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

[Rob0729]

Also stop using PFF grades they have always been complete opaque nonsense.

I never got the love for PFF. But hey, at least they are still not using the network television broadcast anymore to do their analysis work. Baby steps.

 

[borg]

Most concerning, Bill's big money signings provided squat yesterday

What's fecked is that Bill will likely set Harris adrift after 2022 because of $$$$....but most of his 'premium $$$ playmakers' will still be cashing oversized checks

 

[RobertWeathers]

People keep on talking about all the money the Pats spent this offseason, but people forget how incredibly untalented last year's roster truly was. Even with the big money spend in the offseason and hitting it big on the draft, it didn't fix all the problems.

I think overall, the Pats were successful in free agency. The simple fact is you do not hit on all of your free agent acquisitions. In fact, many teams bust big time on their biggest acquisitions.

I think that Judon, Bourne, Henry, Karras, and Mills were successful acquisitions. Agholor was mixed. Godchaux has been a disappointment. Brown has been solid when healthy. Smith has been a bust thus far.

Agree mostly but Godchaux has been fine. Seems way too may fans are making him the scapegoat.

 

[Rob0729]

First of all Hightower and Chung were no longer game changers as we’ve now seen. If you want to argue Bolden was a big loss than god help you. And besides, this happened in June or so right? We knew about it for the entire abbreviated training camp and then going into the actual season and it was never mentioned in terms of dooming the team to be sub .500.

The problem wasn't what they were. It was the fact that they opted out weeks before the start of camp and it was impossible to replace them on the fly with a quality replacement.

 

[Rob0729]

Agree mostly but Godchaux has been fine. Seems way too may fans are making him the scapegoat.

I think there are games where he has been great and others where he downright sucks. Overall, I think that makes him a disappointment.

 

[VectorPrime]

Most concerning, Bill's big money signings provided squat yesterday

What's fecked is that Bill will likely set Harris adrift after 2022 because of $$$$....but most of his 'premium $$$ playmakers' will still be cashing oversized checks

I can’t get on any GM who doesn’t pay a running back big money UNLESS they’re also a huge receiving threat. If Harris wants to sign for idk $4 million a year then awesome keep him. But if he’s gonna want $10 million then no way. You simply can’t dump huge capital into that position anymore.

 

[holyredeemer]

You're not being a smart-ass at all, and I don't disagree with most of what you've said.

Agholor is a #2 receiver, playing like a #2 receiver and paid like a #2 receiver. So yes, if Ice-Ice is right and they get a powerful impact WR (won't be a TE), Agholor is going to be much better next to him. Add a Diggs to the Pats and suddenly it opens up for everyone else. Agholor's job right now is to do that, and he's doing it better than most here would credit. Same is true with the secondary - a healthy 2019 Gilmore right now changes that entire group from very good to unreal.

Jonnu Smith is here for 4 years. Get used to it. He's a much better player than we've seen this year - which has a lot to do with how they're using him/not using him.

And Jones right now is lost out there in the playoff intensity, as expected. He also looks off on his mechanics - what's up with that knee?

I really don’t have any clue what the deal is with Jonnu. A guy with his athleticism and YAC ability tends to be the kind of guy that McDaniels can get really creative with. Unfortunately, he’s been the Harry of the TE’s grp. Maybe it’s my problem, but I expected so much action from our 2 TE’s this year, especially with a rookie QB and a strong running game. Thought we’d see a lot of 2 TE sets, and Jonnu lining up at receiver at times. Injury, having a hard time learning the offense? I just don’t know. You’re right though, barring any trade deals, we’re probably stuck with him for a while. Would love to see him and the staff figure it out.

 

[Guts]

Those of you here who are suddenly giving up on Mac and stating with confidence that he “is not the guy” are morons.

The first INT was not a good decision or throw, but it was tipped by the linebacker and never would've happened if Harry had caught the pass that hit him right in the hands the play before that. The second INT doesn't bother me at all. That was a desperation heave when the game was over already. Mac was uncharacteristically inaccurate and looked nervous at times. Maybe the moment was a little too big for him at this point in his career or perhaps the D showed him looks that he was not expecting. I also think that Agholor was a bigger loss than many expected, including myself and Bourne did not seem to play much at all, despite the fact that he was asymptomatic throughout the week. I know that Bill doesn't like to play people who did not practice during the week. Mac has been so poised for a rookie for the most part this year that he gets more criticism than he deserves when he plays like....a rookie.

Having said that, if the defense had managed to get one goddamn stop on that late fourth-quarter drive by the Bills (or definitely if JC had not pulled an Asante, I would have been confident that Mac would drive them down the field for a score, especially given that they would have had multiple timeouts and a two minute warning to work with, if they have been able to stop the Bills early in their drive.


Let's take a look at Brady's last 5 games in 2001....
View attachment 39217

not good, but all were wins, because the defense was rolling at that point in the season. That is the difference between late regular season 2001 and what is going on right now.

Different eras. Much more pass friendly now

 

[Bill Lee]

You obviously don't know how to evaluate a QB. The most important traits for a QB are accuracy and decisionmaking, which are Mac's strengths. That is better than having a strong-armed QB like Allen who will never win a super bowl because he doesn't have it upstairs.

Allen's upstairs worked pretty well yesterday. Lots of his big plays were second or third reads, and some were total off-schedule improvisations. A lot of that could be us not getting a lot of pressure on him. Maybe Wise being missing on the DL meant we had to protect against the run more than we did two weeks ago, so we couldn't blitz much. Yet I would not be too quick to say Allen doesn't have it upstairs, and some times having the big arm and not being afraid to use it can make up for relatively slow reads.

 

[Rob0729]

I can’t get on any GM who doesn’t pay a running back big money UNLESS they’re also a huge receiving threat. If Harris wants to sign for idk $4 million a year then awesome keep him. But if he’s gonna want $10 million then no way. You simply can’t dump huge capital into that position anymore.

I expect Stevenson to be better next year. Most RBs don't pick up this offense quickly. Remember that Harris barely played his rookie year. So Stevenson could be exponentially better next year. If he is, the Pats are likely to let Harris walk in 2023 and get a new back up to Stevenson.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I used to think of us as the "cut him one year too early" team, ready and willing to move on from mistakes and give other players the opportunity to show what they have.

I don't see much of a change TBH. Perhaps with COVID and TC activities they have adjusted their philosophy. They also aren't dealing with an abundance of talent on their roster so they may be a bit more patient.

We only moved on from Sony when it was clear we had two different guys who were younger and likely to move past him on the depth chart. Maybe that's the criteria these days.

What they did with Sony is exactly what you are referring to. Sony was passed in camp by Rham and rather keep him in 2021 and in the last year of his rookie deal they dealt him for a pick.

Seems to me we're just a much more cautious outfit than in the old days.

Seeing how they just dropped $200m on FAs and drafted a QB in Rd 1 and a WR in Rd 1 2 years ago I see them as willing to take more risks than ever.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think there are games where he has been great and others where he downright sucks. Overall, I think that makes him a disappointment.

Except for JC, Folk, Shaq and maybe a couple of others you can say that about every player on the roster.

 

[Rob0729]

Except for JC, Folk, Shaq and maybe a couple of others you can say that about every player on the roster.

Nah! He has had about as many bad games as good games. You can't say about every player on the roster other than a small handful of people. He has been inconsistent this year.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Nah! He has had about as many bad games as good games. You can't say about every player on the roster other than a small handful of people. He has been inconsistent this year.

I absolutely can say that about almost every player on the roster quite easily...and nor do I expect every player to have great games every week.

 

[TheRainMaker]

It seems when the team wins, potential weaknesses are ignored.

When they lose, the floodgates open.

 

[GreenCow]

Ouch. Not a good look for Judon.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

It seems when the team wins, potential weaknesses are ignored.

When they lose, the floodgates open.

When the team wins, they are SB bound and have no weaknesses that can’t be schemed out.

When the team loses, they are old, slow, and talentless who would be lucky to beat the Jets on a neutral field.

It’s the circle of life.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Ouch. Not a good look for Judon.


View attachment 39219

I don’t disagree, but at least the Gillette Stadium crowd didn’t throw bildos on the field when the refs decided to pick up the flag on the OOB push of Mac.

 

[Bill Lee]

What they did with Sony is exactly what you are referring to. Sony was passed in camp by Rham and rather keep him in 2021 and in the last year of his rookie deal they dealt him for a pick.

Right, like your earlier post says the staff sees him as WR4 and were better off keeping him rather than moving up Gunnar or Wilkerson or grabbing someone else's cap casualty or practice squad player. The real issue is why is WR4 is getting so many targets.

Seeing how they just dropped $200m on FAs and drafted a QB in Rd 1 and a WR in Rd 1 2 years ago I see them as willing to take more risks than ever.

I think the FA spend was due to the fact they had cap room on a low cap year so they felt it was smart to spend now and didn't view it as a gamble at all. Unfortunately the results are just good, not great.

I think the QB1 draft is one of the biggest no-brainers of all time. They just went through a year of Cam/Hoyer/Stid. They were drafting the most NFL-ready QB in the draft, a guy whose last game was winning the National Championship. Not a gamble at all in my mind.

I think the WR1 draft in '19 and the RB1 draft in '18 were gambles, but they often gamble with their first round pick since they have been drafting late in the round since the early Dynasty days.

 

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

Mac Jones does not pass the "eye test"

OK so he is a nice guy who does his homework, butters up BB, says all the right things and gives Bitcoin to his lineman.

Besides having a week arm, his decision making seems horrible, his reads are terrible , he stares down receivers, does not move around the pocket well, has NO zip on his throws, does not pass beyond 7-10 yards, has no swag or confidence, hit a brick wall at 10 games and has poor accuracy at this point. Blaming it all on the receivers is not the full story.

Lets compare that with a true franchise QB Justin Herbert, who in his rookie year looked dynamite
has a rocket for an arm, moves around the pocket deftly, can make defenses pay with his improvised runs, accuracy is off the charts, is decisive as hell. Now that is a franchise QB that will change the fortunes of the chargers long term.

"Hoping" that Jones will be better in his second year is just that "hope". Can not rely on him being a franchise QB. More likely to be middle of the pack. I think he lacks the skill and "makeup" of a true top tier QB.