Time to give props to two of this board's favorite whipping boys - Logan Ryan and Danny Amendola

[50-yard-line]

Okay, I'll take the red X's for this, but I think Scott Chandler and Brady are starting to get on the same page, which bodes very well later on.

Chandler only caught 2 passes for 39 yards, no big deal, last night, but the TD callback was...meh. Can't argue with the call, but it would have been hard to argue with a no-call, too. And on another big third-down play, Chandler was obviously interfered with - guy clamped on his arm before the ball got there.

Similar to Amendola, he'll be invisible until he's not...but last night, with Jules hurting, Dion limited, Gronk doubled and tripled, it as good to see Brady looking his way. Reminds me of Lafell last year. He'll get there.

And I wish they'd throw to Blount more - the guy has really great hands and turns downfield immediately when he gets the ball. I love seeing safeties and corners have to stop that freight train.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Can we add a third player?

@dougkyed: Patrick Chung frequently was used as the Patriots' slot cornerback last night covering T.Y. Hilton. Who saw that coming?

Chung's been great in coverage so far this year. He's retroactively gone from a bust to a solid draft pick. It makes you wonder why he spent the first 5 years of his career playing deep zone coverage that McCourty excels in.

The way Seattle is getting shreddrd by TEs one could argue McCourty/Chung is the best safety duo in the league.

 

[FourierSeries]

Ryan has played well for a few weeks now. Last night's performance did not surprise me.

 

[fourhour]

I would've been satisfied had Butler picked one of those bombs off on the final drive....

 

[Wheelman]

Props to Amendola but Ryan? lol! Come on man this is how he is. Good games, bad games. Let's see some consistency before we give him props. We've seen this before.

 

[saspack]

Dola is a player you cannot help to like. Extremely dependable, do whatever asked, never complains and a big time gamer. Hope he stays healthy.

 

[FourierSeries]

Props to Amendola but Ryan? lol! Come on man this is how he is. Good games, bad games. Let's see some consistency before we give him props. We've seen this before.

Has Ryan had a bad game this year?

 

[FourierSeries]

Also, while we're giving props - after last night's performance, Jones has 5.5 sacks on the year. Which puts him in 2nd place in the NFL, despite having played 1 less game than most players.

 

[Rob0729]

We were in a lot of zone. The announcers couldn't figure out why. We can. Ryan is much better in zone coverage.

As Kontra pointed out, Ryan played well in man and zone last night.

He may also have a point about his consistency, but it is two full games now that he has played well. Maybe he has improved his consistency issues.

 

[mihap]

everyone knows that Ryan is excellent zone guy, but i dont wanna se him in man period.

Remember Danny Amendola in first game 2013 against Bills, where he get that groin injury.
He won us game. Edelman emerged later that year, unfortunally for Danny injury slowed him down.
I m so happy for dola.

U can add another one. I still cant belive Chung on Hilton. i was like, WTF is doing 23 on 13 and then another snap......

 

[Marqui]

Also, while we're giving props - after last night's performance, Jones has 5.5 sacks on the year. Which puts him in 2nd place in the NFL, despite having played 1 less game than most players.

Yes, people can shut up about Jones now. He's our best DE.

 

[Gronkowski123]

props to logan. impressive performance...
still need another CB though.

 

[IllegalContact]

We have nothing to complain about..... I prefer to see this form of dialogue as 'suggestions for improvement'

 

[JMC00]

Easley too. While he isn't been much of a whipping boy, he has been questioned by some on here.

9 pressures on 21 pass rushes.

Although probably should have had 1.5 sacks as it seemed pretty close that Luck was down when he threw it.

 

[Bella*chick]

We don't still consider Amendola a whipping boy do we? After his contributions in the playoffs last year and on? I thought we had turned the page on that one long ago.

 

[BradyFTW!]

As Kontra pointed out, Ryan played well in man and zone last night.

He may also have a point about his consistency, but it is two full games now that he has played well. Maybe he has improved his consistency issues.

I think it's also largely a matchup issue. Ryan's biggest issue is a lack of speed, and that can also lead to a lot of trouble when he has to flip his hips and run with his man, because he knows his speed is a liability and tends to lose track of either the ball or his man as part of that whole process.

Someone like Andre Johnson is a surprisingly good matchup for him, given their size disparity. When Ryan doesn't have to worry about getting beaten deep, he seems a lot more comfortable in trusting his skills. He knows he can stick to AJ, so even in man he was just playing the ball with the seeming understanding that the only way he's getting beat is on a great throw from Luck that puts the ball in a place where only Johnson can get it, and even if/when that happens, Johnson's too slow to beat the safety help over the top anyway.

Ryan will never be ideal in man coverage. I'd even go so far as to say that it requires a certain type of matchup for him to be passable. But when that matchup presents itself, the results are solid. If the Pats spend the rest of the season putting Ryan on the other team's slowest receiver, regardless of size, that might actually work. Especially if we're playing not-great QBs who aren't necessarily adept at making accurate throws downfield to exploit the size mismatches those matchups can create.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Easley too. While he isn't been much of a whipping boy, he has been questioned by some on here.

9 pressures on 21 pass rushes.

Although probably should have had 1.5 sacks as it seemed pretty close that Luck was down when he threw it.

Luck absolutely was down. In the grand scheme of things it didn't really make a difference, if anything helped us a bit at the end of the half by keeping some additional time on the clock. But I was still a little bummed to see the refs miss that call, just because Easley deserved that sack.

 

[Brady6]

Nobody bashed Amendola more than me in the past but I have to say he has found his role on this team and done a great job since the end of last season. He has a knack for stepping up in big moments.

I never understood the constant bashing of Logan Ryan, nobody ever labeled him the next Revis so I'm not sure why everyone expected so much from him. He is a good #2 or #3 CB with elite ball skills. For a mid 3rd round draft pick Ryan has done just fine in my opinion.

 

[Brady6]

Luck absolutely was down. In the grand scheme of things it didn't really make a difference, if anything helped us a bit at the end of the half by keeping some additional time on the clock. But I was still a little bummed to see the refs miss that call, just because Easley deserved that sack.

Absolutely, I loved the way Easley put him down too. Easley exploded onto the scene last night he was outstanding, he is going to be a force in the second half of the season, he looks like he finally figured it out. He had 1 pressure this season coming into the game and he had 8 last night.

 

[jah]

Props to Amendola but Ryan? lol! Come on man this is how he is. Good games, bad games. Let's see some consistency before we give him props. We've seen this before.

Disagree. Ryan used to be inconsistent on a play-to-play basis, only looking "good" when he snagged gift interceptions. He's just been pretty regularly sticky in coverage this year.