Official Post Game Thread- Pats beat the Chargers

[captain stone]

I expect they’ll have a bridge QB who may or may not be Cam, and another young QB from the draft. Stid will probably be out the door imo.

Stid has two more years remaining on a cheap rookie contract...No need to kick him to the curb unless and until two more QBs out-perform him in TC next season...

 

[lancerman]

Stid has two more years remaining on a cheap rookie contract...No need to kick him to the curb unless and until two more QBs out-perform him in TC next season...

Question: what would you do if we drafted a rookie first round? I can see a situation of new QB, Cam, Stidham on the depth chart and dropping Hoyer.

 

[NormZauchin]

There's also the fact that it's easy to critcize Cam for his passing, but he has double digit rushing TD's and will likely break 500 yards this year rushinga as a QB. You also see teams hold off when he hands the ball off because they are afraid he's going to take it himself and don't want to get caught. He does add a dynamic to our best offensive aspect that I don't think we can assume Stidham will add.

That's a piece of the puzzle as well.

Actually, if you read a July 24, 2018 article on Stidham in the Athletic, they say he is quite a good runner, finishing with a 6.1 yards per carry average for Auburn in 2017. The Athletic numbers do not include yardage lost on sacks, which for some strange reason are tabulated as runs in college football.

 

[captain stone]

Question: what would you do if we drafted a rookie first round? I can see a situation of new QB, Cam, Stidham on the depth chart and dropping Hoyer.

Oh yeah no doubt Hoyer is gone, or at least should be...Cam & Stid are well-versed in the playbook now, and local dude Jake Dolegala's been learning it the last couple of months too, so there's really no longer any reason to have Hoyer here, even if Cam isn't re-signed...

 

[lancerman]

Actually, if you read a July 24, 2018 article on Stidham in the Athletic, they say he is quite a good runner, finishing with a 6.1 yards per carry average for Auburn in 2017. The Athletic numbers do not include yardage lost on sacks, which for some strange reason are tabulated as runs in college football.

That could be true, but Cam is currently 2nd of all time behind Vick in rushing yards by a QB and is 1st in rushing TD's by a QB (by over 20 at that). So there's quite a bit of difference in how teams approach Cam vs Stidham

 

[NormZauchin]

None of us (as far as I know) work for the Patriots, and therefore we can't know what happens internally outside of what we observe on Sundays (and Mondays/Thursdays ... and this year, Tuesdays).

That said, the vibe I'm getting based on the murmurs and whispers from reporters is that Stidham is talented, has a live arm, shows up at times in games, but isn't consistently performing well from a mental/leadership/work-ethic perspective in meetings and on the practice field.

Not sure if that is the case, but it would explain why Cam has remained the starter despite Stidham's seemingly higher potential as a passer.

With Brady having set the standard for Patriot quarterback work ethic - at least in the first half of his career - it's easy to understand how Belichick could be critical of any young QB who is not the first one at the stadium, as Tom usually was.

 

[PF_SU]

With Brady having set the standard for Patriot quarterback work ethic - at least in the first half of his career - it's easy to understand how Belichick could be critical of any young QB who is not the first one at the stadium, as Tom usually was.

Especially if on top of it Cam, despite all his shortcomings on the field, picks up right where Brady left off in terms of arriving in the facility early and working hard, which by all accounts he has.

 

[PatRiot]

Great win for our Pats.

1st trip to L.A since 1992.... long long time ago. Redskins won the superbowl in1992. holy cow. long time

 

[catent]

There's also the fact that it's easy to critcize Cam for his passing, but he has double digit rushing TD's and will likely break 500 yards this year rushinga as a QB. You also see teams hold off when he hands the ball off because they are afraid he's going to take it himself and don't want to get caught. He does add a dynamic to our best offensive aspect that I don't think we can assume Stidham will add.

That's a piece of the puzzle as well.

Very good point. If they didn't have Damien Harris, and did have some receiving talent, it might be possible that Stidham would be playing right now.

 

[dinustef]

Very, very, very happy how the team looked yesterday.
Everything was on point, and everyone contributed to this victory.

Special teams were fantastic, but the thing that put the biggest smile on my face was the constant pressure with 4 or 5 on Herbert. And we rushed him in that way, that there were no paths to escape and gain yards on the ground. Really great stuff.

Offense was efficient when they got the ball, and that's what matters.

This team can be a contender next year if we can find a QB which can make passes downfield, and does not turn over the ball in the process. Also, a deep threat WR wouldn't hurt.

We are on to the Rams on TNF.

 

[PScottman]

Buccaneers 7-5
Patriots 6-6

Heh.

You mean neither of the greatest coach/QB marriage ever end up better after they split? What de-evolutionary step ever turns out better in the end?

But its in the past now. Moving on...

 

[PScottman]

You also see teams hold off when he hands the ball off because they are afraid he's going to take it himself and don't want to get caught. He does add a dynamic to our best offensive aspect that I don't think we can assume Stidham will add.

The better sideline to sideline defensive teams need to see Cam hit at least ONE P in the RPO. That's been the difference in wins vs the losses - the teams that allows the Patriots' RO (there is no P) to get to the edge struggle. None of these teams have backed off at least 8 men in the box yet because there has been no reason to. Cam has to hit some Ps to evolve the offense to an actual RPO if they truly want to be competitive offensively moving forward.

Otherwise they will continue to rely on the defense and special teams to score their points. Remember it was also two massively harmful Charger penalties that also led to Patriots scores yesterday vs offensive efficiency. It was a very nice win, but did nothing to further assuage fears that the offense is too one dimensional to propel them much past a .500 team.

 

[italian pat patriot]

What a terrific win...i would have never imagined a 45-0 result...
We are still alive i could not pretend more in december from this TEAM

Our ST was sublime

Gunner was a gunner !

Grandi Patriots...

 

[Thelonious]

Two perspectives:

1) As to the game itself, nothing (injuries aside) but good news. Belichick has masterfully managed a difficult season. The defense has gelled. Indeed the team as a whole seems really together as a group. I'll give Cam some of the credit for that. Cam didn't throw an untimely int or otherwise blow the game. It cannot be ignored, of course, that their opponent was epically incompetent, which brings me to...

2) The season. First, we do NOT "have our quarterback." Cam threw for 69 yards, down even from last week's dismal performance. His QBR climbed into the sixties. For most qb's - those not surrounded by a glowing nimbus of fanboy adoration - the evaluation would be : "The qb had a lousy game, but they won anyway." The coaches barely let him throw, for the obvious reason: He sucks at it. He did manage to fall forward into the end zone a couple of times. It's a knack, I suppose.

They're not going 10-6. They're not getting into the playoffs. With the way other games fell, they gained little or nothing in this regard, and this team, however nice the win, is not good enough to go out undefeated.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

Am I the only one who's starting to like this team? Yeah, they're 6-6. However, they're fighters. They're trying out there. They aren't a 11+ win team, but I like this unit more than last year's unit. I see play to build off of next season. Our goal should be 8-8, 9-7 or 10-6 and let the young players experience some success. This will be a playoff team next season. Bill's process has never been tanking. Our form of tanking is playing to win and winning 8-10 games (2002/2009) and try your absolute best. Next season we're a 10-11 win team. Forget tanking. We aren't THAT bad that we need to tank.

 

[luuked]

Finally we got a good game out of all three phases and it showed.

It is not too often that saying "they got outcoached" is actually true and not just some narrative people want create. Often it is over things that a team repeatedly can't stop but to me this is more about roster deficiencies than coaching per se. In this case it really was a pretty ugly mismatch.

Even though ST were the obvious star yesterday I personally want to send some love to our run defense which has turned a corner over the last 3-4 weeks. Some of it is added bodies (Davis, Mack, Spence) that add some rotational depth but it is also individual players like Guy and Butler playing their ass off.

They are doing a much better job at the LOS now so there seems to be less spillover into the second level against the run which makes life a lot easier for the LBs and DBs. Also a pretty awesome game by the secondary. Yeah they hit a couple passes but in the modern NFL you will not prevent that from happening. Overall this was a great effort against one of the better offenses this year.

Happy that the stars aligned for Gunner and he got not only that stolen TD from last week back but also a receiving TD on top. I loved how variable the offense was in the first half. A lot of this is because Cam is on the field and just inevitably tilts the blocking numbers into our favor simply because the other team needs to account for him. I loved the wildcat wrinkle and can't wait for its obvious payoff which will be a pass to Cam at some point if the size mismatch is as favorable as against the Chargers.

Fingers crossed for Jonathan Jones and JCJ. I guess getting them back for Thursday is a pipe dream but who knows.

Two wins done, only four to go.

 

[TomPatriot]

Am I the only one who's starting to like this team? Yeah, they're 6-6. However, they're fighters. They're trying out there. They aren't a 11+ win team, but I like this unit more than last year's unit. I see play to build off of next season. Our goal should be 8-8, 9-7 or 10-6 and let the young players experience some success. This will be a playoff team next season. Bill's process has never been tanking. Our form of tanking is playing to win and winning 8-10 games (2002/2009) and try your absolute best. Next season we're a 10-11 win team. Forget tanking. We aren't THAT bad that we need to tank.

They’re fighters sometimes. The Texans game? Maybe not.

Stellar game yesterday. Players really came to play.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Buccaneers 7-5
Patriots 6-6

Heh.

It’s almost like BB and TB need each other

 

[Pats2000]

Jimmy did it last year. Not that I’d like to see that but it can be done in the short term if the rest of your team is good enough.

A) they lost the Superbowl
B) Jimmy put up 142 yards per game, which is still way better than what Cam has been doing the last few games.
C) Jimmy could still make nfl throws. Cam has been off and a lot of his throws are either a fastball into the dirt or just plain inaccurate

 

[Wordsmyth]

Did I miss something? Were JC Jackson and Jonathan Jones injured?