PostGame Thread 2023 Week 2: Patriots Lose to Dolphins 24-17

[Calhoun44]

Mac Jones has sucked all the fun out of watching the Patriots.

Despite some frustration, I really enjoyed yesterday's game. I don't understand why people feel like the only way to enjoy the game is with a victory. The competition and strategy are what I enjoy and although they are not a perfectly functioning team (yet), I really thing they have a very entertaining team, especially with all the young talent on defense. Gonzalez is going to just keep getting better and I think eventually this defense will almost singlehandedly win us at least three games. I am excited to see how the offense progresses and how they stack up against a solid Jets D. The main disappointment I have is with the lack of a running game, it is really surprising that they haven't been able to get that going yet.
Just enjoying the ride on the Patriots train each week.

 

[State]

With no tackles and rusty guards they did as well as they could.

They had tackles. Lowe was decent until he gave up the fourth quarter sack. Rusty describes Strange. He had one of his poorer performances. But Onwenu was at least 20 pounds over his normal NFL playing weight.

He looks as though he’s back at his college weight high if 370.

Trent Brown must be looking at that and thinking…when’s the last time one of my teammates outweighs me?

And Calvin would’ve made Hobbes blush. Couldn’t reliably pass block.

Even Andrews can be highlighted for errors i the Miami game.

Just a season low performance from the Patriots OL. It’s gonna get better.

But I hope Trent goes to RT and Adrian K keeps coaching up Lowe.

 

[lancerman]

There was so much to not like about this game, and the fact the Pats lost by one score to me says more about Miami than it does about New England. I do believe at this point that this team will not be resurrected to greatness under the current regime. Everyone is talking about Mac. My .02 is he's very frustrating because he doesn't all out suck all the time. I've seen flashes (the TD pass to KB last week for example) that make me think sometimes he gets it, but they are simply too few and far between. Like it or not though, it's going to continue to be Mac's team for at least the rest of this season, which feels like it's going to be a long one.

What I was surprised about was how effectively they let Mostert run in the 4th. That was more concerning to me than anything else as this is supposed to be a strength.

That said, and I apologize if this has already been discussed, but did anyone else feel they didn't nearly have enough evidence to overturn the Strange first down? Perhaps I'm viewing through blue and red lenses but I was very surprised they overturned that, and relatively quickly considering the game was on the line.

The problem is it's always something because opportunities are so few and far between.

Same as last year. Pick a pass play and you are rolling the dice on

a) the playcall being stupid.
b) nobody getting open
c) nobody getting open beyond the sticks and having to settle for a short throw
d) the line getting absolutely manhandled and collapsing in a fraction of a second
e) Mac making an off throw
f) a positive play.
g) what should be a positive play but a receiver does something stupid like fumbles the ball or makes a stupid cut like last night or doesn't toe touch.

All of those are equally as likely to happen, only one is really on Mac but he makes a couple of meh plays on top of everything else and it leads to him being part of an inept offense and some fans will give him most of the blame. The reality is most QB's will have a few off plays a game and make mistakes. But the positive plays not being consistent because of a dozen reasons is the problem here. He shows flashes because there is talent there. It's just only going to be flashes if the offense is this inept.

 

[Wozzy]

"It’s more about execution than belief. I think the belief and the faith in each other, in the team, I don’t think that’s a problem. When you look at that, we could’ve laid down and quit when we down there by two scores. We didn’t. We kept moving, kept battling, put ourselves in a chance to win right there at the end. But I think it’s more of execution than it is belief.” - David Andrews

 

[State]

Their offense needs a full rebuild

No. Just a real RT. A blocking TE, and a goddamn FB.

 

[State]

Juju Sanu... eek

He’s been a big disappointment. And he’s got the big contract.

 

[Keep Up With The Joneses]

The problem is it's always something because opportunities are so few and far between.

Same as last year. Pick a pass play and you are rolling the dice on

a) the playcall being stupid.
b) nobody getting open
c) nobody getting open beyond the sticks and having to settle for a short throw
d) the line getting absolutely manhandled and collapsing in a fraction of a second
e) Mac making an off throw
f) a positive play.
g) what should be a positive play but a receiver does something stupid like fumbles the ball or makes a stupid cut like last night or doesn't toe touch.

All of those are equally as likely to happen, only one is really on Mac but he makes a couple of meh plays on top of everything else and it leads to him being part of an inept offense and some fans will give him most of the blame. The reality is most QB's will have a few off plays a game and make mistakes. But the positive plays not being consistent because of a dozen reasons is the problem here. He shows flashes because there is talent there. It's just only going to be flashes if the offense is this inept.

I agree with all of this, and it's been tough to watch. The whole offense is to blame, players and coaches. It's hard to know if the play calling is limited because of the personnel (although this hasn't been the case in the past, Brady aside), or if the personnel has been hamstrung by horrible game planning.

Choice e to me requires a subset. To me the most frustrating part of Mac is the hot air balloon throw down the field that have no chance of being caught. Collinsworth kept praising Mac for making "great reads" down the field, which could actually be true, but I don't remember the last time a Pats WR had a defender beat deep and got a clean throw in stride to score instead of running into the late double team while trying to make the play. I cringe whenever Mac throws for 20+, and the numbers say that never goes well for him.

I'm not a coach, but I don't feel like the Pats use enough in-between routes (15-20 yards down the field). Everything is either a quick out, a pass short of the sticks, or a deep ball. The first two are playing right into the teeth of defenses that all know what the Pats are doing, and the last one just is not playing to the strengths of the offense. I would like to see HH and Gisecki get more involved and try to get matched up with the linebackers more often. For now I'm guessing this isn't possible due to the oline issues and the need for more protection. If that's the case hopefully as the line gets healthier this part of the game will open up. People who know more about football than me tell me why I'm wrong.

 

[PatsFan2]

"It’s more about execution than belief. I think the belief and the faith in each other, in the team, I don’t think that’s a problem. When you look at that, we could’ve laid down and quit when we down there by two scores. We didn’t. We kept moving, kept battling, put ourselves in a chance to win right there at the end. But I think it’s more of execution than it is belief.” - David Andrews

It's lack of talent David we are playing very few Offenses this year that we measure up with. We ain't holding those Offenses to 17 on D and we are barely scoring 17 ourselves. We might get lucky and win a few games but to think we could win 7 games with this Offensive squad is some stretch.

 

[slash83]

You can’t be a contender in todays NFL without a single superstar on your team. Yeah they have good and very good players especially on the defensive side of the ball. But I don’t think the offense has one star except maybe Onwenu and he’s a guard.

 

[Ian]

We saw this pattern with Brady in 2019, and Cam next year.

The Cam year was so bizarre. Just lost all his arm strength after looking pretty decent after that Seattle game and was never the same. That and the implosion of Stidham after an offseason of "sources" saying how happy the coaches were with him. Just a weird offseason and an even stranger year.

 

[patsinthesnow]

douglas 33 snaps 9 targets 6 receptions 59 yards 1.90 yards per route run (33rd/85)

smith-schuster 44 snaps 13 targets 9 receptions 61 yards 1.17 yards per route run (63rd/85)

team has to make the switch on this one

 

[Toofy]

We know he cannot carry below average offensive talent like Brady did. We know some of his strengths and weaknesses, but we don't know if he can be a good QB with actually having some talent around him. And guess what? Most QBs in this league aren't good without talent around him. See Tua. See Hurts. See Geno Smith. See Baker Mayfield so far this year. If the Patriots replace Mac and give the next guy the talent Mac has, ?

Brady carried below average talent to post season because the bills , fins and jets were dumpster trucks . So an easy 4-5 win season.

Now all teams are significantly stacked. We won Superbowls only after we got Edelman, Gronk and white and clutch amendola and postseason worthy contributions from burkhead and Mitchell.

Brady also had a solid offensive line .

Now tell me what does Mac have that Brady did not have and still made plays. And again Brady is the GOAT . No point comparing Mac to him . Put Tua in this team and he will be concussed in the first game with the line and weapons we have .


We are lucky that we have Mac , a cerebral player . Our drafting is coming to bite us.

Barmore -- Thornton -- strange are all non factors so far this season . This year picks seem to be marginally better .

The buck starts and stops with Bill B now. Off season acquisitions and drafting have leftuxh to be desired. If Bill has lost his fastball he shouldn't be allowed to sign on the new acquisitions next year when we have the most cap. We could end up squandering it and having another 4 years of middling performances.

 

[PatsFan2]

DeVAnte Parker was I the only one upset about his extension?? It's said by some stat that he's one of the worse separators in the entire league yet we reward him. We are not getting what we paid for and we let D-Hop leave the building when we could have had him brilliant move there.

 

[Ian]

DeVAnte Parker was I the only one upset about his extension??

No - you certainly are not alone there

 

[PatsFan2]

douglas 33 snaps 9 targets 6 receptions 59 yards 1.90 yards per route run (33rd/85)

smith-schuster 44 snaps 13 targets 9 receptions 61 yards 1.17 yards per route run (63rd/85)

team has to make the switch on this one

We'll make the move at the halfway point while talking about the 2024 Draft hoping we are Top 5.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

I want to go back to my point I made I believe last year. Who’s our leader? Do you buy Mac as a leader that the team follows? We need a leader. Somebody you can look at when the going gets tough and can energize this team. I don’t know if this team has that.

 

[PatsFan2]

Brady carried below average talent to post season because the bills , fins and jets were dumpster trucks . So an easy 4-5 win season.

Now all teams are significantly stacked. We won Superbowls only after we got Edelman, Gronk and white and clutch amendola and postseason worthy contributions from burkhead and Mitchell.

Brady also had a solid offensive line .

Now tell me what does Mac have that Brady did not have and still made plays. And again Brady is the GOAT . No point comparing Mac to him . Put Tua in this team and he will be concussed in the first game with the line and weapons we have .


We are lucky that we have Mac , a cerebral player . Our drafting is coming to bite us.

Barmore -- Thornton -- strange are all non factors so far this season . This year picks seem to be marginally better .

The buck starts and stops with Bill B now. Off season acquisitions and drafting have leftuxh to be desired. If Bill has lost his fastball he shouldn't be allowed to sign on the new acquisitions next year when we have the most cap. We could end up squandering it and having another 4 years of middling performances.

Has Barmore made a Tackle all year?? Thought he was a rush guy. The last good move he made was against that borderline stiff Russey in TC.

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

The key is to arrive at the game after the 1st qtr.

This is one of my biggest concerns. Slow starts. It feels common over the last few years but especially last couple.

 

[PatsFan2]

I want to go back to my point I made I believe last year. Who’s our leader? Do you buy Mac as a leader that the team follows? We need a leader. Somebody you can look at when the going gets tough and can energize this team. I don’t know if this team has that.

A Leader carries a Team Mac is not that guy how many come backs does he have??

 

[StockingAnarchyNumber12]

A Leader carries a Team Mac is not that guy how many come backs does he have??

This is imo the most underrated issue with Mac. I just wonder if people can buy him as a leader. Even Cam Newton who admittedly sucked… it felt like the team played for him and he could at least energize the team. I just question if Mac has that.