First about last week.
I was 13 years old when the Pats played their inaugural season in 1960. I was already in love with football (as well as basketball, baseball, and hockey). Like all of you non-millennials, I lived through the few ups and MANY downs that marked the first 40 years of the franchises history. Just as I have indulged in the last 18, awash in the glory this team has given us YEAR after YEAR after YEAR.
But I can state UNEQUIVOCALLY that what I saw on the final play of the Miami game just stunned me into a paralytic silence that lasted the entire week. I just couldn't believe what I saw. I had most of my notes ready to go....and then nothing. Who cared about who did what and when for the first 59.8 minutes of that game. I know that I sure didn't. So I not only didn't write my column, I didn't even think about the NFL until Sunday when I had to pick my 5 games for my football pool. Instead I read 3 books this week as well as did some writing, and otherwise spent the week without giving football a thought (David Baldocci is a VERY good writer. His books are like a hidden pleasure. )
I have just one comment that has probably been mentioned, but it will make me feel better. When the announcers mentioned that Gronk was in the prevent defense, I wonder why he was in since there was no way Tannyhill was going to get the ball near the endzone on that last play. At that point of the game they needed a tackler, NOT a jump ball pass defender. 99 time out of 100 it would have just been a curiosity. But on THAT play, our last chance to tackle the ball carrier was really no chance with Gronk as the final defender. OK I feel better (for a second) Let's get on with this latest disaster (is this how most of the rest of the league's fans feel most of the time? I don't like it...one bit.
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I'll dispense with the usual structure and simply list what I thought were the pluses and minuses during the game. Disclaimer: I missed most of the 3rd quarter having to deal with a friend's emergency. Evidently I didn't miss much.
1. Lets start with the pluses, because I think there really are some that need to be pointed out before some of use go off the deep end.
a. We really have a pretty awesome secondary. Holding the Steelers to only 235 yds passing IN Pittsburgh is a real accomplishment, given we clearly don't have a good 4-5 man pass rush. Nor do we have a good run D either, which only makes the play action pass more effective for the other team.
b. If JC Jackson had been a first round pick this year, everyone would STILL be impressed with the fine year he is having. How he slipped completely out of the draft stuns me. He ran with Brown. He ran with Shuster (who is EVERY bit as good as Brown imo) He made every catch against him a hard catch. And he should only get better in the coming years with continued experience and the good coaching he is obviously getting.
c. McCourty, Chung, and Harmon are CONSISTENTLY outstanding in both tackling and coverage. Sure they get beat. EVERYONE gets beat, but it seems this season a good majority of the completions have been highly contested and forced the opposition to either make a great throw or catch. Hopefully Obi can add some much needed youth to that group going forward, but that is a "next year" question.
d. Stephon Gilmore as been one of the better FA signings of the BB era. To say more would just be redundant. He and Jackson could become an elite CB paring for the next 3 or 4 seasons. Add what JJones has flashed (he just need to be more consistent), the potential of Duke Dawson, and the very solid play of DMcCourty, and the Pats look VERY strong at the CB position, both in skill, talent AND depth.
e. If we are going to do anything this playoff season on the defense, it will be because of the strength of the secondary.
BTW- I should add that imo, the LB group has GREATLY improved this season (especially Van Noy) in their coverage ability. I have to mention the LB's since they are such an integral part of the pass coverage equation.
f. As bad as the run defense was AGAIN (for the 3rd game in a row), If you had told me that the Pats were going to hold the Steelers to 17 points (and only 3 in the second half) in THEIR house, I would have figured a double digit win. So in the end, this weeks defense wasn't horrible. In fact they played pretty well, especially when you consider that the Pats have to manufacture whatever pressure they do manage to get.
g. The other major plus category that needs to be mentioned is the play of the OL. They are clearly one of the better pass protection units in the league. This is a fairly young group that SHOULD get better, especially if Wynn is as good as he seemed coming in. The only negative I see in this line is when a team puts a man directly on David Andrews in the run game. As far as pass blocking goes, Andrews seems to be as good as any C in the league, but in the run game be becomes a bit of a liability, imo. Clearly he is maximizing his potential, but when you try to run up the middle as much as the Pats do, Andrews might not be physically able to help make that happen.
Just a thought. Perhaps if we retain TBrown (and I clearly hope we do), maybe the relatively undersized Wynn, could be a perfect fit inside? Of course that assumes he can snap the ball, and deal with the different look you get inside. A big if, but he DOES have the quickness, strength and size to do the job.
2. NEGATIVES, and I'll try to be brief and concise. (relatively for me.
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a. The QB - Not that Tom did a bad job today, just not what we've come to expect. Clearly that holding penalty hurt on that final drive, but NONE of Brady's last 3 passes came close to anyone.
Here's the thing, imo. I watch Ben throw several balls to his receivers (especially downfield) when they were closely covered and gave them an opportunity to make a play. The great catch and throw to JJShuster comes to mind as well as on to his TE for a big first down. Brady RARELY does that. It seems HIS guys have to show complete separation before he will throw them the ball. I LONG for more back shoulder fades to Gronk and Josh, or anyone for that matter, let alone throwing to the guy who has a defender with his back turned to the ball. We really need to do that more. I HAVE to believe Josh Gordon could have made more of an impact today. He ran a simple route and had a 20 yd catch in the first drive and then wasn't heard from again. You'd think he'd be a real threat in the red zone. Not so much evidently.
b. Too many drops by our guys. On this particular day, THEIR guys made more plays than OUR guys. If you want to simplify why we lost, that was it. Edelman was once again our leading receiver, but is going to drop at least one EVERY game? What's up with that?
c. Pittsburgh was flagged 4 times for 40 yds, the Pats were flagged FOURTEEN times for 110 yds. Some were gifts from the refs (and more on that later), but most were justly "earned" and contributed greatly to this loss.
d. You know when I saw the replay I didn't have a BIG problem with the ref calling TB for holding on a long run by Sony, and killed a drive. What I DO have problem is when on Ridley's 12 yd run coming out from the 1, Pouncy did the EXACT same thing (even worse imo) and didn't get called.
The gift PI on Jackson was even more egregious. That one was completely arbitrary and set the Steelers up for their 2nd TD. Just a horrible call, that didn't seem to happen to the Steelers today ,no matter how badly they were grabbing our guys downfield.
e. Danny Shelton - On a team where you are having a BIG problem stopping the run for the last 3 games, your main run stopper has been a healthy scratch for the last 3 games. So as good a FA signing as Gilmore has been, that's how BAD the Shelton signing was. Clearly he was good at it in Cleveland, and just as clearly he SUCKS at it here. I wonder what happened?
f. Speaking of healthy scratches, I'm kind of disappointed that Derrick Rivers can't make the 46 man game roster. I had high hopes for the kid before he got hurt last season. You'd think that his skillset would at least make him a good ST'er. Clearly this has been a red shirt year for him.
g. Dante Hightower. I'll be interested in seeing how many snaps Hightower had on D. Given what the Pats are paying him, 2 tackles is not my idea of getting my money's worth. To my eyes he isn't playing with impact of a 270lb LB with serious athletic skills. In my opinion KVN has been by far our best LB all year.
h. Sony Michel - Now this is just me perhaps, but I'm having a hard time justifying a first round pick on what I'm seeing from Michel. Here's what he does well. He has excellent vision and almost ALWAYS makes the right cut at the LOS for maximum gain. He supposedly has excellent hands that we might someday see if he's let into the passing game. What he DOESN'T do is push the pile and create an extra 3-4 yds on his own. What he doesn't do is get that hard yard on the GL and in short yardage. I watch Samuels, Cook, I watch Chubb(taken in the 2nd round) each week, and while Sony is "effective", most of the time I'm thinking I'd rather have the OTHER guy running the ball for me.
In the end, he's been a pretty good RB here, but not a first round player.
OK that's my list (so far
) What's your's?
3. General thoughts going forward.
a. Looks like the Bills and Jets are both playing hard and seemingly improving. Both will bring good defenses to Foxboro in the last 2 weeks. Good tests for a Pats offense that needs to regroup if we are going to make another deep run in the playoffs.
b. It is becoming more likely that the Pats might have to join everyone else and NOT have a bye this year.
Think about it this way, more Pats games to see. I wouldn't mind adding a "4 games to glory" disc to my collection.
c. Pool sad story - So I'm sitting down to the Pats game and I am 3-0 in my pool picks (Bengals, Titans, and Bears). And my surest pick of the week is coming up Seattle vs SF. I was surprised to see that they were "only" giving 4 points. And with NO being my 5th pick I'm thinking 5-0 for this week (there is a $300 5-0 pool each week). How the hell can SF beat Seattle. For that matter, how the hell do the Bills beat the Lions, Dallas being SHUTOUT by Indy, Jacksonville lose to Washington, or have Philly putting up 30 (so far) on the Rams (in LA). Every week my mind is Blown by some of these outcomes. No wonder Vegas makes so much money on sports betting.
d. What I'll be looking for this week in the rewatch thread is some confirmation on whether Andrews really IS a problem in the running game. Whether Brady missed some open receivers. And some answers on WHY the run defense has suddenly gone so bad.
Enjoy, and thanks for listening.
