Game Day Thread Official Post Game Thread- Bengals beat the Pats

[Kasmir]

While I agree, you don't have to run it straight up the middle or right at the teeth of the defense. Stevenson has the ability and speed to go outside with the ball. So do Harris and Strong. A better play call there would have been to put Marcus Jones and Stevenson in the backfield and flip it wide to Jones with Stevenson faking to take it on a dive.

I put part of this on Mac. When he looks up and sees that the defense has 7 guys on the short side of the field, he should be making the call to change it to an outside run to the opposite side. You have your O-line drive block either straight forward or towards the short side, making it harder for those guys to come across the field to get to the RB.

I disagree only because it was 1st down and they needed to milk the clock before scoring. A dive play call was exactly right and it's normally very safe.

 

[GaryfromTO]

this team needs an enema. where do we stick the hose first?

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Why didnt the NE WR top of pic turn back for the catch?

Is that Kneal Thornton?

Why didn't Mac lead Thornton when Thornton had a 5 yard cushion? Why are Mac's balls always underthrown?

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I disagree only because it was 1st down and they needed to milk the clock before scoring. A dive play call was exactly right and it's normally very safe.

Agreed. I would refer to go outside, but agreed. All Stevenson had to do is wrap the ball up with two arms and we kill the clock.

 

[DaBruinz]

Radar gun says you are wrong. Mac throws 57 mph which is in the upper 25% of nfl QBs. Have a look here; Quarterback Ball Velocity at NFL Combine 2008-2020

Velocity at the combine when no one is in your face is one thing. Velocity on the field when there is a pass rush is something different.

Mac hasn't taken the step that many of us expected him to take. In fact, he regressed. Despite him spending time this off-season with QB Guru , Tom House. I put PART of that regression on Patricia and part of it on Judge and part of it on Belichick.

Despite having played QB in HS and was in the QB room in college (though he mainly played STs), Judge hurts QB development. One only has to look at how Daniel Jones is progressing this year despite the carousel he's had at WR (again) due to injuries. His Comp% is up. His Ints are down. His QB Rating is up. And he's led FOUR 4th Quarter Comebacks. He'd had 2 in the 3 years prior.

I'm for bringing in B'OB as an advisor and giving CALEY the reins for the Offense. Get a competent Offensive Line Coach and have Yates learn from him. Get Jones a competent QB coach because Judge is not one.

The Pats need to try and salvage the final year of the Henry/Smith combo and feature them along with Thornton and Bourne. If they bring back Meyers, he'd be a great #3 behind those two. Use ALL of them in motion. Use the Bunch sets. spread them out. Use the damn FADE route and Back shoulder throws. Those NEED to be a part of the offense

 

[Triumph]

Why didn't Mac lead Thornton when Thornton had a 5 yard cushion? Why are Mac's balls always underthrown?

Because Patricia should be working at Micro Center building gaming laptops.

 

[foxboroughfraser]

He can't even fix Tampa, he's been horrible....we'll be back!!!

Ok? Dude's 45, gotta happen at some point. He deserves benefit of the doubt and frankly he has earned us all cutting him a lot of slack.

I mean look at how washed Russ and Matt Ryan are at just 30 something, and how Mac Jones is mid af at just 20 something. We had Brady at those periods of his career and we went to the AFCCG nearly every year with a top seed in tow.

 

[Triumph]

Dude's 45, gotta happen at some point. He deserves benefit of the doubt and frankly he has earned us all cutting him a lot of slack. Look at how washed Russ and Matt Ryan are at just 30 something, and how Mac Jones obviously is mid at just 20 something.

Heard a rumor that Brady is going to SF.

That defense and Deebo Samuels among others could work out.

 

[DaBruinz]

I disagree only because it was 1st down and they needed to milk the clock before scoring. A dive play call was exactly right and it's normally very safe.

How many times have we seen them run the ball from there and NOT get the TD on 3 consecutive plays from that close? Quite a few this year.

Running wide takes time off the clock and you can tell the RB to go down on the 1/2 yard line if he's got a wide open lane. Then you spread everyone out and use Mac with a sneak or Rham with a dive. And since the Pats still had their TOs, if they didn't make it they could have stopped the clock to reset things for themselves.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Because Patricia should be working at Micro Center building gaming laptops.

Mac can't throw the ball out in front of a receiver because of Patricia? Dipping into the sauce on Christmas Eve?

 

[Deus Irae]

Mac can't throw the ball out in front of a receiver because of Patricia? Dipping into the sauce on Christmas Eve?

He lofted the ball in order to drop it down for the taller WR.

 

[reflexblue]

He was the head coach from 2014 to 2020:

2014: 9-7, narrowly missed playoffs (they were 2-14 the previous season without him)
2015: 9-7, made the playoffs with Brian Hoyer at QB
2016: 9-7, made the playoffs with Brock Osweiler at QB
2017: 4-12, did not make the playoffs. This is the year Deshaun Watson was drafted; however, he tore his ACL prior to week 9
2018: 11-5, made the playoffs
2019: 10-6, made the playoffs
2020: 0-4, fired after 4 games (Hopkins was traded the offseason of 2020)

He only had Watson and Hopkins for 2 full seasons (2018 and 2019). Went 11-5 and 10-6 those years. He wasn't really given a good team at inception, they were 2-14 the year before he got there.

If BoB is so great why hasn't he gotten call in the last two years for a HC ing job? There have been plenty of openings.

 

[lancerman]

But this offense was supposedly tailored to Mac's strengths.

I do believe Patricia is a huge problem and should not come back.

BUT Mac could've made it so much easier on himself this year if he recognized the check down quicker and took the easy pass. He never sees anyone on his flanks. If he throws short, it's a designed short pass. Never a checkdown.

And this goes for scanning the field as well, as he misses guys open on the boundaries. The throw that got Jonnu Smith hurt was not only a bizarre jerky play (and for that I blame Patricia) but Mac should know better.

The last several games (4 or so) have me thinking that Mac is not the guy we need, and I'm not looking for a stud QB. I will take a game manager.

Thing is, it’s not. Every time we open up and start passing downfield and go away from what Patricia started the game doing, things get better. So clearly what they think is for the best isn’t and they lack the personnel to pull it off anyways

 

[Ian]

Mac can't throw the ball out in front of a receiver because of Patricia? Dipping into the sauce on Christmas Eve?

As a reminder, Mac was throwing a deep ball to the end of the field where kickers missed kicks all afternoon. You could the trajectory change and he still barely under threw it.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

As a reminder, Mac was throwing a deep ball to the end of the field where kickers missed kicks all afternoon. You could the trajectory change and he still barely under threw it.

Good point. But it was under thrown by about 10 yards - not barely. Thornton had 5 yards on separation and had to wait on the ball.

The ball to Bourne on the sideline was a second too late. The touchdown pass to the new TE was 1 to 2 seconds too late. If you rewatch the game please notice that Mac's balls are commonly late. Mac rarely, if ever, leads the receiver. Take a look.

 

[notex]

Just awful…

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

He lofted the ball in order to drop it down for the taller WR.

The taller receiver ran a 4.28 40 and was 5 yards beyond the defender. No need to loft the ball. Throw it in front of the receiver. Lead the receiver by throwing the ball earlier. Thornton still should have caught the ball, but it is too bad Mac consistently is late with almost all of his passes.

 

[Mainepatsfan54]

Froze my ass off at the game. Stayed til the end, Got hyped thinking we were actually going to pull it off. Sigh.

 

[Deus Irae]

The taller receiver ran a 4.28 40 and was 5 yards beyond the defender. No need to loft the ball.

That's not necessarily how it works with a safety coming over to help. The throw was actually a good one, in the sense of the high arc. It just got caught up in the wind a bit. The ball should have been caught.

Throw it in front of the receiver. Lead the receiver by throwing the ball earlier. Thornton still should have caught the ball, but it is too bad Mac consistently is late with the pass.

You need to stop blaming the QB for receivers dropping catchable balls.

 

[Kasmir]

My beef with Patricia this year is his hubris in deciding to change a successful offense in his first season as (effectively) the OC. As a second year QB Mac needed system continuity as the context for working on improving his game. And Patricia then also proceeds to doghouse Mac's best WR and switches sides with his OT's. Much too much change. Maybe he was trying to convince BB he was more than a caretaker and deserved the OC job permanently. What a backfire.