Idle thoughts - the "patience" edition

[BobDigital]

Good post...

As much as Nantz got on your nerves, for the first time Romo drove me nutz.. he was just talking half azzed thoughts most of the night, he started with the whole thing about, "how it starts in the trenches" and touted the O and D lines of the Titans.. on and on, blah, blah, blah sometimes less info is better.

The idea that this was some sort of showcase for Patricia and McDaniels was a lot idiotic, this was Patriots football as we have come to know it.. exploit the weakness of the other team.

For the first time in a long time I thought the Pats found their Offensive Rhythm, particularly in the second quarter.. maybe it has to do with an extra week of practice or maybe it is as simple as having almost everyone back..

Amendola is money..

The Pats won the TOP.. 32;56 to 27.54..
8 Sacks for the maligned Pats D, O for the highly touted Titans D, so much for the "trenches" commentary of Romo...


Absurd stat of the day.. Mariota QB rating for this game was 98.3, Brady was 102.5.. it was not this close at all, there needs to be a better way of evaluating QB performance.. the QBR for Brady was 82.9 and for Mariota it was 58.6, even though I do not understand QBR all that well this seems more in line from what I saw from my big comfy couch...

There are just no such thing as perfect stats. I would argue real QB rating on CHFF is a better measurement than passer rating. However even that leaves out attempts as a factor. All things being equal 30 attempts with a 105 QB rating is not as good as 50 attempts with 105 QB rating. That means you were responsible for 20 more quality plays on the whole in general and so had a much better day.

 

[sieglo]

To beat this team you have to be prepared to execute flawlessly against relentless pressure for 60 minutes. That's really hard to do.

 

[luuked]

Hogan had his TD, had a drop on what would have been a tough catch, but on the plus side knocked some rust off.

Best part of Hogan's performance was his monster block. Shows he has confidence in his body to absorb hits like that. That was more important than his TD to me with future games in mind.

" Playoff Danny" Amendola has done it again. If an name brand WR had his numbers, they would be singing paeans to him. But regular season Danny is just another guy with 600 yds and 2 TD's . BUT "Playoff Danny" comes out and shines.....again with 11 receptions and 112 yds, and SIX for first downs. Talk about coming up big.

He is the best value #3 WR in the league. By far. I hope we find a way to keep him around for yet another year. He has become one of my favorite players of the second Brady era with the Pats.

The negative is the continued lack of turnovers created by the defense. Not having any was OK for tonight, but I think they will be needed going forward. Just something to think about.

I said it before.. I prefer the defense to look that good without the help of turnovers than a defense that produces a lot of them and then gets into trouble when it fails to find any (see 2010, 2011 defenses). I get your point but the fact that we they are producing without turnovers is actually a plus because at some point there will be a fumble or INT which will only add to the onslaught.

The good news is that Malcolm Butler is still competitive as hell and seems to be working hard at it, but too often he seems to be losing. I don't blame him for the first TD. He was in good position, and when I watch the replay closely, you can't help notice that his well timed swipe at the ball came a lot closer to breaking up the play than I originally thought. However there were a number of other plays where he got beat.

The thing is that this is exactly what Butler has been doing since he arrived here. This is how he got his nickname. He is not a shut down guy but fights and more often than not is extremely competitive in coverage. You can't ask him to be in any better position than on the first TD and those 3 completion at the end of the game. All four of those plays were inches from being out of bounds and he was right there.

That being said this is also why I think the Pats are not comfortable giving him a big and long extension. He needs to go 100% at every snap to be that competitive guy because he is not as athletically gifted as many other top CBs. What if his explosiveness declines just a little bit ? He is not the youngest..

I'm less worried about the fact the we are likely to lose both our coordinators in 1-3 weeks, than about the potential current assistants that they may take with them. So we aren't going to lose 2 guys from our staff, it will probably be 4-6.

Finally someone else pointing this out as well. I have been saying the same thing for a while. Everyone is focusing on Josh or MattyP but the real hit would be the number of staffers each of them would try to take with them. This is why it would be advantageous if only one of them takes a job this year and the other waits until
next season.

 

[luuked]

His remark about the one second left at the end of the first half was simply unprofessional, to the point where Romo (NOT Nance) had to make a retraction because of the bad impression they made. The fact was that the Titan player DID jump into the neutral zone, clearly. But he also got back before the snap. I always thought that you COULD jump back if the ball wasn;t snapped, but so often, I see the flag just for entering it. They should NEVER had questioned the call they way they did.

The thing is that this is not a Nantz/Romo thing but a problem with people in general. Even Lombardi was *****ing online about the clock operator at both games. I have written it during the Eagles game and then also in our GDT but what people just dont seem to realize is that the timer can switch from 0:02 to 0:01 at 1.9 seconds remaining but cannot show 0:00 until the clock hits 0.0

This might be a subtle thing but the consequence is that the final second appears weirdly longer than expected.

And while nobody in the media industry apparently knew that the clock operator is NFL chosen in the playoffs at least they acknowledged it after the half. I dont know if this was just Romo's impulse because he didn't want to appear uninformed but I appreciated it none the less.

 

[DarrylS]

Interesting how PFF grades the top players for the Pats in this game... as subjective as anything else we read. Good to see Gilmore getting some good ratings, 1 pass breakup and no receptions for the receivers he was covering.. interestingly read somewhere that Logan Ryan was targeted 7 times and there were 7 catches...

Note I can give or take PFF, but it is what it is another way of grading players..

Refocused: New England Patriots 35, Tennessee Titans 14 | NFL Analysis | Pro Football Focus

TOP 5 GRADES:
TE Rob Gronkowski, 88.7 overall grade

CB Stephon Gilmore, 86.8 overall grade

Edge Trey Flowers, 84.8 overall grade

QB Tom Brady, 83.8 overall grade

WR Danny Amendola, 82.1 overall grade

More on Brady..

On throws targeted 10-19 yards down the field, Brady was 8-11 for 105 yards and two touchdowns. The Pats QB was only pressured 13 times on the day, but had a passer rating of 102.1 on those dropbacks.

 

[fxmallon]

As to Romo, hey, this is his first year. The profession hasn't begun to slow down for him yet. On top of this, he looks and acts in an engaging, youthful, self-critical, and spontaneous manner; all of which is refreshing, especially in an NFL star player. He will gradually learn to talk less, and talk more thoughtfully. He will learn to say what he can and cannot say. The reason CBS is not reigning him in too much, despite his sometimes awkward, out of place, and erroneous comments, is because most viewers obviously like him.

P.S. did anyone read the NYT piece today on BB. my 5 freebies for the month is run out. would be curious to know what the take was on his "ruthless" style. was it a negative picture or a reluctantly praising??

 

[tasmlab]

Thanks Ken, your weekly write up is the best football article in the world. Seriously.

 

[Ring 6]

On the offside play, you can get back but when your jump causes the offensive player to move it’s offsides. Otherwise you would have to call illegal procedure on the offense. A couple of pats moved on reaction (which is coached btw)

Ultimately it’s hilarious to me that a team without enough discipline to make sure they don’t jump on a punt on 4th and 4 1/2 from inside the 20 wants to think the ref is the problem.

 

[Ring 6]

There are just no such thing as perfect stats. I would argue real QB rating on CHFF is a better measurement than passer rating. However even that leaves out attempts as a factor. All things being equal 30 attempts with a 105 QB rating is not as good as 50 attempts with 105 QB rating. That means you were responsible for 20 more quality plays on the whole in general and so had a much better day.

QB rating is not a stat it’s a formula. A formula designed to allow novice fans to look at a sampling of passing stats and apply them to a scale intended to weight them in a certain way.
It should NEVER be used as a judgment if qb play and is horrifically flawed.

 

[luuked]

Great comment about Roberts' best play being the fact that he didn't eff-up.

Any game where Roberts has significant snaps but you dont even realize he is on the field is a good game.

 

[Ring 6]

This team ISN'T a dominating one (except for Gronk). I doesn't have the talent to physically blow teams out, like say the Steelers offense, or the Eagle D. Instead we have good, mentally tough, and completely coachable players that succeed on scheme, design, and out executing the more physically talented teams we often face. Again, the Pats are the epitome of the SUM being greater than the individual parts. So watching what this team does week to week has been a privilege for me, because the more I understand what's happening, the smarter fan I become.

I am going to dispute the “not dominant” thing. And especially the “not like Steelers offense” part. The steeler one first

The patriots scored more points 458-406
The patriots had more yards. 6307-6047
The patriots had more pass yards 4418-4380
The patriots had more rushing yards 1889-1667 (and a better ypc 4.2-3.8)
The patriots had more 1st downs 389-348
The patriots had a higher yd per play 5.9-5.8
The patriots had fewer turnovers 12-20
The patriots scored more offensive TDs 48-41

I can’t see any area the Steelers were better in this year than the patriots on offense.

 

[bobbutts]

I like Romo alot, had me giggling several times and I always learn something. I can see how he could be more annoying to more knowledgeable people who don't learn as much. Also in his defense it's not easy to talk for ~2 hours and be stupidity free.

 

[doesntmatter1]

Our passing offense seems to just flow when White and Amendola are heavily involved. Cooks is not winning many contested catches and it might be a problem against a team like the Jags.

 

[luuked]

I like Romo alot, had me giggling several times and I always learn something. I can see how he could be more annoying to more knowledgeable people who don't learn as much. Also in his defense it's not easy to talk for ~2 hours and be stupidity free.

I think he just need to calm himself down a bit. At some points in the game less is more in terms of filler talk. But then again it is his first year doing this and he is already the most insightful analyst on any of the networks.

 

[n6249c]

...

P.S. did anyone read the NYT piece today on BB. my 5 freebies for the month is run out. would be curious to know what the take was on his "ruthless" style. was it a negative picture or a reluctantly praising??

Thanks for the pointer. I thought the Times story was pretty good. Focused on how BB is always alone on the sidelines, but still communicates very effectively with his team. Used the first quarter game flow to tie it together. Also wove in a discussion about the BSPN hit piece, hinting that it was Belichick's handiwork to light a fire under Brady. Entertaining read, well written, as long as you don't insist on distinguishing between fact and fiction.

Here's the link, for convenience if anyone else wants to take a look: Patriots Stick Together the Way They Know Best, Ruthlessly

 

[Ring 6]

Best part of Hogan's performance was his monster block. Shows he has confidence in his body to absorb hits like that. That was more important than his TD to me with future games in mind.



He is the best value #3 WR in the league. By far. I hope we find a way to keep him around for yet another year. He has become one of my favorite players of the second Brady era with the Pats.



I said it before.. I prefer the defense to look that good without the help of turnovers than a defense that produces a lot of them and then gets into trouble when it fails to find any (see 2010, 2011 defenses). I get your point but the fact that we they are producing without turnovers is actually a plus because at some point there will be a fumble or INT which will only add to the onslaught.



The thing is that this is exactly what Butler has been doing since he arrived here. This is how he got his nickname. He is not a shut down guy but fights and more often than not is extremely competitive in coverage. You can't ask him to be in any better position than on the first TD and those 3 completion at the end of the game. All four of those plays were inches from being out of bounds and he was right there.

That being said this is also why I think the Pats are not comfortable giving him a big and long extension. He needs to go 100% at every snap to be that competitive guy because he is not as athletically gifted as many other top CBs. What if his explosiveness declines just a little bit ? He is not the youngest..



Finally someone else pointing this out as well. I have been saying the same thing for a while. Everyone is focusing on Josh or MattyP but the real hit would be the number of staffers each of them would try to take with them. This is why it would be advantageous if only one of them takes a job this year and the other waits until
next season.

Hasn’t B.B. and his coordinators always have an understanding that if they get a hc job they won’t raid the staff?

 

[SEA_Pat]

There are just no such thing as perfect stats. I would argue real QB rating on CHFF is a better measurement than passer rating. However even that leaves out attempts as a factor. All things being equal 30 attempts with a 105 QB rating is not as good as 50 attempts with 105 QB rating. That means you were responsible for 20 more quality plays on the whole in general and so had a much better day.

One of the interesting stats from yesterday was the one about QBs who throw 50+ times per game. Including regular season and playoffs, Brady is 19-9. The rest of the notable QBs in the game are 19-69 collectively. That's cray.

 

[luuked]

Hasn’t B.B. and his coordinators always have an understanding that if they get a hc job they won’t raid the staff?

Let me point you to a very recent QuickSlants podcast where Curran, Mayo and Perry talk about exactly this.

Jerod Mayo on how possibility of losing McDaniels and Patricia would impact Patriots future

It should start at about 9 minutes but I recommend listening to the entire thing.

In a nutshell there is no understanding like that but generally they go out to Bill and "ask permission" which however is more about being polite.

 

[patfanken]

Yes. Amen.

McD called a damn great game. He didn't get greedy. A friend was asking me why he didn't just go right to the backs, and I said "that's the meaning of having an ace up your sleeve." He wanted to see how they were attacking our protection before ultimately deciding to target the weakside. Most of our gains were there. This kind of minute observation and strategic response is going to be sorely missed next season.

McD's game calling was lights out, last night. Just impeccable.

Good point. Romo was at his best pointing out the mismatch on the weak side that the Pats were exploiting, just as he was when he pointed out how they finally fixed it, but long after the damage was done.

 

[fxmallon]

Thanks for the pointer. I thought the Times story was pretty good. Focused on how BB is always alone on the sidelines, but still communicates very effectively with his team. Used the first quarter game flow to tie it together. Also wove in a discussion about the BSPN hit piece, hinting that it was Belichick's handiwork to light a fire under Brady. Entertaining read, well written, as long as you don't insist on distinguishing between fact and fiction.

Here's the link, for convenience if anyone else wants to take a look: Patriots Stick Together the Way They Know Best, Ruthlessly