Random Thoughts:
1. The call/non-call is garbage, I think everyone agrees. Let's be clear, the Panthers earned this win; Newton played great (though I can't stand this bull**** that he 'outdueled' Brady, who was phenomenal and I think has put to bed any belief he's "struggling"), and ultimately they made more plays than the Pats, who really put themselves into this situation by having a lot of bonehead plays in the first-half. But that said, there should have been one more play, no question. Maybe on the goal-line, with the chance for a Brady sneak...
2. Deus mentioned how the game was kinda reminiscent of the last Super Bowl loss, and I agree. The Patriots put themselves into a hole with dumb plays early on; the offense, which moved well against the Panthers all night, bungled their first two drives. I know everyone wants to defend Ridley, and he is their best runner, I get that. But the bottom line is, he fumbles in big spots, and I can't blame the coaches for not trusting his ass. The Patriots looked like they were rolling to score on either of those drives, and that would have made the difference.
I'm not going to ***** too much about the call on Mankins, since I didn't see it and no one else did apparently. But man, the O-line play really didn't help in the first half.
On the other side of the ball, I was so pissed off at Talib. Obviously I don't know what was going on, but I think it was clear he wasn't totally 100% and had to shake off the rust, and he was rattled he wasn't totally himself. Smith proceeded to successfully exploit that. But in general, the defense just couldn't get off the field all night. It's amazing how few drives there were in the entire game, which played exactly into the kind of game Carolina wanted. Newton embarrassed the front seven, which clearly misses Wilfork, Mayo, Kelly, et al. But the secondary was nothing good too, which is not fortuitous leading into this next game.
Bottom line, they had to at least hold the Panthers to a FG on their last drive. Unacceptable.
3. I can go either way on this talk about the 3rd and 1 call. On one hand, I'm with Deus, Brady was on fire at that point so why not play the numbers? I saw someone mention how you had to right with Blount's "adrenaline rush" there, which just sounds dumb and I'd rather play what the statistics tell me is working. Also, if the play works and the Pats get a TD, we'd all congratulate the Pats for being clever and going for the jugular instead of just getting another set of downs. All that said, it seemed like no one was open on the play, which leads me to believe Carolina was expecting the pass (maybe not, I have no clue what defense they were in and have no compulsion to go back and watch the game). If that's the case, gotta wonder why Joshie or Brady didn't opt to check into a different play/run.
4. I heard people giving Belichick crap for not calling a timeout at the end of the first half. I don't care about this. At that point I'd rather see the team go into half-time and figure out all the stuff they were screwing up.
5. Man this game really sucks.
EDIT: Props to both KT and Dobson. This was the first game where they both felt really organic in the offense. We really will need this offense to roll now, because I think this defense is too decimated up front. If Talib can heal up and get his head out of his ass, and Dennard, Arrington, and Gregory (lol) all get back, I'll feel okay about the secondary still. On the other hand, the more the Pats start to score, the more pressure will be put on the secondary as opposing offenses try to keep pace.
