Idle Thoughts - the West Coast edition

[luuked]

Van Noy played much better than Mcclellan and hes only been here a couple of weeks. I'd like to see Mingo be given more of a chance to play on a regular basis, its hard to imagine he'd be worse than Shea M.
Half way through the third period i posted that the pats weren't playing patriot football starting with the seattle game. Within 30 seconds of hitting send they did, it was like someone flipped a switch. They started playing crisper, they seemed more focused and determined, the defense didn't look confused especially the backfield.

I think where you will see Mingo appear more often is in sub instead of Roberts.

 

[neuronet]

White and Lewis are forces. Combined with Blount, we are now officially more scary than we have been in many years in our run game. I agree that White is better than people give him credit for. He's quick and shifty, maybe not healthy Lewis levels, but he's very good. Remember when the best we had was Maroney?

 

[n6249c]

"MOST of the damage done by the Niners were throws to their RB's and TE's crossing in zone coverages or pick plays. That is stuff that can be fixed over the next 6 games I believe. "

People keep saying this and I think people will continue to say it until the week before the season ends. "Sure, their defense isn't great but they have ONE more week to fix it! Don't worry!"

How come they haven't fixed it in the previous nine games?

How many losses has it caused? Until it starts costing games frequently it's not the priority, the priority is things that would cost the win. So far this has maybe cost one W (Seattle) and who knows how many wins resulted from prioritizing other things?

 

[n6249c]

I could not agree more with your Brady critique. No neither of us wants him to go all Joe Flacco, but throwing to your go to guys when possibly covered should be a net plus. Tommy Boy is SO pick phobic that he too rarely does this, unless it's Edelman. BB is partly to blame as he excoriates players making turnovers.
Speaking of The Squirrel, he did not look like he has something wrong as many here have wrongly intimated. I agree that TFB is fixated on his bromance to the detriment of missed opportunities, q.v. a wide open Mitchell.
AND why not a few more attempts to The Black Gronk, my man Marty "NASA" Bennett? Even if covered by one, Bennett should be able to fight for the ball and win. A wasted asset. Josh, kick Tommy ass about this today in film review.
Nearly Every. Single. Time. Amendoler gets his hands on the ball good to great things happen.

I'm in a positive frame of mind so I won't discuss the D who played much better after a horrible 92 yard TD drive.

Who here is NOT surprised that Madam Secretary is Ken's "safe space"?

Disagree. I want Brady to run through his progressions and find the open guy. I don't want him locking on to his "go to" guys and then forcing it to them when they're not open. That leads to picks. It's worse than what he did yesterday which was locking on to them and then throwing it away or eating it. Best is when he actually looks for everybody, it was visibly much better when he did that yesterday.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

He was looking back for the ball. If you're doing that most of the time they won't call PI.

They'll give you more latitude, but that was a blatant DPI that should have been called. Ryan (or whoever) was preventing the receiver from using one of his arms.

 

[IllegalContact]

some individual player thoughts:

Sheard - he will be gone after this year when someone overpays for him......Flowers has taken advantage of an opportunity and has made Sheard expendable.....no need to pay the guy when you have a guy who is doing the same for a rookie deal through 2018....be better off bringing the next sheard type in during the offseason
Collins - ya, we may miss him a bit, but honestly, how good was the defense with him? not good enough to justify paying him.
Van Noy - he will be starting soon.......gets us out of having to resort to so much nickle though I did not notice if he was at all in coverage yesterday
Valentine - he can be beastly......great backup who rotates nicely with branch and brown

Blount - as of right now, he has 201 carries for the season which matches his career high...I'd like to see him preserved a bit for late season and playoffs........
Lewis - fills the RB stable ...... adds a dimension out there
White - his fundamental play in the passing game has been very good......basically does what he is asked no more no less
Mitchell - he looks like a very sound player that fills another missing dimension.

the last couple of weeks have simplified the pats free agency issues going into the offseason......sign Hightower, Bennett, Butler, Branch

 

[DaBruinz]

I know people harp on the Turnover ration, but the Pats DID force two fumbles in the game. The ball didn't bounce their way, but the forced fumbles make the other team focus on protecting the ball better..

Butler did allow a completion. It was to Chris Harper. The big bloop lob. Thing came nearly straight down into Harper's hands. Nothing Butler could do.

I don't know why this team has so many problems with it's Zone Defense this year. Zone Defense has been a staple of this team for years.. Last week and yesterday's game showed how bad they are at it.. It's perplexing.
I really wish they'd have Blount run WIDE Left with the blockers blocking to the right on the final drive. That play has been money when they've used it. They didn't use it once yesterday.

Contrary to PFK, I think yesterday was one of Malcom Brown's worst games. He and Alan Branch were getting man-handled in the run game which was part of the reason that Carlos Hyde was running so well all game. I'm not taking anything from Hyde because he's a damn good RB.

I know the mediots were touting Roberts as a Collins replacement, but he's not. Roberts is a 2 down LBer who will always do his best work against the run. I see him as a reserve behind Hightower.

Liked what I saw out of Van Noy.

Trey Flowers continues to be a beast. Chalked up another sack.

Glad the Pats are doing more rotation at the DE position. Chris Long's performance has been waning. |

Pats missed a ton of tackles yesterday. Chalk it up to the rain..

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Disagree. I want Brady to run through his progressions and find the open guy. I don't want him locking on to his "go to" guys and then forcing it to them when they're not open. That leads to picks. It's worse than what he did yesterday which was locking on to them and then throwing it away or eating it. Best is when he actually looks for everybody, it was visibly much better when he did that yesterday.

I actually agree with your point of contention when I re-read what I posted; that was not how I meant to say it.
I do not want him forcing the ball to "go to" guys as I implied in print.
I DO want him to risk a few attempts to a Bennet, Gronk, whomever who is single covered. Brady has shown how he can put the ball into a tight window.
He needs to do what the early Brady was famous for before the Moss-Welker and now Squirrel bromances, use his savvy and vision to find the open guy first.

 

[DaBruinz]

I'd say Matthew Slater is more important. Good news is that Brandon Mitchell finally came through!

Umm.. Brandon Mitchell, depending on if you're referring to the LB or the WR, plays for the Broncos or the Jets respectively.

Are you referring to MALCOLM Mitchell, the Patriots WR?

 

[DaBruinz]

He is slower than Brandon Spikes. Still image of him runing behind Prosise.

This isn't even close to being accurate.
Roberts has 4.6 - 40 Speed. Spikes ran a 5.05 -40 at his Pro-Day.

CJ Prosise runs a 4.4 and is a good all-around back.

 

[DaBruinz]

The one thing I saw yesterday that I was disappointed in is Brady locking in on Edelman. His missed other players (including Blount) who were open several times yesterday.

 

[VrabelJr]

Opponent's LB lined up on our RB: Oh yeah baby! Brady made them pay! Idiots!

Our LB lined up on opponent's RB: GOSH OUR LINEBACKERS ****ING SUCK IN COVERAGE!

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Some good commentary from Lombardi here:

 

[Deus Irae]

In a league where more and more QB's are throwing those 50/50 balls all over the place and getting results I wish Brady would do it more often. The perfect example was at the end of the first half, when he refused to let it go, even on the last play of the half. Watching him refuse to take a shot, when he was standing for 4 or 5 seconds without pulling the trigger sometimes pisses me off. I know someone is at least partially open out there. Bennett, Gronk, Hogan and Mitchell give him 4 bigger and stronger guys to throw to in those situations. Maybe 17 years of "throwing to the open man" is just too much for him to adjust to, but I wish he'd just do it a little bit more often.

Brady throws "50/50" balls to Gronk. Amendola and Edelman are too short for those, so they get the "where nobody else had a chance" balls. Neither Hogan nor Mitchell has earned "50/50" level trust, and Bennett looks as if he's still dealing with that tender ankle.

 

[Deus Irae]

Opponent's LB lined up on our RB: Oh yeah baby! Brady made them pay! Idiots!

Our LB lined up on opponent's RB: GOSH OUR LINEBACKERS ****ING SUCK IN COVERAGE!

In today's game, it's looking more and more as if you need a LB/S hybrid who specializes in pass defense, in order to counter the increasing number of 3dRBs that are really HB/WR hybrids.

 

[long distance]

Some good commentary from Lombardi here:

In two minutes he says more than commentators and pundits in a whole game (or after). Does a good job of not letting himself being dragged into the mediot mud too much. Hope he can resist the temptations. The only guy I enjoy listening.

No wonder BB liked to have him at his side.

And I think he's right about North. Despite their record and current state they look like the only ones who can upset Pats @Foxboro. Raven's game will be pretty telling.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

In today's game, it's looking more and more as if you need a LB/S hybrid who specializes in pass defense, in order to counter the increasing number of 3dRBs that are really HB/WR hybrids.

If a RB has any hands at all (e.g. NOT Bolden) they should be able to outmaneuver the typical LB who is carrying far more mass and usually runs a slower initial dash and 3 cone. This plays directly into BB's oft-cited goal of that hybrid LB/S that he has tried time and again to find since fairly big Rodney Harrison who even so was a bit lite on the LB side. More needed than ever as more offenses are utilizing RBs who can catch. Too bad excellent receiver White is still too often a one touch onto the ground runner.

 

[Ring 6]

I think most people that want Bennett to have more targets are missing that he is being used a lot in the running game. Yes, LGB is having a good year but a lot of it is because of improved OL play and support from our two TEs.

This is one of those cases where the impact of players is not showing up at all in stats because there is no way to measure it properly. When Gronk is back it will make life also easier for Bennett because either of them (or both) can be the blocker at any point. It's all connected.

It all depends on the game plan. The patriots don't treat targets like a birth right. They call the plays that should work best against the scheme the opponent plays, read the progressions and throw to the foray open progression.
It's been this way for 17 years. Unless you are a guy who always gets open your looks vary dramatically based upon opponent.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Waiting with baited breath for Ken's riveting post reviewing Sunday's Madam Secretary.

 

[SVN]

White and Lewis are forces. Combined with Blount, we are now officially more scary than we have been in many years in our run game. I agree that White is better than people give him credit for. He's quick and shifty, maybe not healthy Lewis levels, but he's very good. Remember when the best we had was Maroney?

I just hope we use them . We have a penchant of getting too cute and pass happy at times.