The Game Goat Thread: Wk. 16 at Indy

RobertS975

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Does anyone else think it's crazy on a 4th and 1 to have Mac Jones line up in the shotgun? Josh makes that call frequently!

Depending on injuries and the vagaries of concussion protocols, next week looms crucial for the division championship. Pats will be no worse than 10-7. Would rather 12-5.

Chargers should have beat KC the other night... too many points left off the board with failed 4th downs.
 
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BaseballJones

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This is the third time the Pats have had a punt blocked this year, two for opposing touchdowns. I think I recall that correctly.

That’s entirely unacceptable. I mean....once a season shouldn’t even happen. Three times through 14 games? What in the world is going on with their punt protection?
 

tims4wins

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This is the third time the Pats have had a punt blocked this year, two for opposing touchdowns. I think I recall that correctly.

That’s entirely unacceptable. I mean....once a season shouldn’t even happen. Three times through 14 games? What in the world is going on with their punt protection?
They had 3 punts blocked combined from 2010-2020, per Reiss.

It probably (definitely) wasn't realistic to think this team could run the table from 2-4 to 13-4 and eventually 16-4 for a title. So losing a game was probably inevitable. Hopefully this refocuses them down the stretch. It couldn't have come at a better time in terms of having Buffalo next week. That was always going to be the more important game, so they have to figure everything out this week and beat Buffalo. Everything else will take care of itself.
 

BigJimEd

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I don’t want to comment on the refs for competitive purposes, but they let two of our players get creamed in the head with no repercussions. This shit is horribly dangerous and it’s really disturbing to see that let go. Hopefully, there are some serious fines levied, but LOL no that won’t happen.
Leonard should get a suspension. That is the type of hit the league has been trying to get rid of. But yeah, NFL so who knows.

As for goats, neither line played great. The costly penalties, particularly pre-snap, and special teams were killers.

I'll specifically add Jonnu's false start before Mac's interception to the list.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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The front 7 just weren’t good enough. Three successful QB sneaks when the world knew they were coming.

Blech.

But Taylor is legit and Indy was coming off the buy at home and their crowd clearly fucked with the ability to read the snap.

Beat Buffalo a home and all is mostly well.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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The false starts and offsides by Jonnu, Onwenu, and whoever went off on the missed FG (King?) we’re completely avoidable errors, and fixing those may have been all that was needed to flip the game.

Wynn’s terrible play was enough to remind me that the #1 draft priority next spring just has to be OL. And Hightower’s decline reminds that LB must be #2.
 
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Eddie Jurak

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Why did they not onside kick down 20-17? The game was over on one first down anyways, field position really doesn't matter there.
There was 2:10 left and the Pats had a timeout. So I think the thinking was that if the defense held them to 3 and out, they get the ball back with at least a minute left. I think that was a clear mistake, though, not just in hindsight. If they recover the onside they are in much better position: the ball, the 2:00 warning, one time out, needing a FG to tie. Seems like an inexplicably terrible decision, maybe justified by BB thinking that his onside kick unit would fuck it up like the rest of the ST units.

I think the biggest goats for this one have to be the coaching staff. The team wasn't ready for this game in any phase. That's inexcusable. Important, national TV game, defending a 7 game win streak and the players and coaches somehow phoned one in.

This game, as much as it looked like a blowout, ultimately came down to turnovers. If you count blocked punts as turnovers, then the Patriots are 27-21 on the season for plus 6. On an individual game basis, they have lost the turnover/blocked punt battle 6 times and are 1-5 in those games. They have won it 7 times (7-0), and they were even once (1-0).

In this game they gained the McCourty pick but lost 2 picks and had a punt bock for touchdown. So they were -2 in a game they lost by 10. If they are even instead of -2, they maybe win this.

Another culprit was special teams. They literally gave the Colts 10 points in a game they lost by 10, first on the blocked punt/TD and then by giving a do over after the Colts missed a FG. That was Brandon King jumping offside, a guy whose one job is special teams.

As to specific people:
1. Mac. It has to be Mac. His clear worst game of the season. He, and the Pats offense more generally, played 2.5 quarters looking like scared little boys. No compete at all out of the unit. Mac lost track of the playclock on one drive and picked up a delay of game penalty. The 2 interceptions were both terrible, Mac not seeing a defender on one and Mac laser-focused on one player (letting the D read him) on the other. The first took at least 3 and possibly 7 points off the board for the Pats, the second turned it over in FG range. It was good to see him turn things around at the end, but that underscores how awful he was for most of the game.
2. McDaniels. This game looked as if the Colts knew every play that was coming. Too many running plays where a Colt defender was able to lounge around in the backfield for a while before making the easy TFL. The Colts seemed to have their defensive players set wide and they seemed to have more than enough speed to cover sideline to sideline. Yet McDaniels' offensive approach seemed to be "lets beat them to the end." They did not really even try to run between the tackles. On the 4th down conversion that they missed, McD called for the rollout short pass play that had worked a couple of times in the past, and the Colts were ready for it and disrupted it. But, again, why not try the middle?
3. Meyers. Immediately before the blocked punt, Mac threw deep to Meyers and Meyers dropped it. Might have been a hard catch, but for a guy with Meyers' attributes to be a starting WR in the NFL, he can't be dropping balls.

Hunter Henry had a nice game. Mac looked good from the start of the last drive of the third to the end. Collins/McCourty combining for a key interception was great.

A couple of plays late that didn't bother me so much:
  • Taylor's 67-yard TD. The Pats had everyone up on this play because a Colts first down basically ends the game. So once Taylor broke through he was going to score. In fact, once Taylor broke through it was probably better (for the Pats) that he score. If, instead, he stops on the 10 instead of running it in, then Indy just kneels it out the rest of the way. The play was set up for Hightower to make the tackle and he didn't. The rest didn't matter.
  • Mac's crazy underhanded heave to avoid a sack at the very end. 99 times out of 100 this is a terrible thing for a QB to do. This was the one time it wasn't. It is 3rd and 10 with 1:22 at the snap. If Mac is sacked, the clock runs. If he throws incomplete, the clock stops and they get one more shot (4th and 10) with 1:15. If Mac gets sacked the clock runs and they have to rush to the line and convert 4th and more than 10 with time running off. If the ball is picked, they lose the 4th and 10 chance, which was a miniscule chance to begin with. If Mac makes a habit of that kind of thing it will bit the Pats, but here it did not cost them much.
 

Ralphwiggum

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The D is weird. The numbers say they’ve been great, but man there have been games when they simply cannot stop the run. Down 14 early it felt like game over.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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The front 7 just weren’t good enough. Three successful QB sneaks when the world knew they were coming.

Blech.

But Taylor is legit and Indy was coming off the buy at home and their crowd clearly fucked with the ability to read the snap.

Beat Buffalo a home and all is mostly well.
"Crowd".

More like their PA system.

I mean, if the NFL has no interest in stopping teams from pumping in crowd noise, I hope the Pat's pump in jet engines for 30 minutes a game.
 

Silverdude2167

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The D is weird. The numbers say they’ve been great, but man there have been games when they simply cannot stop the run. Down 14 early it felt like game over.
They can stop probably the majority of the leagues rushing attacks but can't stop the actual good running teams like Indy or Tenn.
 

jsinger121

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They can stop probably the majority of the leagues rushing attacks but can't stop the actual good running teams like Indy or Tenn.
That comes down to having aging LB and really a not so great DL outside of Barmore. Guy is OK but they need to still upgrade that side of the line. To me these are the draft needs.

OL
LB
WR
DL
 

Silverdude2167

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That comes down to having aging LB and really a not so great DL outside of Barmore. Guy is OK but they need to still upgrade that side of the line. To me these are the draft needs.

OL
LB
WR
DL
Sounds right to me, I say this half in jest but what Alamaba players fit these slots. BB seems to just be using them as his far system.
 

BaseballJones

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The Pats only allowed 275 total yards and just 15 first downs. And the D only gave up 20 points.
 

Jungleland

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Weird, but maybe important game for Mac. I don't really disagree with him being a game goat, as the two picks killed us, he sailed some other throws, and generally looked more like a rookie than he has in any other game including New Orleans. But for his development, there were some positives last night I thought. He played legitimately well down 17-0, including a few really sweet throws in the Henry touchdowns and the jump ball to Harry, maybe also the key conversion to Meyers. He got lucky on the cross body throw he got destroyed on, but generally played well in the last 3rd of the game to keep it both within reach and to rewrite the coming headlines about him looking not so special after all.

Other goats: just a brutally sloppy game all around. Nearly every single drive had a horrible mistake or penalty. The defense played well enough to win and the other two units completely let them down. Wynn and Meyers had particularly rough games.

Didn't understand some of the playcalling, either. With several 3rd or 4th and shorts, I don't think we saw a single look with Johnson and Stevenson both in the backfield for a power run up the middle. It also felt a little like they called a more one dimensional game for Stevenson in general - almost like once he was in the lead back role, they refused to use him in the passing game and saved the admittedly few plays they called like that at RB for Bolden. Maybe it was something in the tape that made them save that stuff for traditional 3rd down back situations, but with the offense and run game in particular sputtering early I was surprised not to see more creativity from JMcD.
 

BigSoxFan

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The punt block completely changed the game. Sloppy penalties all around but if I’m picking one play and one goat, that is it. Just can’t have those mistakes. Wentz was trash last night and we never made him throw, mostly because the game got out of hand with one terrible ST play.
 

Dahabenzapple2

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Mac played better than Herbert did the other night. He wasn’t the problem. Myers was terrible. He has to make that catch. A must. Need a championship wide out. Bourne is close. The flinch that cost them the missed FG. Dropped picks. Blocked punt. They crush them without those errors even with Mac’s picks
 

BaseballJones

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If you’re Indy yeah you’re happy. But think about it.

You’re home. You get a freak blocked punt TD. You get the Pats committing eight penalties. You pass for just a handful of yards. You get outgained. You have about 3-4 targeting calls that aren’t called against you even as you knock Pats’ receivers out with helmet to helmet hits.

I mean.... if that’s what it takes for you to beat the Patriots, more power to you, but you can’t exactly count on that happening again, I wouldn’t think.
 

bougrj1

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Mac played better than Herbert on the Thursday night game against KC? I'll have to strongly disagree there. It was great to see Mac pick it up towards the end of the game but blaming a flinch that caused them the FG without blame on the INT that gave them that field position isn't quite being honest about the situation. All of this being said, I do think the special teams deserves the goat over Mac given the collective failure.
 

Dahabenzapple2

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And FUCK the Colts. No team I hate more than this loser franchise. As someone said their super bowl. Only guy I can’t hate is Reich. He’s a good disciplined coach. Not sure about the people on the defensive side putting up with that shit. I’m still stunned to hit on Harry wasn’t called. Gets called every time.
 

BigSoxFan

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And FUCK the Colts. No team I hate more than this loser franchise. As someone said their super bowl. Only guy I can’t hate is Reich. He’s a good disciplined coach. Not sure about the people on the defensive side putting up with that shit. I’m still stunned to hit on Harry wasn’t called. Gets called every time.
I have nothing bad to say about Taylor. He is awesome and doesn’t do anything demonstrative. But the rest of the team is annoying. Agree on the Harry hit. That was very dangerous and it’s a personal foul like 99 times out of 100.
 

lexrageorge

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Mac: I felt this was the first truly awful game by Mac, with both picks being unforced errors on his part. Still, he had the poise to lead the Pats to the red zone 3 times in the 4th quarter, and that is an encouraging sign for the future, IMO.

OL: The 2 false start penalties in the red zone cost the team a minimum of 4 points. Not enough running holes.

Defensive front 7: They had one job. Concerning that this flaw could be a fatal one in the playoffs.

Punt unit: 1 blocked punt is an outlier. 3 is a trend. Agree that the block/6 was the turning point.

Not sure why the officiating was so bad, given all the supposed emphasis on protecting players from helmet-to-helmet hits.

On the plus side, the team went into a hostile environment, brought their C game, and made something out of in the 4th. Maybe they can take something away and beat the Bills.

If you’re Indy yeah you’re happy. But think about it.

You’re home. You get a freak blocked punt TD. You get the Pats committing eight penalties. You pass for just a handful of yards. You get outgained. You have about 3-4 targeting calls that aren’t called against you even as you knock Pats’ receivers out with helmet to helmet hits.

I mean.... if that’s what it takes for you to beat the Patriots, more power to you, but you can’t exactly count on that happening again, I wouldn’t think.
The same could have been said for many of the Patriots countless wins over the years. Some wins were blowouts, while others were absolute slogs that required a whole bunch of things to happen. The Colts were the better team on the field, turning the breaks they got into points.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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I really didn't hate Macs game as much as some of you.

The result of the redzone pick was a killer, but it was also a GREAT play by Leonard. I may be wrong as I only saw 1 replay live, but he started down towards the running back, which told Mac the sluggo was going to be there (for those that don't know, a sluggo basically looks like a standard in route, but after making his in cut, they run a few yards and then cuts back straight up the field instead of across it). Leonard realized it at the last second and made a few steps back towards midfield as Mac started his throw.

In other words, Leonard bit on the play design, Mac made the correct read, Leonard read Macs eyes, adjusted incredibly quickly, and then made a super athletic interception.

As much of a bummer as it is, Mac learned he either needs to look off great LBs a half second longer or put a tiny bit more arc on the ball. Regardless, it was a fucking awesome play by Leonard, and I certainly don't hate the QB, especially a rookie, by getting taken advantage of.

The second pick bothered me more. It was a kind of lazy throw to a covered outside man. It's compounded by the fact that there was a man running across the field that had shaken free 5 yards further. He had the time to see him, but he opted for the safe throw that was obviously not safe.

Again, only saw the replay of that once during the broadcast, so if I'm wrong, that's fine. Pretty sure that's what happened though (one of the few games I wasn't drinking for, so was a little better at seeing the bigger picture live than usual.)
 

johnmd20

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Red Averages

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Underrated Goat: The mods, for instituting a BBTL taunting rule in the midst of a Patriots breakout season, obliterating the team's and the board's karma.
This happened when someone updated expectations thread. Ultimate sign of sentiment getting excessive, just like the lost fastball thread.
 

Silverdude2167

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If you’re Indy yeah you’re happy. But think about it.

You’re home. You get a freak blocked punt TD. You get the Pats committing eight penalties. You pass for just a handful of yards. You get outgained. You have about 3-4 targeting calls that aren’t called against you even as you knock Pats’ receivers out with helmet to helmet hits.

I mean.... if that’s what it takes for you to beat the Patriots, more power to you, but you can’t exactly count on that happening again, I wouldn’t think.
This is where my mind is at.

Looking at some of the post-game quotes from the Colts the HC thinks he outsmarted BB, one player is talking about doing this for all the teams that failed in the past, etc. It sounds like a team that really built up this game and while getting all the breaks was only up 3 with 3 minutes to play.

I think if a rematch occurs the outcome is very different.
 

Nator

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The goat was the punt block. This is a sloppy analogy, but that resulted in unearned points. Obviously the Colts earned them by blocking the punt, but squatting on a ball in the endzone for a TD is a lot easier than driving 72 yards for one.

They just came off a 7 game winning streak. I'm just glad that this season the concern is playoff seeding in week 15 instead of hoping 6 different teams lose so that the playoff odds increase from 3.2% to 5.1%.

They'll be pissed off and ready to crush Buffalo.
 

Dahabenzapple2

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The goat was the punt block. This is a sloppy analogy, but that resulted in unearned points. Obviously the Colts earned them by blocking the punt, but squatting on a ball in the endzone for a TD is a lot easier than driving 72 yards for one.

They just came off a 7 game winning streak. I'm just glad that this season the concern is playoff seeding in week 15 instead of hoping 6 different teams lose so that the playoff odds increase from 3.2% to 5.1%.

They'll be pissed off and ready to crush Buffalo.
Plus the blocked punt was right after the Myers drop
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Godcheaux had a monster game vs Buffalo and has been pretty good overall recently.
This is true regarding Hightower also. I just read an article prior to the game highlighting how amazing he's been in his run thumper role. Dude has one overpursuit against one of the few backs in the league that can make him pay, and then there's 2 dozen posts in the gamethread and here calling him washed.

Other than the first drive the linebackers and safeties spent a lot of time taking on some of the best linemen in the league - and they did so without Bentley, who's absence hurt - and they forced them into a handful of 4th down conversions and punts.

There is no goats on the defense in my mind. The broken run at the end sucked, but when you're forced to play 11 on the line, you risk one move or one hole that can take it to the house. We were on the right side of the same play in Buffalo. It happens.
 

Super Nomario

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The Pats only allowed 275 total yards and just 15 first downs. And the D only gave up 20 points.
And really only 17 points because the Colts had a FG "drive" that netted -3 yards. OTOH, Indy only had 8 real drives, so 17 points isn't as impressive as it sounds.

It was a weird defensive performance, I would have thought "they're going to shut down the run and make Wentz beat them" and they totally failed to do that. The Colts moved the ball on the ground, got big plays on the ground, Wentz was terrible, and he barely had to throw to beat us.
 

radsoxfan

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There was 2:10 left and the Pats had a timeout. So I think the thinking was that if the defense held them to 3 and out, they get the ball back with at least a minute left. I think that was a clear mistake, though, not just in hindsight. If they recover the onside they are in much better position: the ball, the 2:00 warning, one time out, needing a FG to tie. Seems like an inexplicably terrible decision, maybe justified by BB thinking that his onside kick unit would fuck it up like the rest of the ST units.
With the new rules, last I saw onside kick recoveries are at a 4% chance of success. There have been a couple recently so maybe that is a bit higher, but it's still EXTREMELY unlikely to succeed. Not recovering one certainly can't be considered a special teams mess up.

Not sure the chances of a 3 and out with the Pats D against that Colts offense, but that 40 yards of field position is pretty huge down 3 with about a minute left and no timeouts.
 

lexrageorge

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And really only 17 points because the Colts had a FG "drive" that netted -3 yards. OTOH, Indy only had 8 real drives, so 17 points isn't as impressive as it sounds.

It was a weird defensive performance, I would have thought "they're going to shut down the run and make Wentz beat them" and they totally failed to do that. The Colts moved the ball on the ground, got big plays on the ground, Wentz was terrible, and he barely had to throw to beat us.
I think this is why Belichick was especially grumpy in his post-game press conference. Based on past game plans, he probably spent the entire practice period emphasizing the need to shut down the Colts running game and let Wentz beat them.

8 drives resulted in 2 TDs, 2 FG's (albeit one a short field), 1 missed FG that consumed over 4 valuable minutes late, one INT, and 2 punts. And the 2nd drive that ended in a punt subtracted a huge 5 minutes from the game clock. Not going to sugar coat it; it was a bad performance by the front 7.
 

lexrageorge

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With the new rules, last I saw onside kick recoveries are at a 4% chance of success. There have been a couple recently so maybe that is a bit higher, but it's still EXTREMELY unlikely to succeed. Not recovering one certainly can't be considered a special teams mess up.

Not sure the chances of a 3 and out with the Pats D against that Colts offense, but that 40 yards of field position is pretty huge down 3 with about a minute left and no timeouts.
As an aside, as there has been talk about punting kickoffs altogether, I do think giving the kicking team a choice of (a) receiving team ball at the 25 or (b) taking 4th-and-15 from the own 40 would be more interesting than the lame resemblance to onsides kicks that exists today.
 

RG33

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They can stop probably the majority of the leagues rushing attacks but can't stop the actual good running teams like Indy or Tenn.
I think people are blowing this a bit out of proportion. Take away the 67 yard end of game 11-men-in-the-box sellout that Taylor goes the distance on, and they gave up 150 yards to the best OL and RB in the NFL. From the 2nd quarter on, they basically controlled the Colts running game — and in the 4th quarter when they needed stops (aside from the last play), they shut them down.

There were a lot of issues in this game obviously, but I don’t think “the Patriots can’t stop the run” is near the top of the list for this game.
 

radsoxfan

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As an aside, as there has been talk about punting kickoffs altogether, I do think giving the kicking team a choice of (a) receiving team ball at the 25 or (b) taking 4th-and-15 from the own 40 would be more interesting than the lame resemblance to onsides kicks that exists today.
I agree things have swung too far the other way.

The only times it makes much sense now is a surprise onside kick (non-late game scenario) or when there is zero choice (i.e. less than 2 minutes and no timeouts when the other team can just kneel).
 

JMDurron

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The offensive coaching staff, but not because of game day.

I don’t know what happened during practice this week, but the timing and execution of blocking on seemingly routine plays was just off at key times. Harry went from being a blocking beast to either whiffing or being hopelessly behind on a few plays that I noticed. The Colts were also flying around, to be sure, but the basic processes of snapping and blocking looked completely screwed up throughout the game. Not just on the OL, but on those same WR edge setting blocks that they’d been executing so well for months now.

The Colts OL were studly and just whipped the Pats’ front 7. It happens. It felt like the Pats offense beat themselves, but not due to poor play calling, or even being physically beaten. It’s like the non-QB/RB positions all beat themselves mentally last night, and that was striking and disturbing.
 

Eddie Jurak

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With the new rules, last I saw onside kick recoveries are at a 4% chance of success. There have been a couple recently so maybe that is a bit higher, but it's still EXTREMELY unlikely to succeed. Not recovering one certainly can't be considered a special teams mess up.

Not sure the chances of a 3 and out with the Pats D against that Colts offense, but that 40 yards of field position is pretty huge down 3 with about a minute left and no timeouts.
Yeah, you are right about this. When I said that they were crazy not to onside kick, I had in my head that they needed a TD, which was not actually the case - they needed an FG to tie. A minute and change with no timeouts - what they would have had if they had stopped the Colts - would have given them a reasonable shot at a game tying FG. Enough of a shot not to bet the whole game on one low probability play.
I think this is why Belichick was especially grumpy in his post-game press conference. Based on past game plans, he probably spent the entire practice period emphasizing the need to shut down the Colts running game and let Wentz beat them.
The thing is, though, he went with a lot of light box fronts. Almost as if the game plan was to shut down the Colts passing game and make Taylor beat them.
 

Pandemonium67

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Not sure if anyone commented on the fact that Rhamondre put the ball on the ground twice yesterday. The Pats recovered both and he did alright otherwise, so he doesn't get a goat nomination, but I'm sure BB noticed and I don't think Rham got a lot of touches after the second one.

Everyone saw the second fumble -- it was recovered, kind of inexplicably, by Jonnu. The first was when Rham ran into Wynn in the backfield early in the game. He recovered it himself.
 
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BusRaker

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I've been thinking about the field goal decision. So many things could have happened in the last 9 minutes of the game, versus our ability to make it 7 yards into a packed end zone. Although making them start from their 7 rather than the 25 would have been another advantage. I wonder if Bill saw the Chargers game.

The D certainly played well enough to win. Rham ended up in fumble jail, Harris was out. Just a major OUCH of a day that will make coming back to Gillette against a struggling Bills team nice.
 

Ed Hillel

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Meyers was terrible. He had a really bad drop and was late to break his routes all game long. For someone known for his route running, it was a real head scratcher. He also whiffed on some key blocks. Johnu is also just a dumb player. He runs terrible routes and that false start was just killer.

Special Teams was the big one. Ten free points.
 

ZMart100

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I've been thinking about the field goal decision. So many things could have happened in the last 9 minutes of the game, versus our ability to make it 7 yards into a packed end zone. Although making them start from their 7 rather than the 25 would have been another advantage. I wonder if Bill saw the Chargers game.
I'm usually okay with BB's 4th down decisions. He knows a lot about the context that isn't captured by the 4th down calculators on twitter or wherever. However, I agree that this particular decision was baffling.
 

Jimbodandy

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Lots of talk about false starts, a missed block or tackle, and drops. Not enough talk of the QB who was thoroughly drowning and didn't put up a point until the 4th quarter.

This loss is not on the defense. It's not all on Mac either obviously. The game plan was garbage to start the game. But he was completely lost. I counted two complete panic throws, but there were probably more. Shame on JMCD for not having a plan for the obvious. Running between the tackles was no bueno, and everyone knew it. We didn't exploit the seams enough.

Some encouraging signs--defense generally got better as the game went on. Offense found itself late in the game, and Mac put up some tough points.

Goats: JMCD, Mac, OL.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Lots of talk about false starts, a missed block or tackle, and drops. Not enough talk of the QB who was thoroughly drowning and didn't put up a point until the 4th quarter.
He looked really terrible for 2.5 quarters, like he was some emergency Covid substitution who wasn't ready to play. But, that he didn't put up a point until the 4th is true but a bit misleading. He threw a TD to Henry on the very first play of the fourth, having led the team down the field and into scoring position at the end of the third quarter. What's more, he overcame a little penaltyfest by his team at the end of that quarter - else the would have scored sooner.

Mac hit Henry to get a first and 10 from the 12.
Next play, a run to Jonnu picks up 11 yards but is called back on a Meyers hold.
First and 18 from the 20, Isaiah Wynn false start.
First and 23 from the 25, short pass to Bolden who takes it to the 12. Quarter ends.

That was a good series, and Mac was good in the 4th.

But he really did look like a fish out of water right up to the first TD drive.
 

Jimbodandy

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He looked really terrible for 2.5 quarters, like he was some emergency Covid substitution who wasn't ready to play. But, that he didn't put up a point until the 4th is true but a bit misleading. He threw a TD to Henry on the very first play of the fourth, having led the team down the field and into scoring position at the end of the third quarter. What's more, he overcame a little penaltyfest by his team at the end of that quarter - else the would have scored sooner.

Mac hit Henry to get a first and 10 from the 12.
Next play, a run to Jonnu picks up 11 yards but is called back on a Meyers hold.
First and 18 from the 20, Isaiah Wynn false start.
First and 23 from the 25, short pass to Bolden who takes it to the 12. Quarter ends.

That was a good series, and Mac was good in the 4th.

But he really did look like a fish out of water right up to the first TD drive.
Totally fair. 2.5 then.
 

lexrageorge

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Jul 31, 2007
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I'm usually okay with BB's 4th down decisions. He knows a lot about the context that isn't captured by the 4th down calculators on twitter or wherever. However, I agree that this particular decision was baffling.
What was strange to me is that the FG kept the game as 2 score game, rather than making it a one score game. I get that you need the defense to make a stop regardless, but asking the D to make 2 stops seems a lot to ask.

He may have been influenced by the way the offense totally shit the bed on that final set of downs, and figured that a FG along with a quick stop or big play by the defense could swing the momentum, while a failed TD attempt could deflate the team further. After all, on the next offensive series, it took New England 3 tries to get it in from the 7 yard line, as Mac just wasn't consistently sharp in the red zone. Unfortunately, the defense allowed the Colts to milk 5 minutes off the clock and to pin the offense deep on the ensuing drive.
 

k-factory

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Dec 22, 2005
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What was strange to me is that the FG kept the game as 2 score game, rather than making it a one score game. I get that you need the defense to make a stop regardless, but asking the D to make 2 stops seems a lot to ask.
I still think it was defensible. 4th and goal at the 7 is so tough. It’s still 2 scores sure but one of those scores now will be much easier. And at that point in the game you need to bank on your ace defense or you’re toast anyway.
It almost worked out for them. The kickoff after their TD was shit but even then say they hold for a 3 and out they’d have a minute and change to get to field goal range. Their own TD drive only took them about a minute and a half starting at their own 18