Idle Thoughts - A workman-like edition

I still think the pass defense is quite concerning, Weeden and that group of receivers were effectively bottled u, but that is because they have no talent. Dez andRomo may have been a different story

Nunchucks said:

I still think the pass defense is quite concerning, Weeden and that group of receivers were effectively bottled u, but that is because they have no talent. Dez andRomo may have been a different story

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No question that there are still a lot of questions left for the secondary to answer. Still it's good to know that we can bottle up a bad pass offense. Remember there was a time when we've had secondaries that couldn't even do that.

We are still lacking some size at CB. I don't want to be in a situation where some WR pulls a Chris Matthews on us and makes catches mostly because he's just tall. We have a big enough problem with the guys who are fast AND tall.

Even though Indy isn't frightening this year, they have a pass attack that has some weapons, and Luck might come back and hit a hot streak in a dome. So it will be a more testing exercise for our secondary to overcome this week

The greatest thing about the Pats and the coaching staff is their ability to make adjustments. We started out slow and gave up some sacks but it was corrected. I just had getting off to a slow start, very frustrating. I would like to see Chandler and/or Michael Williams worked into the offense more. They fly under the radar so maybe they can get open easier if Gronk is well covered.

Agree with most of this except the running game. I finally saw some holes being opened and Blount ran really well. I will say the short yardage running game was crap and I hate the 3 and 1 off tackle call with blount its not a good call and failed twice. That call needs to be G/C gap not off tackle or play action to Gronk/Chnadler.

Gumby said:

I lived through dreith, 86 bears, 90s, .... I'll take being spoiled. I'm due



Running game: defense was playing give up the run to contain great wrs or running QBs in 2 of first three games. I don't see this as improvement, in fact I thought they had some horrible lapses (not holding edge -1x and bad tackling) allowing a few runs that shouldn't have been (weeden once and Murray on a bunch) Statistically was better, but quality wise ? Ehhhh ?. I'll wait to hear from those who know more than I, but my gut-eyes told me they didn't get better. (Just schemed better against the run)

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How about giving the Dallas O-line some credit? The one time the Pats didn't "hold the edge" it was actually a damn good play by the Dallas O-line. Dallas has one of the best O-lines in the league and we held Randle in check for a majority of the game. I think that is a huge improvement.

The Pats:

- regarding the OL, I found it strange that they started Mason and came out throwing. I also think that Solder has some kind of non-contact ailment........he looked gassed on the very first series. i thought Cannon did OK given Hardy is who he is and came out 'guns blazin'....... the entire OL looked a little flat and for now will just call it a bad week....the Dallas interior linemen are not stout but create plenty of problems with their mobility

- Sheard has been awesome so far......the 3 man DE rotation give the Pats plenty of fresh and the fact that it is working so well can create some 3-4 looks that will confuse the crap out of opponents......chandler jones reminded me of willie mcginest yesterday.......very disruptive in ways in ways that aren't always obvious.

- hightower's absence was decently covered by our depth.......the front 7 really is loaded....knock on wood that hightower is just a contusion.....I think they are going to pound Gore mercilessly next week

- it was as though we had revis out there......LOL......the secondary looked good enough that even with bryant and romo, these guys would have done the job.

- looked like the passing game was running some different patterns yesterday......it looked chaotic at times......pretty useless film for other teams.

As for the Bengals......I'm still not buying.....it was a nice comeback against the seahawks, but you have to remember that the seahawks needed the refs help to keep the lions from coming back IN SEATTLE.

Cincy has a pretty challenging schedule......they have plenty of chances to get me buying, but they were doing the same thing last year until the pats slapped them senseless

Fantastic post, Ken! Thanks.

Reading it adds to the pleasure of the game and makes me look forward to going back and watching it again.

I'm really glad you mentioned Martin's catch. I'll confess I'd take KT and Harper over Dobson and Boyce -- I thought Harper was the OTHER find of the off-season after Lewis. But what do I know? I DO know that I'd have been astonished to see Dobson make that catch and that it was a drive-saving play.

Beyond that, I'd like your thoughts on the following.

If I remember correctly, you've been a big advocate of the hurry-up. The thinking is: put your ageing (well, OK, very experienced) quarterback in the shotgun (or pistol) and let him read defenses and decide plays as he goes -- protecting him and playing to his strengths. Not letting the D substitute puts the offense in control if it's led by a great quarterback who knows exactly what is going on.

What that presupposes, of course, is versatile players -- players like Gronk and Edelman who can line up in different places and play well wherever. Above all, you need a running back who can be part of a blast-it running game as well as a spread passing one.

Well, now we have that back, I think.

But it's clear that that's not the direction the Pats are going. On the contrary, it's all about packages. There were 57 serious snaps plus two kneeldowns. Six players had fifty or more snaps: Andrews, Vollmer, Brady, Gronk, Edelman and (gulp!) Keshawn Martin. Lewis got 42 snaps, which makes it clear he's an "every-down" back. The rest was all about rotations.

Which doesn't mean that things are fixed. I imagine that Brady changes quite a lot at the line of scrimmage. But there is a clear separation between different kinds of set and changes are made from down to down.

I still can't believe we drafted Jermaine Cunningham over Carlos Dunlap. Same position, same school, BB is best friends with the coach. How in the world did urban Meyer not tell BB to draft Dunlap?

Dunlap on pace for 20 sacks this season.

IllegalContact said:

The Pats:

- regarding the OL, I found it strange that they started Mason and came out throwing. I also think that Solder has some kind of non-contact ailment........he looked gassed on the very first series. i thought Cannon did OK given Hardy is who he is and came out 'guns blazin'....... the entire OL looked a little flat and for now will just call it a bad week....the Dallas interior linemen are not stout but create plenty of problems with their mobility

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Regarding Mason, I guess there are different ways of looking at it. To me, it wasn't strange so much as just really, really promising. Everybody knows that this guy is a fabulous run blocker. And he has already progressed so much as a pass blocker that he is starting when they are coming out throwing? Wow. All of the rookies have looked great, but I think that Mason could really be special, I think our RB's will be following him for years.

NG Pats Fan said:

I still can't believe we drafted Jermaine Cunningham over Carlos Dunlap. Same position, same school, BB is best friends with the coach. How in the world did urban Meyer not tell BB to draft Dunlap?

Dunlap on pace for 20 sacks this season.

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Allegedly, he did -- but BB fell in love with Cunningham.

zydecochris said:

Regarding Mason, I guess there are different ways of looking at it. To me, it wasn't strange so much as just really, really promising. Everybody knows that this guy is a fabulous run blocker. And he has already progressed so much as a pass blocker that he is starting when they are coming out throwing? Wow. All of the rookies have looked great, but I think that Mason could really be special, I think our RB's will be following him for years.

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the Dallas DL is more mobile, so that may have played into it

IllegalContact said:

the Dallas DL is more mobile, so that may have played into it

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I didn't realize that, thanks for pointing it out. I figure I won't question any assertion from a poster with the Ideal Gas Law as his signature.

Well, Hardy is good and he was emotionally hyped up. He wore down pretty quickly though and the Pats adapted. I agree with others who say we need to credit the other team, players and coaches who care enough to to put full effort into beating the Pats...and still ultimately failing.

mosi said:

This team looks very complete. It is great when you win ugly and even better when ugly is 30-6. Man times have changed. Anybody remember the 9-3 game against Cleveland in 2003? Now that was an ugly win!
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Is it me or does it seem like the Browns always give us a hard time? It seems like the one teams that can get to us consistently are teams BB used to be a big part of.

Hardy's a scumbag and should be playing "Bubba's Belt Loop Biatch"...indict Goodell ...this league has gone off the rails, or at least snorted all of them...

IllegalContact said:

the Dallas DL is more mobile, so that may have played into it

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There are a number of good reasons why the pass blocking was poor to start the game.

1. It took them some time to get back to game speed

2. The used a new coverage package that the receivers had trouble getting open on and Brady had the hold the ball too long

3. They used a new rushing packages that screwed up the passing rules and created open men

4. They had a couple of very good pass rushers, and that and a combination of the first 3 things led to the 5 first half sacks

I believe strongly that while BB was probably pissed at the player's execution of the Pats pass game early on, he was MORE pissed at himself for not being prepared for Marinelli's creative design that helped him get those 5 sacks and several hits and hurries. I believe we will see better pass rushes over the course of the rest of they year, like the Jets. But I don't think we will see as bad a result as we saw in Dallas. I think we will be better prepared for an onslaught like that.

patfanken said:

There are a number of good reasons why the pass blocking was poor to start the game.

1. It took them some time to get back to game speed

2. The used a new coverage package that the receivers had trouble getting open on and Brady had the hold the ball too long

3. They used a new rushing packages that screwed up the passing rules and created open men

4. They had a couple of very good pass rushers, and that and a combination of the first 3 things led to the 5 first half sacks

I believe strongly that while BB was probably pissed at the player's execution of the Pats pass game early on, he was MORE pissed at himself for not being prepared for Marinelli's creative design that helped him get those 5 sacks and several hits and hurries. I believe we will see better pass rushes over the course of the rest of they year, like the Jets. But I don't think we will see as bad a result as we saw in Dallas. I think we will be better prepared for an onslaught like that.

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I'll be honest.. The Patriots have had issues picking up the late guy coming up the middle since 2007. The Giants did it with twists and stunts. The Ravens have done it with the delayed blitz by the middle linebacker. The Pats have done it as well.. But you definitely have to give Marinelli credit for using some of the schemes that have worked against the Patriots in the past. However, going forward, I wouldn't be surprised to see an emphasis on the interior o-linemen being weary of this..

I think it's pretty promising that in a game where we can all agree the Pats looked relatively uninspired, sloppy, and played at a C- level at best... they still won 30-6. That's like winning 30-20 against a team with a real QB, which is still a pretty strong margin of victory given a poor performance.

DaBruinz said:

I'll be honest.. The Patriots have had issues picking up the late guy coming up the middle since 2007. The Giants did it with twists and stunts. The Ravens have done it with the delayed blitz by the middle linebacker. The Pats have done it as well.. But you definitely have to give Marinelli credit for using some of the schemes that have worked against the Patriots in the past. However, going forward, I wouldn't be surprised to see an emphasis on the interior o-linemen being weary of this..

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To be fair, we seemed to abuse the Cowboys with that exact blitz.

DaBruinz said:

I'll be honest.. The Patriots have had issues picking up the late guy coming up the middle since 2007. The Giants did it with twists and stunts. The Ravens have done it with the delayed blitz by the middle linebacker. The Pats have done it as well.. But you definitely have to give Marinelli credit for using some of the schemes that have worked against the Patriots in the past. However, going forward, I wouldn't be surprised to see an emphasis on the interior o-linemen being weary of this..

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I for one am weary of this but I would hope that the OL would be wary