Game Day Thread Official Post-Game Thread: Week 1 - Pats lose to Dolphins 17-16

[50-yard-line]

Two of the primary hot takes today were (1) "hey Josh, could you have at least thrown it to the endzone at least once on that last drive" and (2) "With 9 QB hits what's up with the pass protection\"

One the first, my first reaction to run play that Harris fumbled, was "Damned, I wish that had run play action that play" On more sober reflection, I think running the ball was the right call for this reason. Say you score a TD on that play from the 11, you still leave the Phins with about 2:20,, 3 TOs, and the 2 minute warning to march down the field to win the game. Say it's incomplete, now you have to run the ball 2 times and kick. That would leave Miami with a TO and the 2 minute warning and about 2 minutes. However if you run the ball 3 times, even if you don't get the first down or TD, you leave Miami with no TO's and less than 2 minutes to take the ball 50 yds when the middle of the field is not an option. Unfortunately the kid fumbled. It happens, too bad.

2;. while we didn't expect our QB hits to number 9, I wouldn't panic about the OL just yet. I was thinking about this today. Defenses should definitely be ahead of offenses this early. In the no contact NFL, this was the FIRST time all preseason that the OL faced a full speed defense for an extended amount of time. It also didn't help that Brown got hurt the first series. Like everything else I EXPECT the OL to get better this week. Even if Brown doesn't play, whomever replaces him will have a full week to prepare and be better than what showed.

3. Much is being made of Stephenson being bench for his fumble. I think it has less to do with the fumble and more to do with the misses on pass protection. Pass protection has historically been the major reason rookie RB's don't play much here.

4. We all hope that we don't look back on this game as having a big effect on our playoff chances, but it was one that should have been won. STUPID penalties. I mean was it really THREE personal fouls???? 4 fumbles (2 lost) and 5 OTHER penalties that helped kill drives. Hard to won games when you do that.

1. Running Harris there was absolutely the best call. The red zone failures previous to that were being gun-shy with the rookie. The only thing that worries me is that the Pats RZ offense has been terrible for a long time.

It's almost the reverse of bend-don't break, right? Making themselves take 10-14 plays to dink and dunk down the field, then getting only a FG.

2. Dolphins are a good team. Same team as last year, essentially. I don't think they're "improved" (unless Tua leaps - he's not as bad as some here claim, but he's not great, either), but they were a good and disciplined team last year and have a great starting pair of corners.

Dolphins played more like a team that returned most of their players in a disciplined system, and them Pats looked like a team with 25 new players. I'm not too concerned about the hits on Mac - a couple were him taking the time to see the whole field, accepting the hit for the proper throw. The only vicious one was the penalty.

Compare them to the hit Tua took from Judon.

3. Agree. As I've been saying forever here, that's WHY BB spent a high pick on Michel, more than anything else. He needed a rookie who could stand back there and protect (and run, too, of course). That was Michel's superpower coming out, and it;s why he saw so much time in his rookie year.

4. Yeah, BIG implications for this one playoff-wise, I fear. At least within the division. Can they go down to Miami and win? I think they were the better team Sunday, and I think they're going to improve more than Miami will over the course of the year, because, to be fair, half the team wasn't even here last year, but Miami is a tough place for them.

I also think Buffalo isn't as advertised. I watched that game Sunday - Allen made some horrible throws and their run game was atrocious. Yes, Pittsburgh has a good defense that flies around, but Buffalo should have been able to win that game.

 

[rochrist]

Bedard has been trolling against BB for years. That's not anything new. I don't know you allow 3.7 YPC and give up 17 points, 7 in the second half of an offensive era, and blame the defense. That's really odd. If you had told me NE would allow 17 points and Mac had a 102 QB rating with no INTs, would have said we won.

Goodell's henchmen had an impact as did the Harris fumble, obviously. Miami barely had a penalty in the game until the 3rd qtr, I believe. At one point , they pointed out Miami had no penalties. It's getting old at this point. Hilarious to me that you can call phantom holding where there was no holding, and then see a fumble called with no fumble, Judon apparently looking for a sip of Gatorade on the Miami bench with no evidence anything really bad happening, and the Adrian Phillips clip late in the game on the Jones INT, with no flag anywhere, and still proclaim someone on D was bad enough to be blamed for this loss.

This world is completely upside down. Completely. Anyone believing everything printed on their internet page needs to start doing their own homework once and for all. These gutless media heads are as bad as any disinformation spreading going on right now.

You simple have to look at the facts and understand the context of any situation. Don't rely on obese media heads or bald dorks like Mazz who have contributed to our society's unbelievable lack of critical thinking skills. It's damaging.

No, he hasn't. Do you have an account with them? Do you read his site?