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

[catent]

Crappy loss because we should have won

Mac played great. Rookie QB making his first start and he played like that against a top defense. Made great throws and was decisive.

Josh needs to involve the TEs more in the play calling. Jonnu looks like he's a really weapon when he has the ball in his hands. We waited until the 4th quarter to finally get them involved.

Pass defense looked good for the most part. Some of those long completions were simply great plays where the defenders were right there. Tua was hit or rushed in a lot of his dropbacks.

Run defense on the other hand looks concerning. When they knew the Phins had to run they couldn't stop them. The middle is still getting pushed off the LOS.

Good post. Something I'd say about the run defense is that I expect they were fairly gassed. Perhaps a bit of an excuse, but the shortened preseason would definitely have an impact in this regard.

They looked stout against the run at times, but like you said, got pushed back and couldn't stop it when they needed to. They were particularly bad at the end of long drives and late in the game (after the Harris' fumble) from what I recall. I think fatigue was at play and I'd expect that to improve over time.

 

[catent]

It is the worst outcome for us because our loss is a divisional loss. The Jets lost to an NFC team and the Bills to Pitt. Now the Jet game is a must win on the road or else the division is pretty much in the tank.

Even if your "lose to the Jets" doomsday scenario comes to pass, the Pats will have played 2 of a total 6 AFCE games, and 2 of a total 17 regular season games. Nothing will be decided or "in the tank" at that point. Way, waaay too many games still to be played.

 

[catent]

As CB #1, JC ****ing sucks.

I thought he played pretty well, to be honest. That 3rd catch by Parker was offensive greatness, nothing JC could do about that. I think that accounted for at least 1/2 of the yards he allowed. He had a really nice PBU on Parker at one point if I remember correctly.

 

[catent]

Yes, exactly. Since when did horrible value because we need it now become a Patriots concept? Could have sworn I just saw 20 years of us laughing at teams doing that. This is why you fill holes with free agency but don’t build a team through free agency.


Getting closer to the mark anyway. They’re not worth that either.


What difference would 9M instead of 12.5M, for each of them, make? The answer is 7M.

I can’t believe the same fans brush this off and then cry that Stefon Diggs or Julio Jones are ripoffs because they cost too much. Thuney wanted too much…we offered him $15 but he wanted $18M. So many players have left the team over the Patriots not meeting their price, and fans always cheer it.

Now fans apparently brush off a few extra million, overpaying, etc.

Cult thinking.

I think Henry's ceiling is fairly limited but that he's very good (not great) and is probably a bit of an overpay relative to other TE contracts. Smith I think can be legitimately great, and if he stays healthy will be worthy of his contract.

I'm not the first to say it, but the free-agent market is constantly shifting. If the cap increases, contracts will scale, which can change relative value. The powers that be seem to think the cap will be increasing in the coming years which ... we'll see.

 

[amfootball]

I thought he played pretty well, to be honest. That 3rd catch by Parker was offensive greatness, nothing JC could do about that. I think that accounted for at least 1/2 of the yards he allowed. He had a really nice PBU on Parker at one point if I remember correctly.

Me too. We just don't have a solid CB opposite him. Overall I thought Jackson was good.
IIRC, Parker burned Gilmore a couple of years ago on those slants. Very tough to defend.

 

[catent]

.

 

[RIpats88]

Harris was gassed at the end of the game. I blame the coaching staff because they benched Stevenson because of his fumble. And Taylor wasn't active

This team can't afford bill punishing guys for turnovers

 

[Ollie]

Had you read the discussion, you could have avoided doing such a crap job of white knighting when no white knighting was needed.

Why just simply correct someone when you can also be patronising and obnoxious too

 

[Ollie]

Harris was gassed at the end of the game. I blame the coaching staff because they benched Stevenson because of his fumble. And Taylor wasn't active

This team can't afford bill punishing guys for turnovers

Didn't they bring Stevenson back in only for him to be rinsed in pass protection leading to a hit on Mac?

 

[Lagaffe_07]

Didn't they bring Stevenson back in only for him to be rinsed in pass protection leading to a hit on Mac?

Yes, it was quite embarrassing

 

[Soliel]

This will blow your mind. Whether or not Rowe is on the Pats, he still finds ways for the Pats to lose games.

The dude is a curse.

Yep. He is about to join Ray Lewis and Jordan Richards on my voodoo doll shelf. I actively pray for them to perish I flames

 

[JayNM]

It bothers me that we couldnt stop the RPOs and most runs outside. This had been a problem last year and it appears to be one again this year, and makes sense: Van Noy and Judon are the only guy out there in the front seven who can reliably go coast to coast with a skill position. Morever, ou interior, even Godchaux and Anderson has been faltering since the pre-season.

There were positives of course, and Uche might become a star, but boy, when they have a design run play, it hurts when can't stop it.

also **** Damien Harris. Not over it, ask me next

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Harris was gassed at the end of the game. I blame the coaching staff because they benched Stevenson because of his fumble. And Taylor wasn't active

This team can't afford bill punishing guys for turnovers

This was on Bill for not having enough depth behind Harris.

 

[RIpats88]

This was on Bill for not having enough depth behind Harris.

Well Taylor was inactive for some reason. Makes you wonder should we have traded Sony? I thought the reason he was traded was because they had faith in their dearth of running backs

 

[ashley]

Well Taylor was inactive for some reason. Makes you wonder should we have traded Sony? I thought the reason he was traded was because they had faith in their dearth of running backs

Two months ago 90% of the posters wanted Sony gone, now I see a lot of them saying "why did we trade him"? Can't make it up.

 

[Mr Snrub]

One hopes Harris and Stevenson can learn from White re ball security

 

[50-yard-line]

Lol…really? Only when Bill passes on someome do you become a huge advocate of cost not equalling value. I’ve seen you play both sides of the argument every time.

It’s hard to take your post seriously when it weaves between justifying the value and proclaiming we should just relax and not worry about the details.

These two were paid market value. Every metric puts both of them right around where they were paid. You're making it sound like these were huge overpays, but look at the contracts for the top 15 TEs. This is what they make.

And please point out where I do that which you just accused. I don't usually get into the money thing at all unless it's an analysis of what the coach might have been thinking regarding a player - or a contract that's way over the top. For example, I wanted them to keep Thuney and Flowers, but I understood why they might have chosen not to do that (and I'm not in the voidable years camp) given the huge contracts both received.

TE is an oft-injured position. There are few who can play both roles well. The Pats got two of them because they had the money for several reasons, not the least of which was low pay at the QB position anticipated for several years. Smith and Henry are the best insurance policy you could put around a rookie QB.

 

[Ollie]

Two months ago 90% of the posters wanted Sony gone, now I see a lot of them saying "why did we trade him"? Can't make it up.

It's almost as if being objectively right isn't important and people just love to moan

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Well Taylor was inactive for some reason. Makes you wonder should we have traded Sony? I thought the reason he was traded was because they had faith in their dearth of running backs

I'm sure Bill will trade for a RB now, if Taylor isn't the answer. Great thing about BIll is that once he recognizes he screwed up he'll admit it and try to fix it.

 

[ivanvamp]

Harris was gassed at the end of the game. I blame the coaching staff because they benched Stevenson because of his fumble. And Taylor wasn't active

This team can't afford bill punishing guys for turnovers

This team can't afford turnovers.