PostGame Thread OFFICIAL POST GAME THREAD: Patriots Lose to Steelers 21-14

[40yrpatsfan]

Ring I’m on your side about Maye, he’s playing excellent, but it was the wrong type of throw. Go back and watch again. Had he lobbed it, it was an easy TD.

Usually lobs don't work from the 5. He needs to throw that pass 1-2' higher and the receiver needs to elevate. Maye is 6'4, throw a high rope.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Yet Maye is 5th in the NFL in passing yards. He is 2nd in completion percentage (pending goffs game tonight) he is 3rd in competed passes, is top 10 in passer rating and ypa and has thrown only 2 ints in 106 passes.

Imagine what he could do it his WRs got open more.

We're also ignoring that he's passing to like 10 different players per game. It's hard to have a 1,000 yard receiver when your best receiver is the open player.

 

[PatsFan2]

The throw was what the play called for and Boutte was wide open.
QBs don’t change a play to a lollipop. **** happens, Maye executed the play correctly and the DL swatted the ball. A qb cannot hesitate to execute a play to look at DL hands.

It was a low throw: Justin Herbert had problems with a similar mechanics early in his career: *many batted down balls*. You don't expect a 6'4 or 6'6 QB to have that problem; but it happens. Well it seems like Herbert have that all ironed out. Let's hope Maye can do the same he's still a work in progress.

 

[jdlboot14]

All the radio guys are in favor of benching Rham this week vs CAR.
I'm not opposed. But, if most agree with that, then shouldn't you also bench Pop?
He has the 83rd worst yards per route in the NFL. He's totaled 13 Targets / 5 Catches for 13 Yards.
Completely useless. He needs to be benched, and give Chism the active spot
+ More snaps for Williams - who has 2 Targets / 2 Catches for 20 Yards

 

[Rob0729]

I also can't get over Peppers playing considerably better than any of our safeties and having a game-changing forced TO. Another thing that makes me seriously question what Vrabel is doing.

Did Peppers really play that well? Henry and Hooper feasted on the defense all day. I don't know how much that had to do with Peppers, but I would assume he takes some of the play as a safety. He was really good at knocking out the ball, but not so much in coverage.

 

[Ring 6]

It was a low throw: Justin Herbert had problems with a similar mechanics early in his career: *many batted down balls*. You don't expect a 6'4 or 6'6 QB to have that problem; but it happens. Well it seems like Herbert have that all ironed out. Let's hope Maye can do the same he's still a work in progress.

It wasn’t a low throw. It was the correct throw. Blaming a qb for a DL batting down a pass is like blaming the guy Tomlin tripped for falling down.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Usually lobs don't work from the 5. He needs to throw that pass 1-2' higher and the receiver needs to elevate. Maye is 6'4, throw a high rope.

If anyone watches this and still thinks it shouldn’t have been a lob, then I truly don’t know what you’re watching. Not that I overly value Chris Simms opinion, but he said the exact same thing doing the highlights on FNIA.

Pittsburgh Steelers' defensive back Brandin Echols secures massive end-zone interception vs. New England Patriots' quarterback Drake Maye

 

[PatsFan2]

Did Peppers really play that well? Henry and Hooper feasted on the defense all day. I don't know how much that had to do with Peppers, but I would assume he takes some of the play as a safety. He was really good at knocking out the ball, but not so much in coverage.

He recovered a fumble *sighs*.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Had the ball not been tipped further inside to where Echols intercepted it, the outside defender most certainly woulda had a play on the ball. He needed a higher arching pass. If you can’t see that, welp.

 

[Ring 6]

We're also ignoring that he's passing to like 10 different players per game. It's hard to have a 1,000 yard receiver when your best receiver is the open player.

Right. The passing offense overall has been fine.
It’s been excellent other than the second half of the Raider game when we decided to forget about running the football.

In 10 quarters, excluding that second half,

Maye is 61/80 76% 648 yards 8.1 per att 5 tds 1 int.
That equals a 115 passer rating and an NFL season record for comp %.

Projecting those 2 1/2 games to a full season you get

544 att
415 comp. 76%
4406 yards
34 TD
7 ints.

Oh and his rushing stats would be
68/571 with 7 TDS.

Best player we have.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Maye is going to make mistakes, all QB’s do, and he is still young and relatively inexperienced. What stood out to me was the caliber of his “ big throws”, they were top level. He can spin it like very few QB’s can, and he’s just getting started. The Patriots have a Josh Allen caliber talent in Maye, and they have a bright future because of this.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

This doesn't look like a playoff team right now. Not even close.
If you're going to take away the turnovers and give them 3 more TDs, then take away the penalties and give them 2 more and call it a 49-0 blowout.
It takes much more than arm talent to be a QB and Maye is still learning.
Stop with blaming the refs. It's a bad look in a game with so many turnovers.
This team hasn't seemed to learn much from losing and they've done plenty of that for a few years now.
They played three of the weaker AFC teams, lost to two of them and barely squeaked by the worst.
This team is clearly not that talented. Saying so doesn't change that fact.

Yes, they have a pretty weak schedule outside of TB, Bal and Buf twice. They also got a break when Cincy lost their QB. Hopefully they turn things around and go 12-6 or 11-7. I just don't have the same amount of confidence after seeing their start.

I know it’s tough to feel confident but i do find myself feeling a little better about the team each week. After oakland i felt pretty low. I said before, that loss to me was worse than the score indicated. They thoroughly owned us in half 2. Offense did nothing, defense fell apart. Against a pretty bad team, bowers wasn’t even in much of that half either. Tough to take alotta good out of that game.

Miami, terrible opponent but to get the win in that stadium finally and the offense looked great. Defense played a good second half i thought. Leaky but getting better. Definitely a better feel than week 1.

And i may be in the minority but i feel better overall about the team today than i did a week ago even with the loss. The fumbles suck obviously but lets see how they respond. Functionally they outplayed Pittsburgh by a bit on both sides of the ball. Just can’t lose turnovers 5:1… the fact they even had a chance to win it despite -4 in to margin against a team that should be in the playoff hunt says alot.

There will be setbacks but as long as the overall trend is going upwards (to be expected with so many new brand new players and coaches, good ones as opposed to last year) we might have a shot. I don’t know if it will lead to playoffs but its somewhat possible given how weak the schedule is.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Had the ball not been tipped further inside to where Echols intercepted it, the outside defender most certainly woulda had a play on the ball. He needed a higher arching pass. If you can’t see that, welp.

He’s going to learn what touch to put on passes as he gains more experience and sees more and more situations.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I know it’s tough to feel confident but i do find myself feeling a little better about the team each week. After oakland i felt pretty low. I said before, that loss to me was worse than the score indicated. They thoroughly owned us in half 2. Offense did nothing, defense fell apart. Against a pretty bad team, bowers wasn’t even in much of that half either. Tough to take alotta good out of that game.

Miami, terrible opponent but to get the win in that stadium finally and the offense looked great. Defense played a good second half i thought. Leaky but getting better. Definitely a better feel than week 1.

And i may be in the minority but i feel better overall about the team today than i did a week ago even with the loss. The fumbles suck obviously but lets see how they respond. Functionally they outplayed Pittsburgh by a bit on both sides of the ball. Just can’t lose turnovers 5:1… the fact they even had a chance to win it despite -4 in to margin against a team that should be in the playoff hunt says alot.

There will be setbacks but as long as the overall trend is going upwards (to be expected with so many new brand new players and coaches, good ones as opposed to last year) we might have a shot. I don’t know if it will lead to playoffs but its somewhat possible given how weak the schedule is.

I feel really good about them. Maye’s play, and the way the defense pulled together down 14-0 leads me to believe good things are going to come their way. 5 fumbles is a fluke.

 

[BobDigital]

The D actually played a really solid game after Q1.. They also had some calls not go there way, but there were a few that didn't go the Steelers way either.

In the end though 5 turnovers was the reason they lost. Nothing else to say about it. Again this team had many of the same issues as the first 2 weeks on offense. WRs didn't do enough. Douglas had the chance to make some plays but didn't. Some of it his fault, some not. But him and Maye as just not in sync. Boutte is nice but clearly a support piece. Diggs is not living up to our hopes. 3 games here and hasn't even had a 50 yard game.

It is hard for your offense to get going when your WRs simply don't do much and so much falls on your TEs and RBs who really aren't that good. It is clear also that Stevenson is no better than Gibson or Henderson (maybe worse) and he had 2 very weak fumbles. I mean, they weren't really forced. You see RBs hold on to the ball with that kind of contact all the time. This has been going on for a while and it is not fixed yet. His role needs to be minimized.

No explosive plays this game. We need Williams in there and going deep.

Maye wasn't great to say the least. Still can't string 2 good ones together. I really don't like his pocket presence. It just isn't good. I don't know if it ever will be. The clock in his head needs to be faster. He needs to realize when he has less time.

For all the praise i will give the D for the last 3 quarters one thing that sticks out is their inability to take advantage of big plays. There was a fumble they couldn't pick up. It just seems that the back end can't make plays like that.

Also no spark in the return game.

Pull the plug on Douglas, shrink the role of Stevenson, More Williams... Give Chism a shot.

 

[Thunderhead]

Jerod Mayo's team looked better through 3 games last year. Way less sloppy at least.

1 TO vs 6 this year
13 penalties vs 27 this year

 

[Real fan 02]

I think Drake is still well ahead of the curve, hes just 23 and hard to expect alot more from him based on his surroundings. While i admit i don’t really understand all these advanced stats lol he is apparently top 10 in most of them which is pretty amazing in his situation. They do go along with the eye test at least to me. The fumble was really bad but im hoping that hero ball stuff goes away with experience and being able to trust his team more. The team must support him better than it has and thats what you hope to see as the season progresses.

The defense imo WILL get better, it is slowly improving, remember they have 7 or 8 new starters. It will take time to gel and reach their peak. spillane played better, we may have finally found a way to keep ellis off the field, and theyre without the best player too. If we start holding teams to under 20 its less stress on drake to carry the team. Same with the OL, 4 new starters. I think the pass blocking is okay but they need to open up more for the rb’s.

The wr’s MAY get better, they are predictably limited at the start. Diggs is still recovering and Williams is developing, if they do contribute more for us it probably won’t come till later in the year. Douglas has been a big disappointment and might have earned a benching. I never was a huge fan of the hollins signing but he was supposedly a leader and i didn’t expect him to take up so many snaps. Boutte is ok. I think theres still some hope here with diggs , boutte, and Williams…hopefully chism gets a shot.

Big concern now with little hope to me is rhamondre. unfortunately i agree with Vrabel that we need him. At least 10 carries a game on a short leash. I like Henderson getting more work, i just get nervous watching him lowering his head into defenders, not sure i want him doing that 20x a game. Rham and Gibson have to be able to steal carries, but if rhams issues continue you simply can’t.

Drake definitely is on a upward arch.. he's going to make some mistakes.. but he does come back better typically afterwards.

Efficiency will be the key for him.. that is conducive to winning. I still think you have to play rham.. now if he is coughing it up.. then his snaps will be decreased. Rham is an important part of the offense and a relief valve for Drake. Ultimately you'd like Henderson to become that player. Pop.. 7 yards yesterday is just inexplicably bad for a guy who was showing the last 2 seasons that he could be a receiving threat.

 

[uknepatsfan]

I would bench Rham for a week to get it through his head that he either secures the ball or doesn’t play. Those fumbles were inexcusable.

I don’t see him having some Tiki Barber road to Damascus moment, where he suddenly goes from a serial fumbler to a ball security merchant.

So, for me, dropping him for one game really does nothing. Start Henderson and move on from Rham in my opinion. No point spending a #2 pick on a home run hitting RB if you are going to just stick him on the bench behind a fumble machine.

 

[PatsFan2]

The D actually played a really solid game after Q1.. They also had some calls not go there way, but there were a few that didn't go the Steelers way either.

In the end though 5 turnovers was the reason they lost. Nothing else to say about it. Again this team had many of the same issues as the first 2 weeks on offense. WRs didn't do enough. Douglas had the chance to make some plays but didn't. Some of it his fault, some not. But him and Maye as just not in sync. Boutte is nice but clearly a support piece. Diggs is not living up to our hopes. 3 games here and hasn't even had a 50 yard game.

It is hard for your offense to get going when your WRs simply don't do much and so much falls on your TEs and RBs who really aren't that good. It is clear also that Stevenson is no better than Gibson or Henderson (maybe worse) and he had 2 very weak fumbles. I mean, they weren't really forced. You see RBs hold on to the ball with that kind of contact all the time. This has been going on for a while and it is not fixed yet. His role needs to be minimized.

No explosive plays this game. We need Williams in there and going deep.

Maye wasn't great to say the least. Still can't string 2 good ones together. I really don't like his pocket presence. It just isn't good. I don't know if it ever will be. The clock in his head needs to be faster. He needs to realize when he has less time.

For all the praise i will give the D for the last 3 quarters one thing that sticks out is their inability to take advantage of big plays. There was a fumble they couldn't pick up. It just seems that the back end can't make plays like that.

Also no spark in the return game.

Pull the plug on Douglas, shrink the role of Stevenson, More Williams... Give Chism a shot.

We need to see if DJ Moore or Chris Olave is on the blocks. Either would jolt our WR situation.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

He’s going to learn what touch to put on passes as he gains more experience and sees more and more situations.

Oh I agree 100%. However we have a couple folks arguing it was the correct throw, when it was 100% not the correct throw, and I’m as big a Maye supporter as anyone.