Were it not for GOAT and Cooks, who would be the goat?

Ale Xander

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pseudo-goat (small g) for playing bad go to:

the OL, namely Solder
the DL
the LB's
the DB's
D Allen

pretty much every one except GOAT and the WR's. Gronk was great in spots, but had the fumble and missed the defensive hail. Rb's were ok, certainly not bad and not great.

Or was Solder just that much worse than everyone else?
When GOAT had protection, he was just Awesome.
Defense let up first down after first down. Front seven needs a lot of help. Secondary has plenty of talent, but didn't play anywhere close to its potential today, with a rookie QB, that BB dominates at home.
 

( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)

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Was the DL that bad? They got a fair amount of pressure but struggled to make tackles. We thought the Pass rush was going to be the weakest link on the team, but they're exceeding expectations. If we grade them on a curve it wasn't so bad.

Hightower is a really good LB. but his track record suggests that getting 16 games out of him will always be a long shot. Going into the season with Hightower and a bunch of JAGs at that position was a poor decision.
 

Bowhemian

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I am not sure the OL was as bad as some of you are saying. I mean, they are going up against a pretty damn good defensive line, probably one of the best in the league. Could they have been better? Sure. But I think they hung in there for the most part.
 

Reverend

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Wasn't Cannon out?

I thought we knew this was going to happen.
 

Tony C

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Yeah, I agree...the OL wasn't awesome, obviously, but that's a tough assignment. And in re the D, Watson was pretty frustrating -- sometimes tip your hat and enjoy the victory. The Pats won due to a lot more than Brady and Cooks.
 

Stitch01

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They need to protect better even against a good front, but down a tackle and Solder was apparently dealing with personal issues so reasons for thinking they can improve. Seemed like tackles were a bigger problem than interior line

Any film gurus have Allen blocking takes? He's been useless running routes and blocking evaluation in Indy was mixed.
 

BaseballJones

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Wasn't Cannon out?

I thought we knew this was going to happen.
Yeah when your all pro right tackle, who is normally lined up against Watt, is out and is replaced by a JAG, you can bet that you're likely to struggle against that D line. Plus Solder's issues. Tough day to expect the Pats OL to perform at a really high level.
 

lexrageorge

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What did McDaniels do wrong, allegedly? Just curious.
I'm guessing it was the fact the Pats were forced to punt on 6 possessions, and lost the time of possession battle by nearly 7 minutes. Then again, it should be noted that 4 of the Texans drives ended on punts, and 2 more ended on turnovers (albeit one on a Hail Mary). Proves the point that it's always convenient to blame the coaching when things don't go your way.
 

StupendousMan

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I missed a few plays during the game, so I might have missed some .... but I counted only one screen pass. Given the trouble the offensive line had with the defenders blowing past them, why not call a few more screens?
 

Saints Rest

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Did the Pats have anyone spying Watson yesterday? I recall that being a typical strategy in years past against running QBs but didn't notice it at all last night.

I thought the DL did a pretty great job of getting pressure but Watson's insane talent at escapability prevented them from converting those pressures into sacks. Not really a knock on the D, Watson was just that good.
 

Super Nomario

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Yeah when your all pro right tackle, who is normally lined up against Watt, is out and is replaced by a JAG, you can bet that you're likely to struggle against that D line. Plus Solder's issues. Tough day to expect the Pats OL to perform at a really high level.
I think Waddle held up as well as could be expected (with help, it appeared), but the rest of the OL struggled, too. Solder had a rough day but Thuney and Andrews also seemed to have issues at times.

I missed a few plays during the game, so I might have missed some .... but I counted only one screen pass. Given the trouble the offensive line had with the defenders blowing past them, why not call a few more screens?
Screens are good against the blitz because then you have numbers. Not so much if you're getting beaten with four, which was the case most of yesterday.

I'm guessing it was the fact the Pats were forced to punt on 6 possessions, and lost the time of possession battle by nearly 7 minutes. Then again, it should be noted that 4 of the Texans drives ended on punts, and 2 more ended on turnovers (albeit one on a Hail Mary). Proves the point that it's always convenient to blame the coaching when things don't go your way.
I feel like every game against the Texans goes like this. The Patriots usually put up points / yards, but it's very big-play-dependent. They have a hard time sustaining drives against that tough front. They had gains of 40+ on three of the five touchdown drives, with the only exceptions the final drive and the short-field TD set up by Gilmore's INT.
 

BuellMiller

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I'd have to go with Scott Zolak for giving me a heart attack, when he claimed that Brady definitely looked like he broke his leg on one of the 1st half sacks. Not cool, Scott. And I'm sure Jimmy G's people didn't appreciate getting their hopes up, too.
 

Bowhemian

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Did the Pats have anyone spying Watson yesterday? I recall that being a typical strategy in years past against running QBs but didn't notice it at all last night.

I thought the DL did a pretty great job of getting pressure but Watson's insane talent at escapability prevented them from converting those pressures into sacks. Not really a knock on the D, Watson was just that good.
Early in the first half it looked to me like they had a linebacker spying Watson, but I only noticed it on a few plays. After that, they definitely weren't spying him.
 

BaseballJones

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I think Waddle held up as well as could be expected (with help, it appeared), but the rest of the OL struggled, too. Solder had a rough day but Thuney and Andrews also seemed to have issues at times.
Yep true. But then again....that's one of the best defensive lines in football, so you expect it to be a touch matchup.

The Pats put up 36 points on them and gained nearly 400 total yards and had 21 first downs. The offense more than did its job, despite the challenges.
 

Harry Hooper

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Early in the first half it looked to me like they had a linebacker spying Watson, but I only noticed it on a few plays. After that, they definitely weren't spying him.
I thought I saw Chung doing some spying in the first half, and then Roberts and Van Noy doing some spying in the second half. Possibly it was hard to see since they struggled so much to put the clamps on Watson.
 

Super Nomario

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Yep true. But then again....that's one of the best defensive lines in football, so you expect it to be a touch matchup.

The Pats put up 36 points on them and gained nearly 400 total yards and had 21 first downs. The offense more than did its job, despite the challenges.
Sure, the O overall produced, but I would say that was despite the offensive line. I'd say the same for Week 2 against the Saints. The line has to be a concern at this point. This is kind of shades of 2013 where it seemed like the OL seemed positioned to take a leap and it just didn't.
 

ehaz

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What did McDaniels do wrong, allegedly? Just curious.
The pats possession right before the game winning drive. Three straight runs with Gillislie for a quck three and out. If the defense didn't come up with a stop it's over.
 

BaseballJones

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Sure, the O overall produced, but I would say that was despite the offensive line. I'd say the same for Week 2 against the Saints. The line has to be a concern at this point. This is kind of shades of 2013 where it seemed like the OL seemed positioned to take a leap and it just didn't.
I don't disagree. But Solder has been dealing with personal issues and Waddle is a huge step down from Cannon. When Solder gets things straightened out and Cannon comes back, the line will be much improved.

Still wish they'd have signed Mangold.
 

kenneycb

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I don't disagree. But Solder has been dealing with personal issues and Waddle is a huge step down from Cannon. When Solder gets things straightened out and Cannon comes back, the line will be much improved.

Still wish they'd have signed Mangold.
Hypothetically, nothing is stopping them from signing him.
 
Apr 7, 2006
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The pats possession right before the game winning drive. Three straight runs with Gillislie for a quck three and out. If the defense didn't come up with a stop it's over.
But weren't those runs:

Gillislee for 5
Gillisless for 4
Gillislee stopped before first down

Hard to put that on McDaniels. That said, I COMPLETELY agree with the overall point. So far this season, none of the coaches has covered himself in glory.
 

Stitch01

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The two failed drives before the winning drive had 3rd and 1's. They ran it with Gillislee on the first one out of the no huddle/shotgun and didnt get it. They ran a regular play on the second one, tried to throw, and didnt get it. They tried power runs to convert on opening day against the Chiefs twice and didnt get either of the 4th down runs.

I dont know, at some point the players have to be able to pick up a yard.

Some of the game management decisions seemed curious to me, but offensive playcalling seemed fine. Front seven is such a mess that I wont even try and evaluate the defensive game plan.
 

ShaneTrot

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Its kind of shocking to watch a BB team with such inconsistent LB play. Lots of tackles being missed or made after significant gains.
 

BigSoxFan

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The two failed drives before the winning drive had 3rd and 1's. They ran it with Gillislee on the first one out of the no huddle/shotgun and didnt get it. They ran a regular play on the second one, tried to throw, and didnt get it. They tried power runs to convert on opening day against the Chiefs twice and didnt get either of the 4th down runs.

I dont know, at some point the players have to be able to pick up a yard.

Some of the game management decisions seemed curious to me, but offensive playcalling seemed fine. Front seven is such a mess that I wont even try and evaluate the defensive game plan.
By my count, the Pats are 3 for 9 in 3rd/4th and short situations this year (defined as 3rd or 4th down and 2 or less yards to go). Not sure how that compares to the rest of the league but there is certainly room for improvement.
 

Stitch01

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By my count, the Pats are 3 for 9 in 3rd/4th and short situations this year (defined as 3rd or 4th down and 2 or less yards to go). Not sure how that compares to the rest of the league but there is certainly room for improvement.
For sure. It just seems like more of an execution issue (which can be put in part on the coaching staff of course) then a play calling issue. They've failed trying to hurry up and run, trying to run out of power sets, and failed trying to run a regular pass play.

Pats were good to excellent at power running (measured by FO's power success, which just calcuates conversion percentage on runs 3rd and 4th and 2 or less and all goal to go runs inside the 2) for the BB/Brady era through 2010 (with one exception in 2003) and have been below average to bad since (best rank this decade: 13th in 2012) so this is not a new problem
 
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RedOctober3829

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Was the DL that bad? They got a fair amount of pressure but struggled to make tackles. We thought the Pass rush was going to be the weakest link on the team, but they're exceeding expectations. If we grade them on a curve it wasn't so bad.

Hightower is a really good LB. but his track record suggests that getting 16 games out of him will always be a long shot. Going into the season with Hightower and a bunch of JAGs at that position was a poor decision.
I agree. They signed Harris, but he looks to be a shell of himself. Zach Brown would've been a real nice signing.
 

Stitch01

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I dont think they viewed Van Noy or Harris as JAGs and think they were higher on Roberts than consensus here (Im with the consensus, but he was on Football Outsiders top 25 breakout potential players list and they viewed him as having a good chance to develop into a three down linebacker this season. BB isnt a big FO guy, but possible he was coming to the same conclusion through a different approach)

Looks like a talent evaluation swing and a miss so far, but the offseason plan makes sense if they thought Van Noy and Harris were better than JAGs and that Roberts was an up and comer.
 

tims4wins

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Van Noy has played every snap so far this season. I think he's a fine player, but not sure he should be seeing that many snaps. Clearly they miss DH, but I think they miss McClellin too.

With Wise emerging, I wonder if we see more DH back at MLB when he comes back.
 

Ralphwiggum

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How about the equipment managers, or whoever makes the decision on which uniforms to wear. I know the Pats always wear the blue unis at home, but man if there was ever a day for them to do what the Dolphins do and wear white at home and stick the Texans with their dark uniforms yesterday was the day. I don't know if heat was a factor and you'd never think that conditioning would be a factor on BB teams, but man they looked shitty in the fourth quarter until the last drive.

When do those decisions get made anyway? I saw the weather forecast mid-week and it was looking like it was going to be a hot day. I presume the Texans need to be told with at least some degree of notice which uniforms they are supposed to be traveling with.
 

dcdrew10

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How about the equipment managers, or whoever makes the decision on which uniforms to wear. I know the Pats always wear the blue unis at home, but man if there was ever a day for them to do what the Dolphins do and wear white at home and stick the Texans with their dark uniforms yesterday was the day. I don't know if heat was a factor and you'd never think that conditioning would be a factor on BB teams, but man they looked shitty in the fourth quarter until the last drive.

When do those decisions get made anyway? I saw the weather forecast mid-week and it was looking like it was going to be a hot day. I presume the Texans need to be told with at least some degree of notice which uniforms they are supposed to be traveling with.
This sounds like an Ernie Adams job. He probably doesn't make the call week to week, but if it was going to sunny and really hot, you know he'd be on top of it.
EDIT: According to Uni Watch the uniforms are selected long before the season starts:
"Before July 1 of each season, the home team is required to inform the NFL their choice of their jersey color (white or color) for their home games of the upcoming season and the away team MUST wear the opposite."

So no Machiavellian turns by BB and Ernie Adams.
 
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