The Game Ball Thread: Wk. 11 at Atlanta

Rheal With Cheese

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Now that he’s getting more comfortable as a NFL safety, will we ever see Dugger in a punt or kick return role? His last two interceptions have shown flashes of the return skills that were hyped. At some point I think it’s worth the risk to make him a greater weapon and get him involved with the return game.
 

azsoxpatsfan

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Now that he’s getting more comfortable as a NFL safety, will we ever see Dugger in a punt or kick return role? His last two interceptions have shown flashes of the return skills that were hyped. At some point I think it’s worth the risk to make him a greater weapon and get him involved with the return game.
I think gunner is great as a punt returner and should keep the job. KR I’d be interested in seeing Dugger
 
Apr 24, 2019
1,278
Game ball to TRUST.

1) Trusting Mac to throw for that third down at the end (before things got out of hand) despite the earlier INT.
2) Trusting Dugger to mostly shut down Pitts.
3) Trusting vets KVN and Hightower to, um…work themselves into shape or something? Much better as of late.
4) Young RBs Harris and Stevenson continuing to earn the coaching staff’s trust that they can run HARD and still hold onto the ball.
5) My absolute stone-cold trust that, despite being NAILS on all those kicks, Folk was going to shank that PAT, goddammit.

LFG, great win!!!

Dominating ROAD WIN, lessons to learn for Mac, and no real injuries to speak of, right?
 

Ed Hillel

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Except, of course, that Pelissero says that Jared Mayo is the de facto coordinator
Who cares what he says? It’s Steve Belichick, and he’s going to take over for his father in 10 years and be just as good, if not better.
 

CaptainLaddie

dj paul pfieffer
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where the darn libs live
That's funny, I did a quick search on football reference and the two teams I looked at were the Chargers and Texans, but I was looking at the '98 Leaf/Whelihan Chargers and the 2013 Schaub/Keenum/Yates Texans.

I think my 2011 Pro Bowl answer still wins.
What was your search criteria? I couldn't find it and I'm a stathead nerd.
 
Give a game ball to the whole Falcons team - for sucking. I only watched the first half before going to bed, but that was as pitiful a display in every phase of the game as I've seen in a while (non-Jets division). No line play to speak of on either side of the ball, a raft of stupid penalties, no skill position players worthy of the name, etc. I thought Dustin Colquitt was having a good game...and that's where the list ends for me. The Falcons were lucky to get nil, to borrow a soccer turn of phrase; the Patriots were fine defensively, but the Falcons offense is BAD. (Offensively so.)
 

m0ckduck

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Give a game ball to the whole Falcons team - for sucking. I only watched the first half before going to bed, but that was as pitiful a display in every phase of the game as I've seen in a while (non-Jets division). No line play to speak of on either side of the ball, a raft of stupid penalties, no skill position players worthy of the name, etc. I thought Dustin Colquitt was having a good game...and that's where the list ends for me. The Falcons were lucky to get nil, to borrow a soccer turn of phrase; the Patriots were fine defensively, but the Falcons offense is BAD. (Offensively so.)
I just watched the 5 min highlight segment on NFL.com and there were all of FOUR offensive 'highlights' for the Falcons. Mind you, this is a 5 min reel where the term 'highlight' is applied very generously— like, Jonnu Smith's 17 yard catch to start the Pats' second drive was in there. Nothing particularly memorable– just a nice drive-starter. And yet, there were four plays in there for the Falcons offense that involved something positive happening— the rest were all Ryan getting sacked and the QBs throwing picks.
 

Eddie Jurak

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Game balls:
1. KVN
2. Dugger - thought this was kind of a coming out game for him
3. Folk - his 53 yard FG after a dumb play call and Mac sack iced the game
 

tims4wins

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When was the last time 4 straight drives ended in picks? When was the last time a team threw 4 picks in a quarter? Has a game ever ended with a team throwing picks on its last 4 drives? I could easily see this being a first in league history.
 

Dollar

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What was your search criteria? I couldn't find it and I'm a stathead nerd.
Honestly my "criteria" was that I could kind of remember something similar happening with one of those two teams, so I just took a look at the game logs for any games with a bunch of turnovers and checked them individually. Nothing fancy.
 

ColonelMustard

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Oct 23, 2006
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Give a game ball to the whole Falcons team - for sucking. I only watched the first half before going to bed, but that was as pitiful a display in every phase of the game as I've seen in a while (non-Jets division). No line play to speak of on either side of the ball, a raft of stupid penalties, no skill position players worthy of the name, etc. I thought Dustin Colquitt was having a good game...and that's where the list ends for me. The Falcons were lucky to get nil, to borrow a soccer turn of phrase; the Patriots were fine defensively, but the Falcons offense is BAD. (Offensively so.)
It's hard to win the NFL and we've seen the Patriots of the past drop some critical must have games to poor quality opponents. The Falcons had 2 critical penalties and Ryan took a poor sack that left 10 to 13 points on the board in the first half. The Patriots also had a strange sequence where Bourne stopped short of the first and gave himself up. The Pats got stuffed on 3-1 and kicked the FG. Then Mac threw an interception in 3rd with the Falcons trailing 13-0 and our defense stopped them cold on 4-1 at the NE16. That's football. A game of inches. Or paraphrasing what Mac said - "at the end of day did we score 1 more point then they did?

GAME BALLS

Defense:
I played defense and appreciate that side of the ball slightly more. I'm am absolutely loving this Patriots team and their physical style of football. Everyone is SWARMING to the ball and tackling(!!) with 6 TFL last game. They have talent at three levels. Matt Fucking JUDON and KVN were consistently in the backfield. KVN had a monster game and is feeding off the attention to Judon. Additionally, they're blitzing only X percentage of the time but generated 12 QB Hits and 4 sacks. McCourty has gotten flack for supposedly losing a step but he's still a tremendous ball hawk free safety.

Ram/Harris Duo: 22 Carries 125 Yards (5.7 avg) and they ripped off 2 large gains. Harris trucked a safety who tried to wrap him up on his long gain. That game film will haunt that poor man for the rest of his life.

Mac Jones: Mac Jones took 3 sacks which were all blitzes that he could have done a better job diagnosing and supporting his team with. His interception as well was a strange pre-decision snap. He tried to look off double coverage but ended up throwing into it. He also had his check down RB open in the middle of the field had he gone down his progression or directly to his safety valve. However, this was a short week and a short week impacted Mac more than the rest of the team. Given his experience level and time of preparation, he played an excellent game. The score and flow of the game in the second half also supported run-heavy approach.
 
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lexrageorge

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Watching a team with a dominant defense is a lot of fun. Besides giving the up-and-down offense room to maneuver, it does at least make it feel as if the team can once again be competitive against the league's iron in any matchup. It's seemingly been a long time since we've been able to say "bring it on" to an upcoming opponent that's leading the AFC (although it really hasn't been that long by normal NFL standards).
 

Bowhemian

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Since being down 28-3 in SB LI, the Pats have outscored the Falcons 56-0.

Game balls for everyone-this was a fun game to watch.

Edit: dammit-thanks for the correction t4w
 
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mikeford

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Aug 6, 2006
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Currently 2nd best point differential in league
2nd fewest points given up in the entire league. Patriots have played 2 more games than Buffalo (who is in first) and 2 more games than New Orleans (who is 3rd).

Could very well be 1st when the games in hand are made up. Bills have a 42 point gap.
 

DJnVa

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Obviously the defense, but this is just crazy:

41/49 405 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT, 119.8 rating the last 2 games over a span of 5 days.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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Long way from a game ball compared with the defense, but want to throw some roses at Nelson Agholor, who's progressing nicely from useless to inconsistent to effective. May not be worth the contract, particularly in comparison with Bourne, but Agholor's a competent WR on a team that was awfully shy on those the last couple of years and he seems to be getting better.
 

j44thor

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Aug 1, 2006
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I just watched the 5 min highlight segment on NFL.com and there were all of FOUR offensive 'highlights' for the Falcons. Mind you, this is a 5 min reel where the term 'highlight' is applied very generously— like, Jonnu Smith's 17 yard catch to start the Pats' second drive was in there. Nothing particularly memorable– just a nice drive-starter. And yet, there were four plays in there for the Falcons offense that involved something positive happening— the rest were all Ryan getting sacked and the QBs throwing picks.
Even funnier was being at the game when the Falcons had their halftime "highlight reel" where they tried to pump up the crowd analyzing all their amazing first half plays which consisted of one 3rd down completion and a 5 yard run.

Probably the most underrated throw from Mac this season was the completion to Meyers against I believe cover zero last night when the DB was completely untouched on the blitz. Very few QBs complete that pass with that kind of pressure, that he stood in there and delivered a catchable pass was really impressive.
 

ManicCompression

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May 14, 2015
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Give a game ball to the whole Falcons team - for sucking. I only watched the first half before going to bed, but that was as pitiful a display in every phase of the game as I've seen in a while (non-Jets division). No line play to speak of on either side of the ball, a raft of stupid penalties, no skill position players worthy of the name, etc. I thought Dustin Colquitt was having a good game...and that's where the list ends for me. The Falcons were lucky to get nil, to borrow a soccer turn of phrase; the Patriots were fine defensively, but the Falcons offense is BAD. (Offensively so.)
in your opinion, how much of this is the Falcons' dearth of talent (Patterson being out, Ridley not there, little depth at those spots) and how much is it the new coach? I thought Smith was supposed to be an offensive guru but every time I watch the team, they're really boring and vanilla.
 
in your opinion, how much of this is the Falcons' dearth of talent (Patterson being out, Ridley not there, little depth at those spots) and how much is it the new coach? I thought Smith was supposed to be an offensive guru but every time I watch the team, they're really boring and vanilla.
I don't think Smith has ANYTHING to work with offensively - that's why they're so vanilla. He's made Patterson look amazing (in a way that no team has, not even the Belichick Patriots), which I think is to his credit and perhaps forecasts a brighter future when he has more weapons to work with. But no coach could do well offensively with the O-line he's been given, which is really more important than the skill position players. And as good as I think Ryan has played in impossible circumstances, you can't expect only a rookie tight end to make him look good against decent or better teams. Smith hasn't impressed me with some of his decision-making and play-calling, sure, but I think 4-6 is actually a very good record with the talent he's got (or lack thereof). So I'm willing to cut him some slack.
 

ehaz

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This was the best game I've seen from Godchaux so far. Two tackles for loss, two QB hits.
 

chilidawg

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Even funnier was being at the game when the Falcons had their halftime "highlight reel" where they tried to pump up the crowd analyzing all their amazing first half plays which consisted of one 3rd down completion and a 5 yard run.

Probably the most underrated throw from Mac this season was the completion to Meyers against I believe cover zero last night when the DB was completely untouched on the blitz. Very few QBs complete that pass with that kind of pressure, that he stood in there and delivered a catchable pass was really impressive.
My favorite from Mac as well. Tough play that kept a drive alive.

Late, but
Folk
Run game
D (Judon, KVN, Dugger, Barmore in particular)
 

Ed Hillel

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I’m not saying he’s in his prime anymore, but this is probably the 5th season I’ve been convinced through the first 8 weeks that Qualin is done, only to see him ratchet it up and get progressively better every week in the second half.
 

tims4wins

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I’m not saying he’s in his prime anymore, but this is probably the 5th season I’ve been convinced through the first 8 weeks that Qualin is done, only to see him ratchet it up and get progressively better every week in the second half.
Who is this Qualin you speak of?

Edit: I assume you mean KVN
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I’m not saying he’s in his prime anymore, but this is probably the 5th season I’ve been convinced through the first 8 weeks that Qualin is done, only to see him ratchet it up and get progressively better every week in the second half.
I feel like this describes his career in general. I remember a lot of hand-wringing in the early years where it seemed like he was just a slow LB without much gas in the tank to begin with. Glad to see he is still making the occasional play, and if he is playing himself into game shape/speed, then all the better.