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

[signbabybrady]

 

[bormio]

After a day to think it over what I really liked about this game is something I alluded to in the Game thread when we got down 10-0. The boys showed us how they respond to adversity. They were down 10 on the road to an experienced QB who also had the ball to start the second half and they came right back and took the lead, never to relinquish it.

That's what Championship teams do, most of us have seen enough of them to know. Maye showed he can win without his A game, that's also something Thomas the Goat, Hallowed be his name did on the rare occasion he didn't have his.

Yep - there are moments in games where you must answer the bell - and Maye has been really, really good in those. TBH - if we scored on those cracks from the one - would have been a comfortable win. We will fix that. Yesterday was a bad day from in close, but other teams better not count on us being so inept

 

[Triumph]

 

[signbabybrady]

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Hunter Henry - elite te this year? Tied for 4th in yards and 5th in tds

 

[JayNM]

Hunter Henry - elite te this year? Tied for 4th in yards and 5th in tds

He has been great this year, maybe his best year as a pro. Of all our receivers, he has the best report with Maye

Also has been much better as blocker, in my opinion. Every time he bumps someone, he seems to not only dislocate the rusher, but shows up open for the catch

 

[mike_usagisan]

I think Hunter Henry is one of the best playmakers on the team and has been for a few years. He gets crapped on because he's not Gronk, but he's been a vital part of the team's success this year.

 

[signbabybrady]

I think Hunter Henry is one of the best playmakers on the team and has been for a few years. He gets crapped on because he's not Gronk, but he's been a vital part of the team's success this year.

I was just describing him before Sundays game to a friend as being consistently better than average. And I repeated and stressed the above average.

He's probably not getting in the conversation for best tight ends on any given year but pretty much his entire career he's been right on the cusp of that though.

Maybe with Drake he cracks that group this year and the next few.

 

[mike_usagisan]

I was just describing him before Sundays game to a friend as being consistently better than average. And I repeated and stressed the above average.

He's probably not getting in the conversation for best tight ends on any given year but pretty much his entire career he's been right on the cusp of that though.

Maybe with Drake he cracks that group this year and the next few.

I think he's better than above average, but I won't quibble. I heard the Bengals was the best game of his career. If he has a few more like that, I think you're right that he'll start to get some more notice.

 

[signbabybrady]

I think he's better than above average, but I won't quibble. I heard the Bengals was the best game of his career. If he has a few more like that, I think you're right that he'll start to get some more notice.

That's why I stressed it. I meant it in the most lovingly way possible. He's good very good just not quite that top level. I think that was his first 100 yard game for us.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Bengals, like the Jets last week, found success running wide. Need a better job with outside contain.

This. Not sure if it's a scheme issue or a player issue. I did see examples of LBs prematurely committing to inside penetration and being boxed out of the play when the RB went wide.

 

[p8ryts]

This. Not sure if it's a scheme issue or a player issue. I did see examples of LBs prematurely committing to inside penetration and being boxed out of the play when the RB went wide.

Generally, I see the edge player, take one step in and then they can't recover in time.

 

[n1997y]

I’m over the moon about Campbell. Just a couple of observations:

Rhamondre needs to get ready to learn bench. He’s a liability in game-winning situations and may soon be a non-factor in the offense altogether

Carlton Davis is simultaneously useless and valuable

Vrabel gambling on 4th works but sometimes does it at the wrong times

The essence of your post. It’s a perfect summation of so much bloviating about football.

 

[BobDigital]

Now that the injury smoke as cleared i'm more ready to give my thoughts on the game.

1 First off, Maye and the Pats in general were due for a bad day. Frankly you don't typically win 9 in a row vs anyone and this should have been a loss, but they played a really bad team and made enough key plays when they needed to. So i am happy to run away with a win during a bad game.

2 Maye's first quarter is probably the worst he has played in a long long time. It was REALLY bad. Not only clearly the worst quarter of his NFL career, but maybe the worst from college onward. I haven't seen all his college games, but if this was his worst quarter since high school it wouldn't have surprised me. I like Maye's accuracy, but he does miss high sometimes and that is a bad thing. When you miss you want to miss low, not high. I hope he fixes this next year. It can't be fix this year as it is probably a mechanical issue of some kind.

3 Stevenson needs to be shut down for a while. I know they lack depth, but clearly he wasn't ready to go. Sit him and give him the bye.

4 No more running up the middle in goal line. This line doesn't win in a stacked power vs power situation. So either practice the toosh push and dare them to call it or don't run it at all. It has failed way too many times.

5 While Maye did play bad this is yet another game in a row with 1 or 2 sacks. For all the bad which can be said about Maye, that trend continuing is encouraging as it gives more evidence that problem is behind him.

6 I loved the designed play to Williams. It showed what he can do when he knows exactly what he is doing. He beat coverage and almost broke it for a lot more than 18 yards. If Williams can't be used for the typical offense for now, he is worth having a few designed plays like that a game just to make sure the ball gets in his hands. His snaps were way down this game. Not a great sign for him maybe.. but not too worried. They ran a fair amount of 2 TE and had a lot of TE/RB formations. Douglas' snaps weren't much higher though, so not a very WR heavy game overall. Also i love Williams on returns. Anything to get the ball in his hands more is good.

7 People will crap on the D for letting this team score 7 late and make it a 1 score game. But even vs the worst offense in the NFL. 13 points is a pretty good day at the office.

8 Get off the hate Davis bandwagon please. He was money in this game.

9 The run D without Williams and with a gimpy Tonga clearly didn't look to the same. Also no Farmer didn't help either. With 3 of your top 4 guys missing most or all of the game, what did you expect really? They did okay though.

10 Ponder and Swinson were both playing that day, and neither set the edge all that well or helped a ton in the pass rush much. They will hopefully come on more as they get more reps. I think this shows how big an impact Williams has on the game more than anything as he just frees everyone up to have 1v1s much of the time.

11 Brown, Lowe and Bryant weren't perfect, but weren't horrible. Honestly i was pleasantly surprised how often they bought time for Maye and did their jobs. But Maye and the OL as a whole need to work on picking up the rusher lined up way outside the tackle. That has gotten through way too much this year.

12 This offense as a whole needs to work on goal line pass packages. I know this connects to abandoning the run, but overall i haven't loved the creativity in goal line situations. They need to do more and have more designed plays for it.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

I think Hunter Henry is one of the best playmakers on the team and has been for a few years. He gets crapped on because he's not Gronk, but he's been a vital part of the team's success this year.

He's got a little more power than his frame would suggest. Defenders tend to go backward when they contact him.

 

[patsinthesnow]

The pats have the biggest efficiency gap between early down passing & early down rushing in the NFL. They need to lean more on Maye in the playoffs.

 

[mike_usagisan]

The pats have the biggest efficiency gap between early down passing & early down rushing efficiency in the NFL. They need to lean more on Maye in the playoffs.

Yep. We only go as far as Maye takes us because running (unless we get Henderson outside) is not working.

 

[jdlboot14]

Can someone find out what the deal is with Tavai?
Death in the family? Case of depression from CTE?

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

6 I loved the designed play to Williams. It showed what he can do when he knows exactly what he is doing. He beat coverage and almost broke it for a lot more than 18 yards.

I watched that play really closely, and Williams really should have had much more there. He was running upfield but also toward the sideline being chased by a LB who is definitely not as fast as him. Williams was trying to setup the next defender and cut straight upfield allowing the chasing LB to make the tackle. If he would’ve stayed on the same angle for 2 more steps and then cut upfield it would’ve been a huge gain, maybe even a TD.

 

[mgteich]

Can someone find out what the deal is with Tavai?
Death in the family? Case of depression from CTE?

If Vrabel thought that fans should know about Tavai's very personal business, he would share the information with us.