Patriots @ Bills Post Game Thoughts

[jsull87]

letting blount go was idiotic now that ridley is injured.

Now that you have 20/20 hindsight...

 

[PatsBoy12]

ESPN Stats & Info ? @ESPNStatsInfo
Today Tom Brady joined Andrew Luck as the only QBs this season with 350 pass yards, 4 TD and 0 Int in a game.

On the decline they said.

You paid attention?

 

[IcyPatriot]

FWIW:

Brandon spikes had 8 tackles ... only 3 were solo .

http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=400554259


Patrick chung led the Patriots with 9 tackles ... 5 were solo.

Skinner had 6 tackles ... 3 were solo.

 

[DocHoliday]

Interesting to see how the Pats adjust to life without Mayo. I agree with NEPD's Mike Loyko that Collins fits Mayo's role better than Mayo does, but the current lineup is the only way to get them all on the field at the same time.

We might see Darius Fleming back, who many of us thought had some potential.

Pretty happy with the game overall, but wish they'd take shots down the field on 3rd and 15 instead of waving the white flag and running Vereen up the middle for 2 yards.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

 

[Gronkowski123]

no more laFAIL from me.

for now.

 

[hwc]

OT here but on Saturday Night Live they did a skit on donating money for a village in Africa. The kid in the background was wearing a " Buffalo Bills Super Bills Champs" T-shirt..the kind they preprint and have to give away if they lose.......
At least it wasn't a 19-0 shirt!!!!!

My daughter has an official Patriots 19-0 perfect season t-shirt. She bought it when she was visiting a Pats fan friend in Rwanda.

Her favorite t-shirt for watching Pats games says "I Hate Peyton" on the front. The back says, "And Eli sucks, too!"

 

[mosi]

On the Boston.com web-site they talk about brady and have this line: "
His 361 yards on the day tie his 23rd-best game in the NFL. His 139.6 QB rating is the 17th-best of his career."

You know you are great when a 350+ yard game with 4 TD ranks 23rd for you! Even now I don't think we appreciate how great TB12 is.

 

[Mike the Brit]

May I just add that Chandler Jones's strip sack was a slick, devastating thing of beauty?

 

[hwc]

Pretty happy with the game overall, but wish they'd take shots down the field on 3rd and 15 instead of waving the white flag and running Vereen up the middle for 2 yards.

Not unless you want to see Brady leave on a cart. There just aren't that many 3-15 plays. Short memories: Vereen converted a 3-16 on a draw play just last week.

Sometimes its best to punt the ball and live to play another series. The odds are heavily in the defense's favor on third and long.

 

[DocHoliday]

Not unless you want to see Brady leave on a cart. There just aren't that many 3-15 plays. Short memories: Vereen converted a 3-16 on a draw play just last week.

Sometimes its best to punt the ball and live to play another series. The odds are heavily in the defense's favor on third and long.

There were multiple 3rd and long today. They've been doing this give up on 3rd and very long for a while.

 

[Urgent]

Brady's best game of the season. He was really hitting the downfield throws, which wasn't working consistently before today.

Receivers are showing excellent hands. Very few drops.
Gronkowski looks better and better each game.
LaFell gives a nice option at outside receiver, complementing Edelman.
Edelman is pretty tough. Receives the punt, runs routes, blocks, takes hits across the middle, runs around end.
Dobson remains way down the depth chart, and didn't do much for his cause today with a quick penalty.
Amendola sits with him.

Back to the same O-line performance we remember from five years ago. Great pass protection; can't run block. Odd. The interior line was pretty solid in pass protection, even as they mix up the line each week. Clearly improving on the inside. Solder struggled with Jerry Hughes, and Vollmer gave up some rushes around the outside as well.

D-line also improves. Really athletic play by Chandler Jones to strip the ball and recover himself. Three sacks by Ninkovich. Run-stuffing domination. All without Donta Hightower and most of the game without Mayo; plus no Easley.

The secondary is a continuing strength. That's a big change from several years ago when 3rd and 12 was a scary down. Chung is playing surprisingly well - tackling well, and hasn't been a liability in coverage. He gave up some of the throws to Chandler, but for the first three quarters those were great throws and great catches - the coverage on Chandler wasn't bad. Tavon Wilson seemed to be in on one play and was torched. He's supposed to be pretty good on special teams - good for him. He should remain there. Total press defense across the line. Watched Arrington line up on speedy Goodwin, a yard off the line, and he moved forward on the snap, knocking Goodwin, before back-pedaling. Great technique not to let the faster player blow by. Revis frustrated Watkins - enough that Orton rarely looked toward his side. 27 yards for Watkins.

We can thank Duke Williams for the lead in the first half. He tried to cover Gronkowski and was way too small, and then trailed Edelman and knocked him out of the endzone a half-second before the ball sailed over him. The Buffalo secondary was terrible start to finish. Confusion, penalties, poor coverage.

The Pats missed a chance to convert a big third down late in the game when Buffalo's defense was in complete confusion - players running off the field; LB's frantically gesturing for people to move. The Pats couldn't set to quick snap, and when they got the snap off failed to gain a yard on a short third down. Other than the Brady keeper, terrible short yardage running. With first and goal from the one they threw, and luckily no one covered Wright.

Continued poor officiating. Pats were the beneficiary of a couple poor calls, although the challenges all fell against them. Fewest penalties against the Pats this year, which was nice.

Orton was as expected - couple nice throws to the tight end, but a couple bad misses and bad decisions.

Suddenly a bunch of injuries; some could be bad. I'm more concerned with Mayo than Ridley. Much easier to incorporate another running back, and the Pats had a couple in pre-season who could step up.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Post em here.

Big news is the Mayo injury and to a lesser extent the Ridley & Connolly injuries.

Great game by the O overall particularly the OL for most of the game.

Game balls go to Brady, Lafell, Gronk, Edelman, Wendell (i know right?) Vollmer on O. Revis, Jones & Mccourty on D.

Kline and Cannon are clearly the top OL backups right now. Solder is frustrating and might not start next week frankly.

The pass rush did not get there enough. Nink came on late but should have been there the first 3 quarters. Run D was overall stout today and I was happy to see that. We need to learn to cover TEs. It is still a big weakness of the team.

Overall a good game and hope we are healthy as can be for the Jets on Thursday.

I will have to give a hand to Googe's junkyard Offensive line. With Stork and Fleming out, they had to play Kline, Connolly, Devey and Wendell. Only to lose Connolly. They had to move Wendel to C, against Dareus and Kyle; people who have devoured him and cost him his starting job. Hats off to Wendel for gutty pass protection, but not ignoring the hopeless run blocking..

They played the second half with Solder, Kline, Wendell, Cannon and Vollmer. The Pats couldn't run, or play ball control either, so Brady had to go for the deep home run passes and he connected. There was no pocket to step up into, and despite occasional breakdowns both Tackles prevented Brady from getting killed.

I don't know who the Pats would have inserted had the O-line sustained another injury. There was literally no one left.

The ST cost the Pats perhaps 5 points. Aiken got called for movement taking down a FG, and he bad--snapped costing the retry. Kline jumped offside on a 2 point try, forcing a 1 point conversion. I can see if the Ends and Receivers can't hear the snap in the noisy stadium, but Kline was 6 inches away from the snap, so no excuses.

Number 29, is on the team as a ST guru. It does absolutely no good if he gets to the down field returner first, if he runs right by him and out of the play, which is what he did on every KO/PR return play.

The Pats really got beat up in this week's practices and then against the Bills. I hope it doesn't turn into a Phyric victory.

 

[TomPatriot]

I will have to give a hand to Googe's junkyard Offensive line.

This. A bigger part of the win than people realize.

 

[Danger Zone]

FWIW:

...

Skinner had 6 tackles ... 3 were solo.

Clearly Skinner had assistance on the Orton tackle. Im pretty sure somebody stuffed him in a cannon and then fired him at Orton for the sack.

 

[JayNM]

I wonder what's harder to find:
Amendola, Dobson or Waldo

Such a mistery.

(WTF is happening to Dobson for crying out loud!!)

 

[juny]

The OL did a good job today despite no Stork and Connolly. Hopefully things are starting to click with those guys, and they'll need to play well again vs a good Jet DL.

I wonder if anyone wants to trade for Amendola, the team now needs a RB. Damn hated to see Ridley's emotions on the bench, he was doing pretty good this year, grinding out the tough yards and no fumbles.

I just hope Dobson is still playing hurt to explain his non existent contributions. At least Lafell and today Tyms are picking up the slack.

Anyone know what exactly happened for Hughes first personal foul? I didn't see anything on replay, perhaps he said something?

 

[BobDigital]

I think Dobson is healthy. They just want other guys on the feild more. It seems whenever he is on his number is called often. IDK how you sit him over Amendola though.

No one wants to trade for Amendola i think. Not with his contract. Tyms made a great catch and i hope Brady gives him more chances to make big plays on contested balls.

IDK what they will do for RB. Frankly i don't care much. RBs that don't catch just aren't a big deal to me. You can find them and if your OL is any good they will be serviceable at least.

Sucks we lost Mayo again. It is not a back breaker but it hurts.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

sucks we barely got to see all 3 LB's on the field together this year.

Either Collins was injured, or Hightower was out… and now it's Mayo.

 

[Kdo5]

The Aaron Dobson saga is torturous. We know that this kid can play. We saw it before his injury. We saw it in the preseason game. We see it on the rare occasion that they put him in the game. I still don't believe that he should be buried behind someone like Lafell. I appreciate what we've seen from Lafell recently but I believe AD's capable of it plus more if they give him the chance.