The Game Ball Thread: Wk 5 at Dallas

[SeoulSoxFan]

Surgical performance by everyone involved. 
 
Hang in while BB & Co. figure out what Dallas is doing, then counter until the game is out of reach. This was truly a methodical win. 
 
They were obviously prepared during the bye, completely shut down Weeden & the running game in the first half, and didn't panic when #12 was sacked 5 times in a half for only the second time in his career.
 
The coaching staff gets my game ball. 
 
P.S. SGB (Sneaky Game Ball) goes to Keyshawn Martin for a critical 1st down wow-he-caught-that-grab at the start of 4th quarter: 
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2015101109/2015/REG5/patriots@cowboys#menu=drivechart%7CcontentId%3A0ap3000000554792&tab=videos&pbp=gc-pbp-cd

 

[RedOctober3829]

Up
Jaime Collins--beastly performance
Dion Lewis--uncoverable and can run between the tackles.
DMC--all over the place

Down
Offensive line struggled badly.

 

[bluefenderstrat]

Great team win. Lewis & Edelman, Ghost get special mention. Collins was a beast.

 

[axx]

Greg Hardy's conditioning... once he got winded the offense took over.

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

McCourty really stood out for me. Great game.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Not a game ball, but could not believe Shaq Mason pretty much outrunning LGBT. He got down a good 40 yards in a hurry. 

 

[jsinger121]

Jabal Sheard
Jamie Collins

 

[MuppetAsteriskTalk]

Brady
Lewis
Edelman
Collins
Sheard

 

[jtn46]

Ghost
Collins
Lewis

 

[brandonchristensen]

Ghost deserves one for his career long.

 

[Dollar]

Edelman was great all day long.  His long touchdown almost reminded me of the famous Michael Vick run against the Vikings:
 
https://youtu.be/bKDEAx9Z3Q4?t=122

 

[mulluysavage]

Coaching Adjustments

Dion Lewis

Defense (No TDS)

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

Sending more love Ghost's way. He is deadly accurate. Suck it, Mazz.

 

[crystalline]

How about the back shoulder throw to Gronk from Brady?


That play is so good it's unfair. The DB was right with him and even squeezed one angle out along the sideline. How can anyone single cover Gronk?


http://a.video.nfl.com/films/2015/NFL_NOW/in-game-highlight/NFL_NOW/REG/5/151011_now_ghl_pats_vs_dal_brady_to_gronk_33_yards_315150_3200k.mp4

 

[AbbyNoho]

 

[Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt]

Sheard, Collins and Lewis, for that catch-and-run alone, although obviously that's not all he did. Oh, and TB12 'cause, ho hum, I'll take a licking and keep on ticking.

 

[staz]

Now everyone else has to officially worry about 2 complementary running backs. In addition to everything else.

So whoever's responsible for that, they get my game ball.

 

[staz]

JE literally screwed Morris Claiborne into the Matrix turf there.

 

[Devizier]

shades of Ray Allen vs Sasha Vujacic.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

My only gripe is they need to do some extra work on the LGBT 4th and 1 plays or abandon it.

 

[rodderick]

My only gripe is they need to do some extra work on the LGBT 4th and 1 plays or abandon it.

Isn't he pretty bad in short yardage situations in general?

 

[nothumb]

My only gripe is they need to do some extra work on the LGBT 4th and 1 plays or abandon it.

 
I said during game thread - and this may turn out to be egregious ballwashing and/or fanboyism, but hey - that I suspect BB was making them use the vanilla stuff at times to set up film for future opponents / push the offense to make a play.
 
Collins is getting to that point on defense where what feels like a routine or typical day from him is game ball worthy. His versatility is a key to a lot of the game plan on that side of the ball and he is always wreaking havoc it seems. Feels like a privilege watching him.
 
Sheard, Lewis, Ghost all get love from me too.

 

[BaseballJones]

I didn't think this was the best performance against a very depleted Cowboys team.  That said, they went on the road against a good defense, didn't play that well, and still won by 24 points.  I mean, yikes.
 
Up:  
- Tom Brady.  Took a beating and just sliced Dallas up.
- Dion Lewis.  Not a crazy amount of yards, but my goodness is he good.
- Julian Edelman.  Just a tough, terrific player.
- Stephen Gostkowski.  Incredible kicker.  
- Jamie Collins.  Outstanding all game long.
 
Down:
- Nate Solder.  Got destroyed today.  Then got hurt.  Tough day for him.
- Rest of the OL.  Not their best day.  I wanted to single Solder out though, because he was particularly bad, IMO.
 
This team is so good that a 24-point win on the road is basically ho-hum and nothing special.  Now 4-0 on the season with a point differential of +73 (+18.25 per game).  

 

[Stitch01]

 
I said during game thread - and this may turn out to be egregious ballwashing and/or fanboyism, but hey - that I suspect BB was making them use the vanilla stuff at times to set up film for future opponents / push the offense to make a play.
 
Collins is getting to that point on defense where what feels like a routine or typical day from him is game ball worthy. His versatility is a key to a lot of the game plan on that side of the ball and he is always wreaking havoc it seems. Feels like a privilege watching him.
 
Sheard, Lewis, Ghost all get love from me too.

I sort of agree with the play call evaluation, although i don't think it was as much to show a vanilla play (that helps) as just to get a real time short yardage rep. Weeden was getting them in the end zone three times exactly never.

 

[Over Guapo Grande]

I want to give a half (first) game ball to Ryan Allen. As NE struggled to get offense going in the first half, he constantly pinned Dallas deep, allowing NE to win the field position battle.

 

[dbn]

DMC has already been mentioned a few times, but anyone who didn't mention him wasn't paying enough attention.
 
In general, I'm not sure how the DBs are covering so well. I know this wasn't anywhere even close to the the best group of receivers in the league, but the NE coverage was great today.

 

[j44thor]

I didn't think this was the best performance against a very depleted Cowboys team.  That said, they went on the road against a good defense, didn't play that well, and still won by 24 points.  I mean, yikes.
 
Up:  
- Tom Brady.  Took a beating and just sliced Dallas up.
- Dion Lewis.  Not a crazy amount of yards, but my goodness is he good.
- Julian Edelman.  Just a tough, terrific player.
- Stephen Gostkowski.  Incredible kicker.  
- Jamie Collins.  Outstanding all game long.
 
Down:
- Nate Solder.  Got destroyed today.  Then got hurt.  Tough day for him.
- Rest of the OL.  Not their best day.  I wanted to single Solder out though, because he was particularly bad, IMO.
 
This team is so good that a 24-point win on the road is basically ho-hum and nothing special.  Now 4-0 on the season with a point differential of +73 (+18.25 per game).  

 
I think the interior OL was very good as they have been all season.  Tackle play was very inconsistent (Solder, Vollmer, Cannon) but don't remember any clean up the gut pressure against Brady.  They also got some push up the middle in the run game which again was lead by the interior OL.  Crazy to think with all the cap room spent on the tackle position that they have been greatly outplayed by the interior OL thus far this season.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

I recall one particular sack in the first half where Adrews got absolutely smoked by his guy. Credit the players and coaches for making great adjustments though.

 

[Seels]

Solder was so bad today it was unreal. I don't actually remember a Pats LT playing that poorly ever. He had a string of like 3-4 plays in a row early on that he was just on his stomach in the first ~2.5 seconds of the play. The Pats won so it'll go relatively unnoticed, but Solder today didn't even look like a pro.

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

Cool,ear got beat multiple times by the DE just speed rushing around him. But again, great adjustments but the coaching staff and players to pretty much fix it for the 2nd half.

Edit: Cool,ear really autocorrect? Vollmer

 

[GeorgeCostanza]

Anyone know where I can find the quarter by quarter stats for today's game?

 

[Number45forever]

UP:
- Brady.  He was getting hammered in the first half but he absolutely took in stride, made adjustments and was great.  Again.  (Side note: when he limping down the field after Edelman's touchdown, did he just have the wind knocked out of him?  That was fucking scary.)
- Edelman and Lewis: uncoverable.
- Jamie Collins is a force.  He's just so, so good rushing the passer and in coverage.  Total freak.
- Kicking game. Ghost was amazing, Allen had a couple great punts and the coverage (Matthew Slater!!) was incredible as always.  Plus Amendola had a huge punt return to setup a very short field.  All three phases, awesome.
- Coaches.  Adjustments were made to whatever Dallas was doing defensively and they made the decision to completely eliminate Whitten and make the other Dallas receivers beat them.  Which they could not.
 
DOWN:
- O-Line in the first half.
- Dobson...healthy scratch with the newly acquired Keyshawn Martin appearing to have taken over his role after three weeks on the team.

 

[TheoShmeo]

All of the obvious and correct ones have been mentioned.
 
But I'll give an honorable mention to Keyshawn Martin.  His third down catch on the first drive of the second half was anything but easy, especially for a guy who doesn't get many targets.  That catch kept a drive alive that went a long way to putting that game out of easy reach for the Cowboys.  Getting seven after the half to extend the lead to 17 points has to be a bitter pill to swallow (especially after a 57-yard FG just before half time), and that doesn't happen if Martin doesn't snag that ball.  
 
It will be interesting to see what happens to Martin's playing time when LaFell returns.

 

[McDrew]

Offensive Coaching adjustments at halftime. 
Pats 1st half possessions: Punt, FG, Punt, Punt, TD, Punt, FG
Pats 2nd half posessions: TD, TD, Downs(in Dallas Territory), FG, victory formation.  
 
The entire defense
Dallas Offensive Possesions (* for 3 and out): Punt*, Punt*, FG, Punt*, Punt*, Punt*, Kneel(Half), FG, Fumble, INT, Downs. 
Wheedon was 26/39 for 188 yards with a pick. 
 
Seizing and holding.  momentum
At halftime it was 13-3.  The pats got the 2nd half kickoff and scored 2 TD's on long drives to a FG for Dallas(also a long drive), and it was 27-6 with 13 minutes left, and a 3 possession game.
 
Ryan Allen, Stephen Gostkowski and Special Teams
Starting Positions after Allen punts: 13, 20(non touchback), 13, 13. 
Starting Positions after Gostkowski kickoffs: TB, TB, 14(returned out of endzone), TB, TB, TB, TB.
 
Dallas started every possession save the one they started after the turnover on downs between the 13 and 20 yard line.  On the downs turnover, they started at their 27.  Long fields for literally every drive. 
 
Tom Brady, the Leader
Very quiet 20/27 for 275 yards and 2TD.  He put his team in the position to make plays, and they did.  He was not the superstar he can be, but he doesn't need to be if the guys around him will step up. 
 
Yes, there were specific failures, (and I'm sure BB is going to highlight and focus on those), but I think this was the best combined team effort all year. 

 

[Erik Hanson's Hook]

Up - Jamie Collins has turned into the swiss army knife we all hoped he'd be when drafted. What a great 2nd round pick. Kudos to BB and staff. Also, Dion Lewis changes this offense.
 
Down: the refs, for leaving Hightower on the field one play too long with that bogus penalty. That was only a one-handed shove, and clearly within 5 yards. Awful call.
 
Hope High is okay. At least (?) it's a rib and not a knee/shoulder. It'll give his legs some rest.

 

[Byrdbrain]

Is ESPNs Total QBR the most useless statistic ever?
According to this statistic Brady was the second worst QB yesterday only beating Nick Foles and his 4 INTs.
He is 6 spots behind Matthew Stafford who was pulled and 19 spots behind Tyrod Taylor who had 1 TD and just over 100 yards passing(admittedly some decent running yards).
Statistically this obviously wasn't one of his better games but that is just dumb.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/qbr/_/type/player-week

 

[Tony C]

I seem to recall that during the Buffalo game T. Taylor had a higher QBR than Brady well into the 4th Q. So...yeah. 

 

[BaseballJones]

Is ESPNs Total QBR the most useless statistic ever?
According to this statistic Brady was the second worst QB yesterday only beating Nick Foles and his 4 INTs.
He is 6 spots behind Matthew Stafford who was pulled and 19 spots behind Tyrod Taylor who had 1 TD and just over 100 yards passing(admittedly some decent running yards).
Statistically this obviously wasn't one of his better games but that is just dumb.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/qbr/_/type/player-week

 
Statistically it wasn't one of his better games?  In what way?
 
20-27 (74.1%), 275 yards, 10.2 yds/att, 2 td, 0 int, 130.9 passer rating
 
Compare that to Stafford:
 
20-32 (62.5%), 188 yards, 5.9 yds/att, 1 td, 3 int, 50.0 passer rating, and only 1 rush for 2 yards, so it's not like he ripped off huge runs to counter his poor passing.
 
Looking at that page, yeah, good god, that's a worthless metric.  Holy cow Brady at #26?  Despite putting up fantastic numbers under the heat of very heavy pressure?  

 

[Byrdbrain]

I simply meant fewer yards and touchdowns than he has had in previous weeks. It was a great game, just not as obviously great as some of his earlier efforts.
 
I have to assume that metric dings the QB significantly for taking sacks I can't fathom any other reason for him  to be so low and even then it makes no sense.

 

[rodderick]

 
Statistically it wasn't one of his better games?  In what way?
 
20-27 (74.1%), 275 yards, 10.2 yds/att, 2 td, 0 int, 130.9 passer rating
 
Compare that to Stafford:
 
20-32 (62.5%), 188 yards, 5.9 yds/att, 1 td, 3 int, 50.0 passer rating, and only 1 rush for 2 yards, so it's not like he ripped off huge runs to counter his poor passing.
 
Looking at that page, yeah, good god, that's a worthless metric.  Holy cow Brady at #26?  Despite putting up fantastic numbers under the heat of very heavy pressure?  

The QBR formula takes into account sacks, air yards, as well as performance when the game is close or when the QB is coming from behind. If you look at the timing of its conception it's pretty easy to see it's a stat taylored to make Tebow look better than what passer rating indicated he was.

It's even more useless than PFF grades.

 

[lostjumper]

From what I could gather from a thread on reddit, QBR heavily discounts yac in their ratings, and also penalizes QB's for getting sacked. They also apparently give bonus points for "clutch" plays, whatever that means. So to summarize, its a useless garbage stat that ESPN made up and there is a reason no one else uses it.

 

[m0ckduck]

I simply meant fewer yards and touchdowns than he has had in previous weeks. It was a great game, just not as obviously great as some of his earlier efforts.
 
I have to assume that metric dings the QB significantly for taking sacks I can't fathom any other reason for him  to be so low and even then it makes no sense.

 
It's amazing how the Patriots were able to overcome Brandon Wheeden's superior day (~15% better than Brady's by QBR) to pull out that win on the road. 

 

[EricFeczko]

The QBR formula takes into account sacks, air yards, as well as performance when the game is close or when the QB is coming from behind. If you look at the timing of its conception it's pretty easy to see it's a stat taylored to make Tebow look better than what passer rating indicated he was.

It's even more useless than PFF grades.

Even total QBR couldn't make Tebow look good. In the only season where Tebow started more than 3 games (2011) he had a 29.5 total QBR rating, which is lower than every QB this season.
 
 

From what I could gather from a thread on reddit, QBR heavily discounts yac in their ratings, and also penalizes QB's for getting sacked. They also apparently give bonus points for "clutch" plays, whatever that means. So to summarize, its a useless garbage stat that ESPN made up and there is a reason no one else uses it.

 
 
QBR has many flaws. The particular flaw that makes Brady have a lower 2015 QBR than Josh McCown (seriously?) is the clutch factor. Every play is weighted based on how much it contributes to the win probability. As a result, total QBR hopelessely (and intentionally) confounds "clutch" with "performance". By win probability, the patriots have dominated every opponent this season (the bills were the toughest by WPA; game wasn't over until the 2nd quarter), which reduces the weight on every play Brady makes.

EDIT: Yes, this means that a bad defense can indirectly increase QBR because the QB of a team with a bad defense may have more "important" drives. A good defense may limit QBR because the QB of a team with a good defense may have less impact on the win probability (i.e. fewer "important" drives).

 

[PedroKsBambino]

Another honorable mention:  interior DLine, especially Siliga and Branch.
 
Dallas' gameplan was to run and control tempo and clock.  The interior line (aided by everyone, most obviously Collins and to a lesser degree Chung) completely blew up that plan from the start.  Just forcing them to rely more on Weeden was a huge key, because Weeden isn't an NFL quarterback.  But it took a bunch of good stops to get Dallas to try something else, and these guys deserve kudos for it.  We all saw it coming as a defensive focus with the extra size being active, and they successfully executed that approach

 

[singaporesoxfan]

QBR is a ridiculous stat. Essentially by adding "clutch-weighting" it tends to discount the QB's own role in turning games into blowouts, so it's saying that if you're so good that you don't need to be clutch, we'll ding you on the ratings. Look at the table for the week: the top is dominated by the close games - the first two-possession game effort on the table is Dan Orlovsky's role in the Detroit loss to Arizona. (!)
 
I wouldn't mind since no one else outside ESPN cares about QBR except some people on Twitter also use "QBR" as short for good ol' quarterback rating, which isn't a great stat but is definitely better than QB.

 

[BaseballJones]

From what I could gather from a thread on reddit, QBR heavily discounts yac in their ratings, and also penalizes QB's for getting sacked. They also apparently give bonus points for "clutch" plays, whatever that means. So to summarize, its a useless garbage stat that ESPN made up and there is a reason no one else uses it.

 
Well I definitely think that rushing yards and TDs should factor in, because there are different ways to skin a cat, and Wilson avoiding a sack and running for 15 yards is just as good as him avoiding a sack and throwing for 15 yards.  So to rodderick's point about Tebow, that was always a part of his game that was important and useful.  But my goodness, by this weeks' ESPN QBR metric, quarterback A had a much better game than quarterback B:
 
A:  22-35 (62.9%), 266 yards, 0 td, 2 int, 62.3 rating, offense put up just 9 points on three field goals (the D had a pick-six)
B:  20-27 (74.1%), 275 yards, 2 td, 0 int, 130.9 rating, offense put up 30 points
 
Yet somehow A (Peyton Manning) was better than B (Brady)?  35.4 ESPN QBR for Manning, and 24.1 ESPN QBR for Brady.  
 
At some point the ESPN people need to step back and ask, what, exactly, is the utility of such a worthless metric.

 

[Tony C]

Another honorable mention:  interior DLine, especially Siliga and Branch.
 
Dallas' gameplan was to run and control tempo and clock.  The interior line (aided by everyone, most obviously Collins and to a lesser degree Chung) completely blew up that plan from the start.  Just forcing them to rely more on Weeden was a huge key, because Weeden isn't an NFL quarterback.  But it took a bunch of good stops to get Dallas to try something else, and these guys deserve kudos for it.  We all saw it coming as a defensive focus with the extra size being active, and they successfully executed that approach

 
Really glad to hear it. I was dealing with family business, keeping my computer open with the game on Sunday Ticket, but not able to watch closely. But Siliga and Branch are mini-binkies and I think somewhat underrated. I saw some strong early runs against them and thought, uh oh, but sure was fun seeing that get stopped-up, even if couldn't watch closely.
 
Any comments on how the new guy -- Akiem Hicks -- looked? I did DVR the game, hopefully will have some time this week to watch the whole thing with some care.

 

[PedroKsBambino]

I personally did not see Hicks enough to have a meaningful opinion, unfortunately.

 

[crystalline]

Another sign that Gronk is on another level-

On one play as the ball ws being snapped Simms said "And we have Gronk lined up against single covera......
Gronkowski for 35 yards! Yep Brady saw that too"

We couldn't see the DBs well on the broadcast, but that line made me think Dallas was doubling Gronkowski all day with a safety.

Pretty impressive that the one time Dallas apparently single covered him he broke free for a big gain.

 

[EricFeczko]

 
Well I definitely think that rushing yards and TDs should factor in, because there are different ways to skin a cat, and Wilson avoiding a sack and running for 15 yards is just as good as him avoiding a sack and throwing for 15 yards.  So to rodderick's point about Tebow, that was always a part of his game that was important and useful.  But my goodness, by this weeks' ESPN QBR metric, quarterback A had a much better game than quarterback B:
 
A:  22-35 (62.9%), 266 yards, 0 td, 2 int, 62.3 rating, offense put up just 9 points on three field goals (the D had a pick-six)
B:  20-27 (74.1%), 275 yards, 2 td, 0 int, 130.9 rating, offense put up 30 points
 
Yet somehow A (Peyton Manning) was better than B (Brady)?  35.4 ESPN QBR for Manning, and 24.1 ESPN QBR for Brady.  
 
At some point the ESPN people need to step back and ask, what, exactly, is the utility of such a worthless metric.

What's even worse is the breakdown of the propeitary statistic.
I wouldn't recommend it, but if you examine the "total QBR statistic" pages, you'll see several columns for EPA (pass EPA, run EPA, etc.), which is supposed to refer to expected points added. However, the EPA they show is not the expected points added, but rather the EPA multiplied by the WPA weights. This is one more (small) piece of evidence that ESPN does not care about measuring player performance. Instead, ESPN cares about constructing player narratives and measuring actual performance reduces ESPN's control over the narratives.

Again, I'm not sure why people are bringing up Tebow; even according to total QBR he still sucked as a NFL QB.