C'mon, Be honest, when they introduced the OL did you REALLY think they had a chance if every break didn't go their way. Instead, just about all the breaks and bounces went the other way, and they STILL won the F%cking game.
I just was hoping that we'd see a competitive game with good defense, and at least some competence from the offense. Well I saw all three and more. Once they hit the 4th quarter, I felt strongly, that regardless of how the game ended, the Pats were leaving big winners in the long run. The fact they actually won the game was just a bonus....although a very BIG bonus. So the post game shows are winding down, and I find 5 minutes of watching Felger or Borges is the limit of my tolerance, Lets get started taking a first impression look at this game.
1. Any discussion of this game has to start with JG. Maybe it shouldn't because there were a LOT of reasons the Pats won, but it would be folly to try it.
a. The first drive made JG look great, but it was a product of great coaching. Even the incompletion on that drive was to a wide open player. The Pats desperately needed that kind of drive to settle Jimmie down and they scripted it to perfection. BTW- the best part of that drive for me was that he audibled to the TD pass.
b. But that wasn't the drive that got me all excited. It was the LAST one, because in between that impecable first drive Jimmie experience a number of ups and downs and it looked like the momentum was trending to AZ in the 4th quarter. The 3rd and 15 pass to Amendola was the kind of pass that is going to make JG a lot money and get the Pats a lot of draft picks (if he continues to be as good as he was tonight). It was a great clutch pass to a secondary receiver after his first read was covered. To me it was the seminal throw.
c. What was the trendy phrase we are going to hear a lot this week, "the game wasn't too big for him". In the end THAT is the most important thing we got from this game about JG. Now we know Jimmie Garapolo is an NFL QB.
d. But it's important to know that this very nice game from him, DOESN'T make him Tom Brady. You can tell by the game plan. If Brady had been the QB, with the same OL and AZ came at him with blitzes like we saw tonight, Josh would have spread out the offense and dared the Cardinals to come at him, because after 15 odd years, no one read blitzes better than TB. In fact I was hoping the Pats might try spreading AZ out on occasion when it looked like the offense was stuttering, BB stayed with his game plan, and that's why I'm up well past 1am writing this, and he's on a charter jet asleep with a smile on his face.
e. I don't see JG being a Patriot next year, simply because Brady is going to be here at least 2 more, and they like what they see in Jacoby Brissett. If his solid play continues, I have no doubt that Jimmie will bring us that high #1 draft pick and probably more. Like I said JG is a legit NFL QB in my eyes, and in this league that asset will ALWAYS be overpaid for.
f. Just ignore the flip flopping media who will try to make controversy about the Brady/Garapolo thing for the next 3 weeks and beyond. There is none, but that won't stop their trolling.
2. I think this would be an excellent time to eat some crow and apologize personally to James White, a player I have denigrated on many occasions, mostly because of his poor running ability. Well in this game, not only did White make 5 catches, some of them very clutch, he had a great 4 yd run for a first down, where he actually pushed the pile to get those last 2 yds. Hats off to you James. It looks like you are going to keep my binkie, on the bench for now, but I warn you, don't get hurt because you might never get back on the field if DJ gets his shot.
3. Now to the OL - Think about it. We started the season with an OL that was made ENTIRELY of back ups. When camp first started NONE of these guys were on anyone's list who who the starting OL was going to be. Then Tuney to advantage of the injuries to Jackson, Mason, and Kline, and never left. Andrews moved in at C when Stork self destructed. No one knew who was going to play RG to start the season, but NOBODY figured it would be Karras, and then we have the much maligned duo of Cannon and Flemming who no one seemed to have confidence (except BB of course) Now I admit to having more confidence in Cannon than most, but even I thought Flemming had NO chance against the blitzing Cardinal defense.
So our starting OL was made up of 2 rookie picks from the lower rounds, and 2nd year, undersized UDFA, and 2 back up OT's no one likes.
And when it comes right down to it, they did OK, even better than OK. Sure sometimes it looked ugly in the running game as well as pass protection, but JG was only sacked twice (both on blitzes) and the run game managed to game just over 100 yds, even though they weren't opening much in the way of holes for the RB's
So given who was out there and who they were playing against it was an OUTSTANDING job, especially on the road. BB mentioned the penalties, but I think once he sees the tape, he will be forgiving since at least 4 of the holding calls were completely bogus.
Grading it regardless of who was out there and who they were playing, it was a C+/B- effort that needs to see improvement, because they will be playing a very good DL again next week.
3. I liked Chandler Jones, and I'm glad he got a sack and fumble recovery so the perception from the AZ fans will be positive for him, but given who the LT was, you would have thought you would have gotten more from a guy you are paying top dollar for than 3 T's, 2 QB hits, and the fumble and sack. Overall if you were scoring this fight you'd have to give this one to the Pats. (and IIRC the sack came against Cannon on a very nice inside move.)
4. I LOVED Mary Bennett's first game for us. Now the media will be trying to create the storyline wondering why he didn't show up like Gronk, but I thought he played very well doing exactly what the team asked him to do. He DID his job. In fact I was very impressed with his blocking ability, which was much better than I was led to believe from those self same pundits
5. And then we come to the WR's. Well we STILL don't have one of those "true #1 WR's" everyone seems to be dying for, but I really like what we do have. Remember if you don't have a "true #1" the defense can't concentrate their coverage. I like the mix we have in Hogan, Edeleman, Amendola, and Mitchell and they all showed up to make some very clutch catches over the course of the game.....especially Amendola in the 4th quarter. And Mitchell did nothing to make us stop thinking we "finally" drafted a receiver we can count on.
6. LGB had a pretty solid night IMH - The numbers weren't great (22 for 70), but neither was the blocking. I didn't see any holes he missed or yardage he could have gotten. I thought that he pretty much got every yard that was available and few more when there wasn't any apparent hole. Hammer him for the fumble if you must, but it looked to me that it was just one of those things were it was a helmet right to the ball and it was out. Credit the defender on that one. They get paid too.
7. And then we come to the defense:
a. I thought our run D was EXCELLENT, period. AZ got half there rushing yds, on that 45 yd run from David Johnson, and man what a great individual effort THAT was. Wow that kid is a really good RB. Yet aside from that one great run, the Pats held him 3.0 ypc for his other 15 carries
b. I was less impressed by our pass rush, though we did sack Palmer 3 times and hit him on numerous occasions. My problem with the DL was there were occasions when we didn't seem to get ANY rush on Palmer and he had all day to stand in pocket. I was hoping Anthony Johnson would flash, but I didn't see anything. I was hoping Troy Flowers would flash, and he did a couple of times, but not enough to excite me. I was hoping Sheard would be an impact player, instead I thought he was "merely" solid. It was like he had a Ninko game, Very solid and productive, but he wasn't in the QB's face consistently like I hoped.
Early on it looked the the DL was getting great pressure on Palmer, but as the game went on, it seemed more and more sporadic. Now I make this criticism knowing that BB often restricts his rushers with other concerns, and this might have been the case, but if they were ever going to have a QB that they didn't have to worry about contain with, THIS was the one. So I think I'm going to have to give the DL a solid B for tonight, a grade that might be a bit better if I actually knew the defensive Game Plan.
c. The LB's were also a semi-disappointment. Granted they played their usual solid game, but I was expecting more. McCourty and Ryan were the 2 leading tacklers on the team, and Hightower was credited with only one tackle. That's NOT what you want from your so called rush ILB. (btw- collins had only 3, including his sack) Maybe they "did their job", but my expectations were for greatness, and I didn't see it.
d. I thought the secondary was right up to par considering the team they were up against. McCourty was excellent and the team's leading tackler. Butler was right there as usual, making sure that even when the receiver caught the ball against him he made them throw a perfect ball (except for one long throw he got beat deep). He was also victimized by the refs for his holding call, which just as easily gone the other way. Both were doing a lot of hand fighting down the field. Ryan was victimized by Fitzgerald a few times, but it was more Fitzgerald's greatness than Ryan's bad coverage. Coleman showed up big a few times, and Chung was his usual productive self.
Now I do have one play that pissed me off, and that was the 3rd and 19 on the last drive, that gained 15 key yards. The Pats didn't send the rush, and I was pissed they got such a big gain on that play. Maybe it was late and I was getting cranky. It happens at my age, but I just HATE it when teams get big gains in those kinds of situations. If I were a Cardinal fan I'd be furious on that 3rd and 15 pick up to Amendola.
But that is a very good offense. 3 excellent WR's, a decent TE (a 1st rd pick), and a RB who can catch the ball as well as he runs it. I thought keeping them under 300 yds passing at home, was a pretty decent effort by te 2ndary. B/B+.
e. I thought the defense as a whole played better than I graded the individual parts. A real good start, while leaving plenty of room for improvement. It is also important to note that 2 of the 3 TD's AZ got came short fields cause by fumbles on the offense.
8. Special teams - Now we know why BB keeps all those so called special teams guys. They were simply AWESOME. 4 times the Pats kicked the ball short and 4 time they stopped AZ inside the 25. None more important than the last one. Think about it. What if the AZ drive started at the 25 instead of the 8, we wouldn't be so happy now. Punt coverage was good, Allen was good, and the Ghost was fantastic. It really was a team win, and they needed all three phases to be good. BTW- BB mentioned James Jones specifically for his special teams work....and now we know why he's on the roster.
9. General game thoughts -
a. Really hard to think we could have won this game while STILL losing the TO battle by 2, and losing the penalty yd battle as well. It's not like we came into this game 1o point underdogs and played the perfect game or had the Cardinal's gift us a bunch of plays. Quite the opposite and we STILL won. AMAZING!
b. BB really is that good folks. Those guys just don't just pay lip service to the concept of "the next man up". They've gotten those guys in the locker room to TRULY believe it and buy into it. And because, unlike us, they actually believe that the "next guy up" is gong to "do his job", they win a game like this. Mostly because, unlike us again, they actually BELIEVED that the could.
c. The refs sucked. I hate it when the refs make holding calls that aren't there, and the Pats were victimized on several occasions. I especially hate it when they don't call it the same way on the other team. Call what's there. I saw Chris Long and Troy Flowers get held much more egregiously without any calls that what they got Cannon, Bennett, and Karras on. Make the calls that make a difference in a play.
Someone this week started a thread when Corrente was named the ref for this game. I didn't participate in that thread because I thought ref baiting is pointless, and sounds too much like Jet fans. Well that Pats fan turned out to be prescient, because if the Pats had lost that game, Corrente's crew would have been a major factor.
d. I didn't hate Collingsworth as much as I usually do. I thought he did a good job pointing out Bennett's contribution, as well as being more even handed than I expected. On the other hand, I STILL hate Felger and Borges as much as ever.
e. Bennett and Long must have both decided they have died and gone to heaven because I'm sure they've been on the wrong side of this kind of game so often in their past. Must be VERY satisfying for them.
f. I wanted to add some comments on the rest of the day's action, but the reality is I don't give a f#ck about what happened to the rest of that league. They should just be happy they got me for 3 hours of their product they did.
The clock just struck 3 and even I have to hang it up. And pardon in advance for any grammar, spelling, or just mistyping errors. I too tired to edit this monstrosity. Besides I'm sure I will think of some more stuff I wish I had put in the the morning. Pleasant dreams to all, I know mine will be.
