MORSE: To Tank or Not to Tank – Preview of Patriots Week 18 Game
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Since we just did a preview of the Bills two weeks ago, writing a preview of them again would be a waste of time and effort. Instead, I will concentrate on the significance of the game.
This has been a lost season, and I will go into post season analysis next week. The game is meaningless for Buffalo. They cannot win the top seed in the playoffs and a loss means nothing to their standing. They will treat this game like it is a bye week and rest their starters. Sean McDermott has stated that Josh Allen will start but only for the purpose of keeping his streak of consecutive starts. One series and done is my guess. This will be like the 1st Pre-season game.
The question for Jerod Mayo is whether he plays to win or plays to ensure they retain the #1 overall selection. If Mayo’s job is in jeopardy, then he may want to play to win.
Personally, I detest losing and some including Greg Bedard have argued that the Patriots should try to win. His argument is that Drake Maye is a fierce competitor and wants to play. He doesn’t believe the players would like it if the Head Coach played to lose. On the other side Nick Cattles “I hate this with the heat of a 1,000 burning suns, but the Patriots should tank”. The Sports Betting line of over / under 4.5 Wins for the season won’t be affected either way should the Patriots win on Sunday.
I can’t believe I am saying this, but it is more important for the franchise’s future to lose this game. Therefore, I would treat this like the 1st Exhibition game and play the younger less experienced players and see what they have got. I would not play Drake Maye. He has nothing to prove and only risks getting hurt. We know what we have in Drake Maye, a potential Top 10 QB who will only get better with a competent Offensive Line in front of him. You also know what Jacoby Brissett brings to the table, and quite frankly I was very disappointed in Brissett’s performance this season. Let’s see Joe Milton and find out how far he has progressed. Milton, like Maye, had many flaws coming out of college. This is a perfect opportunity to help make the decision if the team needs another QB in Free Agency or Draft.
Start Caeden Wallace, Lester Cotton, Cole Strange, Layden Robinson and Demontrey Jacobs. Get Lecitus Smith and Tyrese Robinson in the game and see how they handle NFL players.
Ben Brown, Christian Gonzalez and Ja’Lynn Polk did not participate in Practice either Wednesday or Thursday. Rule them out for Sunday. Kyle Dugger has been playing all season on a bad ankle. Sit him out. Any player with a nagging injury should sit. Players like Davon Godchaux, who has been a rock on defense, is an older player and he should sit. Take a look at Javon Baker, call up a WR off the Practice Squad.
Sit Rhamondre Stevenson and play Terrell Jennings. Sit Hunter Henry and let’s see Jaheim Bell to determine if we need to draft a TE. Use this game as an evaluation tool for next season.
Yannick Ngakoue was released on Monday. Last week I posted that he should have been released immediately after the game because of his bonehead roughing the passer penalty. Finally, someone was held accountable for their actions! Oh, wait a minute … Jerod Mayo when asked about it at his press conference stated that they were giving a veteran a chance to hook on with a playoff team. Not because of accountability?
DT Haggai Ndubuisi was signed on Wednesday off the Washington Commanders Practice Squad but was waived today with a Non-Football Injury designation. The Patriots never officially announced the signing. This leaves the roster with two open spots.
LB Curtis Jacobs has been a Full Participant this week in practice but has not been elevated to the Active Roster from IR yet.
Congratulations to Brenden Schooler for his selection as the AFC Special Teamer Coverage player. The immediate season after Matthew Slater retired Schooler is elevated as the #1 gunner in the AFC. Schooler was unstoppable this season, despite numerous double teams. How many Return men were mad because of Schooler bearing down and forced a Fair Catch? How many penalties did Schooler force, like the block in the back against the Chargers last week that brought back a Punt Return TD? The returner would have been dropped in his place if there wasn’t a penalty. You can’t judge a Special Team gunner just by the number of tackles he makes. Schooler is so good that opponents have to game plan on how they are going to contain him. I am very surprised that Christian Gonzalez wasn’t selected as a Pro Bowl player. Week in and Week out, Gonzalez had the toughest matchups in the league. Also surprised that Marcus Jones was not selected as the Punt Returner. Marvin Mimms had the best return average, but he had 21 Fair Catches as compared to Jones 8.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell did a projection of the Top 50 players he thinks should be All Pro. He lists Christian Gozalez as the 3rd CB. Curious that all 3 CBs are from the AFC. Barnwell cites “He has given up a 71.5 passer rating in coverage. Opposing receivers have broken only 4.8% of his tackles, and he has committed only three penalties. Opponents have completed 51.9% of the passes thrown in his direction as the nearest defender in coverage, the third-lowest rate for a cornerback with at least 400 snaps on the outside”. Look at the receivers that Gonzalez has had to cover this year. He got no week off.
Barnwell recognizes that the majority of NFL teams are now playing the Nickle Package (3 CBs and 2 Safeties) as their standard defense and thus named 3 CBs to the Al Pro list. The Pro Bowl selected Baltimore’s Marlon Humphrey over Gonzalez.
In a telephone interview on WEEI Friday morning, Jahlani Tavai answered Greg Hill’s question. Hill asked “When fans are booing and they’re calling for coaches’ jobs” Tavai answered “I don’t know. There’s a reason why they’re fans. Everybody can say what they think that we should be doing. In the long end, they’re not qualified to do what Mayo is doing, or whatever the Pats are doing. The fans, I appreciate them at times, but sometimes they just have to know their place and just understand that it’s a work in progress. Rome wasn’t built in one day”.
I included the entire quote, so that it wasn’t taken out of context. That is absolutely the wrong answer son. You could have said it better. The fans pay good money to see these games and their investment in the team goes a lot further than that. The fans have the right to boo the players and particularly the owners for the product they are putting on the field. As a writer I try to be fair and report what is going on with the team. However, I am a lifelong fan first. I am very disappointed in Tavai’s response to that question.
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