The Game ball Thread: Week 7 vs. Jets
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Tom Brady; got the job done, looking good doing it.
Shane Vereen; double threat. Impressive showing against an excellent, amped up run defense.
Danny Amendola; a fine performance as kick returner and his touchdown was huge.
frowny face for 1) run defense and 2) special teams until the field goal block.
Shane Vereen; double threat. Impressive showing against an excellent, amped up run defense.
Danny Amendola; a fine performance as kick returner and his touchdown was huge.
frowny face for 1) run defense and 2) special teams until the field goal block.
I'll give myself a game ball for listening to the game on a shitty radio stream from 2-530am in Europe.
But to add a name, seems like Ryan Allen had a couple of really clutch punts downed inside the 20. The 10? And sounded like Don Jones was a plus on special teams too, though I'm kind of guessing.
But to add a name, seems like Ryan Allen had a couple of really clutch punts downed inside the 20. The 10? And sounded like Don Jones was a plus on special teams too, though I'm kind of guessing.
Amendola- His best game as a Patriot by far. He looked really good returning kicks and working special teams, and he ran a nasty route to haul in the gw score.
Brady- Every time he was given good protection, he stepped up with a clean and accurate throw. Great job throwing on the run to Amendola and if it wasn't for a couple costly drops, this game wouldn't have been as close.
Hightower- Actively riled up the defense in the second half and got their shit together. He needs to step up as a leader without Mayo, and tonight was a good sign.
The Joneses- Chandler is blossoming into an elite playmaker (his play on the Vick option was tremendous) Chris Jones added some good pressure from the interior and obviously got the blocked fg, and even that special teamer made two really solid tackles covering punts.
Brady- Every time he was given good protection, he stepped up with a clean and accurate throw. Great job throwing on the run to Amendola and if it wasn't for a couple costly drops, this game wouldn't have been as close.
Hightower- Actively riled up the defense in the second half and got their shit together. He needs to step up as a leader without Mayo, and tonight was a good sign.
The Joneses- Chandler is blossoming into an elite playmaker (his play on the Vick option was tremendous) Chris Jones added some good pressure from the interior and obviously got the blocked fg, and even that special teamer made two really solid tackles covering punts.
Everybody on our team named Jones did something awesome. Any FAs named Jones we can target for the Meadowlands game?
Amendola was awesome. Huge game for him.
Jamie Collins did not seem that great tonight. Was never totally out of position but I kept watching replays and thinking "Mayo stops that play 3 yards short of where it actually ended." Maybe wishful thinking, I dunno. The whole front 7 really got beat up, but it's hard not to think TOP played a huge role by the second half.
Chung was fairly pukey as usual.
Amendola was awesome. Huge game for him.
Jamie Collins did not seem that great tonight. Was never totally out of position but I kept watching replays and thinking "Mayo stops that play 3 yards short of where it actually ended." Maybe wishful thinking, I dunno. The whole front 7 really got beat up, but it's hard not to think TOP played a huge role by the second half.
Chung was fairly pukey as usual.
Amendola. The catch. The kick returns. At least he seems to have found a role of some kind.
Vereen. Great receiver and while not the runner that Ridley, still solid.
Tom. SO good since KC. Good numbers that still don't do justice to how good he has been.
Vereen. Great receiver and while not the runner that Ridley, still solid.
Tom. SO good since KC. Good numbers that still don't do justice to how good he has been.
Edelman had a few big drops. Not to suggest that suddenly he'd become 'non grata' (especially considering a key late catch), but does this give a little breathing room for Amendola to integrate better with Tom on offense?
Well, Tebucky started reproducing young, if memory serves, so don't feel too old.
A tough game to hand out game balls -- every part of the Pats had its ups and downs, so for me this is based more on emotion than anything:
1: Amendola -- great catch, just 1 catch, but key...and so good to see that and his other contributions.
2: Brady -- not his greatest game, but damn good and just so good to see him in fine form. That record is amazing.
3: Vereen -- again, his limitations as a runner were apparent, but boy did he lay out for that overthrown ball from Brady. Both his and Amendola's TD catches were amazing.
The OL was generally good, I thought, though Marcus Cannon was terrible -- was he just in on a rotation or did Solder get nicked?
I thought Casey Walker was a relatively bright light on the DL. Wilfork seemed to have his lunch handed to him, though, which is a shame since he seemed to be returning to form. Oh, and as others have mentioned, Hightower was real good.
Even though could also criticize virtually every aspect of the Pats' game, too, a lot of it was on the refs. Not just really bad calls, but there was a cumulative effect. The Pats defense really wore down, but if the refs didn't extend seemingly every drive, TOP would have been much more even and the defense less tired. Of course, if there weren't so many near misses offensively, they would have extended their own drives. Still, I don't recall seeing so many bad calls. Giocomanni (sp?) seemed to be holding everytime I saw him on a replay, but never a call. Much less all the phantom calls on the Pats, and the missed review on that juggling catch at the end of the game.
Really a terrific victory. Great mental toughness.
A tough game to hand out game balls -- every part of the Pats had its ups and downs, so for me this is based more on emotion than anything:
1: Amendola -- great catch, just 1 catch, but key...and so good to see that and his other contributions.
2: Brady -- not his greatest game, but damn good and just so good to see him in fine form. That record is amazing.
3: Vereen -- again, his limitations as a runner were apparent, but boy did he lay out for that overthrown ball from Brady. Both his and Amendola's TD catches were amazing.
The OL was generally good, I thought, though Marcus Cannon was terrible -- was he just in on a rotation or did Solder get nicked?
I thought Casey Walker was a relatively bright light on the DL. Wilfork seemed to have his lunch handed to him, though, which is a shame since he seemed to be returning to form. Oh, and as others have mentioned, Hightower was real good.
Even though could also criticize virtually every aspect of the Pats' game, too, a lot of it was on the refs. Not just really bad calls, but there was a cumulative effect. The Pats defense really wore down, but if the refs didn't extend seemingly every drive, TOP would have been much more even and the defense less tired. Of course, if there weren't so many near misses offensively, they would have extended their own drives. Still, I don't recall seeing so many bad calls. Giocomanni (sp?) seemed to be holding everytime I saw him on a replay, but never a call. Much less all the phantom calls on the Pats, and the missed review on that juggling catch at the end of the game.
Really a terrific victory. Great mental toughness.
Brady was really good tonight I thought. He missed a couple of throws, but thought he did a great job in the pocket and hit most throws that were there.
Amendola
The OL pass protection. Not sure they can run block but they keep Brady upright now.
Josh McDaniels until whatever the fuck the final drive was. Thought the offensive game plan was real good, throwing the ball was the way to go against this defense with this team and they were still able to keep the Jets pretty off balance
Chris Jones
Was truly a terrible effort on defense, but they are a mediocre run defense to start with and lost Mayo on a short week so they get a little slack. Hopefully there's another Siliga lying around to help turn it around. Think this is going to be more a middle of the pack defense than a very good one, better against the pass than in prior years but not enough pas rush to be very good. Browner has basically been officiated out of the league, which is unfortunate.
Refs sucked but weren't as much of a factor as giving up like six yards a run against a team with no passing game,.
Did Tyms see a snap tonight?
Amendola
The OL pass protection. Not sure they can run block but they keep Brady upright now.
Josh McDaniels until whatever the fuck the final drive was. Thought the offensive game plan was real good, throwing the ball was the way to go against this defense with this team and they were still able to keep the Jets pretty off balance
Chris Jones
Was truly a terrible effort on defense, but they are a mediocre run defense to start with and lost Mayo on a short week so they get a little slack. Hopefully there's another Siliga lying around to help turn it around. Think this is going to be more a middle of the pack defense than a very good one, better against the pass than in prior years but not enough pas rush to be very good. Browner has basically been officiated out of the league, which is unfortunate.
Refs sucked but weren't as much of a factor as giving up like six yards a run against a team with no passing game,.
Did Tyms see a snap tonight?
Gonna vent here for two minutes about something: I hate how fucking conservative BB has become with in game decisions. Kicking on all the 4th and shorts (the FG tonight was more defensible than some other recent kicks as the team clearly had no confidence in running at the Jets, but going for it still clearly plus EV) running three times tonight when the first down seals the game. It bit them in the ass in the Carolina and Miami losses last year and it's going to get them this year at some point. BB never goes for it on that 4th and 2 against the Colts now and I fucking hate it.
On the other hand, he didn't go five wide on a 2 point conversion with Geno Smith while running at will sooooo.....yeah could be worse.
Also should credit the TO before the half, which many teams don't do.
On the other hand, he didn't go five wide on a 2 point conversion with Geno Smith while running at will sooooo.....yeah could be worse.
Also should credit the TO before the half, which many teams don't do.
Really tough to second guess this tonight. The 3 points was the margin of victory, and if the Jets had 30 more seconds they very likely would have won.Stitch01 said:
I'm not basing it on the results of a single dice roll, it's been a pattern over years. They had a better chance of converting a first down than punting and holding. Running on first down is OK because completing a first down pass on first down doesn't completely end the game since the Jets had a time out and helps I'd you fail and running on third down after the second down atrocity was fine, but not throwing on second down was really, really bad and burnt win equity. They played all game like they couldn't run against the Jets defense then gave up and put the game in the hands of a defense that struggled to get stops all night. Its different if they could have run the clock down to 30 seconds or something, but 1:10 is an eternity when a FG beats you. The Jets ran two pretty terrible plays to start the drive and still made it to FG range.
I'm sure the advanced stats will show the FG was bad too, and they're probably better off going for it, but given they didn't even attempt to run the ball on this front seven it's fairly marginal so whatever. They kick so often on fourth and short though, it's been a disappointing regression.
I'm sure the advanced stats will show the FG was bad too, and they're probably better off going for it, but given they didn't even attempt to run the ball on this front seven it's fairly marginal so whatever. They kick so often on fourth and short though, it's been a disappointing regression.
I think they were hoping to catch the Jets off guard a bit by running outside on 2nd and then planning to throw on third and medium. Once it's 3rd and 14 or whatever, running seems like the best option. I didn't like how it all panned out but I don't think we have enough info to crucify BB for being overly conservative there.
I agree about kicking on 4th and short though.
I agree about kicking on 4th and short though.
Watching the replay, some quick thoughts.
--Wilfork got crushed by 66 on a regular basis 1 on 1. Casey Walker probably played best up front and wasn't that good.
--Jamie Collins looks horrible as a run defender.
--tackling sucked.
-- what the fuck was with the three man rush eight in the zone defense on the first couple drives with Jones and Collins dropping into zones. Uh, that's great guys, everyone is covered downfield but Geno Smith just has to run around three fat guys for an automatic seven yards. Would be cool if Tavon Wilson didn't just play for the tackle three yards beyond the sticks too.
--not sure what the plan was with the pass rush, usually they play contain on guys like smith, tonight they seemed to play contain without setting edges or having the linebackers come up to force when Smith broke the pocket.
--Pick up whoever the Denver running back is in fantasy two weeks from now because he'll run for 200 yards out of the spread formation like Moreno did last year if Fox wants to take what's there.
--Wilfork got crushed by 66 on a regular basis 1 on 1. Casey Walker probably played best up front and wasn't that good.
--Jamie Collins looks horrible as a run defender.
--tackling sucked.
-- what the fuck was with the three man rush eight in the zone defense on the first couple drives with Jones and Collins dropping into zones. Uh, that's great guys, everyone is covered downfield but Geno Smith just has to run around three fat guys for an automatic seven yards. Would be cool if Tavon Wilson didn't just play for the tackle three yards beyond the sticks too.
--not sure what the plan was with the pass rush, usually they play contain on guys like smith, tonight they seemed to play contain without setting edges or having the linebackers come up to force when Smith broke the pocket.
--Pick up whoever the Denver running back is in fantasy two weeks from now because he'll run for 200 yards out of the spread formation like Moreno did last year if Fox wants to take what's there.
Boy that was a hideously officiated game. That LaFell pick gets called illegal contact on the DB like four times a game this year, refs obviously have "watch LaFell picking" in their pregame notes so need to burn that play or run it with one of the other receivers for a big.
Are people being a little too harsh on D? Mayo, the captain, signal caller and best tackler was lost for the season 3 days ago. How much of an impact does that have on the run D? There's similar question with the run game but that may have just been game planning more than no trust in Gray.
Do you have statistics on the run / passing on second down in the final series? As far as I know, no one tracks end-of-game scenarios to this level of detail.Stitch01 said:
I'm not sure that was the case during the end of the game. The clock was a big factor. Running on first down forced the Jets to use their final timeout. By running on 2nd down, they made sure that was the final play prior to the 2 minute warning, which allowed them to kill the clock after the 3rd down play. The chances of a Jets win after being pinned at the 12 with just over a minute left and no timeouts were not good (10.3%, to be exact). The D should have held up better on that final drive; they left way too much room for the Jets receivers given that they were only rushing 3.Stitch01 said:
I'm also not too down on the FG in the 3rd. Points are valuable in a game like this. The FG gave them the lead, and there were plenty of potential possessions to add to the score. At some point, you do have to rely on the defense to some extent. It was a very different scenario than the infamous Indy game.
The defense, in particular the run defense, was horrible The refs didn't help by calling defensive holding whenever a Jets receiver tripped on their own two feet, but still, the D needed to make stops they didn't make. Having said that, the impact of Mayo's loss combined with an abbreviated practice week cannot be understated. There was really no time to make adjustments.
The game was set up to be a difficult challenge. The injuries; a desperate opponent and a desperate coach both trying to save their seasons; an opponent with a good defense and a better ground game than what they've shown previously; the Thursday game. And the Jets haven't exactly had the easiest schedule; it was much like the Patriots upcoming slate of games (Detroit, GB, Chargers, Broncos). They probably are better than their record indicates. Of course, I have zero sympathy for any team that has Michael Vick on its roster.
Bottom line is that this game was a critical win against a divisional opponent. The Pats are 5-2 entering the iron of their schedule. And they effectively have 2 byes during that 6 game stretch before closing out against their division opponents. Sometimes the result is more important than how you get there.
RedOctober3829 said:
You mean that FG attempt a couple of plays after they called a sideline catch while the receiver was bobbling the ball and had a foot out of bounds? Yeah, those officials sure suck.
I noticed this right before the play but did not think anything of it. However, the first thing I looked for after the kick was blocked was a flag. I almost assumed there had to be a flag based both on how bad the officiating was in this game, and also what happened after the missed field goal in the game at the Meadowlands last year with the bs call.RedOctober3829 said:
Was just coming to post the NJ.com story. No clue how common it is for the refs to do that sort of thing, but . . . . Jetstown!
Stitch01 said:
And don't forget the Seattle game in 2012, which may have been the worst of all - they went run-and-punt with 3 minutes left despite having amassed over 450 yards of offense, and still having the crappy pre-Talib secondary.
Player safety. The long snapper is considered indefensible since he's busy snapping the football. They don't 4 guys crashing down on the center before he has a chance to block.loshjott said:
FWIW, the Patriots have played 4 games in 17 days, coming off a game where they lost three hugely important players to injury, with very little time to adjust. They played against a team that was playing for their season, and who, other than that one blown coverage on the Pats' first drive, played incredibly well.
And the Pats still won.
Game ball to the team for just an incredible effort. Now they get a mini-bye to heal and rest up before da Bears come to town.
And by the way, the Patriots are going to absolutely destroy Chicago. Mark it down.
And the Pats still won.
Game ball to the team for just an incredible effort. Now they get a mini-bye to heal and rest up before da Bears come to town.
And by the way, the Patriots are going to absolutely destroy Chicago. Mark it down.
I look at this game and think everything went right for the Jets and they still lost. It's clear the Jets were terrified to pass last night. NE has a good secondary, Geno is a turnover machine and instead of making one pass in traffic, he ran all night long. If you are afraid to throw the ball in the 2014 NFL, you will lose most games.
I think the secondary was very good, the offensive line outside of Devey was good. Obviously, Amendola and Vereen were great. Brady was very good as usual. One thing I love about the Brady and BB era is they have always secured the ball. No TO was key. It appears they are going to ease Gray in. I wish they gave him the ball more but he hasn't seen game action in 5 weeks, so I can understand the decision.
I think the secondary was very good, the offensive line outside of Devey was good. Obviously, Amendola and Vereen were great. Brady was very good as usual. One thing I love about the Brady and BB era is they have always secured the ball. No TO was key. It appears they are going to ease Gray in. I wish they gave him the ball more but he hasn't seen game action in 5 weeks, so I can understand the decision.
They in fact did throw on 3rd down on that last drive against the Seahawks.Bellhorn said:
The Baltimore game that year was game where they drew criticism for going pass-happy on a clock-killing drive and didn't kill much time. We could probably go back and forth with anecdotes all day. I don't think one is right or one is wrong. Both are appropriate in different circumstances. I think it would have been dumb to be content to kick the ball away if Manning, Brees, Rodgers, Luck, etc. was on the other sideline needing just a FG to win, but I think it was the percentage play against a poor Jets passing attack.
Where do you get the 10.3% figure?lexrageorge said:
The pass defense wasn't that bad. The Jets averaged 5.5 yards per pass attempt, which is low. The run D was pitiful but didn't factor into that situation, obviously.Stitch01 said:
Super Nomario said:
Pro-football Reference has their Win% up already with the boxscore. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201410160nwe.htm
The Pats started that final drive with a 94.2% win expectancy, which dropped on each play of the drive.
This.ivanvamp said:
They won a Thursday night game after losing their defensive captain and one of the main cogs of their run defense. This article by ((Football by Football) http://www.footballbyfootball.com/lockerroom/preparing-for-thursday-nfl-games), I think could explain alot of the run defense issues. Vince had a bad game, but I would not be surprised to learn that his body could not perform well on 3 days rest.
Also the Charges beat the Raiders by 3 last week, division games are rarely easy.