Game Thoughts: I am absolutely disgusted by the Pats tonight edition

Here we go:

• Despite the fact, they did try to make it interesting at the end of the game, this was by far the most disgusting game I have seen by the Pats in a while. The Pats should have won this game by two or three TDs. Stupid coaching decisions (the pooch punt on the kick off), special teams (dogged it for giving up 14 points), Brady (two stupid throws on INTs), o-line, and everyone else. Absolutely disgusting.
• Let's start with that pooch punt onside kick. You are up 14-0 and in control of the game. The downsides of doing something like that far out weigh the positives. Since Ebner kicked it 20 yards down field, the chances of the Pats recovering it were minimal. Got too cute and gave the Eagles a shot to get back in the game.
• I don't get why since Edelman has gone down that McDaniels and Belichick have decided to become a vertical offense. There have been a few big plays over the last four weeks, but they have been outweighed by the many drive killers that have happened far too often.
• Stupid mistakes is the difference today. As I said that coaching decision to onside kick was big. They screwed up the blocking assignments on the block punt for a TD. Brady should have thrown away that pick six rather than force it into Amendola covered tight by two defenders. Brady made a bad decision on the other pick.
• I don't know why James White doesn't get more involved in the passing game. He isn't close to what Dion Lewis or even Shane Vereen, but he has proven to be a receiving option for Brady. But they seem to use him sparingly until the game is starting to fall apart.
• I know this isn't a popular position, but I think Gronk needs to get over himself and realize he isn't above the team or that he deserves special treatment. The "I'll come back when I am 100%" crap isn't going to fly. He needs to be everyone else on the team and if you can play even if you are not 100%, you play. We have heard stories of Brady playing when he was hurt so bad that he needed to have help taking off his shoulder pads because he cannot lift his arm over his head, The Pats have zero margin for error after a loss today and they need to win all the rest of their games. If he is still not healthy enough to play, that is one thing. But it is a diva position to expect to sit out until you are 100%. I never liked how they babied him last year.
• On that third down conversion right before the two minute warning by the Eagles, the RT clearly moved before the ball was snapped. Should have been a penalty.
• They also desperately need Hightower back. He seems to have affected the pass rush and run defense more than when Collins was gone. I think Collins may be the better player, but Hightower is the steak and potatoes guy. The defense only gave up 14 points and played lights out at times, but it was a bit deceiving since the Pats' offense was on the field so much due to the Eagles scoring on special teams and defense and the onside kick.
• The good news is barring a disaster, the worst this team can do is end up being the #3 seed. Sooner or later the Pats are going to win a game and the Jets are going to lose one. So the division is an almost certainty. But now the first round bye is anything but a lock. Denver has the tie breaker and unless Gronk comes back and is close to his former self next week, the Pats are likely to lose at least one more game.

Gronk playing to get the bye at the risk of being IR'd is a tough decision. I'd hold him out until the playoffs.

You always need games like this to do all your stupid in. I am not disappointed. We did not play a smart game.
This game was lost by Brady and BB. How often can one say that? I am a bit worried but not too much.

They could also win out the rest of their games while CIncy and DEN play each other still. So is the bye a lock? no...but still a very..very good shot at it

I don't think the focus should be on trying to get a bye, need to build consistency on all three phases of the game first.

Kjmass1 said:

Gronk playing to get the bye at the risk of being IR'd is a tough decision. I'd hold him out until the playoffs.

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depends on the injury. Dont know why something they treated last yr or yr before should be same way they need to treat it now.

How in the hell is this sieve of a line going to stop Watt next week!?

This game was one of those WTF games that occur every year that you can't predict, other than theres going to be one. But it also reminded me of what the patriots were like under coaches like rod rust. to the youngins out there, this is what it was like to watch the pats before parcells, BB and even pete carroll we hired. For over twenty years we've been privilege to watch some really great football.

Kjmass1 said:

Gronk playing to get the bye at the risk of being IR'd is a tough decision. I'd hold him out until the playoffs.

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Then why not sit Brady. You don't put players in bubble wrap for the playoffs when you haven't clinched all you can clinch unless they are injured and can't play.

If all he has is a bruised knee, he is not likely to being IRed for that injury. If you are talking he could just get injured, they should sit Brady, Amendola, Collins, Butler, and a few others once they get the AFC East and not care where their seed is. But that is a bad way to play.

I co-sign on the Gronk part. If he is good to go he should strap on his pads and get his ass on the field. Maybe he doesn't play versus the Texans but he should absolutely be playing the last three games if what we have heard about the injury is true. We need that bye week. Lots of guys are banged up. Put on your big boy pants and help the team gut out at least 3 of the final 4. Just how much of a help is it being 100% (vs. 80%) if we are playing a wild card game, in which Jules might not be ready for?

They need to find a running game and STICK with it. They started to get away from it late in the 2nd quarter and then all but abandoned it from there out, despite having a ton of success early on. Brady might be the only QB in the league that can win without any running game, but it's getting him killed. They NEED to run the ball for an ENTIRE game and get some rhythm going. They need to fix that Oline somehow.

I really can't pin this loss on Brady at all. Sure, that 1st INT wasn't the best of decisions, but they happen. The 2nd INT seemed to be 100% on Lafell not running the right route or breaking it off wrong. Aside from that, Brady was nothing short of incredible dealing with the pressure and Oline failures once again. And the drops... got to stop dropping the ball.

Rob0729 said:

Here we go:

• I know this isn't a popular position, but I think Gronk needs to get over himself and realize he isn't above the team or that he deserves special treatment. The "I'll come back when I am 100%" crap isn't going to fly. He needs to be everyone else on the team and if you can play even if you are not 100%, you play. We have heard stories of Brady playing when he was hurt so bad that he needed to have help taking off his shoulder pads because he cannot lift his arm over his head, The Pats have zero margin for error after a loss today and they need to win all the rest of their games. If he is still not healthy enough to play, that is one thing. But it is a diva position to expect to sit out until you are 100%. I never liked how they babied him last year.

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I'm 100% (hah!) with you on that!

STs gave up 2 return TDs and also made another bad play. How often will they have a game even half that bad?

Defense gave up 2 TDs, 1 on a short field, on a not-large number of possessions. And they got how many takeaways -- 1? Not brilliant, not terrible.

Offense -- scored 28 points. Need to be better even so.

Satchboogie3 said:

They need to find a running game and STICK with it. They started to get away from it late in the 2nd quarter and then all but abandoned it from there out, despite having a ton of success early on. Brady might be the only QB in the league that can win without any running game, but it's getting him killed. They NEED to run the ball for an ENTIRE game and get some rhythm going. They need to fix that Oline somehow.

I really can't pin this loss on Brady at all. Sure, that 1st INT wasn't the best of decisions, but they happen. The 2nd INT seemed to be 100% on Lafell not running the right route or breaking it off wrong. Aside from that, Brady was nothing short of incredible dealing with the pressure and Oline failures once again. And the drops... got to stop dropping the ball.

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Inexcusable at this point for lafell to be running the wrong routes.

First INT the DB blatantly pushed amendola back slowing his progress to the ball. 100% PI but not an excuse.

Game sucked! Period. Whole team needs to wake up and get back to work.

Rob0729 said:

Let's start with that pooch punt onside kick. You are up 14-0 and in control of the game. The downsides of doing something like that far out weigh the positives. Since Ebner kicked it 20 yards down field, the chances of the Pats recovering it were minimal. Got too cute and gave the Eagles a shot to get back in the game.

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Unnecessary ? Yes. But it didn't really affect the game overall I thought. Until then the defense seemed to destroy any offense the Eagles had and the offense scored twice in a row. If you gonna try something this is the time. That being said, I am not sure why we really needed to try it.

Rob0729 said:

I don't get why since Edelman has gone down that McDaniels and Belichick have decided to become a vertical offense. There have been a few big plays over the last four weeks, but they have been outweighed by the many drive killers that have happened far too often.

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It's pretty simple. We have no one on the field that really requires double coverage consistently so other teams can now crowd the intermediate spaces and make it more difficult to get the ball to our replacement receivers. Obviously I haven't watched the all 22 film so far but I strongly assume that similarly to the Denver game they made us go deep by taking away our bread and butter.

Now if Edelman and Gronk are out there they can't get away with it so easily because those two need special consideration and open up space for everyone else.

Rob0729 said:

Stupid mistakes is the difference today. As I said that coaching decision to onside kick was big. They screwed up the blocking assignments on the block punt for a TD. Brady should have thrown away that pick six rather than force it into Amendola covered tight by two defenders. Brady made a bad decision on the other pick.

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Agree with everything. It was the second game in a row with awful situational football. They really deserved to lose this one the way ST played.

One play I want to add here that only few people are talking about is White not extending to get into the endzone on the play before the first INT. I think he could have tried to break the plane of the endzone but instead went down at the 1. If we score here, we win the game easily.

Rob0729 said:

I don't know why James White doesn't get more involved in the passing game. He isn't close to what Dion Lewis or even Shane Vereen, but he has proven to be a receiving option for Brady. But they seem to use him sparingly until the game is starting to fall apart.

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No clue. Can only assume Brady doesn't trust him or he just doesn't fit into the McOffense.

Rob0729 said:

I know this isn't a popular position, but I think Gronk needs to get over himself and realize he isn't above the team or that he deserves special treatment. The "I'll come back when I am 100%" crap isn't going to fly. He needs to be everyone else on the team and if you can play even if you are not 100%, you play. We have heard stories of Brady playing when he was hurt so bad that he needed to have help taking off his shoulder pads because he cannot lift his arm over his head, The Pats have zero margin for error after a loss today and they need to win all the rest of their games. If he is still not healthy enough to play, that is one thing. But it is a diva position to expect to sit out until you are 100%. I never liked how they babied him last year.

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Quite honestly I assumed you were more rational than those people here that make a big deal out of the entire thing. He should take as much time as necessary to get that knee healed up. I'd rather play @CIN or @DEN with a fully functional Gronk than at home against either of those teams with him not feeling comfortable or being limited because we rushed him back for a couple of regular season games.

Rob0729 said:

On that third down conversion right before the two minute warning by the Eagles, the RT clearly moved before the ball was snapped. Should have been a penalty.

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Yep. That was a pretty bad miss by the officials.

Rob0729 said:

They also desperately need Hightower back. He seems to have affected the pass rush and run defense more than when Collins was gone. I think Collins may be the better player, but Hightower is the steak and potatoes guy. The defense only gave up 14 points and played lights out at times, but it was a bit deceiving since the Pats' offense was on the field so much due to the Eagles scoring on special teams and defense and the onside kick.

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Here comes the really unpopular thing.. Hightower is more important to this team than Chandler Jones. Jones had a nice season but similarly to the last few years he could not maintain his momentum throughout the entire year. Hope he will be close to healthy come playoffs. Similar to Gronk I say rest him as long as necessary.. MCL sprains are no joke and we will need him in the playoffs.

Things will become dark and gloomy the next few days but overall it simply is what it is. We lost over 70% of our offensive production this year and yet it still takes the other team making huge plays, ST making huge mistakes and sometimes even the help of the refs to beat us. I can live with that because this team is mentally very tough.

The o-line needs to get their **** together. With Edelman, Gronk, and Lewis the short passes where there and Brady got rid of it quick, protecting the o-line. Now with those short options gone and Brady having to hold the ball a second longer the o-line is exposed. Solder is gone but the others have come back and the line has to be better.

Lafell is a disappointment. That first long bomb could have been complete if he wouldn't have quit on the route. The butter on his fingers don't help either. We need to look at an outside WR this off season. Lafell is mediocre at best.

The coaching and special teams have seen better days. There was no reason to go for the 1st half onside. That gave them momentum. Special Teams was a complete cluster f. No way that punt can be blocked at the end of the half.

Pats are usually the smartest team on the field, but today they looked like a high school team out there.

classic trap game. Special teams killed us.

Rob0729 said:

Then why not sit Brady. You don't put players in bubble wrap for the playoffs when you haven't clinched all you can clinch unless they are injured and can't play.

If all he has is a bruised knee, he is not likely to being IRed for that injury. If you are talking he could just get injured, they should sit Brady, Amendola, Collins, Butler, and a few others once they get the AFC East and not care where their seed is. But that is a bad way to play.

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Because Brady doesn't have a deep bone bruise. Gronk's bread and butter is explosive movement that includes stopping and cutting. I really hate how you are trivializing his injury to be a "knee bruise". We don't really know the full extent but deep bone bruises usually involve small breaks that need to be dealt with otherwise you risk breaking the entire bone. Again we are not talking about a painful blue spot on your skin.

Gronk simply acting as a decoy would've done wonders today. Or even against Houston next week.