Game Thoughts: Pats grounded Air Bowles in their first match up edition

[Angelpats]

That is true. I am just saying that no flag was thrown, so that would have been a TD. Look I like Ryan, and he definitely played better than Butler, but I just go by the fact that I don't always feel great with him back there. He is a solid #2 or #3 corner, but I don't have high expectations when he faces a player of Marshall's caliber.

He did not catch it though just like we dropped 12 passes and one was a td to Edelman that he got open without having to pull down his defender. Our secondary wasn't great and gave up long 3rd down conversions but they weren't horrible either. Marshall and decker are #1 recievers. It was the game plan to force them to throw it because coach wanted to stop their best in the league running game and we did it and we WON!

 

[PScottman]

No. They need another corner with size that can play man

I advise starting to watch a lot of college football with an eye toward second and third tier "potential" guys or one's hurt whose stock may fall as we don't have a first round pick.

There isn't going to be any massive changes through this season.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

So if Brady does THAT to the vaunted #1 defense while having 11 drops, many for 1st downs, what does that say about his 2015 season?

He is on a freakin' Mission from God, ******** about people saying he only won by deflating footballs,
On. A. Mission.

 

[primetime]

I thought the clock control was atrocious at the end. Had Amendola not secured a 1st down on the final drive, they would have either punted or kicked a field goal and given the Jets the ball back at the 2 minute warning. Throwing the ball 3 times when you're on the other team's 35 with 2:12 to play isn't acceptable.

Also, incredibly obvious when they were running it. Blount only played on downs where he was getting the football. They didn't even run any draw plays from the shotgun, which could have been big gainers with the heavy blitzing.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

There are a few posts (in this thread and others) about obtaining a tall cornerback. Who is available? What team is eager to give him away?

 

[Mark.]

I thought the clock control was atrocious at the end. Had Amendola not secured a 1st down on the final drive, they would have either punted or kicked a field goal and given the Jets the ball back at the 2 minute warning. Throwing the ball 3 times when you're on the other team's 35 with 2:12 to play isn't acceptable.

I didn't love throwing, but with Brady being our leading rusher for the day I'm not sure we would have gotten the first down by running. This game reminded me of the AFC divisional game against the Ravens. We gave up running early that game and never really tried again.

 

[Galeb]

Brady is still the best, and getting better.

Definitely not the SOJ. I wonder how long that band of misfits can stay focused under Bowles.

Thirty points with at least 11 drops is pretty good, but the Pats had pretty good field position all game.

Amendola catches everything thrown at him. I hope his role increases.

Doubt we'll see Chung returning kicks again.

Slater was the first guy in on kick coverage every time. If he's not 100%, he's close.

The offense would have scored at least 40 points with a healthy Dion Lewis.

Hightower and Collins are the best linebacker duo the league has ever seen.

Ghost is money, they should have let him kick the long one at the end of the 1st half.

 

[JMC00]

I thought the clock control was atrocious at the end. Had Amendola not secured a 1st down on the final drive, they would have either punted or kicked a field goal and given the Jets the ball back at the 2 minute warning. Throwing the ball 3 times when you're on the other team's 35 with 2:12 to play isn't acceptable.

Except for the part where throwing was the correct decision to kill the game and it worked.

 

[JMC00]

I don't blame Ryan for getting burned when Marshall commits blatant OPI on him on that dropped TD. But Marshall had one 29 yard play and you take that away and he had three catches for 38 yards with only one catch for 12 yards in the first half. And again, this was the worst game for Marshall all season.

Heard leading up to the game Marshall has had 100 yards and 1 TD in every game, he was simply a non factor in this game outside of 1 or 2 catches and Ryan played a part of that. If that was Browner today those people still killing Ryan would be singing Browner's praises but because it is Ryan it is different.

Justice was served with him dropping that TD with the clear as day OPI to get open.

 

[Concussion Protocol]

Hightower and Collins are the best linebacker duo the league has ever seen.

Stop it. The play where Hightower flattened Mangold and Collins got the sack was pretty illustrative of how good these 2 are though.

 

[PP2]

• Wasn't a fan that the Pats all but abandoned the run. Sure the odds the Pats were going to have a good day running the ball was negligible, but the fact that the Jets never feared the run at all allowed them to pin their ears back and stifle the offense early. It was only so long that they could contain Brady and the offense, but a better offense could have put the game out of reach.

Not going to run the ball on a #1 defense when the only lineman you have with any substantial experience just got shifted from RT to LT, and the rest of the line has a combined ten starts. On top of that your best pulling guard is inactive, and you have only 6 OL active.

Want to avoid any injuries which we did, esp. with a Thursday game coming up, so I see this as a big win.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

I thought the clock control was atrocious at the end. Had Amendola not secured a 1st down on the final drive, they would have either punted or kicked a field goal and given the Jets the ball back at the 2 minute warning. Throwing the ball 3 times when you're on the other team's 35 with 2:12 to play isn't acceptable.

Also, incredibly obvious when they were running it. Blount only played on downs where he was getting the football. They didn't even run any draw plays from the shotgun, which could have been big gainers with the heavy blitzing.

Do you think they would have got a first down running it?

 

[Mark.]

Heard leading up to the game Marshall has had 100 yards and 1 TD in every game, he was simply a non factor in this game outside of 1 or 2 catches and Ryan played a part of that. If that was Browner today those people still killing Ryan would be signing Browner's praises but because it is Ryan it is different.

Justice was served with him dropping that TD with the clear as day OPI to get open.

It's only OPI when it's the Patriots. There was no OPI.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

I've loved Amendola's play since the end of last season. He does have Brady's trust and is a stud catching the ball in his area. I'm curious how much opposing defenses are planning for Gronk/Edleman that might be giving DA more opportunity and drawing lesser CBs?

Brady was in complete control today and doing what he does best: Finding an advantageous matchup and hitting the open man (i.e. not forcing the ball to certain players).

 

[manxman2601]

Hightower and Collins are the best linebacker duo the league has ever seen.

I remember the '85 Bears having some pretty good linebackers. And Better than Navarro Bowman and Patrick Willis were pretty darn good.

 

[Galeb]

It was also nice to have a Pats game not called by Cris "the Predator" Collinsworth of Phil Simms. I forgot what it was like to hear a game called by announcers that don't hate our team.

 

[Galeb]

I remember the '85 Bears having some pretty good linebackers. And Better than Navarro Bowman and Patrick Willis were pretty darn good.

The Giants in the 90s had some great LBs too, but I'll take Collins and Hightower in today's NFL over and duo in history.

 

[The Gr8est]

I didn't get to see the game, but did Jamie Collins line up in position to block any kicks?

I'm thinking it may have been a good gamble on the Rats 55 yard FG late in the 4th.

At that point the Pats are trying to kill clock. If it fails, the Rats get a 1st down, but still need 10 points with the clock running out.

If it succeeds, not only do the Rats not score and the Pats get the ball, it's possible if the ball stays in bounds, Collins is in gr8 position to pick it up and return it for a TD.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

There are a few posts (in this thread and others) about obtaining a tall cornerback. Who is available? What team is eager to give him away?

A guy like sean smith's who in the final year of his contract. Depends on teams who are finished.

 

[patchick]

- James White looked like a competent backup for Lewis, which is huge given the injury rate of receiving RBs.

- LaFell's drops were brutal, but the good news is he was coming open where Brady wanted him. I feel pretty confident that he'll remember to pack his hands next week.

- Am I right that the Patriots came out clean on injuries today? On the Jets side, Mangold, Pryor and Richardson is a tough group to go down. If Pryor is out for any length of time, safety becomes the glaring weak spot on the NYJ defense.