Extremely encouraged by this win

[JackBauer]

1. The supposed best offense in the history of the Patriots scored 17 points on the Buffalo Bills, who will likely finish fighting for the top 10 draft choices with the Jets.

But then again, the Seahawks only put 9 up on the Lions.

2. Of course, we will be better with Bruschi back, with Banta-Cain back to sharing situational pass-rushing duties with Green. Today we saw a defense with ONE player injured. Do you think this defense would have beaten Denver? or any playoff team?

Sure?

I didn't think the defense was bad today.

4. The pass defense is basically untested.

Seemed to do a pretty good job against Evans.

 

[JR4]

Agree w/5 and Garbanza... this is Buffalo we're talking about, not Denver or Cinci or Pittsburgh or Indy -- that is, probably not a playoff team. They shouldn't have been IN this game, if the Pats are anything like we believed they "could" be this year. A long way to go, and point number 1 is, take care of the freaking football.

Plus side: how can you NOT like the combo of Dillon and Maroney?

Yeah, would love to say it's a matter of keeping the rust knocked off and that's that. But there are some things to be righted here this week - a 2 point victory against a bad Buffalo team shouldn't have us in paroxysms of joy.

PFnV

I agree w/5 and Garbanza and PatsFanInVa. This was not a good game
at all. Encouraging ? I am more hopeful than encouraged.
Remember Pats began scoring in second half after Bills D took some hits
and were playing second stringers.
The Oline is NOT as good as I thought it would be without getting into details.
So much more but I am just hoping Bill canuse this to make some major
corrections and hope that Gabriel and Jackson can start contributing
real soon. If they don't improve soon the PATs could be going into bye
week with 3 losses.
So I remain .... hopeful

 

[JackBauer]

.
Remember Pats began scoring in second half after Bills D took some hits
and were playing second stringers.

Huh? Please, elaborate.

 

[Jacky Roberts]

I"d rather start weak and finish strong in a game than vice versa. Bottom line is the defense (which a lot of people worried about) did great, while the offense (who few are worried about, outside the WR situation ) fizzed. Overall, I'll take it. BB know has a reason to work these guys hard in preparation for the Jets next week.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Edgecy: If I want to use caps, I'll use caps. When you guys can't understand simple realities, like that this game didn't have a whole lot to be encouraged about outside of the running game; and then people are acting 'clueless' just to be sarcastic, and then you try to spin it like I'm raining on your parade, you are being Homer to the extreme.

It was a single game, with a lot of things to not be encouraged about that need to be fixed.

We barely beat the Bills in Foxboro.

 

[JackBauer]

And the things that need to be fixed can and should be fixed relatively easily, IMO.

Hence, encouraging.

 

[RPCity]

Two of the biggest reasons that I am not concerned is that this is the first game of the season and the Pats have a tendency for doing enough to get the W. Call it playing to the level of the opponent or whatever you want....but playing close with opponents who "should" be overmatched is not something that really suprises me with the Pats. Especially in an opening day game against a divisional opponent with a new head coach and a tough defense.

Brady had a subpar day. We were without Bruschi in the middle. We're still without Jackson and Gabriel. It was Seau's first "real" game in our defense and Light and Harrison were both in there first real action. I'm still as excited about this season as I was yesterday. If you came into this year not expecting the team to cruise every game then I dont know what to tell you.

Call me a homer if you must. But I'm excited.

 

[RPCity]

Edgecy: If I want to use caps, I'll use caps. When you guys can't understand simple realities, like that this game didn't have a whole lot to be encouraged about outside of the running game; and then people are acting 'clueless' just to be sarcastic, and then you try to spin it like I'm raining on your parade, you are being Homer to the extreme.

It was a single game, with a lot of things to not be encouraged about that need to be fixed.

We barely beat the Bills in Foxboro.

Dude don't come in here acting all high and mighty because you're "Not a homer"

Oh...let us all bow down to you......the all mighty objective football fan.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Nobody expects the Pats to cruise thru anything. That is exactly why they have a lot of work to do to be a better team.

Some of us thought that they would at least be able to protect Brady.

They barely beat the Bills in Foxboro.

 

[brady2brown]

I'm not sure what game you people were watching, but I just got back from the game and the only encouraging thing I saw was:

Maroney/Dillon/Faulk played outstanding.

That's it.

Here's the bad:

Tully Banta-Cain sucks arse. Colvin is fabulous at rushing the passer - fantastic pas rusher. However, did everyone see Buff RB run right at him and past him? Hello????

Was Matt Light drunk? He had one of his WORST games.

Um.....yes, we do need Deion back.

Zone D was soft.

Special teams tackling leaves a bit to be desired.

Okay, rant over.

Wow. And we won the game. I suppose you would have hung yourself if we had lost. Or if we had played like the Bills (start off great, unable to finsih the job. At least the Pats came back, hung tough, and pulled out the win. What more do you want? Style points?)

Not sure what help Deion would have been. Brady was off, not the receivers. Hard for anyone to catch passes tipped at the line of scrimmage.

 

[wistahpatsfan]

I just got home from the game and I can't believe the whining and "concern" for the Pats who beat a team that came in ready to play hardnosed football and did. Why does that surprise anyone? Half the favored teams in the league lost today or had to struggle. The Pats always play down or up to the opposition, but they won the game. It was a great day for the Pats considering their deficiencies. The Bills aren't as bad as everyone makes them out to be. Great game and very encouraged to see that BB still makes the necessary adjustments at half-time to win the game.

And I'm a wickid homah!

 

[edgecy]

Edgecy: If I want to use caps, I'll use caps. When you guys can't understand simple realities, like that this game didn't have a whole lot to be encouraged about outside of the running game; and then people are acting 'clueless' just to be sarcastic, and then you try to spin it like I'm raining on your parade, you are being Homer to the extreme.

It was a single game, with a lot of things to not be encouraged about that need to be fixed.

We barely beat the Bills in Foxboro.

I am being homer? People that don't think this is the best our team can do are homers? Why don't you see this for what it is: immature sky-is-falling-ism? We had one game where we didn't play well, and it is also the very first game of the season. Our defense took some time to come into effect, and they did, and is that itself a nonfactor? People on this thread have already mentioned how well our D played in the second half. You seem to not want to look at how well we did in the second half.

And I am not spinning anything to make it seem like you are raining on my parade. You are raining on everyone's parade. Our team just won a game and you wasted no effort to rain on it. That's not spinning, that's the truth.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

RpCity: I am a homer, you are a homer, so what? The difference is that somebody isn't going to tell me that they are so classy and intellectual in their arguments, and whether I can use CAPS, when others are saying a lot of silly things like 'let's just cancel the season' or for that matter 'if you expected the Pats to cruise thru the season'.

It's childish arguing.

The Pats barely beat the Bills in Foxboro. Brady was lucky to not be injuried. I hope they play a lot better next week.

And I'm willing to bet that Belichick agrees.

 

[JR4]

Huh? Please, elaborate.

Spikes and Vincent were out and I thought one of their other
starters was out.

Edited:
yes Bowen was out. (wasn't even active)

Thats more than 25% of their starting defense!

 

[JackBauer]

And I'm willing to bet that Belichick agrees.

Which doesn't mean he wouldn't still be encouraged.

 

[edgecy]

I don't recall calling myself so classy and intellectual in my argument, and I certainly did not say you can't use cap. It's just that you were the only one using cap accussing all of us jumping up and down and screaming for joy. That's pretty hypocrite. You typing in caps seems, to me at least, that you are the only one jumping up and down and screaming for... something else, definitely not joy.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Nothing 'sky is falling' in my attitude. Just expect Brady to get normal protection.

When I see a good game, I am encouraged. When I see a mess, I am hoping that they can sort it out. Do you remember as far back as 2005 or 2002? We will look like that if we don't buckle down in a lot of areas.

So I will remain cautiously optimistic that we can improve by next week and also against Miami and Denver.

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

No one is jumping for joy after this game except for the fact that it is a win. Two of the causes for concern have their individual reasons.

1. Buffalo's defensive success early can be attributed to the Patriots' having little to no film on this team to study. BB said himself that he had little to go on in game planning for Buffalo and they would likely throw a lot of wrinkles into what they showed in the pre-season.

2. Pats' defensive struggles in the first half have their roots in the offense's inability to sustain a drive. I doubt that will happen very often. Once Buffalo got going in the first half, it just snowballed. Buffalo rolled upon momentum. Once the pats were able to stop that momentum, Buffalo folded.

Also, Light got better as the game went on. He always struggles with speed rushers and Schoble is definitely that. Not to mention AS normally kills the Pats.

Harrison played in a game for the first time in almost a year. He flew around and was himself. He'll get better.

Seau showed some positive things to build on in his first game in the system where his read and reactions actually mattered.

Gostkowski had a great game for a rookie kicker. Think back ten years to AV's first few games, they were dismal.

I think, without being a homer, you can honestly and fairly see that the Pats have a foundation to build upon over the next 16 weeks and into January.

 

[PonyExpress]

What the heck is that even supposed to mean?

It means I was extremely encouraged by the performance of this team today. Many of the most important questions were answered in a positive way. Dillon is back. Rodney is laying the lumber. Maroney is spectacular. The running game was productive. The pass rush survived the loss of McGinest. Wilfork commanded double teams. The worst part of the game was the performance of Brady, the best player in football, the player on this team I am least worried about.

 

[Bella*chick]

So I will remain cautiously optimistic that we can improve by next week and also against Miami and Denver.

Me too.

Guys, let's try not to rip each other up over a win, OK? We're all supposed to be on the same side here.