Idle thoughts - "escape from New York"

[Sicilian]

There's a factor to this offense that we're probably glossing over, because we're so used to seeing the Brady, Belichick, McDaniels, etc just work it out and look seamless. But there's been an exceptional amount of constant flux on the offensive personnel so far. It seems week to week they're having to work new guys into the mix, adjust roles, account for absences, etc. It's never the same group twice, either in the skill positions or the O-line. Brown comes in? Brown goes out. Wynn comes in? Now it's Newhouse, who misses practice due to illness. White misses a week due to the birth of his child, Edelman gets hurt, the list goes on and on.

For an offense that is as predicated on timing and trust as this one tends to be, too much turmoil early in the season (which is when we tend to struggle to find our identity usually anyway), is going to make things look a lot worse than they're going to be. Combine that with a real good Bills defense on the road, and I think it was just too much happening at once. I expect it to get better, because it almost always does.

 

[SBLIII]

Brady was bad in this game. That is really all there is to it.

It's up there among his worst games.

 

[Chevrolet]

This game worries me mainly b/o Brady. He looked absolutely intimidated out there today. Patting the ball, happy feet, just seems jittery as hell. Probably for good reason. But supposedly when age starts to catch up, the first thing that starts to go is pocket presence and calm. Now every one can have one bad game..but this was historically bad for Brady.

If he has another one like this next week I will genuinely be concerned that the decline may be real.

I suspect I will get a lot of heat for this, but I think the reason TB wanted AB so much is because Tom knows he needs an elite receiver at this point in his career to make up for fall off in his pocket presence.

 

[SBLIII]

This game worries me mainly b/o Brady. He looked absolutely intimidated out there today. Patting the ball, happy feet, just seems jittery as hell. Probably for good reason. But supposedly when age starts to catch up, the first thing that starts to go is pocket presence and calm. Now every one can have one bad game..but this was historically bad for Brady.

If he has another one like this next week I will genuinely be concerned that the decline may be real.

I suspect I will get a lot of heat for this, but I think the reason TB wanted AB so much is because Tom knows he needs an elite receiver at this point in his career to make up for fall off in his pocket presence.

I think that's an overreaction. He was beyond awful however he looked good in the first 3 weeks.

 

[Kdo5]

This game worries me mainly b/o Brady. He looked absolutely intimidated out there today. Patting the ball, happy feet, just seems jittery as hell. Probably for good reason. But supposedly when age starts to catch up, the first thing that starts to go is pocket presence and calm. Now every one can have one bad game..but this was historically bad for Brady.

If he has another one like this next week I will genuinely be concerned that the decline may be real.

I suspect I will get a lot of heat for this, but I think the reason TB wanted AB so much is because Tom knows he needs an elite receiver at this point in his career to make up for fall off in his pocket presence.

He has an extremely patchwork offensive line, receivers that couldn’t get open and a running game that presents zero threat right now.

It wasn’t exactly a recipe for him to look comfortable out there and play well himself. Not surprised though that our first “Brady in decline” troll has arrived upon the first bad game.

 

[AQPE]

What kept going through my mind watching that game was that the season always has ebbs and flows as other teams game plan and the current team figures out how to adjust. Buffalo has good talent on defense especially in the front 7 and as everyone notes here that is currently the most incomplete element of the Pats roster. I’m most disturbed with Mason right now but frankly I felt the same way about Thuney last year around this time and he came around nicely as the year went by. This is a lot of words here to say we need to be patient and expect a couple of bad stumbles but if they avoid too many more bad injuries I think they will be OK in December.

 

[Biffins]

Brady was bad in this game. That is really all there is to it.

There were a bunch of silly drops as well.

 

[patfanken]

He has an extremely patchwork offensive line, receivers that couldn’t get open and a running game that presents zero threat right now.

It wasn’t exactly a recipe for him to look comfortable out there and play well himself. Not surprised though that our first “Brady in decline” troll has arrived upon the first bad game.

I don't exactly buy into the "extremely patchwork OL as far as talent goes.

I think Karras has some strengths that Andrews didn't. He is stronger and hold up better when faced with a man over his head. OTOH, he isn't as nimble as Andrews getting to the second level, so it probably is a factor in the run game, vs a 4-3. But in some ways its a wash.

Thuney and Mason are back, though Mason hasn't been as effective so far this year for some reason. And Cannon is playing very well and was back for the last 2 games. Only Newhouse is new and by all accounts hasn't been horrible

No I don't think the 5 man OL is the issue in the passing game. Not great Sunday, but not that bad either and not for the first 3 games. Izzo lack of power has hurt the run game as well as Devlins absence and the lack of any long term continuity on the OL thus far. Hopefully by playoff time that will be solved.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Comments;

a.) I started drinking heavily in the 2nd half of yesterday's game...am barely alive today.

b.) At the end of the day, it was a HUGE win with it being a road division game. *IF* we can win the MNF'er in the Meadowlands 3 weeks from tonight....we will be 4-0 in the AFC East....and 5-0 in the conference. Sets us up good for when **** gets real starting with Cleveland and @ Baltimore before the BYE.

c.) The next two weeks are crucial even if they are out of conference games...we need to BANK wins.

d.) I am alarmed by what I saw on offense yesterday...very reminiscent of last year when Gronk was out for a bit in October or after Gordon went AWOL later in the year. We really need to get the running game going...it is the OL...there isn't just any room for Michel to run and if we can't run...we can't set up play action that is convincing enough. That being said...mad props to the Bills D....and that game could have been a blow out too if Brady doesn't try throwing a ball over Hyde's head (not sure what Meyers was supposed to do on that route though...I thought he was open with Hyde behind him and Hype apparently told BB Brady was staring Edelman down...hmmm).

e.) Hightower makes things look easy....we missed him out there yesterday. I think Bentley had a few missed tackles too many.

f.) That was J.C. Jackson's best game ever..... and kudos to Slater for his first pro touchdown!

g.) I think we let Kessler go when Watson walks back in the locker room and I think we need to roll with 3TE's for now.

It's OK for the offense to have a Sabbatical until late November as long as the defense wins the games. Not what we want, but the critical issue is to have everything rolling along when the playoffs hit.

 

[SBLIII]

It's OK for the offense to have a Sabbatical until late November as long as the defense wins the games. Not what we want, but the critical issue is to have everything rolling along when the playoffs hit.

If we have the best defense in the league, our offense doesn't even need to be elite.

 

[n6249c]

BTW- I wonder what the over/under is on when Max Kellerman will invoke "the Brady cliff" hot take. My guess is 2 days.

I’ll take the under.

 

[n6249c]

What I saw is what looked like a very lethargic #12 who because of some reason "injury ??" or pissed off because of "O weapons??" never seemed to get into the game with the fire we are used to is there an injury?? ...

Remember Brady was recently on the injury report, so he is probably still dinged up a bit, and in his comments about Allen’s injury Tom made it clear he is always considering the risk to himself in his decision making. So, with Squirrel hurt and a porous O line against a good defense he was making a lot of conservative business decisions.

That might also have influenced Josh’s insistence on sticking with Sony despite a total lack of success. I also wondered if there was some element of challenging the O line to see how they would respond. They certainly put a lot of things on tape for the coaches to work on with them. Add in Burkhead maybe being hurt, as it seemed he was at some point, and the offensive struggles are much more understandable.

 

[imahobgoblin]

Ben Volin posted this pic showing the Bills' coverage. I count 10 Pats so I think on this particular play that Burkhead was blocking. The coverage was excellent. For those who think that we magically become last year's offense, you need to understand this is a different team. When White or an other RB leads in receptions, the offense is not running correctly. That is not an insult to White. He is fantastic. One reason we had 7 three and outs is because the RB quite often could not get to the flat. He got buried blocking. Like in this pic.

This is a scheme problem that does not happen every week. Our offense is not doomed. We are not 3-1 like a lot of people act. It happened because Buffalo had 3 things. 1) A good D-line. 2) Good coverage. 3) A good gameplan. Their defense executed very well. Josh had a really tough time countering it. They may have made adjustments at the half, but it was too late. Our O-line started bleeding by that point.

Truth be told, if Tom does not throw that pick, this game could have gone very differently. I think the chicken littles shut up if its 23-10. But that pick also changed the psyche of the game quickly. So what are the fixes? 1) Watson has to be better than the other TE in blocking and receiving. He can't be worse. 2) If Dwayne Allen gets healthy, bring him back for a lookie. 3) Make sure N'Keal knows that playbook in and out. He should by this point, but we need to pray for chemistry with Tom. 4) Make a trade for a good blocking TE or offensive lineman. Our cap position makes the pickings small right now. 5) Time. Just chill out. Josh will figure it out. He deserves the benefit of the doubt and has a proven track record.

 

[Doctor DDS]

I think a lot of people are having trouble adjusting to the fact that this appears to be a better defensive team than offensive team. If the defense ends up as the best in the league and the offense finishes top 10ish that may be fine to win it all. There will likely be moments when the offense needs to step up in the playoffs but needing to score 3 straight TD's like they did against the Chiefs may be beyond this teams capabilities - if the defense plays as expected it should not be required. Team appears to be closer to 2001- 2004 version than 2015 - 2018.

 

[Nunchucks]

Players were getting open. Brady wasn't seeing the field very well in this game.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

In response to: "I don't recall ever watching so many of Brady's passes miss their receivers by so much."

It seemed to me that Brian Daboll had his defense primed to exploit what every team knows to be the Patriots achilles heal. Get Brady to move off his spot and don't let him step up into the pocket. And the Bills defensive front responded notably with extraordinary efficiency.

You need to have a lot of good defensive players to make that happen. In this case dominating at the LoS and secondary will make any QB struggle. There’s no magic Xs and Os here. You had an elite defense winning virtually every matchup.

 

[Scotty]

Maybe the Skins do not have as good a defence but I would expect to see them try to copy the Bill's game plan to an extent , they have nothing to loose. Just think another week may not be enough time for our injured players to get back fully healthy but hopefully a decent TE will give Brady another safety valve. I hope we get off to a good start

 

[Nunchucks]

Ben Volin posted this pic showing the Bills' coverage. I count 10 Pats so I think on this particular play that Burkhead was blocking.

People hate on Volin and here you are quoting him.

 

[1960Pats]

BTW- I wonder what the over/under is on when Max Kellerman will invoke "the Brady cliff" hot take. My guess is 2 days.

I thought that I read one of those up stream.

 

[patfanken]

People hate on Volin and here you are quoting him.

What's ironic here I that in Volin's picture there are 2 guys I would consider decent targets with the short crosser being WIDE open.

THAT's how stupid Volin is.