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I'm not going to apologize for my gratuitous misappropriation of a movie title, but given what we all saw it's not too far from the truth. In the run up to Buffalo thread, I said I thought that the Bills defense might be the one of the best (top 3 was the quote, I think) defenses the Pats will face. They didn't disappoint. In fact I hope very much that this will be THE best one the Pats will face.
But here's the thing. There is more than just the Pats facing a great defense. It's the fact that in the 2nd half of the game the best offense on the field was the horrific one that the Bills put on the field. Now I understand that using the phrase "best offense on the field" is damning with faint praise. What I found most troubling wasn't that the offense wasn't moving consistently in the first half, but its failure to make the adjustments necessary to at least put up some points when the Pats were given great field position. The adjustments at least to see some Pats receivers more open than they were.
But that's at first glance lets break it down at least for first impressions of what we were seeing and hopefully we'll know more by Tuesday or Wednesday after Lezar, Bedard, and our own Rewatch thread reveal more detail. But right as of this minute here are my initial observations of the Bills game and other things
1. General Offensive thoughts - They pretty much sucked. I think that pretty much covers the gist of the topic. It's been a long time since I've see a Pats offense so CONSISTENTLY confused and so unsure of itself. They ran the ball 23 times, and yet very rarely ran play action pass off it, why? That would be the first question I'd ask Josh. They ran a successful rub route to Gordon in the game, and then I can't recall seeing another one. Maybe I missed it. They played against a tough DL with speed at the LB's and Safeties, and yet when they wanted to get outside they ran a very slow developing stretch play to Michell rather than a quick pitch that would have given Michell the ball faster and make his reads easier. And they NEVER threw off that look. It never looked there was a drive where Brady or Josh looked comfortable with what they were doing. Very UnPatriotlike But here's what bothered me the most. Usually Brady has multiple receptions by 6 or 7 different receivers. Today he had only 4 receivers who were even targeted more than once and five that were targeted at all.
2. QB - I don't recall ever watching so many of Brady's passes miss their receivers by so much. It seemed after the beauty he threw to White to set up the first/ONLY TD, every pass was an adventure and even clean receptions were few and far between. Now the pass protection in the 2nd half wasn't good at all, but it was pretty good in the first half and that didn't help. 46% completion rate. 28% 3rd down conversion rate (which is horrible, but better than I expected) 45 QB rating. Cue Max with a "cliff" sighting
This is all horrid stuff except for the fact we DID win. Also its not like Brady hasn't had games like this, like the 4 pick game the last time the Bills won up there, OR who can forget the FIVE pick playoff game in Denver back in Watson's 2nd year. Even the great ones suck every now and again. All I know is that if Brady needs more incentive to be great, he got it Sunday.
3. RB's - White was the leading receiver, Michel averaged 3.8 ypc which isn't bad. I didn't see a lot of room but when he got a sliver he made the most of it. Rex was mostly a decoy I think and didn't see the ball much which would have been surprising since he's been the team's best rusher thus far, so its pretty clear his still dinged a bit. I didn't see much good or bad from Jacob. But it didn't look like he made much of an impact
4. OL - I thought the Pass protection was pretty good in the first half, and not so good in the second. My guess is that Newhouse was responsible for a number of hurries, but I can't be sure, but clearly Brady was made very uncomfortable, Bedard will have a breakdown by Tuesday. It won't be pretty.
5. Receivers - Like I said there were only 5 who made catches between the RB's WR's and TE's. One target to Rex, NO targets to the WR's, and only 4 guys got more than one. Again, I really want to see the breakdown of what they were doing that utterly cancelled out our passing attack. I imagine its been worse, but I can't remember when. Spock would say, "Fascinating"
6. General Defensive thoughts - Generally when you hold your opponent to just 10 points you should get a pat on the back, ESPECIALLY when you add in 4 picks and 5 more sacks. But that being said, it doesn't disguise the fact that a combination of Josh Allen and Matt Barkley, 2 of the worst QB's I've seen on TV in a decade, threw for 280+ yds on that uber elite secondary. And that invincible front seven, allowed another 140 yds on the ground. That's about TWICE what our celebrated offense was able to accomplish.
7. Front 7 - Hightower was missed in the run game. Bentley made more than a couple of mistakes. I saw a play where he was driven off the ball 9 yards and I saw him over run or miss his gap a couple of times. At any rate giving up 11o yds rushing to Frank Gore isn't going to get this game put up on the Front seven's fridge any time soon.
They did do a good job, by and large containing Allen and keeping him from running amok. Too bad we can't say the same about Gore.
On the plus side KVN is a beast. TWO forced fumbles TWO sacks and a team leading 8 tackles is a nice line. Jaime had another day with a few splash plays, but wash't as consistent as Kyle. Bentley and Roberts weren't very good, imho and it showed in the stats with just 4 tackles between them. NOT what you want from you ILB's Guy and Shelton were OK today Winovich had a sack, but was otherwise invisible. I'm hoping Bennett's snaps goes up as the temperature goes down.
Secondary - There was a lot of good, and then some "not so much". That 280 yds in passing came as a big surprise especially since Allen was worse than I was led to believe and I didn't think Barkley was still in the league. Maybe they were SO bad that Bill didn't want to get beat by a stray long ball completion or PI and had them play off the ball and waiting for the mistake....which DID happen most of the time., but even though their next 3 games aren't exactly against the iron of the league, all 3 QB's are better than what Buffalo has.
8. Special teams - Well they won the game plan and simple. Bailey truly IS a special punter. A 43 yd NET is a great advantage. Jackson's block ended up being the difference in the game even though Gotskowsi's miss cost me a half point in my pool. And no we shouldn't bring in anyone else. Nice to see Slater get his first TD in 12 years. Fitting.
9. General thoughts -
a. After looking at the play several times I understand why the refs threw that flag on Jones, even though I completely disagree with the call. Don't blame the refs AT all. But I still can't understand the logic behind the rule. Jones didn't lower his head and launch himself. He was a 180lb DB faced with a 240lb RUNNER who was trying fall forward to get a key first down. From one angle it actually looked like Allen was the one who initiated the contact. Granted it looked ugly, but the question I need answered is if the runner had been Frank Gore rather than Josh Allen, would the flag had been thrown. Allen was leading with HIS head, so why can't Jones. He certainly wasn't "defenseless"
This no-win situation is why the refs can't win. What was always a difficult game to officiate, it's now become impossible.
b. Going into this game I had a LOT of respect for Sean McDermott. I think he's done a fine job slowly building up the quality of his team and the program. BUT his constant whining about ridiculous plays and his comments after the game just dropped him into Rex Ryanland. He can go f*ck himself as far as I'm concerned. You can see how it rubbed off on his players. Allen was running around looking for calls every time someone came near him. Once he had his facemask TOUCHED by a passing hand. Not grabbed, just touched and he went whining to the refs, just like his whiny HC, who cost his team dearly losing 2 TO's to stupid challenges.
c. The Pats had 8 penalties for almost 6o yds. That didn't help the offense
d. 16-10 16-10, 12-10, 16-6 24-3 are scores from games this week. Plus another 3 that would didn't exceed 40 total points. Looks like in an age of massive offensive advantages defenses have reared their ugly heads to put some balance in the game.
e. Not only did I end up going 1-4 in this week's pool, and yes I had the pats at -7 (thanks steve. ) I had about 4 games I was thinking about taking, and 3 of 4 of those game would have been losers. NOT my week obviously. I'm going to drop precipitously in the standings.
On the plus side each week we have to pick a "key" game, which I thought was a method to break ties at the end of the season. Turns out it pays out 2500 at the end of they season and I currently am the only one who has picked it all 4 weeks. So I got THAT going for me anyways.
and with that.....good night.
But here's the thing. There is more than just the Pats facing a great defense. It's the fact that in the 2nd half of the game the best offense on the field was the horrific one that the Bills put on the field. Now I understand that using the phrase "best offense on the field" is damning with faint praise. What I found most troubling wasn't that the offense wasn't moving consistently in the first half, but its failure to make the adjustments necessary to at least put up some points when the Pats were given great field position. The adjustments at least to see some Pats receivers more open than they were.
But that's at first glance lets break it down at least for first impressions of what we were seeing and hopefully we'll know more by Tuesday or Wednesday after Lezar, Bedard, and our own Rewatch thread reveal more detail. But right as of this minute here are my initial observations of the Bills game and other things
1. General Offensive thoughts - They pretty much sucked. I think that pretty much covers the gist of the topic. It's been a long time since I've see a Pats offense so CONSISTENTLY confused and so unsure of itself. They ran the ball 23 times, and yet very rarely ran play action pass off it, why? That would be the first question I'd ask Josh. They ran a successful rub route to Gordon in the game, and then I can't recall seeing another one. Maybe I missed it. They played against a tough DL with speed at the LB's and Safeties, and yet when they wanted to get outside they ran a very slow developing stretch play to Michell rather than a quick pitch that would have given Michell the ball faster and make his reads easier. And they NEVER threw off that look. It never looked there was a drive where Brady or Josh looked comfortable with what they were doing. Very UnPatriotlike But here's what bothered me the most. Usually Brady has multiple receptions by 6 or 7 different receivers. Today he had only 4 receivers who were even targeted more than once and five that were targeted at all.
2. QB - I don't recall ever watching so many of Brady's passes miss their receivers by so much. It seemed after the beauty he threw to White to set up the first/ONLY TD, every pass was an adventure and even clean receptions were few and far between. Now the pass protection in the 2nd half wasn't good at all, but it was pretty good in the first half and that didn't help. 46% completion rate. 28% 3rd down conversion rate (which is horrible, but better than I expected) 45 QB rating. Cue Max with a "cliff" sighting
This is all horrid stuff except for the fact we DID win. Also its not like Brady hasn't had games like this, like the 4 pick game the last time the Bills won up there, OR who can forget the FIVE pick playoff game in Denver back in Watson's 2nd year. Even the great ones suck every now and again. All I know is that if Brady needs more incentive to be great, he got it Sunday.
3. RB's - White was the leading receiver, Michel averaged 3.8 ypc which isn't bad. I didn't see a lot of room but when he got a sliver he made the most of it. Rex was mostly a decoy I think and didn't see the ball much which would have been surprising since he's been the team's best rusher thus far, so its pretty clear his still dinged a bit. I didn't see much good or bad from Jacob. But it didn't look like he made much of an impact
4. OL - I thought the Pass protection was pretty good in the first half, and not so good in the second. My guess is that Newhouse was responsible for a number of hurries, but I can't be sure, but clearly Brady was made very uncomfortable, Bedard will have a breakdown by Tuesday. It won't be pretty.
5. Receivers - Like I said there were only 5 who made catches between the RB's WR's and TE's. One target to Rex, NO targets to the WR's, and only 4 guys got more than one. Again, I really want to see the breakdown of what they were doing that utterly cancelled out our passing attack. I imagine its been worse, but I can't remember when. Spock would say, "Fascinating"
6. General Defensive thoughts - Generally when you hold your opponent to just 10 points you should get a pat on the back, ESPECIALLY when you add in 4 picks and 5 more sacks. But that being said, it doesn't disguise the fact that a combination of Josh Allen and Matt Barkley, 2 of the worst QB's I've seen on TV in a decade, threw for 280+ yds on that uber elite secondary. And that invincible front seven, allowed another 140 yds on the ground. That's about TWICE what our celebrated offense was able to accomplish.
7. Front 7 - Hightower was missed in the run game. Bentley made more than a couple of mistakes. I saw a play where he was driven off the ball 9 yards and I saw him over run or miss his gap a couple of times. At any rate giving up 11o yds rushing to Frank Gore isn't going to get this game put up on the Front seven's fridge any time soon.
They did do a good job, by and large containing Allen and keeping him from running amok. Too bad we can't say the same about Gore.
On the plus side KVN is a beast. TWO forced fumbles TWO sacks and a team leading 8 tackles is a nice line. Jaime had another day with a few splash plays, but wash't as consistent as Kyle. Bentley and Roberts weren't very good, imho and it showed in the stats with just 4 tackles between them. NOT what you want from you ILB's Guy and Shelton were OK today Winovich had a sack, but was otherwise invisible. I'm hoping Bennett's snaps goes up as the temperature goes down.
Secondary - There was a lot of good, and then some "not so much". That 280 yds in passing came as a big surprise especially since Allen was worse than I was led to believe and I didn't think Barkley was still in the league. Maybe they were SO bad that Bill didn't want to get beat by a stray long ball completion or PI and had them play off the ball and waiting for the mistake....which DID happen most of the time., but even though their next 3 games aren't exactly against the iron of the league, all 3 QB's are better than what Buffalo has.
8. Special teams - Well they won the game plan and simple. Bailey truly IS a special punter. A 43 yd NET is a great advantage. Jackson's block ended up being the difference in the game even though Gotskowsi's miss cost me a half point in my pool. And no we shouldn't bring in anyone else.
Nice to see Slater get his first TD in 12 years. Fitting.9. General thoughts -
a. After looking at the play several times I understand why the refs threw that flag on Jones, even though I completely disagree with the call. Don't blame the refs AT all. But I still can't understand the logic behind the rule. Jones didn't lower his head and launch himself. He was a 180lb DB faced with a 240lb RUNNER who was trying fall forward to get a key first down. From one angle it actually looked like Allen was the one who initiated the contact. Granted it looked ugly, but the question I need answered is if the runner had been Frank Gore rather than Josh Allen, would the flag had been thrown. Allen was leading with HIS head, so why can't Jones. He certainly wasn't "defenseless"
This no-win situation is why the refs can't win. What was always a difficult game to officiate, it's now become impossible.
b. Going into this game I had a LOT of respect for Sean McDermott. I think he's done a fine job slowly building up the quality of his team and the program. BUT his constant whining about ridiculous plays and his comments after the game just dropped him into Rex Ryanland. He can go f*ck himself as far as I'm concerned. You can see how it rubbed off on his players. Allen was running around looking for calls every time someone came near him. Once he had his facemask TOUCHED by a passing hand. Not grabbed, just touched and he went whining to the refs, just like his whiny HC, who cost his team dearly losing 2 TO's to stupid challenges.
c. The Pats had 8 penalties for almost 6o yds. That didn't help the offense
d. 16-10 16-10, 12-10, 16-6 24-3 are scores from games this week. Plus another 3 that would didn't exceed 40 total points. Looks like in an age of massive offensive advantages defenses have reared their ugly heads to put some balance in the game.
e. Not only did I end up going 1-4 in this week's pool, and yes I had the pats at -7 (thanks steve.
) I had about 4 games I was thinking about taking, and 3 of 4 of those game would have been losers. NOT my week obviously. I'm going to drop precipitously in the standings. On the plus side each week we have to pick a "key" game, which I thought was a method to break ties at the end of the season. Turns out it pays out 2500 at the end of they season and I currently am the only one who has picked it all 4 weeks. So I got THAT going for me anyways.
and with that.....good night.
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