*** OFFICIALLY UNOFFICIAL **** Patriots @ Cardinals Post-Game Thread

[Marqui]

Chris Long is a more important re-sign than Sheard.

 

[patchick]

Oh, and an interesting wrinkle: you know how BB drove fans crazy by keeping so many ST specialists on the roster? Now it's clear, with the new kickoff rules kickoffs actually matter again.

 

[AtomicDawg]

In honor of his blocks tonight, gotta share this:

 

[PedroMac]

Today I have been on and relished both the Colts Fan Forum AND Gangrene Forum.

What the NFL and Teams like the COLTS, JETS, RAVENS don't realize is that Patriots now take abject pleasure in their individual and collective misery!! They can hate that fact but they cannot deny that they are responsible for it.

Destroy Them All Tour. 2016

 

[nabwong]

Special team was great tonight. Pinned the cards back. Jones was explosive. Kicking game was solid as usual.

 

[long distance]

Some quick thoughts.

#1 Jimmy G. A Very good first start. He did everything you could have expected. He made a few mistakes but made some very clutch plays and was active in making this a win and was not carried to the win clearly. He seemed cool, calm and collection for the most part and all but at 1 point seemed completely aware of the situation he was in at any given time. He still has issues at times calling coverages out and blitzers but that is to be expected. Overall He looked like an above average NFL Starting QB tonight.

#2 WRs - I did not expect much form this group and thought it be more of a TE/RB game but they were called on a lot and came though. The ran good routes and got open. Hogan and Edelman were constantly called upon and though Mitchell and Amendola only got spot chances to make an impact when called upon they tended to answer and made big time clutch plays. No drops tonight. Maybe catches that could have been made but i don't recall 1 clear drop.

#3 OL - It was not good but not horrible. Obviously they had their hand held a lot and at times looked awful but also had good stretches. Andrews besides 1 horrible wiff played pretty well. Thuney was the best OL on the feild I think. Cannon actually was pretty damn solid. Flemming needed baby sitting as one would expect and Mason couldn't do much. How much his injury factors in remains to be seen.

#4 TE - Derby made 1 huge mistake and is mostly responsible for 1 turnover and was not let back in the game much after that. Bennett had a great game that did not show up on the stat sheet much but showed solid hands and managed to fall foward and get a clutch first down and was an A+ in blocking tonight.

#5 RB -White was insane tonight. Also picked up a 3rd and 4 running to. Blount had a good game I think and though he didn't do much late the OL didn't allow much to happen late. Overall a mixed bag but a good game and I don't blame him for the fumble. I think that was pretty forced and it be hard for any back to hold on to it. Tip your hat on a good play.

#6 DL - This unit was a mixed bag. Overall they were only okay. They shined at times but also had times when nothing could be accomplished. Overall they did well stopping the run besides one missed tackle by Valentine that Johnson got out of. The pass rush was pretty decent but not usually timely except the Chris Long sack that saved 3 points.

#7 LBs - Collins and Hightower were not really let loose to do too much which was surprising. They did their job well and the few times they were asked to make plays they did. Overall a good game by both.

#8 DBs - This unit seemed pretty weak this game. Some missed chances for a turnover and they seemed to not be able to make too many plays when needed. A few clutch plays happened but overall the Card WRs had the better of it clearly.

#9 STs - This unit was very very good. The Pats dominated this phase mostly with the worst play being a short punt and the best being Jonathan Jones in the returners face on a booming punt to pin them back.

#10 Coaching - The coaching at times was brilliant and at times was too conservative and passive. Overall I can't criticize too much cause i felt there was some REALLY great calls made but clearly this was one of the points that kept AZ in it the most as it only takes a few mistakes or bad moments to lose a whole lot of what you gained by many positive calls.

Can't agree on the DB'S - Coleman better than expected, Butler competitive against top rec. unit, Ryan good start, struggled late in the game vs magical Fitz; McCourty a beast, Harmon ok, Even Richards made one important play close to end of the game.

This was top NFL offense on a pretty good day. The D didn't look as spectacular as we probably imagined but looked very solid and thrustful.

@RB - Bolden almost gave away the 3rd turnover without even being hit. I just don't know about him ...

Even Freeny looked like he knew what he was doing also on D when he came on for High.

 

[long distance]

Oh yes, and great coaching from Hightower on that timeout - if that was played it could've cost us a game!

 

[chumpchange]

No Gronk, no Brady and a win on the road against a SB caliber team not much more we can ask for.

Belichick is a genius, and he should have just laid it all out at the press conference: "I can win with Tom Brady; I can win with Jimmy Garoppolo; I can win with Matt Cassel; and if I could find a big enough uniform for your mama, I could win with her under center, too."

 

[AtomicDawg]

 

[Dexter]

 

[QuantumMechanic]

From the buffalobills.com forum "NE B team vs NFC #2" thread:

You can't write this stuff. Actually you can because they DO THIS CRAP 24/7! Just win win win all the time! We can't even get a single wild card in this millennium but the patriots can beat the supposed best team in the NFL without half their starting offense!

It'll never change. Bills will NEVER and I mean NEVER take the division back from New England.

No one can convince me otherwise because there is almost two decades of solid evidence to back up my claim. If you think otherwise I need to see the proof. Until then Buffalo will never be as good of a team.

and also

Out of all the years, tonight might be the hardest with this team/league. We go into Baltimore and play a team who was 5-11 last year. We had ALL of our offensive starters healthy and back from last season. Not only do we lose, we score 7 points and our "franchise" QB looked like Trent Edwards.

Meanwhile, the New England Patriots JV go into Arizona on prime time and beat the preseason Super Bowl favorite Cardinals. It gets better though. Jimmy G looks 100x better than our supposedly franchise QB and our EX BILL Chris Hogan has a monster game.

Seriously fellas, I know we all give each other hell on here but honestly, where the hell do we go from here...

 

[Ross12]

Love this kid. I think he can really play well enough to give Tom a 4-0 team in week 5.

 

[Patriot Missile]

10-16 on 3rd downs. As unsure of how we thought they were gonna perform, that was the one stat that really stuck out for the offense tonight and Jimmy G was a big part of it against an upper tier defense. Grace under pressure/fire so to speak. That's a good game for a seasoned QB, never mind a QB making his first NFL start.

 

[Ross12]

From the buffalobills.com forum "NE B team vs NFC #2" thread:



and also

I love the tears over Hogan. Love it. Idiots in Buffalo had a serious player on their hands and rarely used him, then let him walk to their chief opponent.

 

[long distance]

From one of the heroes of the day

 

[Kdo5]

Gonna give another shout out to James White. For some reason people were down on him. I mean I know that a large part of it was that he has struggled as a runner.

But I thought he had really excelled last season in the passing game and he continues to. Showed good speed and elusiveness on the swing pass, great low catch and a key catch on the crossing route for a first time.

 

[E1Downey]

Im really pumped about Bennett's play tonight. He was blocking great which means he was putting in great effort which means hes real into it. Very happy about that. Oh and that Jimmy kid looked pretty good too!

 

[Ross12]

From one of the heroes of the day

He whooped Chandler's ass so bad, he got flagged for it!

Incoming: Bennett suspended 10 games for domestic violence against frightened defensive end.

 

[The Gr8est]

From the buffalobills.com forum "NE B team vs NFC #2" thread:



and also

This is some high quality angst.

Premium blend of abject resignation with just a hint of "I need a new pasttime, because waiting for the Pats to slide back to the rest of the league isn't happening in my life time".

 

[chumpchange]

10-16 on 3rd downs. As unsure of how we thought they were gonna perform, that was the one stat that really stuck out for the offense tonight and Jimmy G was a big part of it against an upper tier defense. Grace under pressure/fire so to speak. That's a good game for a seasoned QB, never mind a QB making his first NFL start.

Jimmy strikes me as someone who'll develop into a good, if unspectacular, quarterback. He may not make too many comebacks nor make those dazzling, breath-taking type plays, but he manages the game coolly and efficiently, and that's a lot more than most teams in the NFL have.