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I watched this game at a local watering hole that offers $5 large pizzas during Pats games. It draws a rowdy crowd and has a great atmosphere to watch a game. This one was fun. So its 1:30 am. I've watched all the post game shows, the last 3 minutes of the Bruins game, and skimmed the site. I'm wide awake and here are my random thoughts on this game.
Defense
1.Not to toot my own horn (right
), but pre game I felt that Jamie Collins on Fleener was the best match up, and it turned out to be right on the money. Talk about having a break out game. 6 tackles, one sack, 3 QB hits, 2 tackles behind the LOS, 2 pass defensed, and a pick. Now that is a full game at all 3 levels of play.
BB was very patient with this kid and it took most of the season for him to come to the fore. But this kid could be just what the LB corps needed. Great speed, freakish athleticism, surprising versatility, and a great attitude, and when he came to the Pats, he had no role. Now he does. He's our wild card. He's the opposing D's worst nightmare and our plug in match up problem. He is the kind of talent who make DC's love to come to work, especially if you are set up to run week to week defenses. You can't expect this kind of production every week now, but he certainly makes next year look really exciting.
2.I watched Chandler Jones very closely this game. He had no sacks, but had a few hurries and hits. He could never get around the LT and often was run past the QB. Surprisingly, his best move was a straight bull rush. There were a number of times when he walked the T right back into Luck's face. I thought it was impressive since I think he has room to get stronger. I wish he had used it more often. Jones still isn't good enough to get by a decent OT one on one too often.
That being said, Jones is an excellent all round player, who sets the edge well and is good against the run, and while he might never lead the league in sacks, I wouldn't be surprised if he averaged double digits for his career here. He has a great motor, and OC's have to account for him. After Wilfolk. Mayo and McCourty, he's the next cornerstone player and will likely be a captain soon.
BTW- IIRC I think he had more success on the rush when the Pats put him inside a few plays. He's good now, but I think his best years are still ahead of him
3.Pretty cool that our fill in, no name DT's each had a sack. Yes I know some will say Velano's was a trip, but I think the reason the refs didn't throw the flag was that Joe never stuck his foot out, Luck simply tripped over his foot while he was engaged with a blocker. BTW- I think that was Chris Jones' 7th sack. If at the start of the season I told you we'd have a DT with 6 or 7 sacks, we'd have all thought we had died and gone to heaven.
In fact think about this, including this playoff game. Cjones has 7, Velano has 3, Siliga has 3, Tommy Kelly had 2.5, and even Supoaga has 1. That's16.5 sacks from our inside rushers. Who've thunk it was possible.
4.Over all the pass rush was pretty effective. While there were “only” 3 sacks, Luck must have gotten hit around 15 times or more, including one that should have drawn a flag
5.While I watched Luck close the gap every time the Pats took a 2 score lead, it was clear to me that the Colts only moved the ball when he made simply perfect throws, like the first TD to Brazill. He made several very difficult throws over the course of the game, but I always felt that these throws were so difficult that he wouldn't be able to do it throughout the game. That eventually he'd be just a little off and these great throws would become picks...and they did. They actually should have picked Luck off 5 times. There was that time when McCourty and Dennard ended up defending each other and dropping a pick early in the game.
6.For the most part I thought the secondary played very well. It was very rare that anyone was running free in the secondary. Most of the time, Luck's completions had to be perfect throws against decent to good coverages. In fact the only 2 completions that pissed me off, were the key 3rd down and long completion to #17, just prior to the first Brazil TD. Arrington was there to defend it, but seemed not to know where the receiver was. The other was Brazil's 2nd TD over McCourty, who simply lost his cushion. This play tarnished an other wise solid performance by Devon.
7.This secondary is so much better with a healthy Dennard on the outside. You could really see the difference. I'm almost tempted to use a Ty Law comparison, or a mini-Ty Law comparision. He's very physical, has good ball skills, a nose for the ball, and is a good man to man cover guy. He had excellent position on the first Colt TD, the ball was simply perfectly thrown and the receiver made the catch, despite Dennard's hands right on his arm. You shouldn't blame the DB on those kinds of passes, rather you should tip your cap to the QB and WR (Like THAT's ever going to happen )
8.Steve Gregory disappointed many Pats fans here, by having a very solid and clean game. He had a couple of pass defenses and 6 tackles with no misses. What are the haters ever going to do now.
9.Giving up only 80 odd yds on the ground was more than one should expect of our depleted front 7. Especially when that includes only 5 yds from Luck. The challenge will only get tougher moving forward, but so far so good.
Defense
1.Not to toot my own horn (right
), but pre game I felt that Jamie Collins on Fleener was the best match up, and it turned out to be right on the money. Talk about having a break out game. 6 tackles, one sack, 3 QB hits, 2 tackles behind the LOS, 2 pass defensed, and a pick. Now that is a full game at all 3 levels of play. BB was very patient with this kid and it took most of the season for him to come to the fore. But this kid could be just what the LB corps needed. Great speed, freakish athleticism, surprising versatility, and a great attitude, and when he came to the Pats, he had no role. Now he does. He's our wild card. He's the opposing D's worst nightmare and our plug in match up problem. He is the kind of talent who make DC's love to come to work, especially if you are set up to run week to week defenses. You can't expect this kind of production every week now, but he certainly makes next year look really exciting.
2.I watched Chandler Jones very closely this game. He had no sacks, but had a few hurries and hits. He could never get around the LT and often was run past the QB. Surprisingly, his best move was a straight bull rush. There were a number of times when he walked the T right back into Luck's face. I thought it was impressive since I think he has room to get stronger. I wish he had used it more often. Jones still isn't good enough to get by a decent OT one on one too often.
That being said, Jones is an excellent all round player, who sets the edge well and is good against the run, and while he might never lead the league in sacks, I wouldn't be surprised if he averaged double digits for his career here. He has a great motor, and OC's have to account for him. After Wilfolk. Mayo and McCourty, he's the next cornerstone player and will likely be a captain soon.
BTW- IIRC I think he had more success on the rush when the Pats put him inside a few plays. He's good now, but I think his best years are still ahead of him
3.Pretty cool that our fill in, no name DT's each had a sack. Yes I know some will say Velano's was a trip, but I think the reason the refs didn't throw the flag was that Joe never stuck his foot out, Luck simply tripped over his foot while he was engaged with a blocker. BTW- I think that was Chris Jones' 7th sack. If at the start of the season I told you we'd have a DT with 6 or 7 sacks, we'd have all thought we had died and gone to heaven.
In fact think about this, including this playoff game. Cjones has 7, Velano has 3, Siliga has 3, Tommy Kelly had 2.5, and even Supoaga has 1. That's16.5 sacks from our inside rushers. Who've thunk it was possible.
4.Over all the pass rush was pretty effective. While there were “only” 3 sacks, Luck must have gotten hit around 15 times or more, including one that should have drawn a flag
5.While I watched Luck close the gap every time the Pats took a 2 score lead, it was clear to me that the Colts only moved the ball when he made simply perfect throws, like the first TD to Brazill. He made several very difficult throws over the course of the game, but I always felt that these throws were so difficult that he wouldn't be able to do it throughout the game. That eventually he'd be just a little off and these great throws would become picks...and they did. They actually should have picked Luck off 5 times. There was that time when McCourty and Dennard ended up defending each other and dropping a pick early in the game.
6.For the most part I thought the secondary played very well. It was very rare that anyone was running free in the secondary. Most of the time, Luck's completions had to be perfect throws against decent to good coverages. In fact the only 2 completions that pissed me off, were the key 3rd down and long completion to #17, just prior to the first Brazil TD. Arrington was there to defend it, but seemed not to know where the receiver was. The other was Brazil's 2nd TD over McCourty, who simply lost his cushion. This play tarnished an other wise solid performance by Devon.
7.This secondary is so much better with a healthy Dennard on the outside. You could really see the difference. I'm almost tempted to use a Ty Law comparison, or a mini-Ty Law comparision. He's very physical, has good ball skills, a nose for the ball, and is a good man to man cover guy. He had excellent position on the first Colt TD, the ball was simply perfectly thrown and the receiver made the catch, despite Dennard's hands right on his arm. You shouldn't blame the DB on those kinds of passes, rather you should tip your cap to the QB and WR (Like THAT's ever going to happen
)8.Steve Gregory disappointed many Pats fans here, by having a very solid and clean game. He had a couple of pass defenses and 6 tackles with no misses. What are the haters ever going to do now.
9.Giving up only 80 odd yds on the ground was more than one should expect of our depleted front 7. Especially when that includes only 5 yds from Luck. The challenge will only get tougher moving forward, but so far so good.
