The Game Ball Thread: Week 8 at Buffalo

SeoulSoxFan

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The biggest surprise isn't that the Patriots beat the Bills but Josh Gordon didn't sit out a quarter, as some have reported.

Ugly game but a road win is a road win. Game Ball Time!

Mine goes to the secondary, including the back-breaking pick-6 by JMac.
 

RorschachsMask

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James White, again. He very well could catch 100 balls this year.
Edelman looked pretty damn good.
Trey Flowers was a monster.
Van Noy
The whole secondary.
 

DJnVa

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Most of the defense.

Offense was completely out of sync, and Brady seemed off. But, road division win. Pack it up, move on.
 

McDrew

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The D gave up 2 FG's, one on a 2 yard drive. They got 7 points on a pick-6. LeSean McCoy had 13 yards on 12 rushes. Lots of little things, including Adrian Clayborn with the full downfield blocking impeding of Anderson on DMc's pick 6 after a great quarterback read. This D gives up yards and not points.
 

Harry Hooper

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Patterson for not fumbling as a tailback while getting some hard hits.
 

RoDaddy

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DMC for the pick and run back - it's been a long time since that's happened
Edelman is back!!
No major injuries

Ugly win. As JBJ said after the 18 inning Dodger loss - bury it, move on
 
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BaseballJones

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Most of the defense.

Offense was completely out of sync, and Brady seemed off. But, road division win. Pack it up, move on.
I love it. Brady seemed off and still threw for 324 yards against the NFL's #1 passing defense and #4 overall defense in yards allowed.

Game balls to:
- Van Noy
- Flowers
- DMC
- White
- Edelman

Ugly win but they went on the road and won by 19 points. Next week will be very very interesting to say the least.
 

alydar

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At the midway point the Patriots are the #2 seed in the AFC and have beaten two of the three other division leaders. Quite the turnaround after a slow start. And then there’s death and taxes....
 

EL Jeffe

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Game ball to Flores. The defense scored more than the Bills O and gave up 6 points (off two 50 yard field goals). They quickly adjusted to the wildcat, mixed up their coverages and played a really sound game. Yes, the Bills O is craptastic, but that was still a really nice effort.
 

SirPsychoSquints

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At the midway point the Patriots are the #2 seed in the AFC and have beaten two of the three other division leaders. Quite the turnaround after a slow start. And then there’s death and taxes....
And a 2 game lead on the entire division, and a head start on basically every tie-breaker (beat Chiefs, beat Texans, 2-0 in division, one of the losses is out of conference).
 

Number45forever

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Had to work at 8am yesterday after watching the World Series. With beers.

So, went to bed last night at 8:30 or so, DVRd this game, and woke up at 5 to speed through it. Brilliant move. What a fucking disgrace ESPN's coverage was, so they do not get a game ball.

Despite Buffalo's offense being terrible, game balls to McCourty and the run D. I also thought Brady was pretty great against a tough D. He missed Gronk wide open on a couple broken plays where he ended just throwing it at a RB's feet. But some really big throws in a few spots as well.

Also, I kinda like Patterson in the backfield...let's build on that.

Onward to Green Bay.
 

OurF'ingCity

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DMac, only because if the pick-6 hadn't happened this game would have been entirely unmemorable. Now at least when I look back on the schedule at the end of the year I'll think "oh yeah that's the game where they got the pick-6."
 

Rook05

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Had to work at 8am yesterday after watching the World Series. With beers.

So, went to bed last night at 8:30 or so, DVRd this game, and woke up at 5 to speed through it. Brilliant move. What a fucking disgrace ESPN's coverage was, so they do not get a game ball.

Despite Buffalo's offense being terrible, game balls to McCourty and the run D. I also thought Brady was pretty great against a tough D. He missed Gronk wide open on a couple broken plays where he ended just throwing it at a RB's feet. But some really big throws in a few spots as well.

Also, I kinda like Patterson in the backfield...let's build on that.

Onward to Green Bay.
This was my first full ESPN MNF experience. I’ve watch some games but mostly on mute in the background. Good lord, what an absolutely awful announcing trio. The play by play was Gus Johnson lite (and I don’t mind Gus), Witten brought the classic meathead analysis, and McFarlene seemed like an SNL parity. Maybe next year we can finally just mic the field and call it a day.
 

Super Nomario

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Great win. D played great against a terrible O - they're supposed to, but they don't always. And the O needed it minus Michel and with wind affecting deep passes. O grinded it out, controlled clock, put drives together, and didn't turn it over. Red zone and run game execution could have been better, but this is a tough D. Only blemish really was special teams, with the long Hyde return setting up a FG, Allen struggling much of the day, and Gost missing a FG (albeit a longish one in tough conditions).
 

DJnVa

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I love it. Brady seemed off and still threw for 324 yards against the NFL's #1 passing defense and #4 overall defense in yards allowed.
I'm not one that is a "sky is falling" with him so it's not that I'm harping and it could have been the WRs read the coverage wrong, but a few throws were just wide, and he had one into the ground 2 feet in front of White, who was near goal line. Throw away? Maybe, but the play would have put them on the doorstep.

Like you said though, he still had a pretty good game.
 

TheoShmeo

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James White just continues to make plays.

Tom Brady wasn't eye popping but on a night when he had NO running game and was dealing with tough winds, he gets one.

Kyle Van Noy seemed to be everywhere on D.

Devin McCourty for FINALLY popping the Pick 6 Cherry that had regenerated on the Pats D.
 

InstaFace

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I'm not one that is a "sky is falling" with him so it's not that I'm harping and it could have been the WRs read the coverage wrong, but a few throws were just wide, and he had one into the ground 2 feet in front of White, who was near goal line. Throw away? Maybe, but the play would have put them on the doorstep.

Like you said though, he still had a pretty good game.
I criticized Brady's play in a win earlier this season, but the throws he missed last night were due to being rushed due to pressure. He missed a few, sure, but those become very low-percentage when you're back-pedaling, stepping sideways, throwing off the back foot, and trying to drive it 20 yards downfield into a tight window.

Maybe that rainbow to Gronk on the left side where Brady overthrew him, you could criticize - but I think Gronk got chucked a little bit at the line and maybe the timing got thrown off. And obviously, he made a lot of very hard throws look very easy, especially those that set up the eventual offensive touchdown. I dunno if he gets a game ball (unless you're the type who thinks he always deserves a game ball, which is a fair position), but he was a thumbs-up last night.
 

DaubachmanTurnerOD

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Flowers. He dominated early, keeping the (admittedly weak) Bills offense stalled while the Pats got on track themselves.
 

kartvelo

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DMac, only because if the pick-6 hadn't happened this game would have been entirely unmemorable. Now at least when I look back on the schedule at the end of the year I'll think "oh yeah that's the game where they got the first pick-6."
FTFY
 
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Lots of talk after the game (PC's from BB and TB12) about the swirling winds and how difficult that made the passing O. Hope that, and an underrated Bills D, have more to do with the so-so offensive output than any even slight downtrend from Brady.