Since we have done this so often this century, I think we have gotten pretty good with handling this extra week of what amounts to "story creation time" by the media in order to fill time and create the content necessary to get us past this extra week of nothing in order to get to game week, when we essentially get to rehash the same stories all over again. I'm here to do 2 things. First to discuss what we are hearing so far, and second report on what I found after I went through the AFCCG again to find out about one of key narratives that is taking shape, "what are the Pats going to do in order to protect Will Campbell"
Initially, I didn't notice anything overtly negative about Campbell's play while I was watching the game, yet you couldn't fail to notice that there were a lot of sacks (5).
So, I went back last night and rewatched all the game again watching every play Campbell had and graded them. Well, for the first half I did, then I got bored and the stopped when the visibility got bad midway into the 3rd quarter. Bottom line here's what I got.
Campbell had one missed block, in the first half, a missed cut block that resulted in a hurry, but didn't really affect the pass, He also got the false start flag. The rest of the time on pass blocks, he either stuffed his guy, or ran him by the QB, In the 2nd half it was more of the same, though I doubt we threw the ball 10 times that half. I didn't see Campbell screw up but once, when he locked on a guy who didn't come while another guy came and looked like he thought he'd be covered ny someone else and it ended up with Maye being hurried, but that was the only play.
Bottom Line Campbell played most of the game against Bonito, and Bonito wound up without recording a single stat. O Sacks, O hurries, O hits, O Tackles and yet it is Campbell who left the game with the narrative that HE still remains the weak link on the Pats OL. What I saw was a young OLman who was MARKEDLY better than the previous week and likely to be better yet again February 8th. Like us, Seattle's defensive strength is its DT's. Their edge guys are good, but nothing like the threats Campbell has been facing the last 3 weeks, I'll be interested to see how PFF and the other graders marked this game.
I also marked 4 passes Maye threw as being just plain misses, usually they were all short or wide of the mark None of these passes were throws that were made in haste or in duress, they were just bad throws. So, it was not a good game throwing wise for Maye, and granted not very good conditions especially in the 2nd half, But it was a good day for Maye situationally. We won that game because he had ZERO turnovers, ZERO fumbles and ZERO interceptions. In fact, given what we have seen in the previous 2 games, it was amazing that there were only 2 TO's over the entire game given the conditions. That's a credit to both teams. It was clear as we entered into the 4th quarter and we were going INTO the wind and unlikely to score, Josh and Mike were doing NOTHING remotely close to something that could lose them the ball game
BTW- There was no question in my mind, that that FG was going to be good, if it hadn't been tipped at the LOS.
2, Seattle is the heavy favorite - There are some people here who are taking umbrage when media outlets like ESPN are going 11-0 in picking the Seahawks. I ask WHY? If we are being honest, SHOULDN'T they be picking them, given what we've seen the last 3 weeks. The offense looks positively sporadic. The "MVP" QB looks like a clueless 23 year old who can barely complete half his passes, while our opponent is fielding an offense that puts up 30+ points in each game and a QB coming off a legacy changing playoff game. How could you NOT pick the Seahawks!
Well, my friends, it's time to wrap yourselves around your full Rodney Harrison underdog mentality and EMBRACE this narrative. Do not bark up against it like a rabid little Chihuahua. Be patient and just take it in. Don't buck the tide, grasshopper. I'm actually surprised that point spread isn't approaching double digits. Go fight about Bill getting screwed by the HOF, or what the Bills are doing to themselves. These next ten days should be about us finding the stories beneath the stories like that clip of the weaknesses of the Seatle interior OL or the like and filing them away so we can begin to explain, on Feb 9th, how they could have been so wrong this game. Help them understand just what they missed that put them on the wrong side again. Now THAT will be sweet.
3. These next 10 days are going to be ALL about the "cute little story" that the NE Patriots were this year, BUT... Accolades aplenty for Mike, Josh, and Drake, BUT...
NE fans are back after and ANGONIZING 7 year wait (how could they stand it that long), BUT... This is what the next 10 days are going to be filled with. Get used to it. In the meantime the world will still turn and we all have to hope someone has their phone with them the next time the party in power decides to brand someone a "domestic terrorist" because without those clips we might have believed Trump's "truth" But I'm not worried, I've been told by Fox, that they are going to investigate now, just don't ask them who is doing it and why you should believe them after they are done. AAAAND THAT just slipped out. Sorry.
