PostGame Thread Patriots win 5 in a row, defeat Browns 32-13

[patchick]

The evil empire is back... That too within 5 years...

I hear that in a Palpatine voice. Like...

 

[dliverey44]

Why are the Bears watching ? Do we play them this year ?

I kid, I like that Vrabel is the boss, no messing around. It’s over, don’t do it again and move on. I saw Vrabel hug him in the post game hugathon outside the locker room. So I think everything is ok.

The Bears are watching so Poles can learn to deal with a tight chest. lol

 

[n1997y]

Anybody have 7 Mack Hollins catches on your bingo card?

In that ridiculous 4th quarter sequence, losing a fumble and then an onside kick and coming away from it up 2-0 in points is pretty awesome.

That is pretty big. It did help that the fumble was recovered inside the one. So they were pretty well backed up. But getting a safety form an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone is a major team accomplishment!

 

[Pape]

Penix didn't play and Cousins had a real bad day.

No drake london either

 

[ViperGTS]

At the stadium, I watched Diggs dancing on the sidelines for a long time after the TD. He looks SO happy on this team.

Thats awesome. I think 1) he has matured 2) his ACL changed his views a bit 3) He has a QB and Coaches he respects immensely. Dude has been beyond what I could have hoped for.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

This kind of consistency is superhuman unless you all pro talent at multiple positions around you. I think theres decent talent around him but nowhere near elite

 

[RxJock1120]

Why was Barmore benched in the first quarter???

 

[dliverey44]

Why was Barmore benched in the first quarter???

Discipline but not sure for what

 

[JMC00]

I believe his longest run today was 3 yards.

Ya just look at his past games, he's the classic type of RB that if he doesn't hit 2-3 big runs his line is gonna look something like 20 car for 45 yards

 

[ViperGTS]

This kind of consistency is superhuman unless you all pro talent at multiple positions around you. I think theres decent talent around him but nowhere near elite

Definition of making those around him better. Again, I watch a lot of NFL games and he is something different. It's almost like something clicked and whatever and I don't think this is just a "heater". It's who he is and he will only get better which is scary. He has to get better just as a rule.

 

[turkeyneck]

And I was worried that McDaniels might not be a good fit for Maye.

Another spectacular miss. Won't be the last. At least it was a miss in the right direction.

Drake's seen him HCing then...

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Definition of making those around him better. Again, I watch a lot of NFL games and he is something different. It's almost like something clicked and whatever and I don't think this is just a "heater". It's who he is and he will only get better which is scary. He has to get better just as a rule.

It is scary considering what a Fast learner he is for his age, rarely see the same mistakes game to game. After the Steeler game, 4 games without a turnover. After getting dinged up at Tennessee, did a much better job protecting himself this week imo. Sky’s the limit for this kid

 

[n1997y]

The theory I've heard is that they deliberately play vanillia defense for the first 15 plays, see what the other team wants to do and then adjust accordingly. Disconcerting sometimes but it seems to be workiing more often than not.

The first 15 plays are on the coaching. Coaches should know what expect from these pre-scripted plays.

It makes sense for a second but then I don't see how it is better than going into a game with non-vanilla, potentially stopping the first score, and adjusting from there. Am I missing something?

I’m wondering if there’s a little subtle cat and mouse game being played too.

We know that the offense has a script for the first drive or so. Partly they’re setting things up for later, partly testing to see how the defense plays certain things.

By playing vanilla defense against those scripted offensive plays and not really defending them effectively we are gaslighting the offense, giving them false expectations of what will work and how we will defend things later in the game.

So we give up easy first drives as a tradeoff for gaining an advantage for the rest of the game. Seems like the kind of thing that could be significant on key plays.

 

[Thelonious]

I thought Josh called a weird game the first half. Now I'm wondering if he was setting up expectations in the mind of Cleveland's D in the first half of which he knew he could take advantage in the second half. Maybe I am making excuses for what I saw as wrong in the first half, or maybe Josh doesn't need any excuses and he just knows more about offensive football than the rest of us, certainly more than I do, some retired English teacher with a keyboard. I think that's a distinct possibility.

 

[mayoclinic]

I dont want them to have the #1 pick

Buffalo plays the Jets week 18.

Somehow I don't think the Bills will have locked up the division his year by week 17 and will rest their 1st string players, essentially allowing the Jets to win and thus keeping them from getting the #1 pick.

Not that they would ever do something like that, even if they could.

 

[The Gr8est]

So, if someone told you that Drake Maye would throw an interception and get sacked five times, would you have guessed that the Pats would win in a blowout?

 

[Thelonious]

Check this out:

TreVeyon Henderson#32
Drake Maye#10
Rhamondre Stevenson#38
Terrell Jennings#26
DeMario Douglas#3
team

CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
10	75	7.5	0	27
7	50	7.1	0	28
14	34	2.4	0	9
2	15	7.5	0	11
2	3	1.5	0	8
35	177	5.1	0	28

What stands out to me is Rhamondre: 14 carries, 34 frigging yards, 2.4 yds. per carry. Would I be wrong to say that consitency of production week to week is essential in a lead back, and that Rhamondre is pretty much crap in that department?

 

[reflexblue]

I thought Josh called a weird game the first half. Now I'm wondering if he was setting up expectations in the mind of Cleveland's D in the first half of which he knew he could take advantage in the second half. Maybe I am making excuses for what I saw as wrong in the first half, or maybe Josh doesn't need any excuses and he just knows more about offensive football than the rest of us, certainly more than I do, some retired English teacher with a keyboard. I think that's a distinct possibility.

I think thats exactly what he was doing

 

[TheRainMaker]

Has anyone talked about the Henderson fumble that was Stevan Ridley esque? He had his best game and then fumbles in the red zone.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Couple things
- six sacks is just too many, and that's the franchise back there. Granted, Myles Garrett is The Troof, as the hip kids were saying in like 2010, but we made him look like the whole troof and nothing but the troof. I don't want to see anything on that jersey but 1, 0, and Maye, which, speaking of troof, is as much a statement on non-binary modes of logic as anything.
- I am sky high on Maye
- You guys remember the days when you had to pick the hero du jour out of the receivers/TEs/backs.... before the "It's a natural WR2 and a TE and that's it" days? Spreading the ball around is back in a big way. Let me try the lazy way, bc I don't have the history at my fingertips, and go with "it seems like..." statements. It seems like the pre-Drake post-brady era was marked by QBs picking one or two guys -- and when we were lucky, getting middling games out of them at best. And it seems like in the good years, TFB himself was always spreading the ball around but here's the thing -- in the less good years (God forbid we confuse any year post-2000, pre-2020 with a "bad" year)... in the less good years, he would let name receivers flame out and draw a bead on the guys he trusted. That's natural -- fair enough -- but at his world-beating best, TFB put the team on his back, hit the open man, and made a hero out of whoever. Boutte, Hollins, whoever... if it was like years past, it seems like we'd get Hunter Henry and Stefon Diggs week in and week out, and everybody else would be a decoy, which meant they wouldn't be, because the other team gets film.
- It's really nice to have one of them thar running QBs that used to give us fits. Now we can say it.

I saw somebody say Drake Maye reminded him of a cross b/w Ben Roethlisberger and Josh Allen... I guess. I guess Josh Allen has been pretty accurate in his later years. Not as accurate as Drake Maye (in his second year), not yet. But Josh has time -- maybe someday. In his second year Josh Allen was still "knocking at the door" of 60% completions, and was feeling like the real deal when his TDs were double his interceptions.

My point here is, crossed with Aaron Rodgers. And I'll throw in, crossed with TFB, after gutting out a few amazing magical comebacks and maybe his first 3 rings. But I'm high enough on this guy that I looked out my window today and saw Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk flipping me off for getting into orbit for free.

Tougher sledding ahead - after a game to watch out for against the Penixless, Alternate-universe-Drakeless Falcons, it's time for a real test, and I expect lots of reasons to knock over beers accidently in what can only be called the Post-Brady-Bowl.

This has been Irrational Exuberance Today.

PS I've been saying on here for about 24 years that running quarterbacks break. It's not true anymore. Oh God.