2015 Week One Post-Game Thread - Patriots 28, Steelers 21

[1960Pats]

I hope that other opponents adopt the Steelers experimental "cover zero" defense on Rob Gronkowski:

We still don't have a large enough sample of that new cover zero defense to make an accurate assessment. If teams give it a few more tries it will help. Too bad we don't have the Ravens on our schedule this year.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

We still don't have a large enough sample of that new cover zero defense to make an accurate assessment.

It did work on Reche Caldwell...

OK, throw bricks at me, I deserve it.

But it gave me flashbacks

 

[patsinthesnow]

@MarkDanielsPJ: Brown caught this for touchdown. http://t.co/XXCibZEEIT

 

[tasmlab]

I make the prediction now. Lewis will be better than Vereen. What a find. Amazing.

And it won't take three seasons to develop either.

 

[Oswlek]

• Death stare from Brady to Lewis after that failed screen pass late in Q4 was pretty funny.

• That play, the fumble, and the lack of success between the tackles notwithstanding, I'm happy with what we saw from Lewis.

Looked to me like that failed dump off was on Brady. Not a soul was anywhere near Lewis, but Tom got a little too cute with the pass and overthrew it.

I also came away with a different impression of Lewis inside. Looked to me like he got about all there was to get most times.

You realize that TB can't throw the ball to everyone at the same time right? He targeted Dobson once, and Dobson made the catch. If he can target Edleman 12 times and get 11 completions, there are going to be some guys that don't get as many touches. Amendola caught 2. Chandler caught 1. It's not as though Brady was dying for not having people catch the ball. Maybe you should give it a couple of games.

Exactly. When the other team can't (or won't) cover your top two options, why focus on spreading it around? It isn't like Amendola and Dobson were repeatedly failing as the primary targets. I don't see how you can draw any conclusions about their performance based on that game, though Zolak was complimentary of Aaron's run blocking.

Yeah, I think the Pats made fewer mistakes - but this should have really been Pittsburgh's game.

Defense was awful and were giving up huge chunks of yards in the air and on the ground. Steelers had audio problems, Scobee missed two very make able FGs and Heyward botched what should have been an easy TD by going on his knees and not paying attention to the out of bounds line and yet the pats only won by a TD.

I don't think the steelers are great team but truth is they should have won that game.

Fair enough, but if you guys are going to play that game you should point out that without an unforced misfire between Brady and Lewis, the score would have been 28-14. To me it seems foolish to talk about all of Pitt's mistakes as if NE didn't make any either, particularly when a single non-scoring play completely changes the complexion of your argument.

Bolden runs like how a duck walks

Yeah, he was unimpressive. I heard some comments after the game about how surprising it was to see Lewis start over Bolden, but I have to admit that I was more surprised Brandon got as many carries as he did. He is not a good runner at all, though he's a terrific blocker and a viable receiver out of the backfield.

Defensive snaps

1. So much for a DE rotation with Jones at 97% and Nink at 95%
2. Not a single defensive snap for Jordan Richards. That surprises me considering how good he looked in pre-season.
3. A little less worried about the run defence considering how few snaps Siliga (30%) and Branch (16%) had. There was a clear decision to have a 3rd pass interior pass rusher on the field (which didn't really work).

1) Gotta think Flowers and (hopefully) Easley will change those numbers, as well as perhaps not being so light up front.

2) I didn't even notice that. Thanks for pointing it out.

3) My biggest concern isn't necessarily the yardage, it's the lousy contain. That job doesn't change much no matter who is inside, and neither Jones or Nink could set the edge all night.

EDIT: I should add to my post that Andrews was much better than I expected. Being wrong is not often so enjoyable.

 

[smurfalarm]

The winning% is the best indicator;
Brady .774
Montana .713
Manning .699
Favre .624

A 12-4 season brings down Brady's career regular season winning percentage. Losing in the Super Bowl brings down his career postseason winning percentage. Completely mindboggling that any team can sustain that sort of success over a player's 13 regular seasons and 12 playoff appearances. Totally unprecedented.

 

[1960Pats]

A 12-4 season brings down Brady's career regular season winning percentage. Losing in the Super Bowl brings down his career postseason winning percentage. Completely mindboggling that any team can sustain that sort of success over a player's 13 regular seasons and 12 playoff appearances. Totally unprecedented.

Some day when he retires, it will be incredible to look at all of Brady's accomplishments. As much as I appreciate the genius of Belichick, it's Brady's clutch passes and lack of mistakes at big moments that make this team what it is now.

When I was looking up some stats earlier for another thread here, I started to see some of those amazing accomplishments in the numbers. On the pace that Brady is on now, he would have to play 10+ years just to reach the amount of INT's that Manning has at the moment and around 18 more years to catch Brint Favre.

For now though, I'm just going to enjoy watching him.

 

[Urgent]

Reiss pointed out an interesting stat.
We have noted that they played most of the game in nickel in a 4-2-5.
They pretty consistently had 3 DE's, with Grissom getting a lot of time in an inside DL position.
Also interesting is that Mayo mostly sat. Mayo was in for 11 snaps, of 73 on defense.
He has the highest cap charge on the team, and his cap figure rockets to $11mm in 2016.
They played most of the past two years without him. Now, with him healthy, he is the odd man out.

 

[lillloyd]

I hope that other opponents adopt the Steelers experimental "cover zero" defense on Rob Gronkowski:

Here's my expert analysis:
*sigh*

 

[varjao]

It's been 2 busy days, my takes on the game:

- Offense seems promissing and tends to only get better. Brady, Gronk, Edelman, Dola are all in fine tunning. When Dobson gets into the mix it's gonna be one of the best years in Brady's career.

- The offensive line was a nice surprise, this kid Andrews did his job, and did well. It's the second year of Gugs correct? I think the Oline as a whole will improve with the continuity, even guys like Kline.

- The defense needs a lot of work, but overall I think the secondary did a good job, the front seven on the other hand was a little disappointing, still, very early. Gotta give merits to DeAngelo Willians who is a big back, I hope Blount plays like this, hitting hard the defense and wearing them down.

- Butler: I think he did well, despite the stats. Antonio Brown is the best receiver in the NFL and gave Butler a master class. Butler got burnt but I think he can only take good things from this game, he is not gonna face anyone better than this. The first catch Brown got lucky, Butler did a textbook cover but Brown also has his merits on the play. Overall a good game, of course a work in progress.

- Lewis did well, nice surprise, needs to take care of the ball, and what about that screen play? Did he tried to catch with one hand or that was the only way to catch the ball? I didn't see a replay. He was going to run for at least 30 yards on that play.

 

[Kdo5]

View attachment 10423

@MarkDanielsPJ: Brown caught this for touchdown. http://t.co/XXCibZEEIT

I couldn't believe that ended up a catch. It was second to the great sideline catch earlier by the Steelers. From my position in the stadium I saw McCourty read that pass and make a beeline for the ball. I was stunned that he didn't intercept it let alone being caught! Might have looked different on TV but it seemed like a sure fire interception or at the very least a deflection from where I was seeing it.

 

[VectorPrime]

Reiss pointed out an interesting stat.
We have noted that they played most of the game in nickel in a 4-2-5.
They pretty consistently had 3 DE's, with Grissom getting a lot of time in an inside DL position.
Also interesting is that Mayo mostly sat. Mayo was in for 11 snaps, of 73 on defense.
He has the highest cap charge on the team, and his cap figure rockets to $11mm in 2016.
They played most of the past two years without him. Now, with him healthy, he is the odd man out.

I would not be surprised at all if Mayo is traded.

 

[varjao]

Watching the game again on espn local here, that big sack on Brady on a 3rd down Cannon totally missed the guy, he didnt even see him.

 

[Sticky Caulk]

Reiss pointed out an interesting stat.
We have noted that they played most of the game in nickel in a 4-2-5.
They pretty consistently had 3 DE's, with Grissom getting a lot of time in an inside DL position.
Also interesting is that Mayo mostly sat. Mayo was in for 11 snaps, of 73 on defense.
He has the highest cap charge on the team, and his cap figure rockets to $11mm in 2016.
They played most of the past two years without him. Now, with him healthy, he is the odd man out.

I disagree on Mayo. He will not be on the bench like this against normal teams. The run defense is night and day better with Mayo. No way Mayo misses out on a Rex Ryan game. He'll be out their posting 8-10 tackles and keeping Collins in line, which nobody else seems capable of doing yet.

 

[supafly]

Watching the game again on espn local here, that big sack on Brady on a 3rd down Cannon totally missed the guy, he didnt even see him.

I could be wrong, but I want to say that Cannon played 4 snaps at LT, and 2/4 were horrible plays. There was the God awful sack that you referred to, and another missed block on a run play.

As just about everyone but Belichick seems to have figured out, Cannon is not very effective on the left side. Actually, I think he's nothing more than a backup RT. Here's hoping that he can spell Vollmer at times and/or be used as a 6th OL.

 

[supafly]

I would not be surprised at all if Mayo is traded.

While I disagree with this thought at least at the moment, I can appreciate why you would consider it.

One thing to wonder is why they'd "sell low" with the 10th overall pick bringing nothing more than maybe a 3rd round pick at best.

I think they can utilize his strengths this season, and he can either raise his stock again, or perhaps they'll agree on a more reasonable deal with next year's high cap hit, however that may be done.

 

[TruthSeeker]

By the way, Brady is now has the most wins of any QB with one team in history! How many records does this guy hold?! He is not human.

And he's just starting. I truly believe Brady will play until he's 45 because he breaks the mold with his fanatical lifestyle/conditioning. Collinsworth mentioned it last night on the broadcast- Tom is looking as good as ever at age 38. He set a new Patriots records with 19 consecutive completions on Thursday! That's just who he is.

Brady's replacement is still in high school.

 

[PP2]

I could be wrong, but I want to say that Cannon played 4 snaps at LT, and 2/4 were horrible plays. There was the God awful sack that you referred to, and another missed block on a run play.

As just about everyone but Belichick seems to have figured out, Cannon is not very effective on the left side. Actually, I think he's nothing more than a backup RT. Here's hoping that he can spell Vollmer at times and/or be used as a 6th OL.

Agreed. Cannon is just not ambidextrous.

 

[TruthSeeker]

What everyone seems to forget is that the NFL is in charge of the game day communications. It has nothing to do with the home team, and there are many stadiums where the headsets go out, which is why Tomlin quickly avoided the question by stating "I'm just talking about tonight's game."

Even Belichick said that they lose their signals just about every game. I'm guessing the league fixes it permanently after this.

If it was easy to fix the NFL would have fixed it already. There's a reason this issue is ongoing; too many ways interference can happen.

 

[supafly]

If it was easy to fix the NFL would have fixed it already. There's a reason this issue is ongoing; too many ways interference can happen.

If the team is really losing signals "just about every week" as Belichick states, they may be able to reduce those instances.