Idle thoughts - The "cracks in the armor" edition.

I thought they looked fine playing a good team that makes stupid mistakes.
The missed tackles I have to put down to the weather as I have not seen much of it this year.
I don't think equating having trouble stopping Chubb as an issue has to do with stopping The Balt QB, totally different game plan.
My first thought on the game was why the kid from Balt was not starting in place of Mason. I certainly have not done a study on it or anything but it seemed like this summer every team was looking for OLine help. I don't think the last few drafts have produced the amount of Olineman that they normally do league wide, making a sept pickup a lot harder than in prior years.

Defense has been excellent all year tackling with a few exceptions. BB mentioned how footing and wet uniforms made tacking a bit more difficult yesterday so I'd chalk most of it up to that (plus some nice running by Chubb) vs anything to be overly concerned about. Giving up a few big plays is one of the downsides to a more attacking style but so far the reward has more than offset the handful of plays that popped.

it all comes down to the OL. They couldn't run block, and yesterday they couldn't pass block either. Whenever brady had time you saw him make nice throws. So this offense will be fine if this OL can get it together. Newhouse has been a turnstyle...and on one third down where the backup to shaq mason got pushed into brady, Romo said Sanu would've been open for a touchdown.

Good sign: guys are open which means the offense can score if brady has time
bad sign: right now brady has no time

Luckily we only have 1 game left without Wynn and mason should be back for the ravens game.

reflexblue said:

Were you pining for chubb last year as the pats rode michel to the super bowl last year?

Click to expand...

This may be a record for the longest it took for the “we won the super bowl so everything we did is perfect” post.
It’s hard for me to believe that if you swapped Chubb in for Sony last year he wouldn’t have been, at a minimum, at least as productive as Michel. You have to be an unbelievably biased homer to think that Michel is better than Chubb. Chubb averages 1.3 more ypc, and is actually a factor in the passing game.

BelichicksHoodie said:

Ravens are a different team than they were four weeks ago. As are we. Try again.

Click to expand...

Based on what - a single win versus a Seattle team that does not resemble the old Seattle teams. OT vs Pittsburgh and struggle with the Bengals since the Cleveland debacle. The Ravens is always a chippy game, but this is a team that does not yet have the look of a SB contender.

Fix the offensive line, fix the offenses inconsistency. How that gets done? I don’t know. Getting Wynn back (and staying healthy) along with Mason will definitely help, but even then I’m not sure that’s enough. With that being said, if the D maintains its play, and the O can just play mistake free, we should go pretty deep.

Still a ton of time to work out the kinks. So, enjoy what we’re watching while we still can!

Patstastic said:

League wide, the Colts are looking very good. And other than @New Orleans & Houston, their schedule is very favorable. Need them to drop a few more games.

Click to expand...

The Colts look good at times and at other times, they look like they did yesterday - fortunate to win against a crappy Denver team. Inconsistent is the term I'd use to describe them.

203Pat said:

This may be a record for the longest it took for the “we won the super bowl so everything we did is perfect” post.
It’s hard for me to believe that if you swapped Chubb in for Sony last year he wouldn’t have been, at a minimum, at least as productive as Michel. You have to be an unbelievably biased homer to think that Michel is better than Chubb. Chubb averages 1.3 more ypc, and is actually a factor in the passing game.

Click to expand...

You didn't answer the question, were you on here lamenting that we didn't take chubb over michel while he ran for over 400 yrds in the playoffs, and ran for 931 yrds during the regular season, thats appx 70 yrds less than Chubb, while playing fewer games. I think I know why michel was taken instead of chubb, michel was suppose have better pass catching ability.

203Pat said:

This may be a record for the longest it took for the “we won the super bowl so everything we did is perfect” post.
It’s hard for me to believe that if you swapped Chubb in for Sony last year he wouldn’t have been, at a minimum, at least as productive as Michel. You have to be an unbelievably biased homer to think that Michel is better than Chubb. Chubb averages 1.3 more ypc, and is actually a factor in the passing game.

Click to expand...

And the same Chubb lost the ball on one of his explosive plays. So yes Chubb is the better player and I think most of us expected Michel to be more like Kamara as a dual threat on the ground and in the passing game but Michel was key in a Super Bowl run. That alone makes his pick an A+ and we'll never know if a better play would've helped us in the same way.

It's just a pity this O-line is this shacky and has next to no quality depth. I mean when everyone is fit I can see this O-line being really good and thankfully until January there is still lots of time.

Bill Belichick said:

Great kid. Very smart. Works hard. You can tell his dad is Kirk Ferentz.

Click to expand...

This isn't what you want to hear about a guy who just started a game.

BelichicksHoodie said:

Ravens are a different team than they were four weeks ago. As are we. Try again.

Click to expand...

nope......they're the same team

archstanton543 said:

I am. Wynne hasn't proven he can stay on the field and Harry is still a rookie.

Click to expand...

And Mason....?

Yes, Harry is still a rookie. So was Malcolm Mitchell.

The Pats don't need a savior, just another decent option to give Brady.

.

RelocatedPatFan said:

For full disclosure, when my wife watches playoff football with me (she watches all those games), she verbalizes too many complaints. She expects Patriots to outperform each play, especially on defense. Just not reasonable...I usually have to tell her that the other guys get paid to play well too and they want to win.

Click to expand...

Good for her for watching and being involved. My wife is really into it after learning more and more the past decade or so.

.

203Pat said:

It’s hard for me to believe that if you swapped Chubb in for Sony last year he wouldn’t have been, at a minimum, at least as productive as Michel.

Click to expand...

Reality is you don't know that Chubb would have been able to do what Sony did last year. He might have fumbled the ball at a big point against the Chiefs or the Rams. Given his less patient approach he might not worked well with our OL at all. Who knows, it didn't happen.

Claiming he might be able to because your gut says so is as meaningful as someone else claiming the opposite.

Reality is Michel scored 6 TD in the postseason and was a key cog of a SB title. That alone makes the pick good.

archstanton543 said:

I am. Wynne hasn't proven he can stay on the field and Harry is still a rookie.

Click to expand...

IIRC Wynn never missed a game at Georgia and turf toe is NOT a fatal injury. Way too early to call Wynn, "injury prone". On the other hand, Harry is still a rookie.

7. General defensive thoughts - Bell got some decent yardage, and now Chubb added 140 more. Are we seeing a "blueprint" being issued here? Are there "cracks in the wall"? I don't know if what we saw was some kind of defensive trade off to protect against "the long ball" , but it sure didn't look good and it isn't going to make people feel better since the NEXT team we play leads the league in rushing. But one thing for certain, how we plan on stopping the Raven running game SHOULD be the major topic of the upcoming week.

Click to expand...

Apparently if you stop their QB who is their leading rusher with 576 yds you stop their rushing game. I think Pats athletic LB's will do the job against Jackson. Just my two cents.

luuked said:

Reality is you don't know that Chubb would have been able to do what Sony did last year. He might have fumbled the ball at a big point against the Chiefs or the Rams. Given his less patient approach he might not worked well with our OL at all. Who knows, it didn't happen.

Claiming he might be able to because your gut says so is as meaningful as someone else claiming the opposite.

Reality is Michel scored 6 TD in the postseason and was a key cog of a SB title. That alone makes the pick good.

Click to expand...

I think you are holding on too strongly to this position, luuked. It doesn't take a football savant to notice the difference between the 2 runners. This isn't to diminish what Sony accomplished last season, BUT what we see is what we see.

To date Sony has never shown the kind of explosiveness, speed, and acceleration that he seemed have at Georgia. Last season, his one great skill seemed to be his vision, which generally got him to the right hole to maximize his yardage. But we never saw him make people miss, or gain much after first contact.

No doubt Michel is a fine RB, and could be even better if they found a way to include him in the passing attack, but the thing is he isn't just a RB, he's a first round RB. So while if he had been picked in the 4th round, he'd have been hailed as a steal, as a first rounder it isn't unfair to consider him lacking that "special" quality that we tend to associate with first rounders, even ones at the end of the round.

BTW- Prior to last night's game Chubb had fumbled once in over 310 attempts.

reflexblue said:

You didn't answer the question, were you on here lamenting that we didn't take chubb over michel while he ran for over 400 yrds in the playoffs, and ran for 931 yrds during the regular season, thats appx 70 yrds less than Chubb, while playing fewer games. I think I know why michel was taken instead of chubb, michel was suppose have better pass catching ability.

Click to expand...

I didn’t like the RB pick there and I didn’t feel he was the best pick at RB either. If you asked me during last years playoff run if I would’ve rather had Chubb the answer would’ve been yes. Same way if you asked me if I would’ve rather had Leveon Bell or Alvin Kamara instead. The answer would’ve been yes because they’re better running backs.

MUFC7 said:

And the same Chubb lost the ball on one of his explosive plays. So yes Chubb is the better player and I think most of us expected Michel to be more like Kamara as a dual threat on the ground and in the passing game but Michel was key in a Super Bowl run. That alone makes his pick an A+ and we'll never know if a better play would've helped us in the same way.

It's just a pity this O-line is this shacky and has next to no quality depth. I mean when everyone is fit I can see this O-line being really good and thankfully until January there is still lots of time.

Click to expand...

I don’t just slap an A+ on a draft pick because they played on a Super Bowl winner. He played well in the post season last year but he just isn’t a special back. He doesn’t make many people miss, he doesn’t break off big TD runs, and now this year he is struggling in short yardage. I’m not saying he’s a bad player I’m just saying he’s not “special” like you expect from an early round RB.

luuked said:

Reality is you don't know that Chubb would have been able to do what Sony did last year. He might have fumbled the ball at a big point against the Chiefs or the Rams. Given his less patient approach he might not worked well with our OL at all. Who knows, it didn't happen.

Claiming he might be able to because your gut says so is as meaningful as someone else claiming the opposite.

Reality is Michel scored 6 TD in the postseason and was a key cog of a SB title. That alone makes the pick good.

Click to expand...

So then I can’t answer the question that he asked? He asked if I would’ve wanted a different back during the playoff run and I would have. The same way I would’ve wanted Aaron Donald over Malcolm Brown and Odell Beckham over Phillip Dorsett. I would always rather have the better player if given the option and he was hypothetically giving me the option.