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As entertaining a game as that was, I REALLY hate these late night games because it means I will be up past 3am getting this done. Good thing I'm old and don't need much sleep. The good news is that we are 4-2 and have cut the KC lead for home field advantage to 1, and WE have the #1 tiebreaker. The bad news is I had the Pats in my football pool and despite playing a 5-0 team, they had to win by more than 3.5 points.
But for us none of that matters. There are NO style points when you look at the standings, and HOW you won a game in October will matter little as they are preparing for the playoffs in January. The team could be a lot different before that time, and hopefully for the better, but we shall see. It's just past one so lets get down to the breakdown. I once started the breakdown with the comment that this was all about the defense. Well for this one it is clear that it was all about the offense and with 3 consecutive wins scoring 38, 38, and 43 it will likely to stay that way for a while.
1. OFFENSE - General - The league has gotten so soft in recent years I'm wondering if offenses are so skillful, defenses so hamstrung, or is game rigged this way, but the scoring production these last 3 weeks are pretty impressive, ESPECIALLY when the QB keeps telling us that they continued to leave points on the field and can be better. And I believe him. It seemed to me that Gordon and Brady are still not on the same page for every play, and Hogan was open a few times yet not targeted. And think about a time when Michel gets integrated into the passing attack and how that would make HIM even more productive. With an offense potentially THIS powerful, they will always be "in the game" at the very end.
36 passes for 340 yds and 34 runs for 173 shows great balance AND great production. That have truly become a team that can beat you either way and will be tough for teams to game plan for.
2. QB - Brady was great again for the most part. He completed 68% of his passes while the Pats converted on 53% of their 3rd down conversions, though that stat might be misleading for both teams (KC converted 40% of THEIR 3rd down attempts) because both teams converted so many of their first downs on first and 2nd downs.
There WAS a point in the 3rd quarter where I thought Brady became impatient and started to throw the ball deep when he didn't have to. Also it was during this time where he seemed to miss a wide open Hogan a few times and instead threw more difficult throws to others. Of course the 2 fumbles were also Brady's fault when you come down to it. Both times he WAS given the time to get rid of the ball.
But that's nitpicking. He did throw for well over 340 yds, had no picks, and got his team to produce 43 points and for the 43rd time led his team to a game wining drive when tied or behind in the 4th quarter. The pass to Gronk was a thing of beauty.
3. OL - This was the best the OL looked this year. They not only pass blocked effectively, it was their best run blocking game this season. Lots of holes for the RB's to get through this time. Hard to figure out exactly what was happening and how much of it was because of KC's ineptitude or our good play. The rewatch thread will hopefully help us figure out what they were doing.
They gave up 2 sacks, but that was more on Brady than KC. Also according to one stat I read, they only gave up 1 QB hit. Finally it looks like Cannon went down again. Head injury (read concussion) was the reason given. Lets see how it works out, IIRC that was his 3rd over the last few years. Waddle did a fine job coming in, but Cannon is better. Here's hoping he's back before too long.
3. Receivers - Gordon made baby steps forward. He has REALLY strong hands and I love the way he snatches the ball out of the air. He can SO close to catching that ball in the end zone despite being tackled before the ball got their. He also clearly misread what Brady wanted him to do on a couple of throws including 2 on that first drive. So he continues to tease us with his talent. It is exciting knowing that he hasn't scratched the surface of what he can be down the road. He will certainly be better in December, and hopefully even better than that with a full off-season program. Christ, he's pretty effective now and I bet he's only 30% of what he could be. He's THAT good.
When teams are concentrating on Gronk, Gordon, Edelman and White it is incumbent on Chris Hogan to get separation. Well its starting to look like that is starting to happen after being unable to do it before Edelman and Gordon arrived on the scene. Hopefully Brady will take advantage of that more often. 4 catches for 84 yds is a productive night for any WR.
Edelman also added 4 catches for 54 yds and a TD as he continues to round into game shape
Finally there's Gronk. Just 3 catches, but for 97 yds including the game winning catch. Also after watching Gronk be key in the 173 rushing yds as a blocker and watching Kelce NOT be a factor beyond being a receiver, I would opine that the question of who is the best TE in the league, should is over. It's not even close. Gronk is CLEARLY the best WR in the game and Kelce is a great slot RECEIVER, but not a great TE.
5. Offense in retrospect - It's pretty great, but like the QB said, it could end up being a lot better. Chicago has a one of the better defenses in the league and will be playing at home after laying an egg the week before. They will be the more desperate teams, and teams coming off bad games have often turned it around very quickly, so this will be a great test. Also it was pointed out to be that the Pats will be play 6 of the next 8 games on the road. The offense is going to HAVE to continue to be effective if we are to win a great majority of these game. The Bears will be a true test.
6. RB's - What's not to like. Michel continues to look like a great pick, which is exciting to see, especially when you know there is still a lot of upside in this kid. When they start to use him more in the passing game it could get a lot better. James White continues to be one of more consistent sources of offensive production. He's become more than just a "3rd down back". Now I do NOT want to see him run the ball much, but he DID have a few solid runs including one where I saw him knock the back when he was being tackled. 92 yds in total offense has become a number to be expected from James. Even KBarner did well in his short fill in capacity.
General Defensive thoughts - Hard to be positive when the defense gives up 40 points including THIRTY ONE in the 2nd half alone. But positive I will try to be. The KC offense really IS a daunting task for anyone to deal with. Watkins, Kelce, Hill, and Hunt are a real fearsome foursome for any DC to stop. Down the road, Hill and Hunt would be a bigger worry for me than Brown and Bell.
Also while I was starting to get annoyed with all the Mahomes hype before the game started, I think by the end of the game you had to come away with the feeling it wasn't just hype. To me he was every bit as as good as advertised, at least in my opinion. He made a couple of key throws on the run and right on the money under pressure. I counted at least 3 than made think WOW! Now I understand it's early in the process. It's only his 6th game and the league can quickly catch up with a QB who starts out with great promise. Dak Prescott comes to mind. But that being said, it is hard not to like what you. The Hightower pick was less a bad pass (it looked to me to be right on target, but a great play from Hightower to get underneath the pass's path. His 2nd pick, while in traffic, was right on target. More a great play by Harmon than a bad pass from Mahomes.
So you have a very talented QB who is surrounded by at least 4 A level talents and an excellent offensive mind in his ear. Clearly your defense isn't likely to have one its better nights playing against this kind of team, but actually they did a great job in the first half holding the Chiefs to just 9 points. So lets try to figure out why they were so successful in the first half and what changed in the 2nd half.
7. Front 7 - While they didn't have a sack and only had 3 QB hits, I thought the front 7 did a decent job containing Mahomes while at the same time consistently making them feel their presence and get the ball out quickly and thus forced a number of inaccurate throws by Mahomes. Even on those 3 throws that made me go "WOW" when he extended plays outside the box, he still was being rushed by oncoming players. Holding him for 2 rushes and only 9 yds is pretty impressive. So at least in THIS aspect of the game, I think the Pats accomplished what they wanted. They, for the most part, kept him contained and didn't allow him to run around and gain much yardage on the ground
I would opine that they also got what they wanted in "containing" Kelce He did have 5 catches for 61 yds, but almost half of that production came on KC's first drive. After that he wasn't a big factor except for one pick play that got him loose for a 15 yd gain in the 2nd half. If you had told me Kelce would end up with 5 for 61 and no TD's on 9 targets, I would have taken it in a nanosecond.
Flowers stood out on the DL and Hightower had his most impactful game in a LONG while making several good plays including his pick. He was also an integral part of keeping Kelce under control by constantly beating him up on the LOS. Sure there were a few times when he got stuck in an impossible match up that it didn't look good, but that seemed to get cleared up as the game wore on.
ERoberts also had a strong game tied for the lead in tackles with Flowers and even got a PD. He's slowly becoming not a liability on the field. On the other hand, after coming off 2 very good games, KVN disappointed me in missing 2 tackles on 3rd down that would have gotten his team off the field and Brady on it. Granted Hill and Hunt are both tough to bring down in open space, but great players need to make plays like that and KVN aspires to be that good.
8. DB's - I think we all need to see the rewatch thread to try and figure out what went wrong in the 2nd half that allowed all the open space Hill had to maneuver in. Collingsworth thought that there was a busted coverage on the last Hill TD. Clearly Harmon had no chance against a speeding crossing pattern by Hill. Hill was going a full speed, while Harmon had to start from a stationary position in the deep middle. He had no chance.
I think Gilmore was great again. It looked like he was given responsibility for Watkins and held him to just 2 catches for 19 yds of 4 targets and on one of those catches it looked like they were in a zone type coverage. My pregame hope was that Gilmore would erase Watkins as a significant threat and he did.
Again it will take the rewatch thread to break down exactly WHERE the break downs were primarily with Hill. Its one thing to have him catch a ball in tight coverage. It looked to me that he was running with YARDS of separation on a number of those catches. That is NOT what you expect against the opposing teams' top threat. I'd like to know the why of what happened. The next time they get together I'd expect Hill to be the top target for BB to stop.
The KHunt long TD happened when, on 3rd and 3 he ran a wheel route and ran by Harmon when he stepped up to close on what he thought would be a quick pass to Hunt. Was Harmon supposed to have someone in the deep outside to protect him, OR was he simply guessing a short throw to pick up the first down, and instead watched the guy run past him. I don't know.
9, ST's - Well except for a perfect job by Gotskowskin and the FG team, this was a special teams' disaster. To go along with the 98 yd KO return that led to an easy TD, there were 3 more returns that got passed the 30, PLUS a grounder that didn't get by the KC front 5 and gave KC field position beyond the 40 yd line. Normally I appreciate the thought that would allow a return. In the past we won these match ups, but not recently. The near TD Kick return was particularly disappointing since it had become clear that short kicks were NOT working. After this I'd like to see every future KO go thru the endzone.
10. Officials. - I don't know who this crew was but the fact they barely threw ANY flags was very refreshing. IIRC the Pats had only 2 flags throw against them and neither was accepted. KC only got 5 flags and the only one that was impactful was the PI on Gordon that put the ball on the one. But there was no doubt that WAS a PI the DB knocked Gordon down before the ball got there. So in the end, I'd like to see these nameless refs back again.
I had only one complaint and its a minor one. I think they SHOULD have called interference on the lone punt of the game. The officials claimed the guy was blocked INTO Edelman, when in fact it was the defender who was blocking the blocker PAST Julian and then hit the returner before the ball got there. In the end it didn't matter much, but it was a flaw in an otherwise great job by these refs.
11. Some league observations - I thought there were a LOT of surprising scores this week. I never thought Miami would have a shot, especially with Tannyhill out. Maybe I shouldn't have since Osweiler beat us a few years ago. I was shocked that the Rams barely sqeaked by the Broncos or Jacksonville got BURIED by a mediocre Dallas team. And then their's the 3-3 Jets, who not only beat the Colts they put up 42 in doing it.
It should be noted that the much maligned AFCE has 3 teams at .5oo or better, and the worst team in the division still has 2 wins. Maybe it's time to realize that the AFCE has never been the source of the Pats success and aren't the 'tomato cans' everyone thinks they are.
12 - On to Chicago - Easy to think that this game will be a walk over after their loss to the Phins in Miami, but recent league history has shown that a team coming home after a bad road loss have done very well the following week, so I expect this one to be very difficult. The Bears will be desperate to recover from that bad loss against a back up QB.
OK Its almost 4 and I'm nodding off. I have more to say but it will have to come tomorrow. So I'll just post this now and add it later when I'm more coherent. Sorry about any errors or typos, I'm not taking the time to edit. Enjoy the win, I know I will. And as usual your comments are welcom
But for us none of that matters. There are NO style points when you look at the standings, and HOW you won a game in October will matter little as they are preparing for the playoffs in January. The team could be a lot different before that time, and hopefully for the better, but we shall see. It's just past one so lets get down to the breakdown. I once started the breakdown with the comment that this was all about the defense. Well for this one it is clear that it was all about the offense and with 3 consecutive wins scoring 38, 38, and 43 it will likely to stay that way for a while.
1. OFFENSE - General - The league has gotten so soft in recent years I'm wondering if offenses are so skillful, defenses so hamstrung, or is game rigged this way, but the scoring production these last 3 weeks are pretty impressive, ESPECIALLY when the QB keeps telling us that they continued to leave points on the field and can be better. And I believe him. It seemed to me that Gordon and Brady are still not on the same page for every play, and Hogan was open a few times yet not targeted. And think about a time when Michel gets integrated into the passing attack and how that would make HIM even more productive. With an offense potentially THIS powerful, they will always be "in the game" at the very end.
36 passes for 340 yds and 34 runs for 173 shows great balance AND great production. That have truly become a team that can beat you either way and will be tough for teams to game plan for.
2. QB - Brady was great again for the most part. He completed 68% of his passes while the Pats converted on 53% of their 3rd down conversions, though that stat might be misleading for both teams (KC converted 40% of THEIR 3rd down attempts) because both teams converted so many of their first downs on first and 2nd downs.
There WAS a point in the 3rd quarter where I thought Brady became impatient and started to throw the ball deep when he didn't have to. Also it was during this time where he seemed to miss a wide open Hogan a few times and instead threw more difficult throws to others. Of course the 2 fumbles were also Brady's fault when you come down to it. Both times he WAS given the time to get rid of the ball.
But that's nitpicking. He did throw for well over 340 yds, had no picks, and got his team to produce 43 points and for the 43rd time led his team to a game wining drive when tied or behind in the 4th quarter. The pass to Gronk was a thing of beauty.
3. OL - This was the best the OL looked this year. They not only pass blocked effectively, it was their best run blocking game this season. Lots of holes for the RB's to get through this time. Hard to figure out exactly what was happening and how much of it was because of KC's ineptitude or our good play. The rewatch thread will hopefully help us figure out what they were doing.
They gave up 2 sacks, but that was more on Brady than KC. Also according to one stat I read, they only gave up 1 QB hit. Finally it looks like Cannon went down again. Head injury (read concussion) was the reason given. Lets see how it works out, IIRC that was his 3rd over the last few years. Waddle did a fine job coming in, but Cannon is better. Here's hoping he's back before too long.
3. Receivers - Gordon made baby steps forward. He has REALLY strong hands and I love the way he snatches the ball out of the air. He can SO close to catching that ball in the end zone despite being tackled before the ball got their. He also clearly misread what Brady wanted him to do on a couple of throws including 2 on that first drive. So he continues to tease us with his talent. It is exciting knowing that he hasn't scratched the surface of what he can be down the road. He will certainly be better in December, and hopefully even better than that with a full off-season program. Christ, he's pretty effective now and I bet he's only 30% of what he could be. He's THAT good.
When teams are concentrating on Gronk, Gordon, Edelman and White it is incumbent on Chris Hogan to get separation. Well its starting to look like that is starting to happen after being unable to do it before Edelman and Gordon arrived on the scene. Hopefully Brady will take advantage of that more often. 4 catches for 84 yds is a productive night for any WR.
Edelman also added 4 catches for 54 yds and a TD as he continues to round into game shape
Finally there's Gronk. Just 3 catches, but for 97 yds including the game winning catch. Also after watching Gronk be key in the 173 rushing yds as a blocker and watching Kelce NOT be a factor beyond being a receiver, I would opine that the question of who is the best TE in the league, should is over. It's not even close. Gronk is CLEARLY the best WR in the game and Kelce is a great slot RECEIVER, but not a great TE.
5. Offense in retrospect - It's pretty great, but like the QB said, it could end up being a lot better. Chicago has a one of the better defenses in the league and will be playing at home after laying an egg the week before. They will be the more desperate teams, and teams coming off bad games have often turned it around very quickly, so this will be a great test. Also it was pointed out to be that the Pats will be play 6 of the next 8 games on the road. The offense is going to HAVE to continue to be effective if we are to win a great majority of these game. The Bears will be a true test.
6. RB's - What's not to like. Michel continues to look like a great pick, which is exciting to see, especially when you know there is still a lot of upside in this kid. When they start to use him more in the passing game it could get a lot better. James White continues to be one of more consistent sources of offensive production. He's become more than just a "3rd down back". Now I do NOT want to see him run the ball much, but he DID have a few solid runs including one where I saw him knock the back when he was being tackled. 92 yds in total offense has become a number to be expected from James. Even KBarner did well in his short fill in capacity.
General Defensive thoughts - Hard to be positive when the defense gives up 40 points including THIRTY ONE in the 2nd half alone. But positive I will try to be. The KC offense really IS a daunting task for anyone to deal with. Watkins, Kelce, Hill, and Hunt are a real fearsome foursome for any DC to stop. Down the road, Hill and Hunt would be a bigger worry for me than Brown and Bell.
Also while I was starting to get annoyed with all the Mahomes hype before the game started, I think by the end of the game you had to come away with the feeling it wasn't just hype. To me he was every bit as as good as advertised, at least in my opinion. He made a couple of key throws on the run and right on the money under pressure. I counted at least 3 than made think WOW! Now I understand it's early in the process. It's only his 6th game and the league can quickly catch up with a QB who starts out with great promise. Dak Prescott comes to mind. But that being said, it is hard not to like what you. The Hightower pick was less a bad pass (it looked to me to be right on target, but a great play from Hightower to get underneath the pass's path. His 2nd pick, while in traffic, was right on target. More a great play by Harmon than a bad pass from Mahomes.
So you have a very talented QB who is surrounded by at least 4 A level talents and an excellent offensive mind in his ear. Clearly your defense isn't likely to have one its better nights playing against this kind of team, but actually they did a great job in the first half holding the Chiefs to just 9 points. So lets try to figure out why they were so successful in the first half and what changed in the 2nd half.
7. Front 7 - While they didn't have a sack and only had 3 QB hits, I thought the front 7 did a decent job containing Mahomes while at the same time consistently making them feel their presence and get the ball out quickly and thus forced a number of inaccurate throws by Mahomes. Even on those 3 throws that made me go "WOW" when he extended plays outside the box, he still was being rushed by oncoming players. Holding him for 2 rushes and only 9 yds is pretty impressive. So at least in THIS aspect of the game, I think the Pats accomplished what they wanted. They, for the most part, kept him contained and didn't allow him to run around and gain much yardage on the ground
I would opine that they also got what they wanted in "containing" Kelce He did have 5 catches for 61 yds, but almost half of that production came on KC's first drive. After that he wasn't a big factor except for one pick play that got him loose for a 15 yd gain in the 2nd half. If you had told me Kelce would end up with 5 for 61 and no TD's on 9 targets, I would have taken it in a nanosecond.
Flowers stood out on the DL and Hightower had his most impactful game in a LONG while making several good plays including his pick. He was also an integral part of keeping Kelce under control by constantly beating him up on the LOS. Sure there were a few times when he got stuck in an impossible match up that it didn't look good, but that seemed to get cleared up as the game wore on.
ERoberts also had a strong game tied for the lead in tackles with Flowers and even got a PD. He's slowly becoming not a liability on the field. On the other hand, after coming off 2 very good games, KVN disappointed me in missing 2 tackles on 3rd down that would have gotten his team off the field and Brady on it. Granted Hill and Hunt are both tough to bring down in open space, but great players need to make plays like that and KVN aspires to be that good.
8. DB's - I think we all need to see the rewatch thread to try and figure out what went wrong in the 2nd half that allowed all the open space Hill had to maneuver in. Collingsworth thought that there was a busted coverage on the last Hill TD. Clearly Harmon had no chance against a speeding crossing pattern by Hill. Hill was going a full speed, while Harmon had to start from a stationary position in the deep middle. He had no chance.
I think Gilmore was great again. It looked like he was given responsibility for Watkins and held him to just 2 catches for 19 yds of 4 targets and on one of those catches it looked like they were in a zone type coverage. My pregame hope was that Gilmore would erase Watkins as a significant threat and he did.
Again it will take the rewatch thread to break down exactly WHERE the break downs were primarily with Hill. Its one thing to have him catch a ball in tight coverage. It looked to me that he was running with YARDS of separation on a number of those catches. That is NOT what you expect against the opposing teams' top threat. I'd like to know the why of what happened. The next time they get together I'd expect Hill to be the top target for BB to stop.
The KHunt long TD happened when, on 3rd and 3 he ran a wheel route and ran by Harmon when he stepped up to close on what he thought would be a quick pass to Hunt. Was Harmon supposed to have someone in the deep outside to protect him, OR was he simply guessing a short throw to pick up the first down, and instead watched the guy run past him. I don't know.
9, ST's - Well except for a perfect job by Gotskowskin and the FG team, this was a special teams' disaster. To go along with the 98 yd KO return that led to an easy TD, there were 3 more returns that got passed the 30, PLUS a grounder that didn't get by the KC front 5 and gave KC field position beyond the 40 yd line. Normally I appreciate the thought that would allow a return. In the past we won these match ups, but not recently. The near TD Kick return was particularly disappointing since it had become clear that short kicks were NOT working. After this I'd like to see every future KO go thru the endzone.
10. Officials. - I don't know who this crew was but the fact they barely threw ANY flags was very refreshing. IIRC the Pats had only 2 flags throw against them and neither was accepted. KC only got 5 flags and the only one that was impactful was the PI on Gordon that put the ball on the one. But there was no doubt that WAS a PI the DB knocked Gordon down before the ball got there. So in the end, I'd like to see these nameless refs back again.
I had only one complaint and its a minor one. I think they SHOULD have called interference on the lone punt of the game. The officials claimed the guy was blocked INTO Edelman, when in fact it was the defender who was blocking the blocker PAST Julian and then hit the returner before the ball got there. In the end it didn't matter much, but it was a flaw in an otherwise great job by these refs.
11. Some league observations - I thought there were a LOT of surprising scores this week. I never thought Miami would have a shot, especially with Tannyhill out. Maybe I shouldn't have since Osweiler beat us a few years ago. I was shocked that the Rams barely sqeaked by the Broncos or Jacksonville got BURIED by a mediocre Dallas team. And then their's the 3-3 Jets, who not only beat the Colts they put up 42 in doing it.
It should be noted that the much maligned AFCE has 3 teams at .5oo or better, and the worst team in the division still has 2 wins. Maybe it's time to realize that the AFCE has never been the source of the Pats success and aren't the 'tomato cans' everyone thinks they are.
12 - On to Chicago - Easy to think that this game will be a walk over after their loss to the Phins in Miami, but recent league history has shown that a team coming home after a bad road loss have done very well the following week, so I expect this one to be very difficult. The Bears will be desperate to recover from that bad loss against a back up QB.
OK Its almost 4 and I'm nodding off. I have more to say but it will have to come tomorrow. So I'll just post this now and add it later when I'm more coherent. Sorry about any errors or typos, I'm not taking the time to edit. Enjoy the win, I know I will. And as usual your comments are welcom