Idle thoughts - "the lost opportunity" edition

[Patsfanin Philly]

I'd like to see football adopt baseball's version of the Earned Run Average (ERA) for interceptions. A ball that bounces off the receivers chest or off his hands and is very catchable but turns into an int ought to be classified as NAF ( not at fault) versus throwing into triple coverage could be (AF) interception. Last night Stidham had 2 ints but I'd only classify the second one as at fault....

 

[Mike the Brit]

Jakobi Meyers being inactive with Olzsewski and Zuber active does not look good. I had such high hopes for him.

 

[Boomer B]

We showed up and played to win, which is something we wouldn’t see from half the teams out there.

That being said a wise man once said you are what your record says you are. The Patriots are a 2-2 team right now that is beating the mediocre and bad teams and losing to the good ones. We gotta string some wins together or we won’t catch the Bills.

Hoyer fell apart. A shame to see but he folded in the big moments. Stidham didn’t look good but I’d rather give him a shot against Denver than going back to Hoyer. He was way to late on that deep shot to Byrd who was wide open. Maybe with a week of practice he'll get his timing down better. Whoever starts the game plan needs to be to run run run and then play action. Where the hell are our rookie TE’s?

The D played well. I was a bit surprised the Chiefs didn’t run more with the personnel we had on the field. Mahomes made some big plays but we clamped down in the red zone. Text book punch on the ball by Gilmore causing the fumble.

On to Denver. I don’t see us losing this game. Denver also has a ton of key injuries. As long as we don’t turn the ball over multiple times we should win this one.

 

[Uptown]

Jakobi Meyers being inactive with Olzsewski and Zuber active does not look good. I had such high hopes for him.

Gunner & Zuber will pump some life into the offense. As I mentioned in another thread, I’m excited about Zub & I think he could be explosive with the ball in his hands (screens, more sweeps/end-arounds, actual routes, PK/KR etc..) Good vision...Also, he seemed to high point the ball well in college. Very scrappy young fella..

 

[denverpatsfan]

Mark Rypien's grandson looked better than stridam. just saying. not sure how much practice time the kid got though. this won't be an easy win.

 

[mgteich]

Hoyer starting was the right move, considering the circumstances, BUT Stidham is better.

Yes, Stidham (with some practice reps) is better than the worst starter in the NFL, and many of the backups. The bar is very low.

 

[Uptown]

Mark Rypien's grandson looked better than stridam. just saying. not sure how much practice time the kid got though. this won't be an easy win.

I watched & I liked what I saw for the most part; that being said...he was playing the Jets...

 

[p8ryts]

Great points that I didn't realize the Pats only landed 3 hours before the game. And that Hoyer took zero live practice snaps at all as QB and then went straight into the game. And that Shaq and Andrews and Emeanor were all out.

.

Practice snaps are not relative to brain freeze.

 

[mgteich]

Practice snaps are not relative to brain freeze.

I certainly agree. I suspect that a coach should have emphasized that there were no more timeouts (more than once).

 

[Wheelman]

Your opinion is always valued and always valid. I learned a ton tonight about the preparation this TEAM has going into a contest. They were ready to win, even with Hoyer the never was has been at QB. A couple of bounces, a call or two that SHOULD have been made and this team could well have shocked the football world tonight. Who lost more coming out of this game, the Pats or the Chiefs? I thought the Chiefs just destroyed the media darling Ravens in THEIR house last week. I thought they sliced ,diced, eviscerated and butcher chopped the Ravens defense to shreds. Tonight they scrape out NINETEEN points...in THEIR house? against a team missing it's #1 QB AND #1 RB? I said it earlier...this is a Pyrrhic victory for KC.

Who did the chefs lose to injury?

 

[p8ryts]

I was always the King of rationalization. In the 70's when we were getting killed, I was always able to rationalize the event by the time I finished my drive home from the stadium. Fortunately I haven't needed that skill for several years. Last night has caused me to resurrect it.
Offensive Line, street free agent at Center, 6th round rookies at RG and RT. They did a much better job than you had reason to expect. Herron, with an O looks like a keeper and Onwenu should be a rookie all teamer. McCourtey drops a pass giving KC 3 points, JC Jackson misses an interception and gives KC 7 points. Hoyer has repeated brain freeze and gives them 6 points. Edelman, whom I dearly love, is an endangered species. He will be able to join Tom and Gronk next year. He gave them 7 points. That's 23 points. A clean game and we win. I can see the ref calling Mahomes down but those are the kind of plays he connects on, falling forward, flipping the ball to a receiver for a first down. Screwed again. If Hjalty can't beat out Ferentz, I don't hold out many expectations for him. Still undecided on Izzo, blocks good, open early overthrown, 2 other targets-int and not a good look at the ball. Everbody is excited about Harris but he didn't look any different than Michel. On his 41 yard run, he was literally untouched until he ran out of bounds. I would have liked to see JJ in there trying some wide runs. That's what got them started against the Raiders. I was really impressed with the defense. Front seven is improving, even thought Bentley was improving. I was scared to death when I saw him man up with the RB on the sideline and he also covered the back deep knocking the ball out. I'm encouraged by what I saw. Lost to two of the best teams, Seattle beat us and we gave it away to KC. So we have a chance, that's all we can ask. P.S. I do not wish to see Hoyer behind center again, ever. Stidham wasn't perfect but throws a nice ball and still may have future possibility.

 

[p8ryts]

Who did the chefs lose to injury?

It was a big help to have Chris Jones inactive. I'm frightened to think what he might have done to Ferentz.

 

[p8ryts]

self-inflicting wounds mostly last night. I feel like we beat ourselves for the most part.
Also, I am not sure what Shaq Mason's injury is. But I recall Romo/Nantz saying that Jermained Eluemanor was out due to "Migraines". I feel like maybe that is code for concussion. But not sure.

Mason Calf, Elemeunor Migraine

 

[p8ryts]

Last night was a night of Patriots brain farts that we are not used to.. Hoyer, Stidham and even BB was not his sharpest..

When I learned that Newton, Mason, Michel, Wynn etc were all out... there was great concern, but somehow this team pretty much kept things together until the 4th quarter when their mistakes caught up to them..

The Pats were competitive and their D was OK, but the injuries seemed to be the equalizer..

One thing it does point to is the Stidham needs more game time reps.. thought the TD pass to Harry was spot on.

4 Turnovers will never win against good teams..

Holding Mahomes to 229 yards passing was a lot less than he is used to.

That strip sack by Winovich was botched by the refs.. quick whistle.

Was not expecting for the Pats to win this game, but surprised they did as well as they did in spite of their mistakes..

On to Denver..

BB not sharp???

 

[p8ryts]

Mark Rypien's grandson looked better than stridam. just saying. not sure how much practice time the kid got though. this won't be an easy win.

I liked Rypien pre draft, thought he would have fit our style.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I certainly agree. I suspect that a coach should have emphasized that there were no more timeouts (more than once).

I agree. And you have to ask why BB did not hold back a time out in case of a sack? I assume the answer is because he could control throwing the ball away, versus rushing to the line of scrimmage and going on a fast count. Looking at those two options to create the least risk of a mistake 1) use the time out and tell the QB to throw the ball out the back of the end zone OR 2) save the time out and rush to the line for a quick snap, BB chose option 1 as being the option with less risk. And Hoyer did a brain freeze, and took a sack letting time run out.

Ferentz started instead of Froholdt - have to assume Froholdt is toast in Year 2. Izzo is a bit stiff and will never be a fluid pass catcher. Not sure about the Harris excitement - I did not see any quick cuts or bounces outside that amazed me - reminds me of the Michael Bishop love affair - the sports writers wrote that he was amazing and soon he was a fan favorite. That is not to say Harris is bad, he looks like a solid guy, but nothing amazing, looks like a 3rd round pick. Bentley looked OK in coverage, so I assume his issues at ILB are not physical but understanding where to go and why. When can we see Zuber and Asiasi run meaningful routes and start catching passes?

 

[DaBruinz]

I love when certain people claim to not know that guys Like Andrews weren't going to be playing against KC. Andrews was put on IR prior to the LV game so it's a flat out lie by them to claim so.

Mason was listed as questionable Sunday, but was ruled out Monday just prior to the game.
Eluemenor actually took snaps during the 1st possession before heading to the tent. Romo mentioned that Eluemenor had been in the tent for awhile. And it was only later that it was mentioned he was out with a migraine.

As someone told me in the post game thread, the original line during warmups was Wynn, Froholdt, Thuney, Onwenu, Eluemenor. It seems that it was a last minute change to move Thuney back to LG and start Ferentz.

Ferentz did seem to hold his own, which was surprising. Herron didn't seem to be a downgrade. Wynn may have been playing with a leg injury as he seemed to hobble back to the huddle.

The only thing I didn't like regarding the O-line blocking was the tackles selling out by leaving their feet and diving at the DEs legs to take them out of the play. I saw all 3 tackles do it at one point or another. To me, that seems like desperation. And it didn't seem to work the times they did it..

 

[PatsDeb]

My takeaways in no particular order:

BB and our D have Mahomes' number. He looked uncomfortable all game.
Hoyer stinks and we saw why he is not fit to be an NFL QB - two brain farts near the EZ that cost us at least 6 points. I have more situational awareness than him.
Oh Jules
Damn we could have used Brady's 5 TDs in this game
Stidham still looks like an INT machine
Good defensive performance wasted by inept QB play
Crap now we are 2 games behind Buffalo
Running game looks pretty good, despite injuries to O line
WTF refs AND BB for not doing something about that obvious INT? Game changer for us, wasted (again)
Hurry back Cam, but I bet we are stuck with Stidham against Denver

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

c. The refs make one of the WORST calls I have ever seen. A call that not only took away possession, but cost them a TD by negating the run. Sterrattor was desperately back peddling trying to explain it before they mercifully went to commercial before his tongue was tied in knots.

"There was an...incident..."

...and the two out of bounds calls which also (surprise) went against the Patriots

Two years in a row now

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

stuck with Stidham

...doesn't quite have the same ring to it as 'bend it like Beckham'