Game Day Thread Official Post Game Thread- Pats beat the Titans

[ashley]

Anybody have the defensive snap count yet?

Here you go:

 

[ashley]

Not to take away from the Patriots strong play over the last few weeks, but the opponents have been underwhelming, either because of injuries or coaching or talent. I wouldn’t pick any of those teams to go to the SB right now.

Monday night is a big test.

Although I have to say Tom, I read many posts on here saying...we'll see what this team is made of when we play the Panthers, then the Chargers, then it was Cleveland, and the the Titans.....so who knows, maybe we will find out more about ourselves against the Bills, but there is no team out there that I have seen that I'm like...we can't compete with them......This has been a fun ride

 

[ashley]

Offensive snaps:

 

[mikey m]

I was right in that corner up front, and it was awesome. This team is having a freaking ball. After the game they were all so hype, and it showed how much they get along.

Even as a card carrying Belichickian homer, I stated a few (maybe 6) weeks ago that if Belichick was acquiring players that he simply liked rather than the best players for the team, then RK had the responsibility to move on. I would like to redact that statement and re-swear my undying allegiance to BB. There's a reason he likes certain players - they're good dudes, high character guys. Football is still a human affair and how the players get along, how happy they are, etc. affects their motivation and performance. BB has built not just a very good team, but a a helluva lockerroom as well. Loving this group.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Although I have to say Tom, I read many posts on here saying...we'll see what this team is made of when we play the Panthers, then the Chargers, then it was Cleveland, and the the Titans.....so who knows, maybe we will find out more about ourselves against the Bills, but there is no team out there that I have seen that I'm like...we can't compete with them......This has been a fun ride

IN my view, the Pats are capable of playing with anyone in the league. We showed that vs Dallas and TB, even though they were losses. And that was at the beginning of the year when Mac had very little playing experience, the o-line was not solidified, etc.

 

[Sicilian]

Great game, old school style, smash mouth football and the Pats showed well. How many times have we had injuries here and no one lets us use those as an excuse? Pats have won plenty of games throughout the years that they "should" have lost because they were shorthanded. Titans were still a good, well coached team with a good (and pretty healthy) defense, and a coach who knows what we want to do and how it usually fails. Vrabel was going to have some wrinkles to take advantage of some of that knowledge, but in the end we still won by 23 points (and gave up 0 in the 2nd half).

On the run D, definitely something that will be a focus in practice. I think Vrabel and their OC (can't remember who it is) identified something they could key on to open up some holes. They've got a good OL, so I wouldn't worry too much about this being some kind of blueprint, but 270 yards on the ground isn't pretty no matter how you slice it. Probably not a big deal next week, because the Bills not only don't have a great running game, they don't seem terribly interested in using it anyway. They use the short passing game as an extension of it. I expect a lot of nickel/dime for our defense on Monday night.

But the focus any time you beat an 8-3 team by 23 point should be on the positives! So here's my list:

- Mac looked great. Two bad throws (the near pick and the miss to Henry), but other than that was in control, decisive, and accurate. It almost feels mundane to say those things now... its becoming more shocking when he DOESN'T do those things. He was critical of his own performance, because he's a competitor and a perfectionist, but the rook is in command of this offense, no doubt.

- Kendrick Bourne has been fantastic, both on the field and in the locker room. Steal of free agency so far.

- OL was great in pass protection against some really dangerous rushers. I put the sacks a little more on Jones, who's still learning the NFL pocket.

- Jonnu may not "earn" his contract by the end of this year, but he's contributing more lately and building some momentum. Getting a few more healthy weeks strung together and we might see him start to ramp up.

- Not a huge test today by any means, but this secondary is playing great. Their strength is in their cohesion; they play together better than most secondaries I've seen in recent years. No blown coverages, no finger pointing. Guys know where they're supposed to be and trust that everyone else knows too. Looking forward to see how they approach the Bills game, that's going to be a fun chess match.

- When all is said and done, we won an important game against a good conference foe by three touchdowns AND suffered no injuries. You can't ask for more than that on a Sunday.

 

[50-yard-line]

A win is a win, but I doubt other teams are more scared of facing the Pats after today's win than before.

Not sure what happened with the run D - looked to me like they were in Base a fair amount and still got run over. And when they weren't, they were in big nickel, with three safeties.

Mac needs to figure out the delayed safety/corner blitzes - I think there have been four or five between this game and last. All drive killers. That's not an OL issue - the QB is responsible for these blitzers and needs to dump the ball quickly. Some smart schemes by Vrabel today - one one blitz they overloaded the one side, but then dropped someone out before the safety blitz.

I doubt NFL players get "scared" to play other teams, but I doubt many teams want to play the Pats right now in a meaningful game.

They gave up 2 scores, one a flukey breakdown on a draw play (that included an obvious holding penalty to keep Hightower from making the play).
I hope they get "run over" like that every week, thank you very much.

They're the top-ranked Defensive unit in the league right now, and against other high-ranked D units: Dallas, Carolina, Cleveland, and Tennessee, they put up 29, 24, 45, and 36 respectively - with the lst two performances being truly noteworthy.

In other words, their offense is becoming dangerous, as well. Saw that clearly yesterday. Go ahead, stop the run game - Mac will beat you.
Respect Mac! Harris and Stevenson will slam it down your throat.

 

[Kontradiction]

Here you go:

Yup, so we were in a Nickel base the majority of the defensive snaps. Tells me that their ground game was merely a secondary concern and flooding those intermediate and short routes was the primary concern. I doubt we see that light of a front if we play them again and Henry is able to make it back.

 

[ashley]

This was a great throw by Mac:

 

[Sicilian]

Yup, so we were in a Nickel base the majority of the defensive snaps. Tells me that their ground game was merely a secondary concern and flooding those intermediate and short routes was the primary concern. I doubt we see that light of a front if we play them again and Henry is able to make it back.

And I think they started in a heavier base to start the game, but Tannehill went 7/7 using that short passing attack to go down for their first score. I think the lighter front was a response to that. You definitely want to do better than they did against the run, even out of lighter boxes, but I still think when they HAVE to make stops in the run game they're capable of doing so. A few weeks from now when we play the Colts will prove whether or not I'm full of s**t.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

So happy we hit the jackpot with Mac. Plus we get to laugh at the Jete, Miami, Denver, etc. who haven’t been so lucky in finding a QB.

 

[Patsfan1958]

So happy we hit the jackpot with Mac.

We hit the "MacPot"!! Bring on the Bills!!!

 

[JayNM]

Mills has also been a great addition....very solid for us....you're also forgetting Henry and I think you're missing the boat on Godchaux who has been very good the past 6 games. If you add Karras and T Brown, I'd say we're getting a lot of contributions from our free agents and Jonnu even had a good game yesterday....that train is taking off Jay, you don't want to miss it.

You and Ross have been talkin, he said the same thing about about Mills

I do agree he has been much better in our more zone coverage schemes, and I have no complaints, but Im not sure im ready to label him on the same vein as Judon and Bourne, who have already outproduced their yearly salaries, IMO

Henry has been good, and id put him on the same tier: giving what I expected based on salaries. Jonnu needs to step up, but this was encouraging one for sure. Nothing to addo n the O-line too, one of the best in the league

But I am ready to ~fight against Godchaux. EVERYtime I specifically watch him, I am far from impressed. Like literally. And yes, i wasnt home on his fumble, Im blaming him too for that.

I think he's a product of our great defense FOR REAL.. Trade him for any other JAG, we wouldnt feel a difference. I really hope he is gone next year, but i dont think he will

 

[RobertWeathers]

Yup, so we were in a Nickel base the majority of the defensive snaps. Tells me that their ground game was merely a secondary concern and flooding those intermediate and short routes was the primary concern. I doubt we see that light of a front if we play them again and Henry is able to make it back.

Yep I said earlier we were in mostly dime but nickel and TN is a power team that took advantage.

The strategy was so interesting...'Let's let them run all over us. We cannot let Ryan Tannehill beat us at all costs'.

Seems counter-intuitive but whatever. Without the turnovers bailing them out it was questionable at best.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Wynn 0 sacks 0 hits 0 hurries 1 penalty

Landry was top 10 in sacks & pressures. He had 0 sacks 1 hit 1 hurry

Wynn's back & this OL combination is owning.

 

[Sicilian]

You and Ross have been talkin, he said the same thing about about Mills

I do agree he has been much better in our more zone coverage schemes, and I have no complaints, but Im not sure im ready to label him on the same vein as Judon and Bourne, who have already outproduced their yearly salaries, IMO

Henry has been good, and id put him on the same tier: giving what I expected based on salaries. Jonnu needs to step up, but this was encouraging one for sure. Nothing to addo n the O-line too, one of the best in the league

But I am ready to ~fight against Godchaux. EVERYtime I specifically watch him, I am far from impressed. Like literally. And yes, i wasnt home on his fumble, Im blaming him too for that.

I think he's a product of our great defense FOR REAL.. Trade him for any other JAG, we wouldnt feel a difference. I really hope he is gone next year, but i dont think he will

I think losing Godchaux might be a "careful what you wish for" situation for a lot of his detractors here. Not that he's all-world, but unless you've got a guy like Donald who's a down by down stud, you really want at least three big bodies to rotate in the IDL, because playing a chunker for 60-70 snaps a game is a quick way to get them gassed or injured. And I don't think Guy is going to be playing more snaps in the years to come, probably less as he gets older, so you need other guys to rotate in with Barmore.

Plus, let's not forget that BB has a track record with defensive players. It's not 100%, but there are plenty of examples of players that come here, start slow, and then get better as they get coached up. I don't think we've seen the best Godchaux could possibly give us, and even with that said I think he's played better than you're giving him credit for. Again, not Donald, or Vea, or anyone like that. But he's a solid rotational DT in a league that is not overflowing with them.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

think losing Godchaux might be a "careful what you wish for" situation for a lot of his detractors here.

Here's what Belichick thinks right now:

Godchaux 49 snaps
Davis 26 snaps

Some games they've had Davis at nose, with Godchaux and Guy next to him.

 

[DaBruinz]

Mac needs to figure out the delayed safety/corner blitzes - I think there have been four or five between this game and last. All drive killers. That's not an OL issue - the QB is responsible for these blitzers and needs to dump the ball quickly. Some smart schemes by Vrabel today - one one blitz they overloaded the one side, but then dropped someone out before the safety blitz.

We'll agree to disagree. Depending on where the blitzer is coming from, It's either the RB or the O-line's responsibility to pick up the late man. In all but 1 case, Dave Andrews has been horrible on picking these up this year. In all but that one case, Andrews turns to double a guy who doesn't need to be doubled, stops scanning upfield and the late blitzer or a guy coming on a stunt blows right by him..

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Like the hidden yards on special teams, here are the hidden yards that Mac gives us - third lowest drop rate they have ever tracked:

Mac Jones' catchable throws have lowered the New England Patriots' drop rate | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

The catchable ball rate delivered from the arm of rookie quarterback Mac Jones has translated into career-low drop rates from the New England Patriots' receiving corps.

www.pff.com

But his lowest PFF rating yet - but then PFF doesn't account for YACs which are the essence of this team:

 

[Joker]

Like the hidden yards on special teams, here are the hidden yards that Mac gives us - third lowest drop rate they have ever tracked:

Mac Jones' catchable throws have lowered the New England Patriots' drop rate | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics | PFF

The catchable ball rate delivered from the arm of rookie quarterback Mac Jones has translated into career-low drop rates from the New England Patriots' receiving corps.

www.pff.com

But his lowest PFF rating yet - but then PFF doesn't account for YACs which are the essence of this team:

andrew callahan is a bald headed chicken phukker.....