While I generally agree with your point here and that absolutely was a bad OPI call, it is however very easy to see why it was called.That play would have been an obvious OPI if it took place more than a yard downfield, it didn't and therefore shouldn't have been called but it isn't like it was easy to see at full speed.
Out of all weeks, you gotta bitch about the refs. Gee Louise, save the bitching for a week when it matters. There were a couple of questionable calls on both sides. In particular, the helmet to helmet call on the Titans and the mysterious holding call on the White catch were dubious at best. It just seems unbecoming of this board to complain about the refs in a 16 point win. I do agree with your overall point that there must be better oversight of the officials. However, this game was not the time or place to discuss it. The refs were neither the heros or the goats in this game.
So you should bitch about the refs in a close game?
Agreed, that and there are far too few officials to watch in real time each player on the field.
- 1st half: Pats dominated. Mariota was awful (strip sack TD) and got hurt early, Pats drove fairly easily (Gronk, White), Iosefa runs hard, went in up 24-3. Also Amendola hurt while fumbling a punt, but Titans only got 3 out of it.
Big thumbs down for CBS camera work today in general. Why was a lot of the game on a tight camera on the LOS super zoomed in? Terrible view of the game.
THank you! WAs texting my brother about that because I thought I was going crazy but he said the same thing. Absolutely brutal job today by the CBS crew.
CBS announcers weren't much better. Fouts referred to a 2nd-and-9 play as a 2nd and short, questioned whether Brady should called for grounding on a play where the play-by-play man said DURING THE LIVE PLAY that Brady had rolled out of the pocket, and was just generally unaware of what was happening during several plays. I know a lot of people like Fouts, and he's usually a pleasant listen (just not all that informative), but he was bad today.
I think we have to reconcile ourselves to the idea that the Pats are going to be officiated differently than other teams on OPI and defensive holding. This is clear when you watch other games.
I'm still in a state of shock that OPI wasn't called on Gronk's TD. Based on how he's been officiated this year, that was clearly a foul. It was more of a foul than Martin's as I really have no idea what he was supposed to do there other than beam himself to another spot.
Bellichick said this week, in an approving tone, that OPI was being called consistently around the league.
I think it is more a case of different squads calling games differently than anti pats bias as much as I want it to be the latter.
Perhaps. I saw Jets/Dal and Car/NYG. If you're saying there are a lot of other games out there with more OPI/holding calls, maybe that's fine and I'm just seeing SSS. But I can't remember many Pats games this year without a semi-bogus OPI and a semi-bogus def. holding call.
He's not much more than a JAG. He's being used as a rusher 1-2 times a game for an average of 2.8 YPC. I don't know if teams are going with a LB and the Pats are opting not to rush or if they're going with a DB and the Pats are opting not to rush. I do know that the Pats are predictable with White on the field. They're not running.
You can't tell from the broadcast at least, there was no camera angle that would've shown that (I just re-watched the play).
White's had 17 carries in 7 games thus far. Is it fair to say that 2.8 YPC is representative of who he is as a runner? I mean, watching him carry the ball it sure doesn't look like he's a threat as a rusher, but at the same time, he's getting the ball twice a game behind an average at best run blocking OL. I don't think we know for sure what we have in White at this point.
Vereen was pretty terrible at running the ball too. That kind of player can be effective as a role player in this scheme, and I think White's better than a random Bolden like scrub in the pass game. Your point on his limitations and predictability is a fair one though, he's certainly not Lewis.
Hey, maybe he does get better. That's certainly possible, I don't know. But he's not being used like someone the Pats think is good at rushing out of the backfield. It's a stark contrast to the guys I mentioned. Vereen had 100 carries last year. Lewis was on track to over 100. White had 1 rush this week, 2 the week before against Houston, 2 the week before that, etc. They haven't demonstrated any faith in him as a ball carrier.
Yeah, I don't think Vereen was a good runner, either. (By contrast, I was rather obsessed with Lewis.) But that speaks to White's limitations that his usage doesn't even resemble Vereen.
He spent a lot of games not being used as someone the Pats tought could catch out of the backfield too, and then started making plays when given more opportunities. He's not going to be Dion Lewis running the ball, but he could be Brandon Bolden.
I think I've read that's it's the receiver's job to get out of the way. BUT, isn't that irrelevant if the contact was within 1-yd of the line of scrimmage.
I hope you're ultimately right but I disagree with your logic. Before it was not clear that they didn't think White could catch the ball out of the backfield. What was clear is that the Pats thought they had better options -- which they did. If anything, we now know they did have faith in him as a pass catcher or he wouldn't have been on the roster as a weekly healthy scratch -- he would have been cut. But now his competition is either on IR or embodied by Brandon Bolden and they're not showing faith in him as a ball carrier. I take it as a bad sign that everybody else is gone and the Pats didn't even experiment with White out of the backfield -- if not the pat two weeks, when? The Pats are actually less predictable with Bolden on the field than with White.
Yup, by rule, pass interference only applies to contact more than 1 yard beyond the LOS. Total bs call.
Lewis didn't play against the Jets, White had 3 receptions in that game. Then Lewis got hurt against Washington and the following 3 weeks White had 5 catches total. It's pretty obvious they were reticent in involving him in the passing game until basically "garbage time" against Philly, when he went off for 10 catches and 115 yards, which led to him catching 11 balls in the next couple of weeks.
They don't pass too much when Blount was on the field, either. Especially when they brought a 6th lineman in. But it didn't really matter. Deception is less important than execution.
I mean its kind of hard to make the statement you are making without knowing this. There is certainly a plausible explanation that White has been an unknown to opposing Defensive coordinators and that they are staying with three/four Lbers on the field when White comes in. If that's the case then I'm glad the Pats are exploiting that mismatch in coverage and throwing him the ball vs. him running with it. Now if it changes and teams are going with 2 line backers when White is on the field and he still can't run the ball then you are on much more solid ground. You certainly may be correct and White isn't a threat taking a handoff. But I haven't paid attention to what types of fronts he is seeing when he is in the game and I think that matters a lot. No one should be expecting him to move the ball on the ground with 7 or 8 defenders lined up in the box.
