PostGame Thread OFFICIAL POST GAME THREAD: Patriots beat Bengals 26-20

[PatsFan2]

I know he's coming back from an injury but: Rham just can't fall forward and get a measly yard?? We Need to clean that up going forward.

 

[Gumby]

A horse collar tackle is an illegal tackle where a defender grabs the inside collar of the shoulder pads or the nameplate area of the jersey and pulls the runner down, resulting in a 15-yard penalty in the NFL.

What am I missing?

Maye is only 4 letters long; so it doesnt count as the nameplate area is too small.

 

[PP2]

Drake was very much off his game in that first quarter. He was laughing at himself, which is a decent sign because he picked it up as the game went on.

What I really like was his ability to just shrug off a bad first quarter and bounce back for the rest of the game.

That is an elite trait.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Sadly, today I'm in celebrate-and-temper-expectations mode... it will be a monumental victory of "culcha" for the Pats to keep flying high given the OL losses. Very sad given the great momentum to date.

We might face the temptation to "let Drake be Drake" and compensate for the likely downgrade in protection with more improvisation. It'll be interesting, with games on the line, to see whether Vrabes can "just say no" to heroball... or whether the just-win, fan-favorite tendency will prevail.

 

[Triumph]

They were too busy reading their press clippings to play a full 60 minutes.

Bradshaw predicted that Dallas would win.

Looked bleak for the Boys down 21 - 0 and next thing you know its 21 - 21. Brady is a painful announcer to listen to still talking when the ball has been snapped for the next play. He does not have a brief comment or story in him. Thank God that he doesn't like to go fishing.

 

[Real fan 02]

10th win of the season, but obviously, with both Campbell and Wilson getting hurt (and possibly Schooler), it came at a cost.

Agreed. But looking at the whole totality of this season.. basically every team has had injuries to key players and starters.. now, there can be no talk about how easy the patiots have had it from the national perspective.. it's never ideal to lose your best offensive lineman and your best defensive lineman however they sustained..

This teams so dam impressive because they are 6-0 on the road and show grit like past patriots teams did to win games. Brady won dozens of games this way over the years. These are in my opinion more impressive than a blowout as they continue to overcome adversity in games. This will only help them in the postseason.

 

[Triumph]

I still have faith that if the backups are even 80% of the starters, I have faith in Maye to extend the play when he needs to.

Yesterday, Maye was very much Brady/Mahomes winning the game with the NE defense.

Hanging in the pocket till the last second on a completion or taking off on foot to pick up the 1st down diving head first.

 

[Gumby]

Well, in trying to be optimistic.......

Way back at beginning of season, I mentioned in some thread we shouldnt' have quite as much hope for going into at all or deep in playoffs because these Rookies on the OL would hit the rookie wall around game 14.

Well, now they are getting 4-6 weeks of rest to get thru the Rookie wall.

 

[Give Kraft A Hand]

Glad they didn’t lose this one but they certainly did everything in their power to make it happen.

 

[PatsFan2]

Agreed. But looking at the whole totality of this season.. basically every team has had injuries to key players and starters.. now, there can be no talk about how easy the patiots have had it from the national perspective.. it's never ideal to lose your best offensive lineman and your best defensive lineman however they sustained..

This teams so dam impressive because they are 6-0 on the road and show grit like past patriots teams did to win games. Brady won dozens of games this way over the years. These are in my opinion more impressive than a blowout as they continue to overcome adversity in games. This will only help them in the postseason.

It will be interesting to see what they have in G/T Caedan Wallace now: he's been Inactive all year. IF he can show something maybe we can whether the current storm. Wallace should get a lot of quality Reps going forward he was from that *Ahem* Maye Draft.

 

[Real fan 02]

It will be interesting to see what they have in G/T Caedan Wallace now: he's been Inactive all year. IF he can show something maybe we can whether the current storm. Wallace should get a lot of quality Reps going forward he was from that Maye Draft.

I believe the difference here is the coaching and Drake has ascended into an elite QB. Those 2 elements will help a offense line. Look at LAC.. they lost both thier starting OTs. Vrabel, Josh and Marrone will scheme up the OL. We are no different than most teams right now.. TB lost Mayfield yesterday.. the fact this team has put themselves in such a great position this season is just so impressive.

 

[Real fan 02]

Glad they didn’t lose this one but they certainly did everything in their power to make it happen.

We won many games like this with Brady.. that 2003 season offensively we won ugly.. games were 13-10, 20-17... to win on the road no matter the opponent and withstand adversity is just remarkable..

This will only help them in the postseason. They are first team to reach 10 wins.. had 8 wins combined the last 2 seasons.

 

[Real fan 02]

Sadly, today I'm in celebrate-and-temper-expectations mode... it will be a monumental victory of "culcha" for the Pats to keep flying high given the OL losses. Very sad given the great momentum to date.

We might face the temptation to "let Drake be Drake" and compensate for the likely downgrade in protection with more improvisation. It'll be interesting, with games on the line, to see whether Vrabes can "just say no" to heroball... or whether the just-win, fan-favorite tendency will prevail.

Vrabel's not going to allow guys to feel badly and get down, and forget about the goal at hand. It's definitely an emotional blow whenever guys go down.. but we are no different than most NFL teams. We have a week 14 bye and it is well deserved. The OL will be schemed up.. vederian lowe is going to have to have to man up and protect Drake.

 

[VectorPrime]

Comparing the 2025 NFL to 2003 is insane. In 2003 defenses could murder both the QB and receivers. Only two QBs threw for over 4,000 yards and only ONE threw for 30 touchdowns. (Favre, who of course also threw 21 interceptions lol)

 

[Froob]

dumb and irrelevant stat but vrabel won ten straight road games back to his last loss 2008 at Indianapolis, the infamous Davis Thomas late penalty game

 

[Real fan 02]

Comparing the 2025 NFL to 2003 is insane. In 2003 defenses could murder both the QB and receivers. Only two QBs threw for over 4,000 yards and only ONE threw for 30 touchdowns. (Favre, who of course also threw 21 interceptions lol)

The 2003 patriots offense left more to be desired... in 04 the offense was much better..

 

[Huckleberry1]

People today were saying the season was over long before Campbell got hurt.

They were just being scaredy-cats, the season doesn't officially end until we lose the first seed overall.

 

[Real fan 02]

I know he's coming back from an injury but: Rham just can't fall forward and get a measley yard?? We Need to brush that up going forward.

The whole offense seemed off.. diggs, Boutte didn't do much,.. Henry was a beast... yeah rham was running like he was doing the James brown shuffle...

 

[Kdo5]

I just hope those injuries are not serious. Wilson and Campbell were the foundation of the entire left side of our OL.

We got the win but it was kind of ugly. Very inefficient and poor playcalling in the redzone. We could have easily had 8 more points by just converting better in the redzone. That would have kept it from being a one score game at the end.

But I am proud of how this team held the lead late in the 4th.

Jones PBU on 4th down was a thing of beauty. Add his pick SIX and he's easily my player of the game. Give the man his game ball, coach!

The important thing is that we went to 10-2. The Patriots are still not playing their best football but are now leading the conference. 5 more games to go. Let's hope they are good ones.

With our new injuries I’m still optimistic for a 3-2 finish but I’m doubting better. Even then we finish 13-4 and the bye is still in play.

 

[KCSVEN]

With our new injuries I’m still optimistic for a 3-2 finish but I’m doubting better. Even then we finish 13-4 and the bye is still in play.

I think Jets and Dolphins will mail in their seasons by that point, Giants have played Bears, Packers and Lions tough and likely getting Dart back who has a ton of scrambling ability, they can also pressure the QB, that could be a tougher game than the record indicates. Bills home, and Ravens on road are toss ups.