The Game Ball Thread: Wk 5 vs Bengals

[SeoulSoxFan]

Perhaps one of the most satisfying regular season win I can ever remember. ONTO THE GAME BALL GIVINGS!!!

• BB: for all the crap he took, he got the team in the right frame of mind
• Brady: Garoppolo WHO?
• Mayo: leader of the defense

and to the fans who turned out and made it a real home advantage. 
 
ON TO BUFFALO

 

[bigsid05]

Tom Brady.




Tim Wright was pretty solid too....

 

[RIrooter09]

Revis with a hell of a game shutting down AJ Green.

 

[williams_482]

Josh McDaniels
 
I have no idea how to accurately and objectively evaluate his performance, but I don't think anyone else on this board does either and he got shit on all week regardless. Now that the Patriots offense performed well I think he deserves some recognition just to balance that out. 

 

[Oppo]

Ghost
Out scored the Bengals 19-17

 

[JimBoSox9]

Josh McDaniels
 
I have no idea how to accurately and objectively evaluate his performance, but I don't think anyone else on this board does either and he got shit on all week regardless. Now that the Patriots offense performed well I think he deserves some recognition just to balance that out. 

 
The 2TE set, with extra blockers and big targets down the seams, produced an entirely old-school-looking TB12.  Play action makes me happy in the pants.  Gotta give McD a big share of the credit there if only to be fair.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

A big collective game ball also goes to the offensive line.

 

[Mooch]

The interior offensive line dominated the Bengals defense all night.

 

[brandonchristensen]

Tom Brady (though I wish he had one more TD)
Revis
The OL
Tim Wright
GRONK

 

[mascho]

 
The 2TE set, with extra blockers and big targets down the seams, produced an entirely old-school-looking TB12.  Play action makes me happy in the pants.  Gotta give McD a big share of the credit there if only to be fair.

 
They went 13 personnel at times tonight, including Wright's TD. Kept Cincy in their base defense a lot more than I expected.
 
Wright for me. Added a nice dimension to the offense tonight. 

 

[RedOctober3829]

Only game ball needed is the OL. Over 200 yds rushing and letting Brady be comfortable in the pocket. It set them up for all the success tonight. Wendell solidified things it seems in the interior. Stork played solid against Atkins and will continue to get better. Solder wasn't a turnstile.

Hat tip to McD for upping the tempo. Kept Cincy on their heels.

 

[Stitch01]

Up:everyone with blue on
Down: everyone with stripes on

 

[mikeford]

Tim Wright
Revis
Whole OL
Don Jones
Brandon Bolden

 

[Devizier]

Credit for Ridley, too.
 
When the game was still close, admittedly not a long time, he was getting good yardage against a tough front. He also piled on some nice yards in garbage time, but not as many as Vereen.

 

[Kliq]

McDaniels for not fucking around and giving the offense what it needed. Wright looked like a real receiving threat and now the Mankins deal looks WAAAAYYYY different than it did before this week. Also, Gronk finally looks close to 100% and some good power running that played into the interior line's strengths. Make no mistake about it, even without Burfict, this Cincy defense is nasty, but Brady and Co. made them look like chumps.
 
Gostkowski, who is just a crazy good kicker. It is crazy how much confidence I have in him to make 45+ yard field goals like they are extra points.
 
Arrington, because if he is going to get beaten in coverage, he is going to have to make plays, and he did that tonight.
 
The running backs as whole. Ridley was solid and held onto the ball, Vereen made some fantastic one cuts, Develin had a very full-backish game, and Bolden forced that fumble that really sealed the game up.

 

[amarshal2]

Guy who deserves a lot of love is Vereen. 9 rushes for 90 yards. He was unstoppable every time they gave him the ball and it was huge for the offense. Outside of Ridleys big run he was actually under 3.0 per carry (1 for 43 and 26 for 70). Vereen was the difference maker.


But yeah: Brady, Revis, and the whole O-Line (relative to prior weeks).

Gronk and Wright added a dimension they've really missed.

I thought Wilfork was getting push as well. Even looked like Chris Jones had a decent night.

 

[patinorange]

Ridley. And the offensive line was a whole lot better.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Gronk: "I went out there with my teammates and we made Tom Brady look like Tom Brady after you guys [media] were criticizing him all week."
 
Christ this is the Gronk we've all waited for. Kicking ass on the field & in front of the mic.

 

[Stitch01]

Gronk is getting closer to full strength and it makes a massive difference on offense as expected as he really plays into late career Brady's strengths.

 

[riboflav]

Gronk: "I went out there with my teammates and we made Tom Brady look like Tom Brady after you guys [media] were criticizing him all week."
 
Christ this is the Gronk we've all waited for. Kicking ass on the field & in front of the mic.

 
Amazing how he gets away with going off script compared to the rest of team.

 

[knucklecup]

I made a lot of money tonight. This result was a lock from the moment the line jumped like it did following the Monday night loss. Re-reading some of the content from the last week on this board is sickening.

 

[CaptainLaddie]

You've been around long enough to know that people are nothing else but reactionary.

 

[Stitch01]

I made a lot of money tonight. This result was a lock from the moment the line jumped like it did following the Monday night loss. Re-reading some of the content from the last week on this board is sickening.

I hope you bet more on this than I did. still can't get over a six point line move. SIX. Holy shit.

 

[brandonchristensen]

Game ball goes to Stork
 

 

[knucklecup]

You've been around long enough to know that people are nothing else but reactionary.

Absolutely. Just don't see why we have to stoop to that level.

 

[brandonchristensen]

Absolutely. Just don't see why we have to stoop to that level.

What? Why? Are we human?
 
Or are we dancers?

 

[CaptainLaddie]

Absolutely. Just don't see why we have to stoop to that level.

Because people really like overreacting.

 

[Reverend]

What? Why? Are we human?
 
Or are we dancers?

DanceR.

 

[Reverend]

Amazing how he gets away with going off script compared to the rest of team.

He doesn't. They deploy him.

They know the strengths and weaknesses of each guy and each gets individualized instructions based on their own unique skill set. And each gets different permissions from week to week.

My favorite example of this is when Moss was clearly given the green light to mouth off after the final regular season game of the 2007 season.

Even the apparent anomalies are a residual produced by design by the system.

 

[mauf]

The O-Line was phenomenal -- even the sack where Solder (I think) got beat was more of a coverage sack. Other than that, the only times even I remember TB being hurried were the couple of times they went 5-wide.

 

[Tony C]

Josh McDaniels
 
I have no idea how to accurately and objectively evaluate his performance, but I don't think anyone else on this board does either and he got shit on all week regardless. Now that the Patriots offense performed well I think he deserves some recognition just to balance that out. 

 
yep. great game plan.
 
I'd say Ridley, Revis, and Right (for alliteration's sake). But the OL (say what you will about Connolly and Wendell, but they can pull and move to the 2nd level) and Brady, too.
 
And BB above all. Good match-up vs Cincy (as I came to learn from our Football Central guys -- thx! was reassuring), but BB had them on point emotionally and strategically.

 

[dbn]

Up:everyone with blue on
Down: everyone with stripes on

 
Including the refs. Phantom penalties off the top of my head: the Revis holding; the Gronk personal foul; another DB defensive holding, on Dennard I think.

 

[brandonchristensen]

The REAL game ball goes to...
 

 

[Tony C]

 
Including the refs. Phantom penalties off the top of my head: the Revis holding; the Gronk personal foul; another DB defensive holding, on Dennard I think.

 
god, they were terrible. nice that it didn't matter.

 

[P'tucket rhymes with...]

Game ball goes to Stork
 

We all thought Stork was brain damaged.

 

[Stitch01]

Including the refs. Phantom penalties off the top of my head: the Revis holding; the Gronk personal foul; another DB defensive holding, on Dennard I think.

Ha, that's who I was talking about. Forgot that could mean Bengals.

 

[Youkilis vs Wild]

That was the Gronk we've been waiting for. Granted, perhaps he was out there already and the OL struggles hurt Brady's efforts to get to him, and granted further that he's been pretty good in the redzone. But he hasn't moved like that and, frankly, he hasn't hauled in six balls to this point. The difference between Gronk Week 5 and Gronk Weeks 1-4, in the stat line and beyond, is the difference between this team having a stud skill player and not.\
 
So, Gronk.

 

[loshjott]

We all thought Stork was brain damaged.

 
Nice.
 

 

[sodenj5]

Gronk: "I went out there with my teammates and we made Tom Brady look like Tom Brady after you guys [media] were criticizing him all week."
 
Christ this is the Gronk we've all waited for. Kicking ass on the field & in front of the mic.

He cuts a mean promo.

 

[Joshv02]

The O-Line was phenomenal -- even the sack where Solder (I think) got beat was more of a coverage sack. Other than that, the only times even I remember TB being hurried were the couple of times they went 5-wide.

I think it was Gronk, but agreed that Brady had enough time to throw it.

 

[Van Everyman]

Game ball goes to BB. Forget the X's and O's. No one plays the disrespect card like him. "They're not just saying you suck. They're saying you are FINISHED."

Lots more football to play yet. But the league should be terrified that he may well have just awoken a sleeping giant.

Edit: on second thought, I bet he simply read Gasper's columns from the lectern. More Bill's style.

Let's party.

 

[steveluck7]

I think it was Gronk, but agreed that Brady had enough time to throw it.

He definitely had time but if his spin move was successful, Gronk (i thought it was Solder too but NBC said Gronk) would have been able to re-engage. Looked like Brady was looking deep which means it was likely going to be incomplete anyway

 

[Ed Hillel]

Can we talk about how good Wilfork was? The running D wasn't great overall, but the big man was getting massive push all night, including against a number of double teams. Revis was awesome, and, beyond that, the coaching staff finally let him sit out on an island. Pretty much the entire offense was good, except Lafell, who gets a fail for quitting on a pattern, which was actually well thrown. If Dobson or Tyms can come in and improve upon that position, that would be great.
 
The only other down I'll point out is Nink. He's back to looking like the worst player on the field, which means he'll probably end the season with 10 sacks now. If he doesn't improve, I wonder if Easley starts taking some of his snaps.

 

[( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)]

Can we talk about how good Wilfork was? The running D wasn't great overall, but the big man was getting massive push all night, including against a number of double teams. Revis was awesome, and, beyond that, the coaching staff finally let him sit out on an island. Pretty much the entire offense was good, except Lafell, who gets a fail for quitting on a pattern, which was actually well thrown. If Dobson or Tyms can come in and improve upon that position, that would be great.
 
The only other down I'll point out is Nink. He's back to looking like the worst player on the field, which means he'll probably end the season with 10 sacks now. If he doesn't improve, I wonder if Easley starts taking some of his snaps.

 
It was interesting to watch Easley get some run at DE.  Unfortunately he banged up his shoulder and didn't play the second half.  But they were using him at DE on early down and then kicking him inside and bringing Jones in on passing downs.
 
Jones certainly had his struggles against the run in KC but was also banged up, so hard to say if he was off the field on early downs due to injury or performance.  But it was interesting to see them think about Easley as a defensive end. Although he really didn't do anything noteworthy, at least on my first glance.  Anyone see anything different?
 
I will say with confidence that having a 3rd DE that can help manage the number of snaps for Jones and Nink was an obvious need for this year, hopefully Easley can be that guy going forward. 

 

[Stitch01]

Just looking back this morning at some of the tape, I didn't even realize that the first Brady QB sneak was on a 4th and 1 on the first drive and the reason I didn't realize it was because live it looked like Devlin got the first down by two yards.  What the fuck was with these refs

 

[Ralphwiggum]

Just looking back this morning at some of the tape, I didn't even realize that the first Brady QB sneak was on a 4th and 1 on the first drive and the reason I didn't realize it was because live it looked like Devlin got the first down by two yards.  What the fuck was with these refs

 
I was screaming at them to challenge that spot.  I know it was early but it looked obvious that he got it, and they needed that drive so badly to set the tone.

 

[Toe Nash]

#1 game ball goes to the offensive line. Brady still made a few inaccurate throws, but his margin for error was much greater since he wasn't under pressure every snap. That opened up the whole game. The only pressures I noticed were two instances where the blocking scheme was bad (Gronk one-on-one against Geathers which led to a sack, and another thrown away by Brady where the rusher was unblocked). That's a huge improvement both in reducing the number of broken plays and in making your blocks during the other plays. The lack of crowd noise probably played a part here, but fortunately I don't think they're going to somewhere as loud as Arrowhead again (Maybe Indy, but that's 5 games ahead).
 
Coaching gets a ball for adjustments. Playing Revis one-on-one on their best receiver works, crazy!
 
Negative game ball to the Bengals for the multiple fumbles. Game could have been close otherwise.
 
Seeing something from Wright is big. The Pats offense thrives in the no-huddle, and the no-huddle works best if you have guys who are "matchup nightmares" like Gronk and (maybe) Wright. 

 

[Stitch01]

 
I was screaming at them to challenge that spot.  I know it was early but it looked obvious that he got it, and they needed that drive so badly to set the tone.

Easley also hurt his shoulder on the play where the clown crew decided to throw a beanbag as if it was an INT and then penalize Easley for blocking on a purported live ball.  He's hanging his shoulder on the next play, wouldnt surprise me if he misses time.

 

[Stitch01]

#1 game ball goes to the offensive line. Brady still made a few inaccurate throws, but his margin for error was much greater since he wasn't under pressure every snap. That opened up the whole game. The only pressures I noticed were two instances where the blocking scheme was bad (Gronk one-on-one against Geathers which led to a sack, and another thrown away by Brady where the rusher was unblocked). That's a huge improvement both in reducing the number of broken plays and in making your blocks during the other plays. The lack of crowd noise probably played a part here, but fortunately I don't think they're going to somewhere as loud as Arrowhead again (Maybe Indy, but that's 5 games ahead).
 
Coaching gets a ball for adjustments. Playing Revis one-on-one on their best receiver works, crazy!
 
Negative game ball to the Bengals for the multiple fumbles. Game could have been close otherwise.
 
Seeing something from Wright is big. The Pats offense thrives in the no-huddle, and the no-huddle works best if you have guys who are "matchup nightmares" like Gronk and (maybe) Wright. 

That second pressure, IIRC, was a snap count fuck up too, one side of the line never moved off the snap.  Obviously not good, but not as repeatable as getting whipped repeatedly by a pass rush.
 
Random aside, Jordan Devey graded out as like the third worst player on offense on PFF.  4 plays, 4 run blocks, -1.0 total effort.

 

[Devizier]

Yes, big thumbs down for Dim Booger and his clown car caucus of referees.