Pre-Game Thread- Pats @ Raiders

[venecol]

Parker lashing out against NFL is ludicrous. Sure, any concussion spotter should be able to notice that... BUT, Parker was the one who fought to get up and went and lined up, trying to stay balanced in his set... He could have, and SHOULD have just stayed down, or taken a knee and they would have quickly handled it. There's no scandal here. The reason he didn't is HE didn't want to miss another game or two, that's not the NFL's fault. That bugs me. He's trying to play the victim because of the recent hype with the Tua situation, etc...

No dude.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Stop Josh Jacobs, job #1.
Double Davante, job #2.
Don't bite on ball fakes, job #3.

Given all we need to do on D, I fear this might be a big game for Darren Waller.

Could be. Dugger has not been himself since that injury. Ankle?

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Glad it is not a night game.

What day will the Pats travel to Vegas ?

The Pats are in Arizona. Never flew back to New England.

 

[venecol]

 

[Uptown]

 

[Hyped]

You live in Vegas?

San Diego...only six hours away...and am going to Montana for the holidays anyway...

 

[Rob0729]

We need someone better at @ RT on Sunday old friend Chandler Jones and Maxx Crosby can give Mac some problems.

Chandler Jones hasn't been that much of pass rusher this year. He didn't even get his first full sack for the season until December 4th. Before that game, he had a half a sack for the season.

 

[Rob0729]

It is Week 15 so Chandler Jones will disappear. We know that from his time here. He is a beast for the first 8 to 10 weeks, and then fades.

He actually has gone the other direction. He has 4 1/2 sacks for the season and four of them came in the last two weeks. Granted he had three against the Chargers and Herbert is the 9th most sacked QB in the league.

 

[Rob0729]

Because it was flexed

Yes and the game going to the primetime spot was a Fox game (Commanders vs. Giants).

 

[Rob0729]

Parker lashing out against NFL is ludicrous. Sure, any concussion spotter should be able to notice that... BUT, Parker was the one who fought to get up and went and lined up, trying to stay balanced in his set... He could have, and SHOULD have just stayed down, or taken a knee and they would have quickly handled it. There's no scandal here. The reason he didn't is HE didn't want to miss another game or two, that's not the NFL's fault. That bugs me. He's trying to play the victim because of the recent hype with the Tua situation, etc...

I don't know if I can blame a player who just got a concussion and was clearly out of it to think rationally in that situation and lie on the ground and wait for them to call out the medical staff. My guess is Parker at that point probably didn't even know where he was and walked back into lining up out of some sort of football player muscle memory. Exaggerating a bit there, but Parker was probably in a haze at that point and not thinking clearly.

 

[JMC00]

So now it's bad to have games won by the 4th quarter?

More offensive TDs than Tampa

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

He actually has gone the other direction. He has 4 1/2 sacks for the season and four of them came in the last two weeks. Granted he had three against the Chargers and Herbert is the 9th most sacked QB in the league.

4.5 sacks on the season? Uche has 10. Sounds like Chandler is over the hill. Was he injured the 1st half of the season?

 

[Rob0729]

4.5 sacks on the season? Uche has 10. Sounds like Chandler is over the hill. Was he injured the 1st half of the season?

Not that I know of. I think he is just an older player who just got paid and isn't working hard anymore. But I do not follow the Raiders enough to know for sure why he has been underperforming.

 

[archstanton543]

The Pats are in Arizona. Never flew back to New England.

The Pats still have to leave AZ to get to Las Vegas.

 

[ashley]

Good morning Pat fans, getting you ready for a Wednesday.....let's keep an eye on Barmore these next few days!!

 

[irishfanatic]

Only stating the obvious really but getting Barmore back would be great. A formidable group on D.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

I'd love to see plays like this too, but no one gives Mac Jones the respect they give Rodgers. Look how deep the safeties are. If only people respected Mac like that

The Pats are in a catch 22. Until other teams respect their ability to go deep it is easy to take away what they do best by clogging the center of the field within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. They can't throw it deep because they need to protect the OL. I don't see the OL getting better this year.

 

[slash83]

Hoping they can contain Adams like they did with Hopkins, it'll be a lot easier if Waller and Renfrow take another week off. In terms of their defense, it all starts with their edge rushers with Crosby and Jones. Other than those two, I don't feel like they have anyone significant to worry about.

 

[Sicilian]

The Pats are in a catch 22. Until other teams respect their ability to go deep it is easy to take away what they do best by clogging the center of the field within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. They can't throw it deep because they need to protect the OL. I don't see the OL getting better this year.

That's basically where I'm at as well. Unless something suddenly clicks with this OL, be it players just start gelling and playing to their absolute max potential, or someone like Cannon comes back and stabilizes the RT position (and there's a domino effect on the rest of the line from there), you have to gameplan assuming Mac isn't going to have all day to throw. That means no long developing routes, which shrinks the field, and makes it even harder to get chunk plays. That's just the reality of the offense at this point.

Basically three things need to happen (and happen quickly so there's time to actually build off of the momentum going into the end of the season):

1) Trent Brown needs to get right, and be the Trent Brown we know he CAN be.

2) SOMEONE needs to grab the reins at RT and never let them go. I don't care if that's Wynn, Cajuste, or Cannon, just that someone becomes the guy there for every snap.

3) Cole Strange grows into the NFL enough that you can count on him on an island most of the time (this is actually the one I'm most optimistic about, IMO).

If those happen, the line can get "good enough" to actually evaluate the rest of the offensive personnel in the best light, and get more creative with the offense. But clock's ticking, on this year at least.

 

[PatsFan2]

Good morning Pat fans, getting you ready for a Wednesday.....let's keep an eye on Barmore these next few days!!

I love Rham like everybody else but I think Pierre Strong is going be a Special RB one who will take it to the house from time to time. We saw his breakaway speed on that long run the Defense was lucky they were playing back. Strong is going be dual threat RB him and Rham are going to be a Great Combo for the next couple of years.