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Good Morning. I have been a Pats fan for a long long time. Actually going to a game in their first season. But this game HAS to be put into the "I can believe what I just saw" category. It was THAT extraordina ry. But now after watching EVERY post game show possible last night, and reading some of the what's coming out this morning I have a much better grip on what I want to say about this game. Certainly much better than I had last night.
I was among those who took BB's relaxed and confident pregame demenor to heart, and felt that this game COULD be a blow out. I stated that if the Pats played their A game, and the Falcons played THEIR A game, the Pats would win this game. What I DIDN'T expect was that the Pats would play their C game for the entire first half, and their B game for most of the 3rd quarter. I also didn't expect the Falcon Defense to play that well....at least for the first 40 minutes of the game.
Disclaimer - I have to admit, boys and girls, that I shut the TV off after the pick six, so I didn't see the Pats drive for their first points OR the half time show. But I was back when the 2nd half began at 21-3, I still had some confidence they could get back in the game if they could stop the Falcons on their first drive of the 2nd half. I mean they WERE moving the ball in the first half despite all the adversity. Well after that 3 and out by the D, I thought OK lets get back in this game.
Then came the backbreaker - the offense failed again, and the Falcons went right down the field again, including watching Gabriel break Malcolm Butler's ankles on a big pass play that will forever be on Malcolm's motivational reel. 28-3, midway in the 3rd quarter. They're moving the ball. They're playing great timely D. They're 25 points ahead and the biggest superhowl come back in history has been 10 points.
So I shut my TV off again. It was just getting too painful....as you all know. I'm starting to think about what I'm going to write. I'm dreading what the next few weeks will be like having to ignore all contact with sports media, etc. But this time it was only for a couple of minutes/ I had to sack up. I'm a fan and should be there through thick and thin. So I was blessed to be back in time to see the first step on this remarkable comback. and see tje end of the first TD drive. Even then my expectations had been lowered to hoping they could make the game respectable. I mean it was good to see the offense move the ball, BUT who would have thought the offense that had put up 3 TD's on the Pats D would only sniff the red zon one more time. I just felt I had to admit that. Like Paul, I had a moment of weakness.
I guess in the end all you can say is that when the Pats play in any Superbowl, the results will be EPIC. During the BB era they've been in 7, and, win or lose, when the game was over, the general consensus was that "this was the best superbowl ever". This game will be no exception.
OK, that was the warm up, lets break down the game. Have a cup of coffe ready, because this might take a while:
OFFENSE
1. OL - I had great expectations for the OL pre-game and none for the Atlanta pass rush. I also had no respect for the Falcon rush D. It was a game where I thought the Pats OL would dominate the LOS.
Well; for the first 40 minutes of the game I was dead wrong. During that time Brady is sacked 5 times (some of them coverage sacks) and hit many more times besides. For the first 40, it looked like the Falcons were following "the blueprint" perfectly. It looked like they shut down the run game completely. They were hitting Brady and making him look extremely uncomfortable in the pocket, and they forced 2 turnovers including that soul crushing pick 6.
The key to winning any game in this era is forcing FG's not TD's, turning the ball over, and have your offense make chunk plays (over 20 yds), and the Atlanta D was doing doing that to a T.....but only for the first 40 minutes.
But there are a lot of stats that were hidden in the seeming rout that was going on. The Pats had a huge time of possession lead in the first half, and while the run game looked completely stuffed, I was surprised that when I added up the rushing total, it was over 100 yds. Who would have thunk.
Individually, I don't think anyone in the OL was innocent in what happened over the first 40 minutes. It looked like even our great OT's were allowing hits and might have be responsible for some sacks. Shaq Mason got blown up on the first sack, and when you give up 5 sacks in less than 40 minutes no one is not guilty of something.
But that all changed in the the final 20+ minutes of the game. Brady was virtually untouched and it looked like a different Atlanta Defense. But in defense of the OL. 2 of the players we all worried about pre-game was Beasley and Hageman. Hageman had just 2 tackles, and Joe Velano with 1 assisted tackle did more than Beasley who didn't make the stat sheet. So the OL had to be doing something right all night.
The fact is that in the end we have two very good OT's and a very young interior who did OK and will get better as time goes on. All in all we have good things to look forward to in the future.
2. Receivers -
a. I saw a well deserved thread for Danny Amendola who had 8 catches for 78 yds and another TD, so I will be brief except to say this. I know Amendola is on everyone's cut list for next year. He's over 30, small, a part time player, and has a 3MM cap hit this year. It would make eminent sense to part ways with him next season. But think about just how clutch he's been. How many of his 23 regular season catches were for first downs. I don't know but I bet it was a lot of them. And think about this. Julio Jones is the best WR in the NFL. He had 83 receptions and 6 TD's in the regular season. Danny had 4 in just 23. Just how much would this offense miss that kind of clutch production?
b. Mitchell - 6 catches for 70 yds in just 7 targets bodes well for him in the future. He's never going
to be Julio Jones or Dez Bryant, but he CAN be a very productive successful Deon Branch/David Givens type guy for the Pats. I look forward to his 2nd year jump in production.
c. Bennett - I thought early in the game Bennett should have gotten more looks, because he's a guy who is big enough to catch balls when he is "covered". He's a guy you can "throw open". Instead they used him sparingly again, yet he had a very productive 5 for 62. I really wish he wasn't interferred with in OT, because I think it would have been fantastic for him to end the season with the game winning TD.
I'm not sure what his future will be with the Pats. He certainly did a great job this year and was a great teammate in the lockerroom and an interesting and refreshing character for the fans. I'm less certain he'll be back next season, but I very much hope he is.
d. Hogan- Just another day at the offense for the most unspectacular WR who ever led the NFL in ypc.
e. Edelman - Lost in the fact Julian got his 5 catches for almost 90 yds, and the fact he ended the curse of the miracle catches with one of his own, was the fact he was targeted 13 times. That is NOT a great number. Of course it would have been a lot better if he hadn't had the drop or Brady had hit him when he was wide open, but it once again opens the question about Brady over relying on a guy who might have seen his peak this season. Just a thought
3. RB's - Like I said in the opening, it didn't look pretty but in the end the RB's accounted for 85 yds in 23 carries, which is about what THIS offense needs to do to make the passing attack work.
a. I doubt anyone here has been more critical of James White than I have been in his 3 years with the team. Especially this year when I felt he was in the way of my binky, DJ Foster. And while I never doubted his hands, for the first 2 years he was always tackled by the first man who touched him. He was a horrible runner.
Well White has become ANOTHER in the long line of guys who just simply get better the longer they are here. He's another testiment to the Pats coaching staff and the "Patriot way". Because James White (who still isn't a good runner), is infinitely better than he was, and was obviously critical to the Pats' success last night. Plus we should note that rather than a liability he was early in his career, White has become a good pass blocker. Kudos to him and shame on me.
b. Lewis - Was a big disappointment. He didn't seem to run the ball well, made a bad decision on ST's on a KO, and put the team in a hole, was no factor in the passing game, and had a drop. I don't know if its the knee, but even in the regular season, he was no where near the explosive player he was in 2015 pre-injury. Hopefully he can get at least some of that back.
c. LGB - Not much room for him to run and probably a disappointing game for him. Also the score early left him pretty much without a role in this game. Now the question comes about will he be back. I don't know. But like DA, he's been clutch, and an important asset in the locker room.
4. QB - What can you say. What Brady accomplished in the last 20 minutes of that game is simply remarkable. But what makes it so incredible is the fact that by Brady standards he did it after being very mediocre for the first 40. Normal NFL QB's can't usually overcome those bad starts. They can't suddenly recapture their focus to do what Brady did. And with Brady its become a regualr occurrence, and something we see over and over again in the most pressure packed moments. The suerpbowl vs Seattle is and obvious example, but even in the loss to Denverin the AFCCG, think about that comeback to be in possition to tie the game....on the road after the beating he took.
Speaking of beatings. I hope this game cements Brady's legacy as not only being the best of all time, but being one of the leagues TOUGHEST QB's of all time. Time and time again Brady has disproved the MYTH that all you have to do is hit him to get him off his game. That if you do that, then Brady is done. Not only is this true of EVERY QB, Brady has now disproved the MYTH by having orchestrated the 2 biggest superbowl comebacks in history, AFTER being beat up early and often.
Atlanta did exactly what they wanted in the first 40 minutes. They sacked him five times and had numerous QB hits, yet in the end it didn't stop him, like the myth says it should. Instead it made him better. People forget that in those 2 superbowl loses (where the myth began) Brady absorbed beatings and then led his team on a late clutch 4th quarter TD drive to put his team ahead. It was similar in Denver last year, but fell short. Atlanta beat him up, yet hin the end he crushed them.
No doubt getting hits affects Brady just like every other QB in history,but history shows us it never beats him, especially in the most important games of the year. So lets FINALLY put that "myth" to rest.
5. General offensive thoughts.
a. One area that the Pat offense has recently sucked is in 2 point plays, or passing plays from the 2. The Denver 2 pointer comes immediately to mind. Not only did it fail, it failed miserably. Final play of the Seattle game this year was another expample of a big play from the 2 that not only failed but just looked ugly. SO it can as a great surprise that the Pats made BOTH of their 2 pt coversions. AND looked good doing it.
b. Talk about being a game of inches, nothing points this out better than the 2 point conversion where DA JUST got in, and the final TD where White did the same.
c. Kudos to Atlanta's D who came into the game with a good defensive plan and executed it to perfection....for the first 40 minutes. They were the ones to forced those TO's They were the ones who covered the receivers well enough to force 5 sacks. In the end they ran out of gas having to play 94 snaps and reverted to what their stats were for the season. More depth and experience and this will be a very good defense. Garrett, Jones and Alford are great young players to build around.
d. I hear a stat that was interesting. Usually when your QB is throwing the ball over 55 or 60 times in the game, you might have a lot of yards, but you usually lose.......except if your QB is Tom Brady. Once again breaking the mold, Brady is 13-9 in those games 14-9 if you count last night.
e. Lost in the loss last night was the fact Matt Ryan threw for close to 300 yds, had a 73% completion rate, and a 144 QB rating and LOST. Not only that he'll be widely criticized by the second guessers around the league. Just another example of how "Life isn't fair"
I was among those who took BB's relaxed and confident pregame demenor to heart, and felt that this game COULD be a blow out. I stated that if the Pats played their A game, and the Falcons played THEIR A game, the Pats would win this game. What I DIDN'T expect was that the Pats would play their C game for the entire first half, and their B game for most of the 3rd quarter. I also didn't expect the Falcon Defense to play that well....at least for the first 40 minutes of the game.
Disclaimer - I have to admit, boys and girls, that I shut the TV off after the pick six, so I didn't see the Pats drive for their first points OR the half time show. But I was back when the 2nd half began at 21-3, I still had some confidence they could get back in the game if they could stop the Falcons on their first drive of the 2nd half. I mean they WERE moving the ball in the first half despite all the adversity. Well after that 3 and out by the D, I thought OK lets get back in this game.
Then came the backbreaker - the offense failed again, and the Falcons went right down the field again, including watching Gabriel break Malcolm Butler's ankles on a big pass play that will forever be on Malcolm's motivational reel. 28-3, midway in the 3rd quarter. They're moving the ball. They're playing great timely D. They're 25 points ahead and the biggest superhowl come back in history has been 10 points.
So I shut my TV off again. It was just getting too painful....as you all know. I'm starting to think about what I'm going to write. I'm dreading what the next few weeks will be like having to ignore all contact with sports media, etc. But this time it was only for a couple of minutes/ I had to sack up. I'm a fan and should be there through thick and thin. So I was blessed to be back in time to see the first step on this remarkable comback. and see tje end of the first TD drive. Even then my expectations had been lowered to hoping they could make the game respectable. I mean it was good to see the offense move the ball, BUT who would have thought the offense that had put up 3 TD's on the Pats D would only sniff the red zon one more time. I just felt I had to admit that. Like Paul, I had a moment of weakness.
I guess in the end all you can say is that when the Pats play in any Superbowl, the results will be EPIC. During the BB era they've been in 7, and, win or lose, when the game was over, the general consensus was that "this was the best superbowl ever". This game will be no exception.
OK, that was the warm up, lets break down the game. Have a cup of coffe ready, because this might take a while:
OFFENSE
1. OL - I had great expectations for the OL pre-game and none for the Atlanta pass rush. I also had no respect for the Falcon rush D. It was a game where I thought the Pats OL would dominate the LOS.
Well; for the first 40 minutes of the game I was dead wrong. During that time Brady is sacked 5 times (some of them coverage sacks) and hit many more times besides. For the first 40, it looked like the Falcons were following "the blueprint" perfectly. It looked like they shut down the run game completely. They were hitting Brady and making him look extremely uncomfortable in the pocket, and they forced 2 turnovers including that soul crushing pick 6.
The key to winning any game in this era is forcing FG's not TD's, turning the ball over, and have your offense make chunk plays (over 20 yds), and the Atlanta D was doing doing that to a T.....but only for the first 40 minutes.
But there are a lot of stats that were hidden in the seeming rout that was going on. The Pats had a huge time of possession lead in the first half, and while the run game looked completely stuffed, I was surprised that when I added up the rushing total, it was over 100 yds. Who would have thunk.
Individually, I don't think anyone in the OL was innocent in what happened over the first 40 minutes. It looked like even our great OT's were allowing hits and might have be responsible for some sacks. Shaq Mason got blown up on the first sack, and when you give up 5 sacks in less than 40 minutes no one is not guilty of something.
But that all changed in the the final 20+ minutes of the game. Brady was virtually untouched and it looked like a different Atlanta Defense. But in defense of the OL. 2 of the players we all worried about pre-game was Beasley and Hageman. Hageman had just 2 tackles, and Joe Velano with 1 assisted tackle did more than Beasley who didn't make the stat sheet. So the OL had to be doing something right all night.
The fact is that in the end we have two very good OT's and a very young interior who did OK and will get better as time goes on. All in all we have good things to look forward to in the future.
2. Receivers -
a. I saw a well deserved thread for Danny Amendola who had 8 catches for 78 yds and another TD, so I will be brief except to say this. I know Amendola is on everyone's cut list for next year. He's over 30, small, a part time player, and has a 3MM cap hit this year. It would make eminent sense to part ways with him next season. But think about just how clutch he's been. How many of his 23 regular season catches were for first downs. I don't know but I bet it was a lot of them. And think about this. Julio Jones is the best WR in the NFL. He had 83 receptions and 6 TD's in the regular season. Danny had 4 in just 23. Just how much would this offense miss that kind of clutch production?
b. Mitchell - 6 catches for 70 yds in just 7 targets bodes well for him in the future. He's never going
to be Julio Jones or Dez Bryant, but he CAN be a very productive successful Deon Branch/David Givens type guy for the Pats. I look forward to his 2nd year jump in production.
c. Bennett - I thought early in the game Bennett should have gotten more looks, because he's a guy who is big enough to catch balls when he is "covered". He's a guy you can "throw open". Instead they used him sparingly again, yet he had a very productive 5 for 62. I really wish he wasn't interferred with in OT, because I think it would have been fantastic for him to end the season with the game winning TD.
I'm not sure what his future will be with the Pats. He certainly did a great job this year and was a great teammate in the lockerroom and an interesting and refreshing character for the fans. I'm less certain he'll be back next season, but I very much hope he is.
d. Hogan- Just another day at the offense for the most unspectacular WR who ever led the NFL in ypc.
e. Edelman - Lost in the fact Julian got his 5 catches for almost 90 yds, and the fact he ended the curse of the miracle catches with one of his own, was the fact he was targeted 13 times. That is NOT a great number. Of course it would have been a lot better if he hadn't had the drop or Brady had hit him when he was wide open, but it once again opens the question about Brady over relying on a guy who might have seen his peak this season. Just a thought
3. RB's - Like I said in the opening, it didn't look pretty but in the end the RB's accounted for 85 yds in 23 carries, which is about what THIS offense needs to do to make the passing attack work.
a. I doubt anyone here has been more critical of James White than I have been in his 3 years with the team. Especially this year when I felt he was in the way of my binky, DJ Foster. And while I never doubted his hands, for the first 2 years he was always tackled by the first man who touched him. He was a horrible runner.
Well White has become ANOTHER in the long line of guys who just simply get better the longer they are here. He's another testiment to the Pats coaching staff and the "Patriot way". Because James White (who still isn't a good runner), is infinitely better than he was, and was obviously critical to the Pats' success last night. Plus we should note that rather than a liability he was early in his career, White has become a good pass blocker. Kudos to him and shame on me.
b. Lewis - Was a big disappointment. He didn't seem to run the ball well, made a bad decision on ST's on a KO, and put the team in a hole, was no factor in the passing game, and had a drop. I don't know if its the knee, but even in the regular season, he was no where near the explosive player he was in 2015 pre-injury. Hopefully he can get at least some of that back.
c. LGB - Not much room for him to run and probably a disappointing game for him. Also the score early left him pretty much without a role in this game. Now the question comes about will he be back. I don't know. But like DA, he's been clutch, and an important asset in the locker room.
4. QB - What can you say. What Brady accomplished in the last 20 minutes of that game is simply remarkable. But what makes it so incredible is the fact that by Brady standards he did it after being very mediocre for the first 40. Normal NFL QB's can't usually overcome those bad starts. They can't suddenly recapture their focus to do what Brady did. And with Brady its become a regualr occurrence, and something we see over and over again in the most pressure packed moments. The suerpbowl vs Seattle is and obvious example, but even in the loss to Denverin the AFCCG, think about that comeback to be in possition to tie the game....on the road after the beating he took.
Speaking of beatings. I hope this game cements Brady's legacy as not only being the best of all time, but being one of the leagues TOUGHEST QB's of all time. Time and time again Brady has disproved the MYTH that all you have to do is hit him to get him off his game. That if you do that, then Brady is done. Not only is this true of EVERY QB, Brady has now disproved the MYTH by having orchestrated the 2 biggest superbowl comebacks in history, AFTER being beat up early and often.
Atlanta did exactly what they wanted in the first 40 minutes. They sacked him five times and had numerous QB hits, yet in the end it didn't stop him, like the myth says it should. Instead it made him better. People forget that in those 2 superbowl loses (where the myth began) Brady absorbed beatings and then led his team on a late clutch 4th quarter TD drive to put his team ahead. It was similar in Denver last year, but fell short. Atlanta beat him up, yet hin the end he crushed them.
No doubt getting hits affects Brady just like every other QB in history,but history shows us it never beats him, especially in the most important games of the year. So lets FINALLY put that "myth" to rest.
5. General offensive thoughts.
a. One area that the Pat offense has recently sucked is in 2 point plays, or passing plays from the 2. The Denver 2 pointer comes immediately to mind. Not only did it fail, it failed miserably. Final play of the Seattle game this year was another expample of a big play from the 2 that not only failed but just looked ugly. SO it can as a great surprise that the Pats made BOTH of their 2 pt coversions. AND looked good doing it.
b. Talk about being a game of inches, nothing points this out better than the 2 point conversion where DA JUST got in, and the final TD where White did the same.
c. Kudos to Atlanta's D who came into the game with a good defensive plan and executed it to perfection....for the first 40 minutes. They were the ones to forced those TO's They were the ones who covered the receivers well enough to force 5 sacks. In the end they ran out of gas having to play 94 snaps and reverted to what their stats were for the season. More depth and experience and this will be a very good defense. Garrett, Jones and Alford are great young players to build around.
d. I hear a stat that was interesting. Usually when your QB is throwing the ball over 55 or 60 times in the game, you might have a lot of yards, but you usually lose.......except if your QB is Tom Brady. Once again breaking the mold, Brady is 13-9 in those games 14-9 if you count last night.
e. Lost in the loss last night was the fact Matt Ryan threw for close to 300 yds, had a 73% completion rate, and a 144 QB rating and LOST. Not only that he'll be widely criticized by the second guessers around the league. Just another example of how "Life isn't fair"