PostGame Thread 2025 OFFICIAL Patriots Wild Card PostGame Thread: Patriots win 16-3

[Pats2000]

He was left wide open on several plays.

Didn't make any catches and besides, how do you know Gonzalez was on him at those times?

 

[Stu Pidassle]

I'm going to be honest. Hollins would not have made a difference last night. There were two issues, mainly. Campbell, Wilson, and Bradbury not being able to handle the pass rush and Drake not taken what was given to him. One several of the throw-aways and at least 1 of the sacks, Drake missed that receivers were open or ignored them like he did on 2 plays with Stevenson.

Drake needs to be told not to be greedy. Taking the small stuff will eventually open up the bigger stuff. Hit Rham for a 2-3 yard gain. Then when they shift to stop it, it opens up things for others.

Drake missed that Henry was open on Seam routes a few times. He finally connected with one later in the game and that helped set up the route that Henry scored on.

I also noticed how many times DM threw the ball away, especially in the first half. To me the biggest issues were the OL and that SD was able to shut down the Pats WR corps which ultimately caused may to revert to habits from his last year in college and first year here where he tries to do too much when he isn't getting enough help from his teammates. Hopefully all three areas will learn from the game and play better next game.

 

[n1997y]

Those blitzes wont work vs rodgers/allen etc so it might be a bit different.

Maybe.

They might work against Allen, because of his lack of receivers, if the blitzes can keep containment.

I don’t know about Pitt’s OL but if the Pats DBs can take away the quick throws long enough for the blitz to get home I don’t think Rodgers is mobile enough to beat it with his legs.

Real question is whether the pre-snap reads can allow them to recognize it and switch to a better call. And then how well the Pats can defend the play they audible into.

It could be a very interesting chess match.

 

[DaBruinz]

PFF seems to agree with my tape review of Will Campbell. Highest rated Pats offensive player at 75.6. Granted he was 60.8 Pass Block and 84.3 Run Block. As mentioned, he had 2 bad pass blocks and was dominate in the run game. The narrative he had a bad game is way off.

Campbell was pushed back almost into Drake several times last night. I'm curious what you consider to be "bad" in terms of pass blocking with that in mind..

 

[TommyD4207]

Those blitzes wont work vs rodgers/allen etc so it might be a bit different.

Yes they will.
Rodgers will turf it, and Allen will try to superman his way out of it.

Blitzing both of those guys works just fine. Rodgers 5 years ago would have been a problem, not anymore.

 

[bresna]

I've read several posters commenting on the crowd. Yes, it was great. It was loud! The new stadium design definitely allows us to be heard!

That said, am I the only one who noticed a bunch of incredibly drunk guys stumbling around the stadium? I just don't understand people that pay hundreds of dollars to go to these games and get blitzed to the point of passing out. I saw one guy fall down the stairs & another where his friends had to literally carry him out of the place.

Brady would have been proud.

 

[oldrover]

This tweet is missing the fact that they fired two coaches and hired two in that period.

And went to the playoffs, with the bust!

 

[Pape]

considering the level of defensive competition in the respective games, he played better than Josh Allen yesterday.

@mgteich apparently, you don't understand


my post
---------
your head

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Maybe.

They might work against Allen, because of his lack of receivers, if the blitzes can keep containment.

I don’t know about Pitt’s OL but if the Pats DBs can take away the quick throws long enough for the blitz to get home I don’t think Rodgers is mobile enough to beat it with his legs.

Real question is whether the pre-snap reads can allow them to recognize it and switch to a better call. And then how well the Pats can defend the play they audible into.

It could be a very interesting chess match.

Rodgers can't beat it with his legs any more, his mobility is a huge weakness where it use to be such a strength.
But he most certainly will recognize what is going on pre-snap most of the time.
The quick throws will be to Warren and Gainwell most of the time. If we blitzed Pitt as much as we did SD last night, Warren/Gainwell literally would have 20 combined targets. It would be our LBs that would need to cover long enough.
I don't think that same defensive gameplay would be nearly as effective against Rodgers.
Allen, maybe, but you would have to most certainly be very mindful of contain (as you mentioned). If you're blitzing Allen and playing man behind it, you better maintain rush lanes or Allen will rush for 80 yards.

 

[Vindicate]

Texans defense will give up yards, it just doesn't give up scores.

That game would come down to our defense again, tbh. Shut down Nico, their run game is anemic, and we may only score 13/14/16/17 points but it can still look like we're in control.

Those who have beaten the Texans never destroyed their defense. They just held the Texans to barely any yards and did a good job keeping them out of FG range.

A blocked kick or missed FG will go a LONG way for us against them.

 

[DaBruinz]

It's because you're focusing only on the bad things and not on all the things he did really well.

1. Throw to Henry for TD was a great throw not many QBs can make
2. In addition to his passing yards he ran for 50+ and almost accounted for 350 yards of offense against a very good defense
3. They actually throttled down in the 4th quarter after grabbing a 2 score lead
4. He drove the team from their own 1 to SD's 10
5. He constantly moved the team downfield and avoided a lot of 3 and outs with clutch play
6. Made elite throws to Boutte and Henry
7. MOST IMPRESSIVE: on 2nd down against his own end zone, he read the defense's blitz, stood in there and got the ball out quick to Rham. That was a warning to Harbaugh that he could read Ds and he wasn't going to wilt.

You're ignoring that Drake finished at 48% completion in the 1st half. Yes, Drake pulled it together, for the most part, in the 2nd half, but he was bailed out by Jared Wilson and the Defense. Otherwise, the game could have looked entirely different.

Anyone saying that last night was a GOOD game for Drake is ignoring all the Bad that happened. And there was a lot of it.

At least 3 of the throw-aways in the 1st half were because he ignored the open man and tried to go deeper.

Mediocre = Average. It doesn't mean BAD. Last night was a mediocre game, overall, for Maye. 2 Fumbles. 1 Fumble lost. 1 Interception. 2 of the 5 sacks he took were on him trying to make a play. Both fumbles were because Maye tried to do more instead of just taking the sack.
Having a mediocre game in your first play-off game and still coming out with a win is a good thing. It's a great learning experience for Maye. I look forward to him improving.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Yes they will.
Rodgers will turf it, and Allen will try to superman his way out of it.

Blitzing both of those guys works just fine. Rodgers 5 years ago would have been a problem, not anymore.

Pitt will watch our tape (if they win tonight) and their focus will be on the quick game to Warren and Gainwell. That's really been their bread and butter, and can work against a blitz heavy game plan. I can't imagine we would blitz Rodgers near as much as we did last night.

 

[moosekill]

He is getting beat the **** up though. Those start piling up and the effects will be seen soon enough.

Thank gawd he has all those Super Bowl wins!!

 

[DaBruinz]

Anyone want proof that PFF is a bunch of garbage. Here you go.

Their "ratings" are garbage. Their stat collecting is pretty good. Though, they need to fix Ben Brown's positions played. they have Brown down as having played LT against Cincy.. *SMH*

 

[DaBruinz]

I don't understand why this is being said lol. A QB, in his first playoff outing, coming off a 4-13 season, has inaccuracy and some turnovers, but continued to march his team down the field for kicks and the sole TD, regaining accurate poise and standing tall to keep his offense winning against a good Charger's defense... That's a good-ass game haha. Was it a sexy offensive win? No. Could there be improvements, yah. But Maye had a job last night and he did it, resulting in a win. It's like saying Brady has a bad game against the Rams in the Patriots last SB-win lol.

It was a mediocre game where he was able to overcome his mistakes through poise and maturity not expected of a 23yr old in his first game.

 

[Uptown]

To be fair he does a good job of dissecting them on video given the luxury of infinite time now he’s retired.

I’ll be very interested to watch whatever analysis he posts for this game.

And his post is just confirming what Chaisson said the Chargers players told him after the game.

Your comment seems aimed at bashing Orlovsky not refuting his analysis. Such ad hominem attacks aren’t really useful contributions to meaningful discussion. Please be more civil, you can do better than that kind of sniping. It demeans you more than the target of your comment.

Nah, I like Danny O. I just felt like being a **** for a quick sec..It was too easy..

 

[Uptown]

 

[DaBruinz]

Gotcha, i take it sayler was the tackle… can’t remember if that flag was for the same thing he was doing all night or was it a more obvious penalty?

Well, he was false starting all nigh. It was just REALLY obvious because it drew Pats players with him and the ball wasn't snapped.

 

[DaBruinz]

He was left wide open on several plays.

And what did that accomplish? He had 3 catches on 8 targets for 25 yards. That's being a NON-FACTOR. The fact that he had to come off the field and it allowed the Pats to substitute on defense when the Chargers offense was finally getting traction because the Pats front was tired cost them the game.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Well, he was false starting all nigh. It was just REALLY obvious because it drew Pats players with him and the ball wasn't snapped.

Oh okay if it was the one on the first drive then i remember the play youre talking about. Yeah they only called the ones that were super obvious that absolutely couldn’t go uncalled