Idle thoughts - The confused edition

[mrscruff]

For all the disappointment regarding Hightower, he did make a significant play on his sack yesterday. His sack pushed the Dolphins back by 9 yards to make it a 46 yard field goal which clunked the right post. He wasn't alone with the pressure, but I suspect the missed field goal gave the whole team a lift after being so flat for the whole of the first half as well as the opening drives of the second half.

He is still only into his second year in the NFL and is still very much a work in progress and could still develop into a key cog of this D in the coming years. He may not ever be a premier playmaking linebacker, but a versatile, sound linebacker who plays responsibly and allows others to make the splash plays still holds value.

 

[upstater1]

b. If there is a silver lining to the inexplicable call that directly led to the Pats loss, it is that from now on no Jet fan with any integrity can ever hold the “tuck rule” over our head, now that their team has been the beneficiary of an obscure rule that no one ever heard of. Of course as Jet fans they are probably incapable of seeing the parallel, and Jet fans with integrity are as rare as a 2 year old with patience

I always point out to Jets fans and others that the Patriots lost to the Jets that year because of the tuck rule, and they wouldn't have played the Raiders had they won that game.

10. The Pats certainly got the benefit of a few good calls today. The PI on Gronk in the first half was a pure gift. That wasn’t even close. Also they got another bad call on the defensive holding on Dobson away from the play. It was kind of ironic since the Phins got away with so many far worse examples of holding. Finally in the end they might have gotten another one on the batted ball play. If you watch the replay several time in slow motion, you can make a case for the contact to be incidental and unintentional. However for the official who had to make the call in real time, it looked like it was a clear case of an illegal touch

11. On the other had the Pats had a few calls go against them as well. The holding on Solder was ludicrous. I would opine that that clip be sent to the rest of the league as a perfect example of how to pass block. Hands were inside and he stopped the rusher cold. In fact he did too good a job because when he pancaked the rusher it looked so bad the ref must have thought it had to be a hold.

The PI early was an awful call. But the hold on Solder took away a TD, so it hurt the Patriots just as badly. It also came after the 5 yard hold call on Patterson. BUT, I am convinced that either CBS showed the wrong replay or the ref called the wrong number, because the Phins were holding Gronk not only 5 yards downfield, but 10 yards, and 15 yards. He was being hugged all the way downfield by 2 different players. I also believe Brady saw the flag thrown and that's why he threw to Gronk in triple coverage. Then the ref called the wrong # and the refs showed Patterson away from the pay. The Solder hold was then a makeup call that I predicted to some friends I was watching with. I think the PI in the first half (that lead to 3 Patriots points) and the Solder hold (that took away 4 Patriot points) were practically offsetting.

There was an additional bad call against the Phins, hands to the face by one of their DL. It was a bad call, but it didn't keep a drive going. It was tacked on.

Overall, I'd say the Phins got one more bad call against them.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

The first half of yesterday's game reminded me of the playoff game in 2009 vs. The Ravens,the team looked disinterested and totally disfunctional and inconsistent until they woke up in the second half.

The difference between the two games was that in this game the defense kept Miami within reach going into the 3rd Quarter while back in 2010 it was already over at 24-0 at halftime.

 

[Fencer]

My guess is that Ridley is on a limited-carries count. It may be more approximate than pitch counts in baseball are, but it's something along those lines.

By the way -- he did get 20 carries today, on the nose.

Actually, 14 carries in 20 snaps.

 

[SVN]

Watched the game again today. Small observations from my limited knowledge

-Two staples of the pats offense , the WR screen and the inside slants have been completely gone this year and it seems its a direct effect of the new WR. No one cant quickly get open and catch the football in the middle and every team is playing press making the WR screen completely ineffective. Edelman,Collie and Amendola have to really get this inside game going if this offense has to take off. Sadly their outside passing game is also limited.
-Brady made a lot of double/triple throw coverage throws with gronk. He needs to temper it especially with gronk still the same self yet.
-Lot of complaints about how ridley wasnt there to start the game and they are fair. But the hole he ran through for those 23yrd runs were huge. As were the runs by blount in the 2nd half. The common factor- the oline started to play better. Its not always the back.
-Mankins and the oline didnt have a good game . Even on the TD to dobson he whiffed on the rusher to brady who somehow got it off. That strip sack overturned by a penalty was the worst .
-Run defense is an issue as expected. Strangely, miami stopped running after the tie game.
-Saw a bit of the denver game and saw how WIDE open their WR's were. Will be a true test of this D that game to see if its the denver scheme or how the teams are playing them. Very few times I saw the pats players get beat badly on defense.

 

[supafly]

Logan Ryan is looking like a capable NFL CB due to the fact that I chewed his ass out pretty good in the forums during the preseason.

You're all welcome.

 

[supafly]

Logan Ryan is looking like a capable NFL CB due to the fact that I chewed his ass out pretty good in the forums during the preseason.

You're all welcome.

This method also worked during the game on Sunday for Marquice Cole (to some extent), so it is a proven way to get things done.

Who is next though? I say we go for Duron Harmon, Dane Fletcher, or Danny Amendola.

 

[goheels22002]

DEFENSE - SECONDARY

This is the best secondary in many years. I agree that it is not too early to congratulate Belichick on his drafting of Ryan. Even without Talib and Arrington (2 of our major free agent signings), the secondary was fine. The corners were fine even with Dennard, Ryan and Cole. The safety play has been pro-bowl quality all year. That being said, it would good to see at least one of them back soon.

The secondary was good against the Dolphins even without Talib and Arrington, due in large part to the aggressive five and six man rushing scheme that recorded six sacks.

Roethlisberger is a different kettle of fish (he is about as smart as a kettle of fish). Big Ben can throw while being hit, is way better on the move out of the pocket and has Santonio Brown to throw to. I worry about this secondary without Talib and Arrington this week.

The Broncos will light them up. Talib and Arrington are critical to have any chance against the Forehead and his receivers.

 

[upstater1]

The offense simply needs some consistency. When Brady went to Dobson early, who was one on one with his guy, he dropped the ball at the sticks. Thompkins and Dobson were one on one while Gronk and others in the middle of the field were doubled. This is what Curran was referring to when he mentioned low percentage throws to the outside.

At the same time our young guys were not doing damage on the perimeter, Blount was running for one yard, and Brady was getting sacked. The time of possession was lopsided as well since the Phins were moving the ball.

In other words, everything was going wrong.

The offense changed when Ridley began running in the second half, and when Brady completed a 25 yarder to Gronk (yes, Gronk was covered by multiple guys over the middle but he still snagged it). Couple that with Gronk's nullified TD with guys on him, and you saw that the addition of Ridley meant a lot. The Phins then stuck 3 guys on Gronk and began holding him. That's when he turned to Dobson finally.

My biggest concern in this is Amendola. Where is he? I thought this guy was supposed to be uncoverable? Has the groin caused him to lose his burst? With a healthy Amendola in there, all these problems go away.