I always want to win even at the cost of losing draft position.\u00a0 I must give the Patriots players credit; they have not quit.\u00a0 They are playing for pride, for their coach and they want to win.\u00a0 Just look at the players that were missing; Judon, Gonzalez, Strange, Smith-Schuster, Henry, Slater, Stevenson, and Peppers.\u00a0 That\u2019s 8 starters!\u00a0 How many teams would have rolled over and died, with nothing to play for except their next contract?\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about the draft pick, it is only going to make the Patriots decision easier when it comes to the draft.\u00a0 I won\u2019t spoil it here, but I have definite thoughts on the draft and will present those once the season has ended.\u00a0 Here are my observations.<\/p>\n
1) My first and lasting impression of the game is the way that Christian Barmore played.\u00a0 He was as dominant a Defensive lineman as I have seen in a Patriots uniform.\u00a0 He was not playing against any old offensive lineman.\u00a0 Barmore is healthy this year and he went up against Quinn Meinerz who is ranked #4 by Pro Football Focus (PFF).\u00a0 Amongst Defensive Tackles, Barmore was ranked 8th<\/sup> thru 15 games and should go up this week.\u00a0 He had three sacks of the elusive Russel Wilson.\u00a0 Barmore led the team (tied with Bentley) with 8 tackles, 5 solo and 2 Tackles for Loss.\u00a0 \u00a0This from a player that I thought was lazy coming out in the draft.\u00a0 Boy am I\u2019m glad I was wrong.\u00a0 I watched his interview after the game, and he is just a young man that loves playing football.\u00a0 He was so hyped even a half hour after the game was over.<\/p>\n 2) Bailey Zappe was terrific, 25 of 33 (76% completion rate), 2 TDs and no INT.\u00a0 He did have a fumble on the opening play of the game that appeared to me as an incomplete pass similar to the tuck rule.\u00a0 Zappe\u2019s arm was definitely going forward. \u00a0He was 5 for 5 on passes of 25 yards or more.\u00a0 When is the last time we have seen that?\u00a0 His mobility in the pocket, avoiding a sack and still getting the passes downfield was impressive all night.\u00a0<\/p>\n 3) None was better than Zappe’s game winning drive with 56 seconds left and starting on their own 19-yard line.\u00a0 It appeared that the Patriots were going to try and run the clock out, settle for overtime.\u00a0 With 3rd<\/sup> and 3 at their own 36-yard line, Zappe and Bill O\u2019Brien crossed up Denver by passing deep down the sideline to DaVante Parker for 27 yards.\u00a0 Parker was one on one against Patrick Surtain the Broncos best CB.<\/p>\n 4) You can call it a tale of two games for Kicker Chad Ryland.\u00a0 He missed a 47-yard Field Goal extremely wide right.\u00a0 It was so far right that he missed the Field Goal net, and some lucky fan got an early Christmas gift! \u00a0\u00a0Later he missed an extra point, doinking it off the goal post.\u00a0 However, that was not Ryland\u2019s fault but that of longsnapper Joe Cardona.\u00a0 The snap was high and right, and Bryce Baringer did a terrific job catching it and getting it down.\u00a0 Ryland almost made that kick.\u00a0 Then came the opportunity for redemption.\u00a0 An improbable opportunity to kick a game winning Field Goal with just 2 seconds left.\u00a0 The kick was absolutely perfect, right down the middle and into the net.\u00a0 That kick would have been good from 65 yards out.\u00a0 I loved the reaction of the Broncos mascot.\u00a0 As the ball went through the middle of the uprights, the mascot just collapsed on his face.\u00a0 Ryland was excellent in his interview after the game and refused to blame the longsnapper for his missed Extra Point.<\/p>\n 5) Everything starts and ends with the Offensive Line.\u00a0 Whose brilliant idea was it to start James Ferentz at Left Guard with Vederian Lowe at Left Tackle.\u00a0 Ferentz is an old (34) undersized Center and extremely undersized G at 6\u20192\u201d 290 lbs.\u00a0 DJ Jones threw him out of the way like he was a ragdoll.\u00a0 It was Jones that had a direct line to Zappe and was credited with the opening fumble.\u00a0 Atonio Mafi was not great as he was called twice for holding, but he was stout in pass protection and gave Zappe enough time to complete those chunk plays downfield.\u00a0 I understand that Trent Brown is playing hurt, and the Patriots are trying to limit his playing time.\u00a0 Lowe is not the answer.<\/p>\n 6) This was the best game that I have seen from DaVante Parker.\u00a0 He had 4 receptions on 5 targets for 65-yards.\u00a0 Many were underthrown balls that Parker made the adjustment to, and the DB didn\u2019t.\u00a0 He had receptions of 29, 30 and 27 yards.\u00a0 None of his catches was better than the 27-yarder from Zappe at the end of the game.<\/p>\n 7) Pop Douglas was a big factor too and he was 5 receptions on 8 targets.\u00a0 He did let one go right through his hands and it would have been a big gainer as he had plenty of room to run.\u00a0 He finished with 74 yards.\u00a0 During the game he broke the single season rookie record for most receptions with 44.\u00a0 Quite the accomplishment for a 6th<\/sup> round draft pick, especially having missed 3 games with concussions.<\/p>\n 8) Ezekiel Elliott had a big impact on the game with 9 catches and 33 yards including a 15-yard TD.\u00a0 On that play he leaped over the defender like a high hurdler and continued to the end zone.\u00a0 He added 12 carries for 27 yards.<\/p>\n 9) In the absence of Hunter Henry both Mike Gesicki and Pharoah Brown contributed.\u00a0 Gesicki had 2 catches for 15 yards and a TD.\u00a0 Brown added 2 catches for 25 yards.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Jaelon Reagor added a nice 28-yard pocket pass reception.\u00a0 This was a pass that was over the CB and underneath the Safety coming over.\u00a0 Perfectly thrown ball by Zappe.<\/p>\n 10) I must add a shout out to Denver linebacker Alex Singleton with his 12 tackles, 10 of which were solo.\u00a0 Tremendous effort by a player that will be a Free Agent next year.<\/p>\n 11) I was impressed with Jalen Mills who finished with 7 tackles.\u00a0 He was everywhere but was banged up and didn\u2019t finish the game.\u00a0 At one point with Jones and Mills out we were playing Wade, Bryant and Austin as the corners. It was a good game for Bryant who also had 7 tackles, a Pass Breakup and Tackle for Loss.\u00a0 Luckily Jones came back and had a good breakup late in the game.<\/p>\n 12) The Pats Defense was immense in the 1st<\/sup> and third quarters.\u00a0 After the opening fumble at the 6-yard line the Pats defense held the Broncos off the scoreboard.\u00a0 The next drive Denver started at the Patriots 46 and the defense forced a three and out.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Bryce Baringer had a booming 53-yard punt that outkicked his coverage team and Mims returned it 50 yards to the Patriots 25.\u00a0 The Broncos would score on this short field.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0In the third quarter they dominated Denver and held them to -15 yards for the quarter, while the offense and special teams scored 20 points.<\/p>\n 13) I am convinced that the rarified air at altitude in Denver was a big factor in the fourth quarter.\u00a0 The Patriots Defense looked gassed while the Offense did nothing with three straight three and outs.\u00a0 The Defense dug deep for a critical stop and 3 and out giving Zappe the chance to get into Field Goal position.<\/p>\n 14) The Special Teams had a weird night and looked like they missed Matthew Slater.\u00a0 They gave up the 50-yard return by Mims to set up Denver\u2019s 1st<\/sup> TD.\u00a0 Then they missed a Field Goal and Extra Point.\u00a0 However, Chad Ryland redeemed himself with that booming 56-yard game winning Field Goal.<\/p>\n 15) The coaching staff needs to take a hit here with the decision to start Ferentz and Lowe together, but they quickly adjusted and got Ferentz out of there.\u00a0 In the second half, the use of an early timeout, then a loss of timeout for an unsuccessful challenge used up their second timeout.\u00a0 That left the Pats with just one Timeout for the final 56 seconds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I always want to win even at the cost of losing draft position.\u00a0 I must give the Patriots players credit; they have not quit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":50287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n