Well I was sitting down to breakfast deciding to make my final decisions on the 5 games I was going to pick for my football pool. Actually I usually only have to pick 4 because I most always pick the Pats because I am a fan. Well we have to have he picks in by noon EST and I had 4 that I liked and I had just heard that NEITHER Owenu or Strange were going to play and Mafi and Sow were going to be the G's and a guy who hadn't gone to a practise until 12 days ago was going to start at RT. How could I pick us then even with 4 points. The REAL play here was Philly, but I have NEVER picked against the Pats in all the years I have been in this pool. So I decided to pick the Bears instead who were 1pt dogs to the woeful Packers who were without their best WR (Watson).
So that was my mind set. I couldn't wrap my head around ANY way to win other than 2 pick sixes and a few other TO's, a few broken plays plus superb D. AND mind this was going to be played against a Superbowl team, with the best OL, the best DL, one of the top 3 QB's, AND one of the best WR groups in the league.....with NO ONE on their injury report. Against a team starting 2 late round rookies, a throw away guy who was on NFI until 12 days ago. Without our top CB, (on IR), missing our #1 WR and dressing 11 rookies AND coming off a pretty bad season (at least for the Pats). I don't know what meds you take for depression, but if I had, I would have been looking for some. Anyone know if Mike Tirico would have given us an asterique
Now I know the first game of the season is hard to predict. Just look at the KC and Bengals games. BUT still, admit it, it DID look pretty bleak. The haters were just licking their chops getting their ant-Mac and Bellichick screeds set to go for Monday. (not that I think that will stop them anyway..
AND there we were after the first 10 minutes EVERY worst scenario we could think of......happened. Pick six, fumble on our own 30 in 2 successive plays led to 14 pts. Talk about digging yourself into even MORE adversity. And it didn't exactly turn around immediately after that either. But miraculously, or maybe it was Tom Brady day, they produced 2 great drives and Mac hit 11 passes in a row and it was 16-14 at the half, with the Pats getting the ball to start the 2nd half. Which made every Pats fan and all CBS sports executives THRILLED. And with that, the narrative part of this post will end and we will start to break it down and at the end we will decide, was this game a "moral victory", or was it a "lost opportunity"
OFFENSE
1. General thoughts. Well it was hard to think the offense was going to be stellar with 2 6th round rookies being your 3rd and 4th WR's on a day you will be in a spread offense a good portion of the time. It was hard to think you were going to be able to protect your QB with all the OL issues already mentioned. But somehow BOB put together an offense, and Adrian Klemm put together an OL that would pass for over 350yds and 3 TDs and not give up a sack until their less than 5 minutes left in the game. Not that there weren't some mistakes made by both the players and staff on this side of the ball. and we will discuss them.
In general there were about 3 or 4 of BOB's play calls or rather the kind of passes that were called that bothered me. The most egregious was the Andy Reid like call to go for it on 4th and 17 that Bill made with 4 minutes and all 4 TO's remaining. I was unhappy about the running game. When you have to pass 54 times in a game, your running attack isn't working Was it because of a poor design, poor running, poor blocking or was the other team just damned good. My guess it was mostly the latter, with a hefty dollop of blocking. Personally I would have moved my point of attack to off tackle after first dozen or so runs right up the middle into the teeth of the Eagle defense failed so miserably. Either that or do some stuff with cut backs and misdirection. But that's just me.
Overall I can happily say that at least it looked like the Pats now have a professionally run NFL offense that looks sharp at time. There weren't a lot of penalties until the end of the game (more on that later), and very few of the mental error kind. Very refreshing. The QB was far from perfect, and certainly has room to grow, but he also had his moments too and his stats are very respectable, especially given his OL and WR group.
QB- I think Mac showed that he's ready to move on from 2022 and be a respectable NFL starting QB and maybe more. He came back from a devastating start to ALMOST have a Brady moment. Whether he wasn't ready for it, or it was taken away from him because of 3 or 4 VERY questionable calls and bad luck, is up for discussion, but overall it was a pretty good job.
Now days' the "Mendoza line" for QB's is a 60% completions. 68%+ is excellent and Mac was at 65% meaning he was "good" but not great imo. He looked to me to be more mobile in the pocket and not just running around, but with those short moves inside the pocket. He had a couple of nice runs and a better one for the 2 point conversion that was made to disappear. And even though he isn't at all comfortable running the ball, he showed a bit of speed that he has. Maybe he'll do it more as the season goes on.
It is unlucky when a QB has a deflected pass returned for a TD. However it was an inaccurate pass to begin with, so ultimately it was his fault and I liked that he took the blame after the game. Initially I was actually more pissed at his piss poor effort on the run back than I was at the pass, (tho in the long run, it was probably the smart thing) But it wasn't a bad decision or a misread of a defense. 6 inches in either direction it's either a completion or a incomplete pass
In the end there is enough there to prove he's either on the right track OR he's never going have it, depending on where you want to go. Of course ANY general assumption on what a player will be like after one game is ludicrous. Joe Burrow threw for 85 yds while his team lost to their biggest rivals by 20 odd points so I guess he sucks now too.
OL - I am STILL stunned at the effectiveness of the OL given the personnel we threw out there on Sunday. They weren't great, but they allowed only 2 sacks and 7 QB hits in 54 drops vs the best DL in the NFL (or at least one of them). They didn't allow a free rusher all game (or at least one I saw) and it looked like they were always at least aimed at who they were supposed to be blocking. They were playing a fast tempo game and it looked like they handled the mental side of the game VERY well. A LOT to build on there.
And as I mentioned early, you CANNOT say too much about the job that Adrian Klemm has done to get three new guys ready to play this game when at the beginning of the week both Owenu and Strange were expected to play. Given that it was a REMARKABLE performance and bodes well as the season goes on. COACHING COUNTS and we saw it this first week. Adrian, welcome back to Gillette, buddy. We are glad you are here.
RB- No one would have guessed that Stevenson would average 2.1ypc, even with that OL. But I recall near the end of the game he had a 9 or 10 yd run, but the stats had him with a long of 5, so I'm questioning his stat line, even though overall it was poor, even if you add the long run. On the other hand he was a very good receiver and I wish BOB would have called his number more with routes over the middle that often gained big yd, instead of the out wide or screens that were OK but gained fewer yds.. He had 66 yds on 6-6 catches. He is going to be a force in that part of his game. Elliot had a nice debut averaged 4ypc running and over 8ypc catching the ball. He had one fumble though.
Before we make any judgements lets get our best OL out there. But the run game needs to improve.
TE- Henry was very good and might have made of the catches of the year. He also had one drop that cost the Pats about 14 yds on that 4th and 17. It didn't seem that important at the time, but the Pats drive that ended up at the 11 would have to have gone 14 yds less than it did after the fumble. But over all, this looks like a 10 TD 800 yd year for Hunter. Gesiki caught all 3 balls he was thrown for 12 ypc. I would have thought he would have been used more given the rookies we had a WR. I'll have to rely on someone who checks the tape to see if either was an effective blocker. I wasn't looking.
WR - The WRs accounted for about 140 receiving yds. Not horrible given who was out there. Not great either. Kendrick Bourne was the best of them with 65yds and 2 TD's. He's looking like the guy I hoped he would be LAST year. JJSS had just 4 catches and didn't particularly shine. Same goes for Douglas with who had 4 catches in 7 targets and only had 40. Maybe not a bad debut considering, but nothing impressive or made me go oooh!. Boutte unfortunately went 0-4 in targets, but had 2 which will likely be completions down the road, but not happening as a raw rookie. Too bad that both would have been key receptions. He also had one long route where he and Mac were clearly not on the same page. Not stellar given the great opportunity he had;
Still reps, even bad ones are critical for young receivers and both got a lot of them. I think Douglas will be fine and get snaps each game. Boutte, not so sure. Will he work his ass off to correct his mistakes, or will be make excuses and not learn. I don't know, but we SHALL see.
So that was my mind set. I couldn't wrap my head around ANY way to win other than 2 pick sixes and a few other TO's, a few broken plays plus superb D. AND mind this was going to be played against a Superbowl team, with the best OL, the best DL, one of the top 3 QB's, AND one of the best WR groups in the league.....with NO ONE on their injury report. Against a team starting 2 late round rookies, a throw away guy who was on NFI until 12 days ago. Without our top CB, (on IR), missing our #1 WR and dressing 11 rookies AND coming off a pretty bad season (at least for the Pats). I don't know what meds you take for depression, but if I had, I would have been looking for some. Anyone know if Mike Tirico would have given us an asterique
Now I know the first game of the season is hard to predict. Just look at the KC and Bengals games. BUT still, admit it, it DID look pretty bleak. The haters were just licking their chops getting their ant-Mac and Bellichick screeds set to go for Monday. (not that I think that will stop them anyway..
AND there we were after the first 10 minutes EVERY worst scenario we could think of......happened. Pick six, fumble on our own 30 in 2 successive plays led to 14 pts. Talk about digging yourself into even MORE adversity. And it didn't exactly turn around immediately after that either. But miraculously, or maybe it was Tom Brady day, they produced 2 great drives and Mac hit 11 passes in a row and it was 16-14 at the half, with the Pats getting the ball to start the 2nd half. Which made every Pats fan and all CBS sports executives THRILLED. And with that, the narrative part of this post will end and we will start to break it down and at the end we will decide, was this game a "moral victory", or was it a "lost opportunity"
OFFENSE
1. General thoughts. Well it was hard to think the offense was going to be stellar with 2 6th round rookies being your 3rd and 4th WR's on a day you will be in a spread offense a good portion of the time. It was hard to think you were going to be able to protect your QB with all the OL issues already mentioned. But somehow BOB put together an offense, and Adrian Klemm put together an OL that would pass for over 350yds and 3 TDs and not give up a sack until their less than 5 minutes left in the game. Not that there weren't some mistakes made by both the players and staff on this side of the ball. and we will discuss them.
In general there were about 3 or 4 of BOB's play calls or rather the kind of passes that were called that bothered me. The most egregious was the Andy Reid like call to go for it on 4th and 17 that Bill made with 4 minutes and all 4 TO's remaining. I was unhappy about the running game. When you have to pass 54 times in a game, your running attack isn't working Was it because of a poor design, poor running, poor blocking or was the other team just damned good. My guess it was mostly the latter, with a hefty dollop of blocking. Personally I would have moved my point of attack to off tackle after first dozen or so runs right up the middle into the teeth of the Eagle defense failed so miserably. Either that or do some stuff with cut backs and misdirection. But that's just me.
Overall I can happily say that at least it looked like the Pats now have a professionally run NFL offense that looks sharp at time. There weren't a lot of penalties until the end of the game (more on that later), and very few of the mental error kind. Very refreshing. The QB was far from perfect, and certainly has room to grow, but he also had his moments too and his stats are very respectable, especially given his OL and WR group.
QB- I think Mac showed that he's ready to move on from 2022 and be a respectable NFL starting QB and maybe more. He came back from a devastating start to ALMOST have a Brady moment. Whether he wasn't ready for it, or it was taken away from him because of 3 or 4 VERY questionable calls and bad luck, is up for discussion, but overall it was a pretty good job.
Now days' the "Mendoza line" for QB's is a 60% completions. 68%+ is excellent and Mac was at 65% meaning he was "good" but not great imo. He looked to me to be more mobile in the pocket and not just running around, but with those short moves inside the pocket. He had a couple of nice runs and a better one for the 2 point conversion that was made to disappear. And even though he isn't at all comfortable running the ball, he showed a bit of speed that he has. Maybe he'll do it more as the season goes on.
It is unlucky when a QB has a deflected pass returned for a TD. However it was an inaccurate pass to begin with, so ultimately it was his fault and I liked that he took the blame after the game. Initially I was actually more pissed at his piss poor effort on the run back than I was at the pass, (tho in the long run, it was probably the smart thing) But it wasn't a bad decision or a misread of a defense. 6 inches in either direction it's either a completion or a incomplete pass
In the end there is enough there to prove he's either on the right track OR he's never going have it, depending on where you want to go. Of course ANY general assumption on what a player will be like after one game is ludicrous. Joe Burrow threw for 85 yds while his team lost to their biggest rivals by 20 odd points so I guess he sucks now too.
OL - I am STILL stunned at the effectiveness of the OL given the personnel we threw out there on Sunday. They weren't great, but they allowed only 2 sacks and 7 QB hits in 54 drops vs the best DL in the NFL (or at least one of them). They didn't allow a free rusher all game (or at least one I saw) and it looked like they were always at least aimed at who they were supposed to be blocking. They were playing a fast tempo game and it looked like they handled the mental side of the game VERY well. A LOT to build on there.
And as I mentioned early, you CANNOT say too much about the job that Adrian Klemm has done to get three new guys ready to play this game when at the beginning of the week both Owenu and Strange were expected to play. Given that it was a REMARKABLE performance and bodes well as the season goes on. COACHING COUNTS and we saw it this first week. Adrian, welcome back to Gillette, buddy. We are glad you are here.
RB- No one would have guessed that Stevenson would average 2.1ypc, even with that OL. But I recall near the end of the game he had a 9 or 10 yd run, but the stats had him with a long of 5, so I'm questioning his stat line, even though overall it was poor, even if you add the long run. On the other hand he was a very good receiver and I wish BOB would have called his number more with routes over the middle that often gained big yd, instead of the out wide or screens that were OK but gained fewer yds.. He had 66 yds on 6-6 catches. He is going to be a force in that part of his game. Elliot had a nice debut averaged 4ypc running and over 8ypc catching the ball. He had one fumble though.
Before we make any judgements lets get our best OL out there. But the run game needs to improve.
TE- Henry was very good and might have made of the catches of the year. He also had one drop that cost the Pats about 14 yds on that 4th and 17. It didn't seem that important at the time, but the Pats drive that ended up at the 11 would have to have gone 14 yds less than it did after the fumble. But over all, this looks like a 10 TD 800 yd year for Hunter. Gesiki caught all 3 balls he was thrown for 12 ypc. I would have thought he would have been used more given the rookies we had a WR. I'll have to rely on someone who checks the tape to see if either was an effective blocker. I wasn't looking.
WR - The WRs accounted for about 140 receiving yds. Not horrible given who was out there. Not great either. Kendrick Bourne was the best of them with 65yds and 2 TD's. He's looking like the guy I hoped he would be LAST year. JJSS had just 4 catches and didn't particularly shine. Same goes for Douglas with who had 4 catches in 7 targets and only had 40. Maybe not a bad debut considering, but nothing impressive or made me go oooh!. Boutte unfortunately went 0-4 in targets, but had 2 which will likely be completions down the road, but not happening as a raw rookie. Too bad that both would have been key receptions. He also had one long route where he and Mac were clearly not on the same page. Not stellar given the great opportunity he had;
Still reps, even bad ones are critical for young receivers and both got a lot of them. I think Douglas will be fine and get snaps each game. Boutte, not so sure. Will he work his ass off to correct his mistakes, or will be make excuses and not learn. I don't know, but we SHALL see.
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) one time and kicked just into the endzone once for a 23 yd net. He was very good but not perfect, but it was easy to see why he was drafted/
