Content Post A welcome relief and some thoughts

[Biffins]

Just wanted to say I am so relieved the Pats won today. I think a loss in this game would have REALLY been devastating. The Pats were in many ways superior to the Texans and a number of fluke-ish incidents made the game so tight.

Texans first drive - should have been a 3 and out and a stop instead they moved the chains on the 3 and 2 when it definitely looked like he was stopped. But NFL still has no accurate measurements of the markers and ball positioning and the officials eye-balled it to have been a 1st down. BB looked in disbelief but didn't challenge. Would have stopped the 10 minute drive and TD.

McCourty's rare blunder. What should have been just a spectacular 20ish yard circus catch over JC Jackson's inside coverage and a push out by the safety, turns into a 67 yard TD reception because of Devin's awful blunder where he overran Moore and turned a routine safety tackle into a touchdown.

Harris's blunder. Again what should have been a simple run-in and TD (and frankly there wasn't enough evidence to overturn it on review either) turns into a fumble recovery in the endzone.

The combination of the 3 above was a swing of 21 pts (ok 19 since they actually missed the 2 xp). But it was huge. And a loss would have been extremely deflating. Instead of being up 13-0 we were down 12-6, halfway through 2nd quarter.

And that's despite the horrible drop by Meyers, horrendous interception by Jones at start of 3rd quarter, and the secondary totally biting on the flea flicker.

Thankfully we had an own-goal from the Texans with the ridiculous punt trickery haha. We needed that so bad. Although it was still depressing to see us hand-off to frickin Bolden on the 3rd and 10 when we got the ball after that. Which was a waste. Thank god Folk put it through another 52 yarder. Totally changed the momentum of the game. That helmet-to-helmet roughing the passer on the last drive was a blessing as well.

Good teams find ways to win on their bad days. And that's how resiliency is built. We're not a great team, but we were definitely better than the Texans and played poorly relative to our potential and still won. It was much needed and hopefully there's some self-belief in this team now.

P.S. Harris is a stud (despite the fumble).

P.P.S. I wonder what heated debate BB and McDaniels were having right after the TD pass to Henry to tie the game at 22-22. We just scored a TD and they seemed to be arguing. Weird. BB didn't like the call McD made? (even if it scored a TD)

 

[RIpats88]

Running backs need to learn how to hold onto the ball. Seems like every week they are coughing it up at an in opportune time

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Just wanted to say I am so relieved the Pats won today. I think a loss in this game would have REALLY been devastating. The Pats were in many ways superior to the Texans and a number of fluke-ish incidents made the game so tight.

Texans first drive - should have been a 3 and out and a stop instead they moved the chains on the 3 and 2 when it definitely looked like he was stopped. But NFL still has no accurate measurements of the markers and ball positioning and the officials eye-balled it to have been a 1st down. BB looked in disbelief but didn't challenge. Would have stopped the 10 minute drive and TD.

McCourty's rare blunder. What should have been just a spectacular 20ish yard circus catch over JC Jackson's inside coverage and a push out by the safety, turns into a 67 yard TD reception because of Devin's awful blunder where he overran Moore and turned a routine safety tackle into a touchdown.

Harris's blunder. Again what should have been a simple run-in and TD (and frankly there wasn't enough evidence to overturn it on review either) turns into a fumble recovery in the endzone.

The combination of the 3 above was a swing of 21 pts (ok 19 since they actually missed the 2 xp). But it was huge. And a loss would have been extremely deflating. Instead of being up 13-0 we were down 12-6, halfway through 2nd quarter.

And that's despite the horrible drop by Meyers, horrendous interception by Jones at start of 3rd quarter, and the secondary totally biting on the flea flicker.

Thankfully we had an own-goal from the Texans with the ridiculous punt trickery haha. We needed that so bad. Although it was still depressing to see us hand-off to frickin Bolden on the 3rd and 10 when we got the ball after that. Which was a waste. Thank god Folk put it through another 52 yarder. Totally changed the momentum of the game. That helmet-to-helmet roughing the passer on the last drive was a blessing as well.

Good teams find ways to win on their bad days. And that's how resiliency is built. We're not a great team, but we were definitely better than the Texans and played poorly relative to our potential and still won. It was much needed and hopefully there's some self-belief in this team now.

P.S. Harris is a stud (despite the fumble).

P.P.S. I wonder what heated debate BB and McDaniels were having right after the TD pass to Henry to tie the game at 22-22. We just scored a TD and they seemed to be arguing. Weird. BB didn't like the call McD made? (even if it scored a TD)

A touchdown in the red zone sure is uncharacteristic of a mcD offense so I'm sure Mac throwing it wasn't a mcD playcall. Also since I've never seen a Pats qb throw that endzone route for 2-3 seasons it's probably not even on his oc play sheet probably

 

[catent]

Just wanted to say I am so relieved the Pats won today. I think a loss in this game would have REALLY been devastating. The Pats were in many ways superior to the Texans and a number of fluke-ish incidents made the game so tight.

Texans first drive - should have been a 3 and out and a stop instead they moved the chains on the 3 and 2 when it definitely looked like he was stopped. But NFL still has no accurate measurements of the markers and ball positioning and the officials eye-balled it to have been a 1st down. BB looked in disbelief but didn't challenge. Would have stopped the 10 minute drive and TD.

McCourty's rare blunder. What should have been just a spectacular 20ish yard circus catch over JC Jackson's inside coverage and a push out by the safety, turns into a 67 yard TD reception because of Devin's awful blunder where he overran Moore and turned a routine safety tackle into a touchdown.

Harris's blunder. Again what should have been a simple run-in and TD (and frankly there wasn't enough evidence to overturn it on review either) turns into a fumble recovery in the endzone.

The combination of the 3 above was a swing of 21 pts (ok 19 since they actually missed the 2 xp). But it was huge. And a loss would have been extremely deflating. Instead of being up 13-0 we were down 12-6, halfway through 2nd quarter.

And that's despite the horrible drop by Meyers, horrendous interception by Jones at start of 3rd quarter, and the secondary totally biting on the flea flicker.

Thankfully we had an own-goal from the Texans with the ridiculous punt trickery haha. We needed that so bad. Although it was still depressing to see us hand-off to frickin Bolden on the 3rd and 10 when we got the ball after that. Which was a waste. Thank god Folk put it through another 52 yarder. Totally changed the momentum of the game. That helmet-to-helmet roughing the passer on the last drive was a blessing as well.

Good teams find ways to win on their bad days. And that's how resiliency is built. We're not a great team, but we were definitely better than the Texans and played poorly relative to our potential and still won. It was much needed and hopefully there's some self-belief in this team now.

P.S. Harris is a stud (despite the fumble).

P.P.S. I wonder what heated debate BB and McDaniels were having right after the TD pass to Henry to tie the game at 22-22. We just scored a TD and they seemed to be arguing. Weird. BB didn't like the call McD made? (even if it scored a TD)

I know I give you a lot of sh*t Biffins but this is a really good post.

Thanks for sharing. I agree with what you said. It feels like the type of game that builds mental toughness. The Harris fumble was effectively the equivalent of giving up a pick-6 or fumble recovery for a TD (6-7 point swing). The Houston botched punt was effectively a turnover, so the Pats were -1 in turnover differential for the game but still won - that is a good sign.

The defense played better in the 2nd half, particularly on 3rd down. I felt the coaching staff didn't do the defense any favors in the 1st half but got out of their own way in the 2nd half.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Teams playing ok. Ball control has been an issue, almost lost again today because of it.
Good win being down 4 lineman.

If I see one more screen pass I think I’m gonna puke. They are very ineffective, predictable and dangerous for a pick 6. Nothing wrong with sone wuick slants Josh. Good to see the running game back on track today.

 

[mgteich]

Teams playing ok. Ball control has been an issue, almost lost again today because of it.
Good win being down 4 lineman.

If I see one more screen pass I think I’m gonna puke. They are very ineffective, predictable and dangerous for a pick 6. Nothing wrong with sone wuick slants Josh. Good to see the running game back on track today.

especially the swing pass to Bolden that gained over 25 yards

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

I was happy to see the team gut that one out, but if we play like that again this season , 99% chance we are losing that game. So many brutal mistakes as you pointed out, and we will have to clean that up in a hurry because Dallas is coming to town next week.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

We need mills and Mason back for the next game.

 

[Biffins]

Just wanted to say I am so relieved the Pats won today. I think a loss in this game would have REALLY been devastating. The Pats were in many ways superior to the Texans and a number of fluke-ish incidents made the game so tight.

Texans first drive - should have been a 3 and out and a stop instead they moved the chains on the 3 and 2 when it definitely looked like he was stopped. But NFL still has no accurate measurements of the markers and ball positioning and the officials eye-balled it to have been a 1st down. BB looked in disbelief but didn't challenge. Would have stopped the 10 minute drive and TD.

McCourty's rare blunder. What should have been just a spectacular 20ish yard circus catch over JC Jackson's inside coverage and a push out by the safety, turns into a 67 yard TD reception because of Devin's awful blunder where he overran Moore and turned a routine safety tackle into a touchdown.

Harris's blunder. Again what should have been a simple run-in and TD (and frankly there wasn't enough evidence to overturn it on review either) turns into a fumble recovery in the endzone.

The combination of the 3 above was a swing of 21 pts (ok 19 since they actually missed the 2 xp). But it was huge. And a loss would have been extremely deflating. Instead of being up 13-0 we were down 12-6, halfway through 2nd quarter.

And that's despite the horrible drop by Meyers, horrendous interception by Jones at start of 3rd quarter, and the secondary totally biting on the flea flicker.

Thankfully we had an own-goal from the Texans with the ridiculous punt trickery haha. We needed that so bad. Although it was still depressing to see us hand-off to frickin Bolden on the 3rd and 10 when we got the ball after that. Which was a waste. Thank god Folk put it through another 52 yarder. Totally changed the momentum of the game. That helmet-to-helmet roughing the passer on the last drive was a blessing as well.

Good teams find ways to win on their bad days. And that's how resiliency is built. We're not a great team, but we were definitely better than the Texans and played poorly relative to our potential and still won. It was much needed and hopefully there's some self-belief in this team now.

P.S. Harris is a stud (despite the fumble).

P.P.S. I wonder what heated debate BB and McDaniels were having right after the TD pass to Henry to tie the game at 22-22. We just scored a TD and they seemed to be arguing. Weird. BB didn't like the call McD made? (even if it scored a TD)

One question I have for everyone, does McCourty look like he's lost a step? I mean it was bound to happen at some point. In the past he had routinely been clocked as the fastest man on the field.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Teams playing ok. Ball control has been an issue, almost lost again today because of it.
Good win being down 4 lineman.

If I see one more screen pass I think I’m gonna puke. They are very ineffective, predictable and dangerous for a pick 6. Nothing wrong with sone wuick slants Josh. Good to see the running game back on track today.

Mac is elite at slants. We should have a lot more than just a couple perfect slant throws to Bourne every game

 

[Ochmed Jones]

One question I have for everyone, does McCourty look like he's lost a step? I mean it was bound to happen at some point. In the past he had routinely been clocked as the fastest man on the field.

no doubt. He has clearly lost at least a step this year. He may be as fast as ever, as far as straight line speed, but the excellent instincts and reactions just are not as sharp as previous years.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Just wanted to say I am so relieved the Pats won today. I think a loss in this game would have REALLY been devastating. The Pats were in many ways superior to the Texans and a number of fluke-ish incidents made the game so tight.

Texans first drive - should have been a 3 and out and a stop instead they moved the chains on the 3 and 2 when it definitely looked like he was stopped. But NFL still has no accurate measurements of the markers and ball positioning and the officials eye-balled it to have been a 1st down. BB looked in disbelief but didn't challenge. Would have stopped the 10 minute drive and TD.

McCourty's rare blunder. What should have been just a spectacular 20ish yard circus catch over JC Jackson's inside coverage and a push out by the safety, turns into a 67 yard TD reception because of Devin's awful blunder where he overran Moore and turned a routine safety tackle into a touchdown.

Harris's blunder. Again what should have been a simple run-in and TD (and frankly there wasn't enough evidence to overturn it on review either) turns into a fumble recovery in the endzone.

The combination of the 3 above was a swing of 21 pts (ok 19 since they actually missed the 2 xp). But it was huge. And a loss would have been extremely deflating. Instead of being up 13-0 we were down 12-6, halfway through 2nd quarter.

And that's despite the horrible drop by Meyers, horrendous interception by Jones at start of 3rd quarter, and the secondary totally biting on the flea flicker.

Thankfully we had an own-goal from the Texans with the ridiculous punt trickery haha. We needed that so bad. Although it was still depressing to see us hand-off to frickin Bolden on the 3rd and 10 when we got the ball after that. Which was a waste. Thank god Folk put it through another 52 yarder. Totally changed the momentum of the game. That helmet-to-helmet roughing the passer on the last drive was a blessing as well.

Good teams find ways to win on their bad days. And that's how resiliency is built. We're not a great team, but we were definitely better than the Texans and played poorly relative to our potential and still won. It was much needed and hopefully there's some self-belief in this team now.

P.S. Harris is a stud (despite the fumble).

P.P.S. I wonder what heated debate BB and McDaniels were having right after the TD pass to Henry to tie the game at 22-22. We just scored a TD and they seemed to be arguing. Weird. BB didn't like the call McD made? (even if it scored a TD)

I think a loss to Houston would have been the beginning of the end of the BB era...it would have been inexcusable

 

[Pats1971]

Just wanted to say I am so relieved the Pats won today. I think a loss in this game would have REALLY been devastating. The Pats were in many ways superior to the Texans and a number of fluke-ish incidents made the game so tight.

Texans first drive - should have been a 3 and out and a stop instead they moved the chains on the 3 and 2 when it definitely looked like he was stopped. But NFL still has no accurate measurements of the markers and ball positioning and the officials eye-balled it to have been a 1st down. BB looked in disbelief but didn't challenge. Would have stopped the 10 minute drive and TD.

McCourty's rare blunder. What should have been just a spectacular 20ish yard circus catch over JC Jackson's inside coverage and a push out by the safety, turns into a 67 yard TD reception because of Devin's awful blunder where he overran Moore and turned a routine safety tackle into a touchdown.

Harris's blunder. Again what should have been a simple run-in and TD (and frankly there wasn't enough evidence to overturn it on review either) turns into a fumble recovery in the endzone.

The combination of the 3 above was a swing of 21 pts (ok 19 since they actually missed the 2 xp). But it was huge. And a loss would have been extremely deflating. Instead of being up 13-0 we were down 12-6, halfway through 2nd quarter.

And that's despite the horrible drop by Meyers, horrendous interception by Jones at start of 3rd quarter, and the secondary totally biting on the flea flicker.

Thankfully we had an own-goal from the Texans with the ridiculous punt trickery haha. We needed that so bad. Although it was still depressing to see us hand-off to frickin Bolden on the 3rd and 10 when we got the ball after that. Which was a waste. Thank god Folk put it through another 52 yarder. Totally changed the momentum of the game. That helmet-to-helmet roughing the passer on the last drive was a blessing as well.

Good teams find ways to win on their bad days. And that's how resiliency is built. We're not a great team, but we were definitely better than the Texans and played poorly relative to our potential and still won. It was much needed and hopefully there's some self-belief in this team now.

P.S. Harris is a stud (despite the fumble).

P.P.S. I wonder what heated debate BB and McDaniels were having right after the TD pass to Henry to tie the game at 22-22. We just scored a TD and they seemed to be arguing. Weird. BB didn't like the call McD made? (even if it scored a TD)

Not sure what you described is fluke-ish. I mean you said they should have done this but instead gave up a 10 minute td drive...Jones pick was not fluke-ish. Good teams do find a way to win on bad days, but this was not really a bad day, they played this way all year except they could actually run the ball today which is probably more the reason they won. Texans had the worst run defense in the league. I mean if the texans even had a decent coach they probably win that game. It took one of the worst calls I have ever seen a coach make a phantom roughing call to win. At this point, I just take the win, but not sure now is the time to be talking about superior, or good teams find ways to win.

 

[Hyped]

Not sure what you described is fluke-ish. I mean you said they should have done this but instead gave up a 10 minute td drive...Jones pick was not fluke-ish. Good teams do find a way to win on bad days, but this was not really a bad day, they played this way all year except they could actually run the ball today which is probably more the reason they won. Texans had the worst run defense in the league. I mean if the texans even had a decent coach they probably win that game. It took one of the worst calls I have ever seen a coach make a phantom roughing call to win. At this point, I just take the win, but not sure now is the time to be talking about superior, or good teams find ways to win.

The Texans were aggressive though...they went for it on 4th down at least 3 times..... And have you ever seen J.C. Jackson play as bad as he did in the first half? A great week to do so after basically being signed off as the de facto #1 corner on D.... oh and don't get me started with DMac...still love the guy, but some bad angles out there today.

AND I believe that there is an ongoing trend over the past 2-3 years where the Pats D always allows a TD on the other team's first offensive drive then settles down after that. Maybe I am just imagining things......but why can't we just have some quick three and outs like other teams?

 

[aluminum seats]

I’ll add the boneheaded penalty by Jackson when the game was over.

And a little OT but under the dumb theme, the announcing. 10 seconds left in the half, guy says, "I don't know if they can run another play, get set and spike it." You don't know? Yeah, that's impossible. And the Pats penalty at the end, "they gave the Bucs another time out." Um, no they didn't. Jeez.

 

[Pats1971]

The Texans were aggressive though...they went for it on 4th down at least 3 times..... And have you ever seen J.C. Jackson play as bad as he did in the first half? A great week to do so after basically being signed off as the de facto #1 corner on D.... oh and don't get me started with DMac...still love the guy, but some bad angles out there today.

AND I believe that there is an ongoing trend over the past 2-3 years where the Pats D always allows a TD on the other team's first offensive drive then settles down after that. Maybe I am just imagining things......but why can't we just have some quick three and outs like other teams?

I dont know, but this was a bad texans team, who looked pretty good against us. But then they were still the texans and didnt know how to win a game. I really did expect the pats to kill the texans today. Texans are trying for draft picks, but as I said before, win is a win, but they are going to have to be much better becuase we do not play that many teams this bad.

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

The #1 storyline I walkaway with today is : should we have extended Wynn over Michel with the 5th year option?

 

[Ochmed Jones]

The #1 storyline I walkaway with today is : should we have extended Wynn over Michel with the 5th year option?

yes, not even close.

but wynn has to play better when he returns,

 

[Hyped]

The #1 storyline I walkaway with today is : should we have extended Wynn over Michel with the 5th year option?

Yes, 10 times out of 10.

We have Harris still on his rookie deal...yeah he's hurt again, but similar track record to Michel.

Who do we have at LT that is better than Wynn? Trent Brown...if he's healthy...and then Herron...

I am happy we have Wynn protecting Jones' blind side. Could we do better? Sure...but that would be like 15M+ a year versus a late first round pick's 5th year deal.

 

[TheRazorsEdge]

Yes, 10 times out of 10.

We have Harris still on his rookie deal...yeah he's hurt again, but similar track record to Michel.

Who do we have at LT that is better than Wynn? Trent Brown...if he's healthy...and then Herron...

I am happy we have Wynn protecting Jones' blind side. Could we do better? Sure...but that would be like 15M+ a year versus a late first round pick's 5th year deal.

Fair. Perhaps I'm just still a little bummed about that fumble....again.

Maybe the question is..was Michel worth trading ..to roster JJ Taylor this season?