammers teams, but is scary good when he reaches the 2nd level. Ridley is a razor who slashes at defenses. It's a great combination, and one that will travel well if we have to go on the road to Denver. The ground and pound Patriots. Who'da thunk.
This is a complete change of philosophy from what we started the season as. Hell, its been a complete change of philosophy starting 5 games ago when Gronk went out. Can you think of another team that had to make such a drastic change of offensive focus so late in the season, and STILL made it to a conference final?
13 Over 400 yds of total offense, and over 40 points is a decent night, even if it didn't match the sexy passing game we are used to seeing. But this is what our offense has evolved into. We are the ground and pound Patriots, and until Dobson comes back or Thompson can remain healthy, its what we HAVE to be. With no TE or outside WR threat, we are pretty much very limited in the passing game. So this is who we have to be until Gronk comes back and Dobson and Thompkins reach some semblance of health.
The change of approach wouldn't have happened without Rob Gronkowski's injury, and it may actually benefit the Pats in the playoffs compared to what they've done in the past.
