2019 Game Ball Thread: Wk. 16 vs Bills

j44thor

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I"ll add K'Neal, looks like a man-child as a rookie. Reminds me a lot of former BBTL binky Anquan Boldin. Not going to run past many CBs but no one is tackling him 1-1 unless they cut him. Once he learns to use his frame more to box smaller DBs out he could be a chain moving beast.
 

Silverdude2167

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Amstredam

SeoulSoxFan

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I"ll add K'Neal, looks like a man-child as a rookie. Reminds me a lot of former BBTL binky Anquan Boldin. Not going to run past many CBs but no one is tackling him 1-1 unless they cut him. Once he learns to use his frame more to box smaller DBs out he could be a chain moving beast.
Absolutely LOVED him getting in White's face all night blocking!
 

Harry Hooper

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I’ll add another one I’m sure nobody else will mention: here’s one for the referees.

I think a few of the calls that generated a lot of grumbling in the game thread were actually good, or at least not terrible, calls:
1.) The first down Sanu didn’t get because he couldn’t be bothered to try. Yes, the spot wasn’t good, but no way was it conclusive he had the first down...I thought he was short.
2.) Edelman’s pick play. Maybe not intentional, but JE11 did indeed clear out a defender trying to stick with Watson more than a yard past the LOS.
3.) Watson’s OPI. He was clearly blocking well downfield before the ball was thrown.
4.) On replay it appeared the Bills OL did in fact check in as eligible before his TD reception and the Pats were so notified.

They also did a great job defusing Tredevious White’s butt-hurt at getting blocked by Harry.

Beyond that, there were no ticky-tack holding or PI calls. They let ‘em play, and as a result the game moved fast and was highly entertaining. I’d take that crew again any old time. I didn’t get the impression it was a dirty game in any way.
Really agree with this.
 

DJnVa

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Not sure how that relates to my post?
You said he wasn't trying....I assume you were saying he wasn't extending the ball. In that situation, he's getting thrown to the ground and trying to extend the ball can lead to a turnover. BB doesn't want them extending the ball.
 

BaseballJones

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The Pats played the #2 defense in the NFL tonight.

- Brady was 26-33 (78.8%), 271 yards, 1 td, 0 int (111.0 rating)
- Michel had 21 rushes for 96 yards (4.6 ypc)
- The Pats ran for 143 yards on the night
- The Pats had 23 first downs, 414 total yards, and held the ball for 38:52
- Folk went 3-3 with a long of 51 yards
- Red Zone: 4 trips, 2 TD, 2 FG

The offense played GREAT football tonight against an elite defense, and came up with some enormous scoring drives. So encouraging to see late in the year.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I’ll add another one I’m sure nobody else will mention: here’s one for the referees.

I think a few of the calls that generated a lot of grumbling in the game thread were actually good, or at least not terrible, calls:
1.) The first down Sanu didn’t get because he couldn’t be bothered to try. Yes, the spot wasn’t good, but no way was it conclusive he had the first down...I thought he was short.
2.) Edelman’s pick play. Maybe not intentional, but JE11 did indeed clear out a defender trying to stick with Watson more than a yard past the LOS.
3.) Watson’s OPI. He was clearly blocking well downfield before the ball was thrown.
4.) On replay it appeared the Bills OL did in fact check in as eligible before his TD reception and the Pats were so notified.

They also did a great job defusing Tredevious White’s butt-hurt at getting blocked by Harry.

Beyond that, there were no ticky-tack holding or PI calls. They let ‘em play, and as a result the game moved fast and was highly entertaining. I’d take that crew again any old time. I didn’t get the impression it was a dirty game in any way.
Took a pass on an intentional grounding that was pretty close compared to what we’ve seen before. Thought it was coming when I saw the play.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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GOAT
Guy
Edelman (heart of this team. Cannot overstate how important he is to everything).
KVN - subtle but was disruptive all night
Burkhead
Harry
The Dread Fullback Elandon Roberts

My one take away is that the offense is now oriented to win by grinding out yardage on the ground and in short chunks via the air. As others noted, the gameplan was really good as they simply wore down a very good Bills defense by "working the body" (which if you haven't boxed, is way more effective than you would think - I suspect another poster will back me up shortly on this).

The Dread Fullback is going to be a feature of this offense during the rest of the year. And I love it.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The Pats played the #2 defense in the NFL tonight.

- Brady was 26-33 (78.8%), 271 yards, 1 td, 0 int (111.0 rating)
- Michel had 21 rushes for 96 yards (4.6 ypc)
- The Pats ran for 143 yards on the night
- The Pats had 23 first downs, 414 total yards, and held the ball for 38:52
- Folk went 3-3 with a long of 51 yards
- Red Zone: 4 trips, 2 TD, 2 FG

The offense played GREAT football tonight against an elite defense, and came up with some enormous scoring drives. So encouraging to see late in the year.
I would argue that Brady's 26-33 is more impressive than Brees' 29-30 earlier this week. The Bills are far better than the Colts and Brady had to do it outdoors with far fewer weapons overall than Brees has at his disposal during a typical play.
 

BigSoxFan

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Don’t agree with the Sanu hate. He played decent.
Yeah, other than shitty blocking all game, the awful effort on the 3rd down catch, and completely whiffing on the block for Harry that led to a 10 point swing, he was tremendous.
 

BigJimEd

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here’s one for the referees.

I think a few of the calls that generated a lot of grumbling in the game thread were actually good, or at least not terrible, calls:
1.) The first down Sanu didn’t get because he couldn’t be bothered to try. Yes, the spot wasn’t good, but no way was it conclusive he had the first down...I thought he was short.
So the call "wasn't good" yet we are giving then a game ball. Is that what it has come to with NFL officiating?

Game balls to:
Brady
Sony
Rex
Guy
 

brandonchristensen

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I was driving today so I couldn’t see it, but I had the radio on and TB12 SOUNDED like he had a great game. Especially at the start and the end of the game. So many positive yardage plays from him. Glad to see it.
 

ngruz25

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I’ll add another one I’m sure nobody else will mention: here’s one for the referees.

I think a few of the calls that generated a lot of grumbling in the game thread were actually good, or at least not terrible, calls:
1.) The first down Sanu didn’t get because he couldn’t be bothered to try. Yes, the spot wasn’t good, but no way was it conclusive he had the first down...I thought he was short.
2.) Edelman’s pick play. Maybe not intentional, but JE11 did indeed clear out a defender trying to stick with Watson more than a yard past the LOS.
3.) Watson’s OPI. He was clearly blocking well downfield before the ball was thrown.
4.) On replay it appeared the Bills OL did in fact check in as eligible before his TD reception and the Pats were so notified.

They also did a great job defusing Tredevious White’s butt-hurt at getting blocked by Harry.

Beyond that, there were no ticky-tack holding or PI calls. They let ‘em play, and as a result the game moved fast and was highly entertaining. I’d take that crew again any old time. I didn’t get the impression it was a dirty game in any way.
They also missed a clear facemask by Collins on Allen on his 4th and 1 sneak on the last drive of the game, so I'm not sure Buffalo fans would be quite so kind. Would have put the ball at the Pats' 15 yard line.

View: https://twitter.com/BadSportsRefs/status/1208544715454525440?s=19
 

Al Zarilla

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I was driving today so I couldn’t see it, but I had the radio on and TB12 SOUNDED like he had a great game. Especially at the start and the end of the game. So many positive yardage plays from him. Glad to see it.
From the opening drive to the end he looked like “fuck it, I’m not letting my team lose another game at home”. Great confidence, vintage Tom. Also, he gets extra points for the position he plays, like shortstops in WAR calculation in baseball.
 

BaseballJones

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It *really* helps this offense to have an effective lead blocker. Roberts did a nice job today.
 

heavyde050

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They also missed a clear facemask by Collins on Allen on his 4th and 1 sneak on the last drive of the game, so I'm not sure Buffalo fans would be quite so kind. Would have put the ball at the Pats' 15 yard line.

View: https://twitter.com/BadSportsRefs/status/1208544715454525440?s=19
But didn’t the Bills still get all the way down to the Pats 8 yard line and first and goal before failing.
It was a blatant missed call, but the Bills still had their chance and didn’t score.
 

j44thor

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I would argue that Brady's 26-33 is more impressive than Brees' 29-30 earlier this week. The Bills are far better than the Colts and Brady had to do it outdoors with far fewer weapons overall than Brees has at his disposal during a typical play.
I was thinking the exact same thing when Brady started 8-8 that he must have been a little motivated by Brees, then thought what could he do with Brees weapons indoors.
 

Pandemonium67

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The facemask was very minor. Because of super super slo-mo you can see it, but there's no jerking or tugging. It was a big nothing that made no difference to anything.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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The facemask was very minor. Because of super super slo-mo you can see it, but there's no jerking or tugging. It was a big nothing that made no difference to anything.
I agree that it didn't impact the play per se but that typically gets called. The Pats got very lucky.
 

johnmd20

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The facemask was very minor. Because of super super slo-mo you can see it, but there's no jerking or tugging. It was a big nothing that made no difference to anything.
This doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It was a clear face mask. It was certainly a missed call. And you cannot determine if it would have made a difference.
 

DeadlySplitter

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to pour a bit of cool water on things... the mistakes they committed today would sink them against KC in the divisional round.

I'm confident they will clean it up, but this game was much much closer on the scoreboard than it should have been. One of Jones/Chung needs to get their shit together too, JC Jackson did a commendable job against Beasley but it almost fell apart on the last drive.

great game to show they can make a run, but they still have a razor thin margin of error out there, especially when the turnovers don't come for the defense. no sloppy fumbles and making your blocks on 4th down would help.

Josh Allen actually made some throws today... and missed several / took some sacks - a Mahomes/Watson probably wins that game for Buffalo today. they have to be fuming as they actually scored 17 but it wasn't enough... they should maybe move all-in and trade up in the draft for Tua, but that's eons away right now.

it will be a fun January no matter what, we are playing with house money.
 

DaveRoberts'Shoes

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They also missed a clear facemask by Collins on Allen on his 4th and 1 sneak on the last drive of the game, so I'm not sure Buffalo fans would be quite so kind. Would have put the ball at the Pats' 15 yard line.

View: https://twitter.com/BadSportsRefs/status/1208544715454525440?s=19
Oh yeah. I was on a text chain with a couple Bills fans who kept complaining about the refs so much that I muted the conversation.

Shout out to the Gillette crowd - it was really cold but the crowd was super engaged and loud
 

Mugsy's Jock

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You said he wasn't trying....I assume you were saying he wasn't extending the ball. In that situation, he's getting thrown to the ground and trying to extend the ball can lead to a turnover. BB doesn't want them extending the ball.
Yeah, I hyperbolized. Fair enough.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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So the call "wasn't good" yet we are giving then a game ball. Is that what it has come to with NFL officiating?
I thought the spot was off, but if so not by enough to have been a first down. Not as incontrovertibly a big deal as the game thread had it.
 

Ed Hillel

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Meh, James White was hauled down by an obvious facemask earlier in the game and it went uncalled. Announcers didn’t focus on it, of course.
 

DeadlySplitter

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the Bills mafia spin is that they played conservative on purpose and saving film for the playoffs. good luck in wild card weekend, Bills...
 

BusRaker

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to pour a bit of cool water on things... the mistakes they committed today would sink them against KC in the divisional round.
Bills > Chiefs

Game balls to the O-line, Brady looked pretty relaxed against a good defensive front and the running game had some lanes
 

SMU_Sox

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I feel as good about the offense since I did outside of week 1 or 2. I think they got their mojo back. Game ball to Thuney, Jules, and Brady. Brady was incredible.
 

Saints Rest

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I just enjoy seeing athletes actually want to compete instead of liking each other so much. Yeah, it’s fine to not want the other team to get hurt. Everyone’s just trying to make a living and get to next week. But short of hurting them, let’s make sure they don’t want to play us again.
I’ve been thinking about the fact that the Pats D seems atypical, compared to most high-end Ds, in that they don’t have that scary physical guy. Someone who seemed like he might hurt someone on any given tackle. A Ray Lewis, or Ronnie Lott, or LT.
 

Van Everyman

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Bill gets a game ball for the sneaky important decision to kick a field goal from inside the 5 with 10 minutes left. That wasn’t a no-brainer but it was absolutely the right call and indicative of a coach who had faith in his team’s ability to move the ball against one of the best defenses in the league.

To that end, a game ball to the offense for picking up the D on a day they had an uncharacteristic propensity for giving up big plays.
 

BaseballJones

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Such a great win last night. So encouraged for many reasons, including....

- Tom F-ing Brady going 26-33 (78.8%) against the #3 pass defense in the NFL. Those seven incompletions include a few throwaways, meaning he really only truly missed a small handful of times. That kind of performance was MUCH needed.

- Red Zone offense: 4 trips, 2 TD, 2 FG. Nice to see them punch a couple in. Want to see that improved, but they did score twice.

- N'Keal Harry. He continues to improve, and I think when all is said and done, he's gonna be a really good one.

- The running game. 140+ yards on the ground, and both Michel and Burkhead looked really good. The only blemish was, of course, Burkhead's fumble, which was big but ultimately they survived it.

- Buffalo is really good. Excellent defense and a much improved offense. And the Pats pretty much dominated the game.

Points: NE 24, Buf 17
Plays: NE 68, Buf 53
Yards: NE 414, Buf 268
Yards/Play: NE 6.1, Buf 5.1
1st Downs: NE 23, Buf 14
3rd Down: NE 7/14, Buf 2/11
TOP: NE 38:52, Buf 21:08

I mean those numbers suggest a major ass-whooping by the Patriots. Even though the score was closer than these stats suggest, it was encouraging to see them handle a good team. Encouraging to see the offense really perform pretty well, especially given how they HAD been performing. And nice to see them win when they are -1 in turnover differential.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Bill gets a game ball for the sneaky important decision to kick a field goal from inside the 5 with 10 minutes left. That wasn’t a no-brainer but it was absolutely the right call and indicative of a coach who had faith in his team’s ability to move the ball against one of the best defenses in the league.

To that end, a game ball to the offense for picking up the D on a day they had an uncharacteristic propensity for giving up big plays.
The Pats gave up basically two big plays - the 34 yarder to Knox at the end of the first half, and then the long TD to Brown. Otherwise, Buffalo had 181 yards of offense. The Brown play was really strange. He made a great move on Gilmore, but McCourty wasn't deep enough. Allen was just about to get hammered by Guy and barely got the throw off, and it was *right on the money* some 50 yards downfield. Really impressive play by Buffalo and yet the Pats still should have shut it down.
 

axx

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Bill gets a game ball for the sneaky important decision to kick a field goal from inside the 5 with 10 minutes left. That wasn’t a no-brainer but it was absolutely the right call and indicative of a coach who had faith in his team’s ability to move the ball against one of the best defenses in the league.

To that end, a game ball to the offense for picking up the D on a day they had an uncharacteristic propensity for giving up big plays.
Disagree, it was no brainer given that they had largely stopped Buffalo all game. I think they thought two field goals would have been enough. That didn't turn out to be the case since Buffalo had a decent final drive.

BTW I've gone back and forth on this but I think Buffalo would have gone for two had they gotten the TD. Even with a minute-ish left.
 

BaseballJones

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I thought BB made a mistake (in the game thread I said as much before the play happened) on the 4th and 1. I thought that a failed conversion would give the Bills a chance to score (I figured a FG, not a TD) before the end of the half, while getting the ball to start the second half. I thought a converted conversion would likely lead to at best 3 points for NE. But I wasn't confident of a conversion, and I thought a punt was the right play, to guarantee that they would go into the half up 10-3. Didn't like that call, but otherwise I thought the coaching staff was excellent yesterday.
 

JMDurron

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The OL - Especially the interior OL. The fact that so many posters can even nominate Brady and the RBs shows how dominant they were against a great D.

Brady
Michel and Burkhead
Folk - now the possibility of even trying FGs that long (outside of time expiring at the end of a half) is finally back on the table