The Game Ball Thread: Wk 12 @ Jets

[SeoulSoxFan]

Always, ALWAYS good to beat the New York Jets. Game balls time!

Defensive game ball goes to Chris Long for the turnover-causing swipe at the end.
Offensive game ball goes to Dion Lewis for (almost) being completely back & Malcolm Mitchell for the 2 TD performance.

Back at home for the Rams!

 

[DJnVa]

Brady.

 

[cshea]

Brady. Clearly not at 100%, but game on the line in the 4th quarter and he was money. GOAT.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Brady. Clearly not at 100%, but game on the line in the 4th quarter and he was money. GOAT.

50 throws and another zero-INT game. It's almost a given that he gets a default game ball every single game.

As a Pats fan, I am thankful for the chance to watch his career from game 1. Gobble, gobble, GOAT.

 

[Ale Xander]

Malcolm Mitchell

Honorary mention to the DL for a couple clutch plays especially Alan Branch who showed he can get high to reach out a limb to block a kick that changed momentum for the better

 

[tims4wins]

Wins like today are the reason the world hates the Patriots

 

[Old Fart Tree]

Wins like today are the reason the world hates the Patriots

Fuck'm.

 

[Kenny F'ing Powers]

Mitchell
Hogan
Defensive line
Offensive line
Lewis

 

[Ferm Sheller]

Malcolm Mitchell

Honorary mention to the DL for a couple clutch plays especially Alan Branch who showed he can get high to reach out a limb to block a kick that changed momentum for the better

Didn't Valentine block the kick? I'm not sure. They both look alike with their helmets on.

 

[Harry Hooper]

Rowe and Ryan made some plays on D

 

[JokersWildJIMED]

Didn't Valentine block the kick? I'm not sure. They both look alike with their helmets on.

Branch

 

[Tony C]

Can't give Brady one today for the first time this season (in a game he played).

Mitchell
Branch
Lewis

 

[Ferm Sheller]

Branch

Oh, thanks.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

Game ball to Brady's continued growing confidence in Malcolm Mitchell. It is pretty sweet to see.

 

[Stitch01]

I will just say three things
---Mitchell's emergence and Lewis back in the mix as a reasonable facsimile of his full self make this offense really, really interesting if if if Gronk ever is back and healthy. The OL has its issues but it is passable
---I think the view of the defense has swung too far. I argued that this wasn't a top ten defense earlier in the year, but this isn't a terrible defense either. They defend the run pretty well and are below average vs the pass.
---Ghost missed a kick but also made a clutch 40 yarder and a perfect kickoff to set up field position on the next Jets drive. He's not having a good year but he's not a calamity.

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

Mitchell looks like a guy who can do a lot of different things out there. Crisp short to medium routes, good speed, attacks the ball, good hands. Seen him break tackles and block downfield. Keeper. Amazing he has emerged with the guys they have in front of him.

 

[bankshot1]

After the 1st qtr I thought the D played pretty well. They mostly contained a good running game, and gave up short stuff as Fitzy did not piss the game away and did not force the ball. Today the D was ok against a mediocre offense.

Mitchell fought for the ball and got open, he should have probably snagged that diving pass in the EZ, but...

He had a good day.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

If Mitchell doesn't let that ball go through his hands, it's a game that really gets people talking. As it is, still clearly starting to be established as a contributor going forward.

I still think some of Brady's high and outside balls were him being overly cautious. When he needed to, he put the ball on the money.

Gronk overthrow was maybe his worst ball.

 

[Oppo]

Alan Branch who showed he can get high

 

[NortheasternPJ]

If Mitchell doesn't let that ball go through his hands, it's a game that really gets people talking. As it is, still clearly starting to be established as a contributor going forward.

I still think some of Brady's high and outside balls were him being overly cautious. When he needed to, he put the ball on the money.

Gronk overthrow was maybe his worst ball.

Going through his hands is a pretty high standard. He got his hands on it but that was not an easy ball to catch.

Wasn't like Welkers drop. /ducks

 

[DJnVa]

Yeah, it was a tough catch, but you'd hope it gets made.

I love that Brady went back to him.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

Honorable mention for Edelman. We take him for granted. 8 catches for 83 yards. Patriots were backed up to the 17 on the game winning drive and hadn't had a play longer than 20 yards all game. He ran a great route and caught the 24 yard pass that started the drive. He also made a good catch on 3d and 10 that made White's fourth down catch manageable.

Edit: And the offense for ball security. +2 in turnovers (+3 if you count the FG block) is the stat of the game. If the Pats turn one over, they probably lose.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

Yeah, it was a tough catch, but you'd hope it gets made.

I love that Brady went back to him.

I'm sure it was discussed elsewhere but Zolak said that Tom said that Mitchell was a guy who Just gets it. He gets the playbook the options and reads. It's like he's a veteran. I'll look up tomorrow for a reference. On mobile now.

 

[Mugsy's Jock]

With all the obvious candidates named (and DDB good call on Edelman as well), I want to loop back to the OL, maybe more specifically to Scarnecchia. Brady was definitely under the gun in the first half, but they tightened things up at halftime and played penalty-free.

 

[Ed Hillel]

I think Marcus Cannon is, like, really good now. That's pretty weird, though he was a top tier talent before he got cancer.

Mitchell gets the big game ball. If Gronk and Bennett can ever get healthy (big if), the offense has just silly potential. Bonus points for beating Revis on both TDs.

Chris Long - Play of the year defensively

 

[Stitch01]

Yeah the Cannon change from last year means we should be paying Dante like five times more money than whatever he makes. Credit to Cannon of course, and he's is healthy which helps,but Dante gave an interview about how they changed how Cannon used his arms and it's like having a different player

 

[nothumb]

While Brady was nails at the end, it's hard to say he gets a game ball given how off he looked at times before that. Credit to him for gutting out the injury, but it wasn't quite his usual standard. Plus, some of his mistakes were clearly mental, not just physical.

Similarly, I thought the coaching staff had a rough game. After a bad start, the D stiffened up nicely, but if I ever see another 2 man rush again I may murder somebody. The offensive game plan was baffling to me - it honestly seemed like the limited availability of their TEs was the only thing that got them off the ineffective play action / bootleg crap.

That said, a road win against a division opponent in which your D only gives up 17 is a good game.

I also have to wonder if Gronk's "back" injury is him being unexpectedly short of breath. Not sure if there is a reason to obfuscate there, but it would make some sense.

Game balls on the offensive side to the WR group (Mitchell, Edelman, Hogan) and the O-Line.

Nobody on D really blew me away - Long obviously made a huge play at the end but was otherwise invisible; Malcolm had the big right hook to force a fumble but also got picked on a bit. I thought Ryan had some really nice plays, particularly that corner blitz where he read the screen and picked up the RB. It also looked like Branch was really plugging things up well in the run game and I saw Hightower crashing down nicely to close up a lot of holes. I guess I'll go with Ryan and Branch on D.

 

[Koufax]

Mitchell gets my game ball. He runs good routes, has good hands and speed and is on the same wavelength as Tom. How many receivers have come through the system and not jelled with Tom? It seems like dozens, and Mitchell seems like the real deal. At long last.

 

[RoDaddy]

Game ball moving forward to how diversely talented this offense has become. I can't ever remember a Pats team with this many weapons! Today, six guys with 3 or more receptions (Edelman, Hogan, Mitchell, Bennett, Lewis, White), plus Gronk and Amendola = 8 bona fide quality receiver options. And suddenly a quality and perfectly complementary backfield in Blount, White and Lewis. Plus TB

 

[Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt]

This was an ugly game we were fortunate to win. But great teams win these games, even when they play ugly. I'm concerned about the secondary, even granting that they did better as the game went along. But their three-tiered strategy for defending the pass seems to depend almost exclusively on:

1) overthrows
2) drops

and, a new one today,

3) periodically punching out the ball after a completion

Football Awareness was decidedly lacking today -- Brady's early time-out after an iffy 1st down spot, some odd coaching decisions, the lack of urgency at the end of the 1st half (Set aside the TO they never used, but why the hell did Hogan not even TRY to get out of bounds? HOOOOO-GAAAAN!) and, depending on the injury, I'm really wondering why we even played Gronk today.

GAME BALLS to...

1) Mitchell (I think the pass that "went through his hands" is a bit rough on him, it would've been a ludicrously good catch, IMO, not one of those that's tough "but you just have to make." He was terrific today -- hands, toughness, clutch, just REALLY excited to see him continue to blossom.)
2) James White -- just. makes. plays. And Brady trusts him.
3) Dion Lewis -- continues to come back and look pretty damn dynamic.
4) the RUN D -- pretty stout. Holding Forte to 2.whatever yards/carry is nothing to sneeze at.

Not a very good performance, but they won anyway. Now if we could just convince TB12 to take two games off and let Jimmy G grab the reins so the GOAT can heal. Oh well. A guy can dream...

 

[Harry Hooper]

This was an ugly game we were fortunate to win. But great teams win these games, even when they play ugly. I'm concerned about the secondary, even granting that they did better as the game went along. But their three-tiered strategy for defending the pass seems to depend almost exclusively on:

1) overthrows
2) drops

and, a new one today,

3) periodically punching out the ball after a completion

Football Awareness was decidedly lacking today -- Brady's early time-out after an iffy 1st down spot, some odd coaching decisions, the lack of urgency at the end of the 1st half (Set aside the TO they never used, but why the hell did Hogan not even TRY to get out of bounds? HOOOOO-GAAAAN!) and, depending on the injury, I'm really wondering why we even played Gronk today.

GAME BALLS to...

1) Mitchell (I think the pass that "went through his hands" is a bit rough on him, it would've been a ludicrously good catch, IMO, not one of those that's tough "but you just have to make." He was terrific today -- hands, toughness, clutch, just REALLY excited to see him continue to blossom.)
2) James White -- just. makes. plays. And Brady trusts him.
3) Dion Lewis -- continues to come back and look pretty damn dynamic.
4) the RUN D -- pretty stout. Holding Forte to 2.whatever yards/carry is nothing to sneeze at.

Not a very good performance, but they won anyway. Now if we could just convince TB12 to take two games off and let Jimmy G grab the reins so the GOAT can heal. Oh well. A guy can dream...

Can't buy the White accolades given those 2 poor plays down the stretch: 1) not squaring up for the sideline pass and letting the defender go around him to flick it away, and 2) not extending the football over the goal line.

 

[Ale Xander]

Wrong thread oops

 

[Ferm Sheller]

Can't buy the White accolades given those 2 poor plays down the stretch: 1) not squaring up for the sideline pass and letting the defender go around him to flick it away, and 2) not extending the football over the goal line.

On the positive side, he picked up an essential first down on fourth down in the last few minutes.

 

[Harry Hooper]

On the positive side, he picked up an essential first down on fourth down in the last few minutes.

That was a nice effort by him. OK, he's out of the doghouse.

 

[Ferm Sheller]

And to be fair, there's a 99.9% chance he picked up the conversion

 

[singaporesoxfan]

Mitchell, definitely. Who knew Revis Island had a swim-up bar?

 

[Bowhemian]

I thought Ryan had some really nice plays, particularly that corner blitz where he read the screen and picked up the RB.

I was extremely impressed with this play. Corners don't blitz all that often, so when their number is called, they get all kinds of excited. So here he comes, all happy and ready to (hopefully) light up Fitzy. Oh shit, the RB just leaked out...I gotta go cover him. Funny thing on that play (I need to see it again), but one of the D-lineman got to Fitzy pretty quick, while Ryan and one of the LBs were draped all over the RB. It was a very pretty defensive play. Took a lot of coaching and player discipline to make it happen.

 

[bsj]

In addition to the above, honorary game ball to Patriots fandom. Must have been at least 30% there, well over half by end of game time. And both teams said they noticed. The Brady chants raining down both as the game expired and in the stairwells leaving the stadium were something I've never been a part of in a road building.

 

[Toe Nash]

This was an ugly game we were fortunate to win. But great teams win these games, even when they play ugly. I'm concerned about the secondary, even granting that they did better as the game went along. But their three-tiered strategy for defending the pass seems to depend almost exclusively on:

1) overthrows
2) drops

and, a new one today,

3) periodically punching out the ball after a completion

No one's going to argue the secondary is good, but this is how a lot of secondaries work in the NFL in 2016. If you are forcing players to make perfect throws and catches every play, you're going to get some overthrows and drops that can stop drives. It's actually not that often that you get to knock away a ball even if you're a great CB. On the plus side the secondary were mostly in the vicinity of the receivers and didn't commit any DPI nor allow any huge gains.

Brandon Marshall is a legit great player and Enunwa looks pretty good. Fortunately Decker is out and they kept Marshall in check after the first few drives. Looking forward this strategy can more or less work against every QB they face the rest of the year since they don't have a Manning / Rivers / Brees on the schedule who is going to make those perfect throws every time.

 

[BigSoxFan]

I thought Rowe had a solid game, at least based on my extensive TV scouting.

 

[Spelunker]

I thought Rowe had a solid game, at least based on my extensive TV scouting.

It looks much less solid if he gets called for that DPI that he likely deserved.

 

[Toe Nash]

The coaching staff was up and down as has been noted, but I'd like to give half a game ball for just scoring on the 1st and goal after the 2-minute warning instead of getting cute and trying to run out clock. They could have run Blount a couple times and probably at least taken the lead with a FG, but making the Jets need a TD was the best play regardless of whether they had 1:56 or 1:00 left.

 

[Stitch01]

Agreed. Different situation than Seattle, glad they played it as such.

 

[C4CRVT]

No one's going to argue the secondary is good, but this is how a lot of secondaries work in the NFL in 2016. If you are forcing players to make perfect throws and catches every play, you're going to get some overthrows and drops that can stop drives. It's actually not that often that you get to knock away a ball even if you're a great CB. On the plus side the secondary were mostly in the vicinity of the receivers and didn't commit any DPI nor allow any huge gains.

Brandon Marshall is a legit great player and Enunwa looks pretty good. Fortunately Decker is out and they kept Marshall in check after the first few drives. Looking forward this strategy can more or less work against every QB they face the rest of the year since they don't have a Manning / Rivers / Brees on the schedule who is going to make those perfect throws every time.

Agreed. I was tipping my cap on several of those plays yesterday that Fitzy/Marshall and Enunwa made. Just great throws and great catches. The DBs were in good position on several (obviously not all) of the Jets' best plays. I thought that the fumble play early in the game was actually one of the worst jobs that Butler did all day. He got abused on that play before he made up for it with the forced fumble.

 

[Stitch01]

Also add going for it on 4th and 4 rather than trying the long field goal, which was the better decision even if Ghost wasnt semi-broken.

 

[DJnVa]

The coaching staff was up and down as has been noted, but I'd like to give half a game ball for just scoring on the 1st and goal after the 2-minute warning instead of getting cute and trying to run out clock. They could have run Blount a couple times and probably at least taken the lead with a FG, but making the Jets need a TD was the best play regardless of whether they had 1:56 or 1:00 left.

Three runs, then a FG likely would've left about 1:00 and no timeouts left for the Jets. Would've been a different kind of nail-biting for sure.

 

[Saints Rest]

Three runs, then a FG likely would've left about 1:00 and no timeouts left for the Jets. Would've been a different kind of nail-biting for sure.

With the success of the FG being the first nail-biting moment.

 

[Hoodie Sleeves]

No one's going to argue the secondary is good, but this is how a lot of secondaries work in the NFL in 2016. If you are forcing players to make perfect throws and catches every play, you're going to get some overthrows and drops that can stop drives. It's actually not that often that you get to knock away a ball even if you're a great CB. On the plus side the secondary were mostly in the vicinity of the receivers and didn't commit any DPI nor allow any huge gains.

Some people seem to think it's still pre-Polian, and cornerbacks can actually stop receivers. That's just not the NFL we live in anymore. The average team today puts up 40 more yards passing per game than they did a decade ago, and completes passes at a 4% higher clip, while throwing 4 less interceptions per year. A well thrown pass beats a well positioned CB most of the time in the modern NFL.

For CBs to have a chance, you need pressure, and the Patriots don't seem particularly interested in pressuring QBs (or they seem to think they can get it done rushing 2-3)

 

[Stitch01]

I think they're pretty interested in pressuring the QB. I dont think they have the personnel or scheme to do it effectively.

 

[C4CRVT]

That's kind of a chicken and egg argument Stitch. Shipping out Chandler Jones may be interpreted by some as BB not prioritizing it.