It was a very good game by Brady. The only throw that really stands out to me as a horrible one by him was the forced one into double coverage to Hogan. You can get away with that kind of decision to Gronk because of his size and freak athleticism. Not to Hogan, though.
That's a good point. I also thought the deep pass to McCarron was not a good decision, though I would have been OK with it had be thrown to Patterson. Hopefully we will see more of him next week
White has never been an effective runner between the tackles.
Well that has been obvious and has driven me nuts whenever they gave him the ball to run. However I have seen improvement in that area last season and I thought it carried over into the preseason. But he looked like the "old" James White yesterday.
Called this. He's drawing the other team's #1 corner now on top of getting doubled from time to time. He'll have a quiet game next week, too, as I expect Ramsey to draw him some of the time and Bouye to draw him most of the time (with Ramsey covering Gronk).
Well if that's the case who will cover Patterson? That's why I hope he gets more targets this week
They had Watt on Waddle immediately when he was out there. Pretty clear they deemed Waddle to be the weak link.
Keen sense of the obvious award here, borgy. Your back up OT is ALWAYS going to be your "weak link" by definition. BTW, we are talking about just 2 plays out of ?. (anyone know how many snaps Waddle played?) Plus , as someone pointed out in the game thread, he might have been off side on one of those 2 plays. Either that or he anticipated the count perfectly.
BTW- when I watched that play, that triggered one of my pet peeves. I believe most DLmen could improve their quickness off the ball with more work at it. Too often I see guys late off the ball and curse. I wouldn't stand for it at the HS level. I can't believe I still see at the highest level of the game. It's a very coachable thing too. And its so damned important as well.
I wasn't really able to particularly watch Shelton. How did he look?
Can't tell you, though I did notice him pushing the pocket a few times on rushes. I liked that. He DID have the most snaps of any interior DL (40) and 2nd only to Flowers (50) along the entire DL But we will have to wait until the film break down to answer that question
Hightower looked like someone coming back from a season-ending injury a year ago. Might just be more rust than anything else.
I hope that's the case, but it is something to keep track of over the next few weeks. As we get to October and beyond we need to see some impact plays from him.
I actually think Nantz is the best guy they can put in there with Romo. He actually does stay quiet most of the time and just lets Romo do his thing. Other guys would probably try to talk over Romo or cut him off.
I find Nantz to be innately anti-Pats in his coverage, but beyond that he's very professional in his play by play delivery. I just don't like ANY play by play guy interjecting himself into the analysis.
The Jags are going to make life much tougher for the Pats on defense than the Texans did yesterday. They'll choke off everything underneath and someone else besides Gronk and Hogan is going to have to step up. Hogan will definitely get taken out of the game, unfortunately. Gronk, on the other hand, is a freak and will find a way to get his catches. This will probably be a big game for both Burkhead and White (and Michel, if he finally plays). Barkley ripped off over 100 yards against that defense and the Giants exposed them a bit in the flats.
I don't know about what to expect from the run game this week. If you take way the 60+ yd run, Barkley was very ordinary the other 17 times he carried the ball (2.2ypc) That is a big and talented DL. It will be a big challenge to run the ball against that. That being said, I would be surprised to see them have more success rushing Brady than the Texans did. That is an extraordinarily talented pass defense. They have the LB's who CAN cover to go along with that sickly talented secondary. For most teams, they don't care if you throw at them. Again look at the Giants game. Beckham has at great game statistically, but it STILL only translated into 15 points.
I think they will double Gronk much like the Texans did, only they will likely execute the double much better. I'd be very surprised to see Gronk top 60 yds this week. Not with that kind of secondary talent and the lack of other impact options. IIRC the Jags are a zone team for the most part. It will be interesting to see how much man coverage they use this week.
