Idle thoughts - the boogeyman edition.

[SBLIII]

The defense is obviously phenomenal but I wonder when that zero blitz is going to bite them. Eventually a QB will place the ball well enough when a receiver beats JC Jackson.

yeah but usually the pass rush gets through before one of our CBs gets beat. That's the beauty of elite coverage. You can send more guys.

 

[The Brandon Five]

This.

3. RB - Nothing to get excited about. 3 TD's will make Sony's FF owners happy, but the 42 yds on 19 carries won't make anyone thrilled who is waiting for the run game to take off. But I can't help but wonder if there may come a point where they'll stop running RIGHT up middle into the teeth of the defense and perhaps try to try off tackle or around the end. That was where most of the running yardage was made.

 

[Chevy]

The defense is obviously phenomenal but I wonder when that zero blitz is going to bite them. Eventually a QB will place the ball well enough when a receiver beats JC Jackson.

Who knows when, or IF, we'll see it used again. New opponent, new week, new game plan.

 

[patfanken]

BTW- One factoid I forgot to mention last night was the fact that my own personal binky, Jojaun Williams got into the game for the last 2 or 3 series of the night and managed a nice pass break up during his short stay.

Don't sleep on this kid. His time will come when the match up presents itself. In the meantime he will keep working on his craft and keep doing what he's done since he's been here. JC could be starting to feel the heat.

 

[DaBruinz]

Ted Johnson pointed out on the NBCSports postgame show, it was a close up of BB who had brought the entire D over to point something out when they were ahead 20 something to nothing. He said to the effect, " anyone have a question NOW about who is the defensive coordinator of the Patriots"?! And its true. Bill talks to Steve and Mayo, but Bill is more than just the "overseer" of defense. HE's the guy running the meetings. He's the guy dictating the strategy. In this case the Emperor HAS clothes.....and it's a HOODIE.

.

With all due respect to Ted Johnson, BB has done this sort of thing before. I can remember him doing so in 2003 and 2004 when Crennel was the DC. Saying that this is indicative of who is running the defense really is a misnomer. It's ALWAYS been BB's team and BB's Defense. And he's always pulled a group together when he's felt the need to do so.

 

[borg]

Pats brought the house on the JESTs’ first pass attempt and Darnold would never be the same.... a “holy sh*t” moment for square head.

Meyers is worthy of complete trust.

Have Edelman’s eyes always been so squinty? Dude has that perma-baked look.

Pats are in desperate need of an end zone target. Hoping someone will step forward and be that guy. Harry, Watson, Sanu?

It’s inconceivable to me how the JESTs beat Dallas after watching that sh*t show last night.

Props to Nugent. Dead center all night. Made it look easy.

So why couldn’t NE keep taking delay/illegal motion penalties and run the clock down from 9 minutes to zero during that punt phase in the 4th? Is there an “integrity of the game” rule that would get activated at some point.
Love to watch BB show delight.

BB’s group meeting with the D was memorable. I have to believe BB at one point said “don’t take your foot off the throats of this as*hole franchise”

JC Jackson doing his Ellis Hobbs impersonation last night

On to the next dysfunctional franchise

 

[DaBruinz]

Pats brought the house on the JESTs’ first pass attempt and Darnold would never be the same.... a “holy sh*t” moment for square head.

Meyers is worthy of complete trust.

It’s inconceivable to me how the JESTs beat Dallas after watching that sh*t show last night.

Props to Nugent. Dead center all night. Made it look easy.

So why couldn’t NE keep taking delay/illegal motion penalties and run the clock down from 9 minutes to zero during that punt phase in the 4th? Is there an “integrity of the game” rule that would get activated at some point.
Love to watch BB show delight.

JC Jackson doing his Ellis Hobbs impersonation last night

- Agree on Meyers. Kid just catches the ball.
- Dallas was without their two starting offensive tackles.
- Nugent seems to have settled down. Also noticed that Bailey made a concerted effort to ensure laces out..
- The broadcasters mentioned something about the next one being a 15 yarder for unsportsmanlike conduct.
- Jackson played fantastic. There was only ONE legit penalty called on him. The other two were BS on Uncatchable throws. They picked up the third one..

 

[Soliel]

I was and will continue to be happy so long as Richards does not get snaps. Maybe we cut him for Sanus spot. You have to admit it was hysterically funny to watch this game. Like the snap that goes by for a safety. I laughed the rest of the game

 

[PatsDeb]

Remember that is to the great credit of Dante and Josh, and a cruel indictment of Gase. Not only didn't he make ANY adjustments for his OL, he never seemed to give Darnald any easy throws like slants or short crossers, or hooks. I don't think one game can screw up a good QB, but this one could come close.

Two thoughts I had, one before the game started - "why in the hell would you allow this QB to be miked up during this game?"
and one about midway through the 3rd quarter - "why in the hell don't you take Darnold out before he's ruined?"

Miked up? I couldn't believe it! Did the Jets really think he was going to do that well against the Pats?! That he wouldn't say something dumb? I thought (although it didn't happen, I guess) they were going to have to bleep out every word out of his mouth as he was going to be running for his life for most of the game. I feel like ESPN was giddy either way - either he has a great game and we hear all the cheer leading we can stomach, or it's a complete cluster-buster, and they get soundbites for years to come, which is exactly what happened. Adam Gase is a complete tool to allow that to happen, and not to see what could and would probably result. The Jets are supposedly "furious" that ESPN played the "seeing ghosts" clip. Well, who's fault is that?! Which leads me to...

Ken's point - that if you want this kid to have one shred of confidence left in his ability to be a pro, that you take him OUT of that game in the 3rd quarter. Blame it on his spleen. Blame it on the mono. Whatever. Don't leave him in there to make mistake, after crushing mistake, after crushing mistake. Word on Patriots 5th quarter was that he was at his locker in tears and saying things like, "I absolutely suck."

Good luck going forward Jests. You're going to need it.

And while I don't believe that "trash talk" or being overly confident against the Pats makes a huge difference, I DO think it makes the Patriots put a laser focus on you that might not have otherwise been there. Sometimes the Pats come out sloppy, or get sloppy when they are playing lesser competition. No such luck for the Jets last night. From the opening play they were on a mission, and stomping all over the Jets was it, on both sides of the ball.

 

[Haterproof]

Halloween is next Tuesday! I think it would be a fantastic idea if a lot of fans dressed as horror icons for the game! Give me Freddy Krueger,Jason Voorhees,Michael Myers,Pinhead,Leatherface and Chucky to name a few! This would be a very fitting theme to cheer The Boogeymen on next Sunday!

 

[Nikolai]

Halloween is next Tuesday! I think it would be a fantastic idea if a lot of fans dressed as horror icons for the game! Give me Freddy Krueger,Jason Voorhees,Michael Myers,Pinhead,Leatherface and Chucky to name a few! This would be a very fitting theme to cheer The Boogeymen on next Sunday!

Ghosts

 

[PatsFanInVa]

1 observation, and it's not even football based. It's football depression based.

The old "who have they played" card... or for that matter, the devil's in consistency card.

Looking back after a long full season and postseason of historic defensive greatness, that's a good time to talk about historic football greatness. But let's see them against this next stretch of opponents before we crown they a&&.

 

[Ring 6]

I was surprised at how much we ran the zero blitz on them, last night- literally all night long and why they didn't adjust. Then it occured to me that Darnold wasn't sliding protection to account for it. How do you slide protection against something that's constantly changing every time you call the mike? Just so nasty. He probably got so spooked he just didn't bother doing it.

I also love that presnap, we were constantly toggling between a cover 1 and a cover 2. This left Darnold completely clueless.

Poor kid.

I think that we were running the zero blitz based upon what they did. When they went empty we brought the blitz because they couldn’t pickup the extra man.
They just kept asking for it.

I’m learning that one of the things built into this years schemes is using the versatility to attack how they align regardless of who is on the field for us.

 

[n6249c]

Didn’t you just answer your question before you asked it?

Pats brought the house on the JESTs’ first pass attempt and Darnold would never be the same.... a “holy sh*t” moment for square head.

Meyers is worthy of complete trust.
...
Pats are in desperate need of an end zone target. Hoping someone will step forward and be that guy. Harry, Watson, Sanu?

It’s inconceivable to me how the JESTs beat Dallas after watching that sh*t show last night.

Props to Nugent. Dead center all night. Made it look easy.

So why couldn’t NE keep taking delay/illegal motion penalties and run the clock down from 9 minutes to zero during that punt phase in the 4th? Is there an “integrity of the game” rule that would get activated at some point.
Love to watch BB show delight.

BB’s group meeting with the D was memorable. I have to believe BB at one point said “don’t take your foot off the throats of this as*hole franchise”

JC Jackson doing his Ellis Hobbs impersonation last night

On to the next dysfunctional franchise

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Great post Ken

In regards to running game. Sony is slow, and lacks explosiveness. He can’t beat anyone to the outside.

I watch other rbs like Chubb and Jacobs, and they just run with so much more talent

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Who knows when, or IF, we'll see it used again. New opponent, new week, new game plan.

Rex Ryan was on TV a week ago trashing Baker Mayfield saying that you can beat him if you make him go to his second or third reads. I expect something of that nature this week.....

 

[PatsFan37]

The defense is obviously phenomenal but I wonder when that zero blitz is going to bite them. Eventually a QB will place the ball well enough when a receiver beats JC Jackson.

I was thinking that, too. But as I watched the game and re-watched a few of those cover zero blitzes, it became clear that some of the blitzing DBs were watching Darnold carefully as they rushed the line to draw blockers and make lanes for other guys. And as soon as Darnold ****ed his arm, they cut and ran for the targeted WR. So I think (guessing a little) that the DBs have already identified which WR is theirs (beyond the ones in man-to-man) and even though they're rushing the passer, they haven't quite pinned their ears back. Watch again as the ball is thrown how quickly they swarmed to the targeted WR. Some with really good angles.
In other words, the mass of them confuses the blockers, but some DBs are hedging their bets a little.
Even if Darnold did complete one of those passes and the WR did break free from man coverage, I don't think you'd be seeing a TD. The risk is more of a long 3rd-down conversion. IMHO.
It would take a perfect throw hitting a WR in stride who's beat his man, while the OL picked up a massive blitz, and a QB with tremendous poise.
Really good odds against the Jets, and frankly many offenses. They probably would not call that blitz against Aaron Rodgers or Mahomes or other elites.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

I was surprised at how much we ran the zero blitz on them, last night- literally all night long and why they didn't adjust. Then it occured to me that Darnold wasn't sliding protection to account for it. How do you slide protection against something that's constantly changing every time you call the mike? Just so nasty. He probably got so spooked he just didn't bother doing it.

I also love that presnap, we were constantly toggling between a cover 1 and a cover 2. This left Darnold completely clueless.

Poor kid.

I keep seeing this & I guess I can understand why some think it. NYJ made some adjustments. Sam slid some pro, they maxed & had 7 in at times etc.
The confusion or lack of execution came from the green dogs. Bill was green dogging/fake green dogging guys, our S's at times which really got to the line.

Basically they saw & had trouble w our intial blitz but our guys would send an extra guy at times which made it that much harder. Saw the disguise & bluff on the DMac/Harmon INTs.

Bill was in the zone the other night. Surprised no one mentioned that though. It was all over the game plan. Depending on what the NYJ did our guys just took advantage dogging sometimes. The A/D really helps that bc it allows us to move & really helps disguise the personnel that might be coming.

The organization on all three levels is so impressive.

 

[DaBruinz]

One of the things that BB mentioned in his post game report was that most of the blitzes were called by Hightower on the field.. That says a lot about how they trust this defense.