Idle thoughts - the "patience" edition

[patfanken]

You know, every week I try and find a title that reflects some aspect of the game that can tie the whole experience together. Tonight that word was PATIENCE. Upon reflection the entire season can be mirrored in what we saw tonight. Its just another brick in the wall that makes what the Pats have done the last decade so damned remarkable.

When you think on it, BB (and when I say BB I included the entire staff) never panics over adversity whether its starting 2-2 and having the worst defense in the league over the first 5 games, or watching your team go down 7 points after a 95 yd 10+ play TD drive late in the first quarter.

We all know by now that BB uses the month of September to find out what THIS particular edition of the Patriots can do....and cannot. THEN uses that knowledge to make sure he puts his players into situations they can excel at and avoid putting them into positions where they are likely to fail.

As we watched this defense get better and better each week, the ONE thing we could count on was that the defense would get better as the game goes on. And that makes sense, because every offense is going to have their best plays scripted to start a game. These are the plays that they have prepared all week specifically to attack what they expect you to be in.

So while heads exploded in the game day thread, I cautioned "patience" because I KNEW that the defense was going to see the best the Titans had during those first 3 drives, and will have made all the adjustments needed to play those plays better as the game wore on. After Mariotta's perfect throw and remarkable one handed catch by Davis, I wrote that if THAT was what the Titans needed to happen to score, I could live with that, knowing that no team can make plays like that on a regular basis. And that's what ended up happening. Mariotta would have had under 200 yds passing were it not for the garbage time yds he picked up at the end of the game.

The same goes for the offense. For all the success that the Pats have had against Lebeau's defenses, that zone blitz scheme can be very difficult to decipher at the start of a game. You can't go out there and just "fling it" from the start. The more prudent course would be to play it conservatively until you have a read on what THEIR game plan was to put pressure on Brady, to cover Gronk, etc. So while it was frustrating not to score in the first quarter, if you have been an observer of how this team processes game day, you sort of knew that it was bound to get better as the game went on...and it did.

This team ISN'T a dominating one (except for Gronk). It doesn't have the talent to physically blow teams out, like say the Steelers offense, or the Eagle D. Instead we have good, mentally tough, and completely coachable players that succeed on scheme, design, and out executing the more physically talented teams we often face. Again, the Pats are the epitome of the SUM being greater than the individual parts. So watching what this team does week to week has been a privilege for me, because the more I understand what's happening, the smarter fan I become. OK it's almost 2am now so I am forced to stop waxing eloquently about the "Patriot Way" and start the break down so I can get this done before the sun comes up.

1. Offense:

a. General thoughts - Romo was loving him some Patriots coordinators throughout this game, and he was given great examples on offense. Here are a few.

b. We all knew before hand that the Pats RB's on the Titan's LB's were a mismatch. But I loved how in the first couple of drives Josh didn't use them much until he saw what he was going to get, and THEN on all 3 TD drives in the 2nd quarter attacked with the RB's over and over.

c. Romo told us that BB mentioned in their production meetings that the Titans kept their very strong DL in the game without much subbing. So it was not coincidence that when he was ready to cut loose the offense, he upped the pace and had the Titans' DL gasping by halftime. It was as brilliant as it was predictable.

d. QB- I wonder how many of the mediots who kept telling us all week how Brady hadn't thrown for 300 yds, or thrown 5 picks, or looked weak, or less than superhuman the last 5 games, will explain this performance. His completion rate was 66%, 3 TD's, 64% on 3rd downs (11-17), 5-5 in the redzone, and moved in the pocket well enough to remain unsacked, and relatively unhit against a DL that ranked 5th in the league in sacks, btw.

e. OL - One thing that fried my ass last night was the fact that when Conklin went down, the announcers made it seem like this was the reason the Titan offense died. Well we also lost our RT (Waddle) too and he was our #2, and yet our offense survived our #3 RT and plan C worked out very well....again. A great day for the offense line. Once again they played one of the better DL's in the league and did well. Jerrel Casey had some pressures, but hey, he's one of the best in the league. He's supposed to do at LEAST that. In fact he was supposed to do a lot more, and couldn't.

The mediot narrative told us to watch for great pressure up the middle against our undersized interior OL, and it never materialized. For the most part Brady had time and a pocket to step up into. Take a bow Dante.

f. Receivers - " Playoff Danny" Amendola has done it again. If an name brand WR had his numbers, they would be singing paeans to him. But regular season Danny is just another guy with 600 yds and 2 TD's . BUT "Playoff Danny" comes out and shines.....again with 11 receptions and 112 yds, and SIX for first downs. Talk about coming up big.

Gronk with 80 yds and TD was an average Gronk day...for him. He even had a drop that pissed him off no end. Interestingly the Titans tried to cover Gronk with man coverage a lot of the night. It didn't work that well. Question of the week will be how will the Steelers try to stop him.

Cooks was getting a lot of crap from Felger and Brown. I'm not sure how fair it is. If Brady's pass was just a hair more accurate he'd have had over 100yds, but those long passes are hard to connect on. That's why they are so rare. I'm not worried about him. He gets deep on guys 2 or 3 times a game, so the catches will come. He blocks well, and works hard. I'd be happy to pay him $8MM next season to see if he can elevate his game beyond what it was this season. After that I reserve judgement

Hogan had his TD, had a drop on what would have been a tough catch, but on the plus side knocked some rust off.

g. RB's I'm thrilled that Lewis was back getting "only" 15 runs. He averaged 4.1ypc and once again maximized every run. With 80 receiving yds, Dion had 141 total yds (plus 27 on a KO return). With only 2 possible games left time to unleash the hound.

White had 2 TD's but for the most part wasn't impactful, and like Hogan, the plus side was that he got some rust knocked off.

Boldin made me smile. As Bill said in his presser, he's has one of the most difficult jobs to do. Which is come in a play a role when you haven't had many practice reps and even fewer game reps and execute well. Good to see him get that TD, though I bet he wishes he had kept the ball.

OK its now 3am, and I am really not responsible for anything that comes after this point.

 

[patfanken]

2. Defense

a. General thoughts - Like the premise of this post the defense got better once they saw how they were going to be attacked. Mariotta had 37 yds rushing but most came very early or in garbage time. In their TD drive, Chung busted and let Walker free for a 40+ yd gain to get them started. Marriotta also ran for a first down that drive, but it never happened again until their last drive.

In between the Pat D was pretty scary. Patricia used all his spare parts to throttle the Titan's run game and to scheme pass rushes that netted us 8 sacks from the likes of MFlowers, TFlowers, Wise, Francois, Butler and Grissom. None of these guys are going to send shivers down a DC's spine, but as a group they are coming on, and Partricia needs to take a SERIOUS bow.

The negative is the continued lack of turnovers created by the defense. Not having any was OK for tonight, but I think they will be needed going forward. Just something to think about.

b. Front Seven - I was worried a bit about the capabilities of the Titan run game. Those worries mostly dissipated early on when Henry tried to bounce it outside and James Harrison not only set the edge like a rock, he made the tackle. Butler, Guy, Brown, and Francois completely sealed off the middle all game. Their play was really strong.

Y'know, I'm really liking the play of MFlowers as that outside LB on a more full time basis. His path might end up being a lot like Ninko's. He set the edge pretty well. He had some success as a pass rusher, and was REALLY effective when he acted like a spy in certain rush packages. What a useful guy to get for a 7th round pick. He has great length and speed. Skills the LB corps badly needed.

KVN added some pressure had helped others get some sacks. He had some good fits in the run game and like Hogan and White knocked some rust off.

Roberts was conspicuous mostly because he DIDN'T leave any gaps open on the run and while he didn't get a whole lot of individual tackles he was where he was supposed to be most of the time . Good game for him.

This sub unit really had a great night. And I can't say this enough, once again the sum was greater than the individual parts

c Secondary - Stephon Gilmore pitched a shut out tonight. It might not have been the greatest WR group the Pats have seen this year, but he was really really good last night. I'll be interested in seeing the review thread this week to see how much zone vs man we played. But the fact is that most of the Titan yardage came on that 95 yd drive and the one that ended the game in total garbage time.

The only real negative was JJones injury on a play where Marriotta should have been sacked, and at the end of a meaningless drive.

Well not the ONLY negative. The good news is that Malcolm Butler is still competitive as hell and seems to be working hard at it, but too often he seems to be losing. I don't blame him for the first TD. He was in good position, and when I watch the replay closely, you can't help notice that his well timed swipe at the ball came a lot closer to breaking up the play than I originally thought. However there were a number of other plays where he got beat.

He's still a starting CB in this league, but NO ONE is going to give this kid elite money to be their CB. I don't think that after this season he would rate even Logan Ryan money at this point. That being said, I'd love to have him back, IF he and his agent regain their sanity once he tests the market. Because that is what Bill will do. He WILL make him an offer and then let Butler see if he can do a lot better, if he doesn't, then I wouldn't be surprised to see himcome back on a deal that would guarantee $6MM/yr and have reasonable incentives to get to $8MM, and more if he can get back to that probowl level of last season.

Nice to have Rowe hack. I think we have him under contract next season, don't we? His size allows a lot of flexibility when we need to cover some bigger WR's....like next week.

3. ST's - excellent as usual....EXCEPT for a couple of holding penalties on punts that were obviously going to be fair caught, and of course the stupid late head butt.

The Pats have attempted 3 FG attempts from beyond 50yds during the playoffs at Gillette since 2001. Some ass in the game day thread was pissed when Gotskowski barely missed the 53 yard. It looked good from the start, but I think the wind got it at the end. But to that ass, there is a REASON there have been only 3 attempted FG's during that time. It's January. It's usually very cold and windy, and 53 yd FG are NOT automatic. :rolleyes;

KO coverage against a very dangerous guy, were very good, with all but one of the 5 KO returns stopped short of the 25.


General thoughts -

a. Jim Nance to go directly to the Masters and stay there. He spent most of night just pissing me off. Of course he says a lot of nice things about the Pats. How could he not, given their successes? But every chance he gets, he slips a dagger in their backs, with off hand, uninformed remarks about ref's calls, etc

His remark about the one second left at the end of the first half was simply unprofessional, to the point where Romo (NOT Nance) had to make a retraction because of the bad impression they left. The fact was that the Titan player DID jump into the neutral zone, clearly. But he also got back before the snap. I always thought that you COULD jump back if the ball wasn;t snapped, but so often, I see the flag just for entering it. They should NEVER had questioned the call they way they did.

They also didn't reinforce the holding call on Gronk when he was clearly mugged on the play. They left it open as if to imply it was another questionable call that went the Pats way.

Chriss Wessling of the Around the league podcast on NFL.com tweated that they conveniently ignored the blatant hold on Cooks that caused the near miss, but constantly harped on the ticky tack OPI on Decker as being a key play, which as Florio pointed out on PFT, was ALSO a legit call. Well I'm glad at least SOMEONE was watching the game.

b. Malarkey is an ass that doesn't deserve to be the HC of the Titans. His half time comments complaining about the refs to the sideline girl proved it. If Josh is smart he'd avoid Irsay and the Colts job, and wait another year because this jackass will be gone in a year for sure. Time will prove that the win against KC might prove more costly than the loss.

c. I'm less worried about the fact the we are likely to lose both our coordinators in 1-3 weeks, than about the potential current assistants that they may take with them. So we aren't going to lose 2 guys from our staff, it will probably be 4-6.

d. I caught a bit of the Eagles game too and all the Nick Foles hoopla from this past week. It made be think about all the JG hoopla as well, as all the Deshawn Watson hype. In case you forgot in his 2nd year, Nick Foles threw for 27 TD's 2 picks and almost 3000 yds in just 10 games. He looked all the world like a franchise QB. Well he's had 4 more seasons after that, 3 as predominately a back up.

I just mention this as a potential cautionary tale given the over hype on Watson and JG. Derrick Carr is another example of a young QB who shines for a year and them regresses. It is NEVER a straight line progress for QB's. It wasn't for Brady either. It is HARD to maintain a level of excellence. It makes what Brady has accomplished even more remarkable. The longer you play the more defenses know HOW to play you, and what you like, and what your tendencies are. How you are able to adjust to those adjustments will determine whether you are elite or not. You can HOPE, but you can't know.

We know that JG and Watson have the talent to be great QB's, but for God's sake, before the send them to the HOF, let's see them do it for 4 or 5 years and absorb all the adjustments instead of anointing them after just a few good games. QB, at the NFL level might be the hardest single job in sports. You can't judge greatness after such a short sample size.

e. My mind is rooting for the Jags. Their defense would present some unique problems but I can't see their offense scoring more than 16 and THAT wouldn't be enough. My heart wants the Steelers. They have the best offensive talent in the league, but on the road, it isn't happening for Ben, and they still can't stop our offense. It will be great to break to get a chance to their hearts.... AGAIN.

OK this is nuts. I'd 4;30 am and this ends now. I'm an old man and I have to go pee.

Please add your commentary it is important.

 

[Joker]

You're a TRUE Patriots fan and a valued, important member here. Don't let the cupcake airhead generation of "knowers!" get you down. I puked when I got back from the game tonight after reading some of the absolute garbage being spewed by these cretins.

My preference in the next game is whomever. Both teams present their own set of problems that must be solved.

 

[Soliel]

As usual. A very good post and nice reading material.

 

[resdubwhite]

Thanks Ken. Really enjoy these posts.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Thanks Ken. you can always put our thoughts into words (it's a gift even if it seems simple to you).

Definitely agree about Malarkey's comments about the refs. Even if you believe it to be true (and he hasn't watched the film), a coach needs to be mentally stronger and not have that type of attitude (somewhere between quitter and nothing is ever my fault).

I'm sure Titan fans were pissed and saying the league wants the Patriots to win (due to comments from Nance). They seemed like ticky tacky penalties (though our LG moved when their player jumped into the neutral zone) and it was off when the ref called false start and then the penalty changed without any explanation. But it wasn't the reason the Titans lost the game.

EDIT: Forgot to mention Malarkey's game time management to end the half. Calling the timeout when it was needed and the team should have had a running play. This si where someone like BB makes those guys look like amateurs.

 

[DarrylS]

Good post...

As much as Nantz got on your nerves, for the first time Romo drove me nutz.. he was just talking half azzed thoughts most of the night, he started with the whole thing about, "how it starts in the trenches" and touted the O and D lines of the Titans.. on and on, blah, blah, blah sometimes less info is better.

The idea that this was some sort of showcase for Patricia and McDaniels was a lot idiotic, this was Patriots football as we have come to know it.. exploit the weakness of the other team.

For the first time in a long time I thought the Pats found their Offensive Rhythm, particularly in the second quarter.. maybe it has to do with an extra week of practice or maybe it is as simple as having almost everyone back..

Amendola is money..

The Pats won the TOP.. 32;56 to 27.54..
8 Sacks for the maligned Pats D, O for the highly touted Titans D, so much for the "trenches" commentary of Romo...


Absurd stat of the day.. Mariota QB rating for this game was 98.3, Brady was 102.5.. it was not this close at all, there needs to be a better way of evaluating QB performance.. the QBR for Brady was 82.9 and for Mariota it was 58.6, even though I do not understand QBR all that well this seems more in line from what I saw from my big comfy couch...

 

[maineman209]

Great observations, as usual! Thanks, Ken!

Just to add ...

The most impressive thing to me about Brady's performance last night wasn't his stats, it was his ability to improvise - something he really doesn't need to do very often. His falling backwards, lob fade that Amendola caught on 3rd & 10 was remarkable. Even more remarkable was the fact that it was the second time in the game that he dropped a dime like that. The first time was to White, but White didn't handle it. Very few QBs could do that once or twice a season, much less twice in one game. "In decline", my ass.

Hogan's block on Woodyard proves that he's nearly back to 100% more than anything else he did.

Great comment about Roberts' best play being the fact that he didn't eff-up.

Harrison's stuff of Henry by reaching out with one arm and grabbing Henry by the shoulder (while still engaged with a blocker), was maybe the best play of his short Pats' tenure. Harrison is still a beast.

Romo's retraction of the "homer clock-runner" comment was definitely worthy, and probably cost him any chance of ever getting a job with BSPN. However, it irked me that he kept going on about how the Pats sacks were exploiting the Titans' loss of their starting RT. While I'm sure that Conklin going out kinda screwed with the OL communication, the fact is that most of those sacks came up the middle or through the Titans' left side, not the right.

I still like Romo, though. Yeah, he yammers a lot, but his yammering contains more insightful nuggets/yam than any other "color guy" in the biz. Plus, his genuinely jovial personality appears to be loosening up Mr. Stick-Up-His-Butt Nantz a bit.

After Q1 of the Iggles game, I was certain that Foles would screw up and open the floodgates for the Falcons to dominate. He never did, really. In fact, he got better as the game wore on - and against a Falcons defense that I thought (before the game) would destroy him.

 

[Bella*chick]

I liked Romo too. He tried to pump up the Titans a bit at the beginning of the game but that’s the job. Going in there and announcing it’s likely to be a slaughter is not terribly interesting and they want people to watch.

His reaction to the Titans disastrous fourth down play before the half was hilarious.

 

[grandpajim]

As is so often said by others, thank you for your great posts, very insightful & as you said educational.

After watching the replays on the big Harrison tackle I had to ask myself how the hell did he do that? He seemed well blocked out of the play & just one arm tackled a 250 rb??? This guys a stud.

Butler has been my binkie partly for the SB interception, but more for being the little engine that could for the last couple seasons. The offseason & his play in general this year haven't been what I wanted for him. As you stated, I hope he's back next season & things go better for him.

In the "my mind wanders too much" dept, watching Lewis I couldn't help but hope we are able to bring him back next season.

I take full responsibility for the FG miss. AS Gostkoski's leg is approaching the ball I remark how the period of misses was only a blip & is over. With that in mind, Brady is obviously too old & out of touch with the HC of the NEPATS & the OC so the three of them should be released.

Good job Grissom.

Go Pats!

 

[PP2]

b. We all knew before hand that the Pats RB's on the Titan's LB's were a mismatch. But I loved how in the first couple of drives Josh didn't use them much until he saw what he was going to get, and THEN on all 3 TD drives in the 2nd quarter attacked with the RB's over and over.

c. Romo told us that BB mentioned in their production meetings that the Titans kept their very strong DL in the game without much subbing. So it was not coincidence that when he was ready to cut loose the offense, he upped the pace and had the Titans' DL gasping by halftime. It was as brilliant as it was predictable.

Yes. Amen.

McD called a damn great game. He didn't get greedy. A friend was asking me why he didn't just go right to the backs, and I said "that's the meaning of having an ace up your sleeve." He wanted to see how they were attacking our protection before ultimately deciding to target the weakside. Most of our gains were there. This kind of minute observation and strategic response is going to be sorely missed next season.

McD's game calling was lights out, last night. Just impeccable.

 

[borg]

PFK in playoff form.
All I can add is:
The Bill Belichick Way requires building a roster with quality NFL depth because his teams play 19 games/year. The strength of his teams are often measured not by the starting 22 but by the next 20 men on his roster.
Most NFL teams fail to heed the Bill Belichick Way. Teams like Dallas habitually collapse after one key injury. Tennessee collapsed after two. Losing Demarco Murray in the regular season was a key injury that minimized the Titans offense....and their only true NFL RB option was a plodding Clysdale. Losing their stud tackle was their death blow.

The Titans dressed only 4 DL and BB exploited it.
The Titans handed off to one RB
The Titans OL collapsed after losing stud tackle Conklin

Comparing just these 3 positional categories with NE...it is clear how how much more BB values quality depth ....and in extreme circumstances, how NE can find and coach up 3rd level depth better than any team

BB the Coach
BB the GM
BB the Economist
BB the builder of teams with 19 game warranties

OT: Another great year to be a NE sports fan....Pats / C's / B's (Eff the Saux)

 

[Chasing greatness]

Great post as always Ken my biggest takeaway on offense was the offenses ability to Run on Tennessee specifically in the red zone. That was a strength of that Titans team. Defensively the penetration and speed on the edge shows how much kvn was missed. Seeing amendola show up gives me hope for some rhythm developing for the champ game next week.

 

[PScottman]

Good game for him.

I thought it was a great game for him. He played like we expect LBs to play the run in a BB defense - he flowed to the ball in scheme rather than surging into a gap before the play developed. It was REALLY evident the entire defense wasn't going to let Henry get going and he absolutely didn't - to the point of the slow start you mentioned and letting the passing game of the Titans look "better" then it actually is.

As the KC game showed, young teams, if you let them do their bread and butter ,can get way too much confidence. There was NO WAY that Titans running game was going to beat the Pats - and once they figured out the Titan blocking scheme...here came the sacks to take that away too..

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Harrison also drew an offensive holding call which negated a 1st down conversion, and I believe led to a punt. Was it the first drive after half? I don't totally remember. But it was when the game was still on the line.

Just wanted to thank the Steelers for handing us such a useful piece for the playoffs.

 

[Doctor DDS]

I love it when the Pats go up tempo. Really opened up the short passing and running games and gave them a rhythm they have been missing of late and did not lose once they scored.

Brady was absolutely brilliant. I thought his best pass was the one that White was unable to corral as he seemed to turn just a tad too late after the scramble. When Brady threw that While was still a couple moves away from being there - just sensational awareness and it exemplifies what "trusting your receivers" is all about.

When I heard Burkhead was out I was very disappointed but with the way Lewis and White played am not sure it would have made much of a difference beyond providing some rest for those 2.

Harrison setting the edge on an early run and making the one handed tackle seemed to set the tone that edge runs were not going to be a problem this week. Will be interesting to see what is means if they play Pitt as Bell had success getting to the corner last game.

Cannot remember a Pats defensive unit that has shown as much improvement in a year as the DL. How they were able to cobble together what seemed like a bunch of nobodies and turn it into a stout front has been amazing. Like the Burkhead news I was a little nervous when I heard Branch was not playing but with the way Francois has looked the past few games I am not sure he is even an upgrade (am assuming he is the one cut/inactive if Branch is active)

I thought the Pats overall got the better end of a few calls but the reason they ended up seeming more impactful was because the Pats drove for TD's after the 2 big ones (OPI and Offsides) - if they had punted after 3 more plays instead of driving additional 80+ yards after the offsides or did nothing after forcing the punt the calls would not have been discussed nearly as much.

 

[BTTA]

Glad to see the stuff that was making me grumpy was shared around here. At one point my wife asked me why I was talking back to the announcer about injured right tackles.

Romo as an announcer is just like Romo the quarterback. Most of what he says is just everyday stuff, then once in a while he says something unusually insightful (for the average color guy) and it leaves us wondering: why doesn't he do that all the time, if he can do it some of the time? He could be really good if he'd try to be thoughtful and insist on quality from himself. Instead, the few good things he says get lost in the wash of his mediocrity.

 

[everlong]

1. Regarding Cooks I don't trust him to make the tough catch when they need it they way I do Gronk, DA, Hogan, White....I was hoping for Deion Branch but he's closer to Brandon Lloyd. That's not bad but it's not a true #1. Aso he seems to stop running when he looks back at the QB time and time again. If he ran through the catch he would have anther 500 yards receiving.

2. I hope Pitt wins. I think it's the better matchup for the Pats. I think the game will be a lot more entertaining. And yet when I watch today there's zero chance I'll be rooting for them. Such a whiny and self entitled team and fan base. They're entitled to the immaculate reception and extension, the brutal calls in the Seahawks SB of 05, the Mike Renfro no catch and on and on but that no catch which was correct you would still think you killed their dog.

3. I generally don't begrudge the announcers trying to play up the underdog. It's part of the job. But Romo making it seem like the refs were handing the Pats the game was too much. The Decker OPI was ticky tack but I think what earned him the penalty was pushing off the face mask. If he hadn't made contact there I think the refs let it go. On the offsides on the punt it was flat out the right call. It's not like nationally every call for the Pats is viewed as BS and every call against as justice already. His playing into it just as to that delusion. Anybody who thinks they get every call should go watch the Carolina game.

4. Matty Ice my ass. All those weapons and he puts up 10 points all the direct result of TOs and nothing in the second half.

5. If the Pats play the Vikings in the SB the HFA won't be dramatically different than facing anybody else. Unless you're a Pats fan or a fan hat simply hates the Pats opponent you're rooting for the other team. I think it would be fun to beat the first home SB team.

6. Props to the OL and DL who after the first quarter dominated the game. Romo made such a big deal about how the Titans were the more physical team on both sides of the ball. Not so much Tony.

7. James White playoff monster.

8. I hope Gronk and Brady break the Montana and Rice playoff TD record. They've both been fickle at best about the Pats run so they can suck on it.

9. 9 straight division titles, 8 straight byes, 7 straight championship games. And we wonder why other fan bases are done with the Pats run and that's without talking about the first part of the dynasty.

10. Jags and Steelers 9-6 triple OT where both teams have both units play over 100 plays. A guy can dream.

 

[BTTA]

1. Regarding Cooks I don't trust him to make the tough catch when they need it they way I do Gronk, DA, Hogan, White....I was hoping for Deion Branch but he's closer to Brandon Lloyd. That's not bad but it's not a true #1. Aso he seems to stop running when he looks back at the QB time and time again. If he ran through the catch he would have anther 500 yards receiving.

10. Jags and Steelers 9-6 triple OT where both teams have both units play over 100 plays. A guy can dream.

I think a review of Cooks' play this season will illustrate that he's making a lot of tough catches and can be counted on to do so.

Agree about the Jags and Steelers game - don't care who wins, just want it to be of medieval quality and end on Monday morning sometime.

 

[BobDigital]

2. Defense

a. General thoughts - Like the premise of this post the defense got better once they saw how they were going to be attacked. Mariotta had 37 yds rushing but most came very early or in garbage time. In their TD drive, Chung busted and let Walker free for a 40+ yd gain to get them started. Marriotta also ran for a first down that drive, but it never happened again until their last drive.

In between the Pat D was pretty scary. Patricia used all his spare parts to throttle the Titan's run game and to scheme pass rushes that netted us 8 sacks from the likes of MFlowers, TFlowers, Wise, Francois, Butler and Grissom. None of these guys are going to send shivers down a DC's spine, but as a group they are coming on, and Partricia needs to take a SERIOUS bow.

The negative is the continued lack of turnovers created by the defense. Not having any was OK for tonight, but I think they will be needed going forward. Just something to think about.

b. Front Seven - I was worried a bit about the capabilities of the Titan run game. Those worries mostly dissipated early on when he tried to bounce it outside and James Harrison not only set the edge like a rock, he made the tackle. Butler, Guy, Brown, and Francois completely sealed off the middle all game. Their play was really strong.

Y'know, I'm really liking the play of MFlowers as that outside LB on a more full time basis. His path is a lot like Ninko's. He set the edge pretty well. He had some success as a pass rusher, and was REALLY effective when he acted like a spy in certain rush packages. What a useful guy.

KVN added some pressure had helped others get some sacks. He had some good fits in the run game and like Hogan and White also knocked some rust off.

Roberts was conspicuous mostly because he DIDN'T leave any gaps open on the run and while he didn't get a whole lot of individual tackles he was where he was supposed to be most of the time . Good game for him.

This sub unit really had a great night. And I can't say this enough, once again the sum was greater than the individual parts

c Secondary - Stephon Gilmore pitched a shut out tonight. It might not have been the greatest WR group the Pats have seen this year, but he was really really good last night. I'll be interested in seeing the review thread this week to see how much zone vs man we played. But the fact is that most of the Titan yardage came on that 95 yd drive and the one that ended the game in total garbage time.

The only real negative was JJones injury on a play where Marriotta should have been sacked, and the end of a meaningless drive.

Well not the ONLY negative. The good news is that Malcolm Butler is still competitive as hell and seems to be working hard at it, but too often he seems to be losing. I don't blame him for the first TD. He was in good position, and when I watch the replay closely, you can't help notice that his well timed swipe at the ball came a lot closer to breaking up the play than I originally thought. However there were a number of other plays where he got beat.

He's still a starting CB in this league, but NO ONE is going to give this kid elite money to be their CB. I don't think this season would rate even Logan Ryan money at this point. That being said, I'd love to have him back, IF he and his agent regain their sanity once he tests the market. Because that is what Bill will do. He WILL make him an offer and then let him see if he can do a lot better, if he doesn't, then I wouldn't be surprised to see him come back on a deal that would guarantee $6MM and have reasonable incentives to get to $8MM, and more if he can get back to that probowl level of last season.

Nice to have Rowe hack. I think we have him under contract next season, don't we? His size allows a lot of flexibility when we need to cover some bigger WR's....like next week.

3. ST's - excellent as usual....EXCEPT for a couple of holding penalties on punts that were obviously going to be fair caught, and of course the stupid late head butt.

The Pats have attempted 3 FG attempts from beyond 50yds during the playoffs at Gillette since 2001. Some ass in the game day thread was pissed when Gotskowski barely missed the 53 yard. It looked good from the start, but I think the wind got it at the end. But to that ass, there is a REASON there have been only 3 attempted FG's during that time. It's January. It's usually very cold and windy, and 53 yd FG are NOT automatic. :rolleyes;

KO coverage against a very dangerous guy, were very good, with all but one of the 5 KO returns stopped short of the 25..

General thoughts -

a. Jim Nance to go directly to the Masters and stay there. He spent most of night just pissing me off. Of course he says a lot of nice things about the Pats. How could he not, given their successes? But every chance he gets, he slips a dagger in their backs, with off hand, uninformed remarks about ref's calls, etc

His remark about the one second left at the end of the first half was simply unprofessional, to the point where Romo (NOT Nance) had to make a retraction because of the bad impression they made. The fact was that the Titan player DID jump into the neutral zone, clearly. But he also got back before the snap. I always thought that you COULD jump back if the ball wasn;t snapped, but so often, I see the flag just for entering it. They should NEVER had questioned the call they way they did.

They also didn't reinforce the holding call on Gronk when he was clearly mugged on the play. They left it open as if to imply it was another questionable call that went the Pats way.

Chriss Wessling of the Around the league podcast on NFL.com tweated that they conveniently ignored the blatant hold on Cooks that caused the near miss, but constantly harped on the ticky tack OPI on Decker as being a key play.

b. Malarkey is an ass that doesn't deserve to be the HC of the Titans. His half time comments complaining about the refs to the sideline girl proved it. If Josh is smart he'd avoid Irsay and the Colts job, and wait another year because this jackass will be gone in a year for sure. Time will prove that the win against KC might prove more costly than the loss.

c. I'm less worried about the fact the we are likely to lose both our coordinators in 1-3 weeks, than about the potential current assistants that they may take with them. So we aren't going to lose 2 guys from our staff, it will probably be 4-6.

d. I caught a bit of the Eagles game too and all the Nick Foles hoopla from this past week. It made be think about all the JG hoopla as well, as all the Deshawn Watson hype. In case you forgot in his 2nd year, Nick Foles threw for 27 TD's 2 picks and almost 3000 yds in just 10 games. He looked all the world like a franchise QB. Well he's had 4 more seasons after that, 3 as predominately a back up.

I just mention this as a potential cautionary tale given the over hype on Watson and JG. Derrick Carr is another example of a young QB who shines for a year and them regresses. It is NEVER a straight line progress for QB's. It wasn't for Brady either. It is HARD to maintain a level of excellence. It makes what Brady has accomplished even more remarkable. The longer you play the more defenses know HOW to play you, and what you like, and what your tendencies are. How you are able to adjust to the adjustments will determine whether you are elite or not. You can HOPE, but you can't know.

We know that JG and Watson have the talent to be great QB's, but for God's sake, before the send them to the HOF, let's see them do it for 4 or 5 years and absorb all the adjustments

e. My mind is rooting for the Jags. Their defense would present some unique problems but I can't see their offense scoring more than 16 and THAT wouldn't be enough. My heart wants the Steelers. They have the best offensive talent in the league, but on te road, it isn't happening for Ben, and they still can't stop our offense. It will be great to break their hearts AGAIN.

OK this is nuts. I'd 4;30 am and this ends now. I'm an old man and I have to go pee.

Please add to the commentary, and we can all increase our knowledge and understanding

I will ask the question on everyone's mind that no one else has the guts to ask! How was your pee? I mean, not to be creepy about it but I think we can all agree a really good pee is pretty awesome. There are few things in life that give you such a great feeling of relief.