The Game Ball Thread: Wk 7 vs Jets

kenneycb

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crystalline said:
There was at least one play where Lafell's poor timing was evident. He was about 15 yards down field and on the left of Brady when the ball came his way, a little high. He jumped so early he had landed before the ball arrived and the DB was able to reach up and make the play. I dont have a clip or screenshot of it.
I think that was right before Amendola converted a third down.  Can't recall the timing exactly but I remember having the same thought as you.
 

Super Nomario

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BaseballJones said:
 
I'm a four time pro bowler, actually.  ;-)
 
it didn't appear that the problem was LaFell not knowing when the ball would be there.  It was that the ball hit him right in the hands and....he just didn't hang on.  
 
I think he'll be fine, and think this was just one awful game, but yes, I think it was just an awful game for him.
Three or four of the drops were imprecise passes by Brady; I'm thinking of two low ones and the post vs Revis that was behind LaFell. LaFell probably should have caught them still, at least some of them, but I imagine more practice will lead to better timing and more catchable balls from Brady.
 

BaseballJones

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Super Nomario said:
Three or four of the drops were imprecise passes by Brady; I'm thinking of two low ones and the post vs Revis that was behind LaFell. LaFell probably should have caught them still, at least some of them, but I imagine more practice will lead to better timing and more catchable balls from Brady.
 
Well I certainly hope you're right.  And he was very good for the Pats last year so I expect him to be much better moving forward.
 

Stitch01

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Dogman2 said:
 
 
Not true, I went back and watched.  That official ruled the clock stopped based on the official closest to Mangold signaling for an injury stoppage. 
 
Edit: At least, that is what is looked like to me.
Official play-by-play shows Marshall as out of bounds and the official right there signals a stoppage immediately after Marshall goes down, I think they blew the call.
 

Dogman

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Stitch01 said:
Official play-by-play shows Marshall as out of bounds and the official right there signals a stoppage immediately after Marshall goes down, I think they blew the call.
 
Fair enough. I'm probably wrong. 
 

sachmoney

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Even though I dogged LaFell, I do give him a pass. It was his first game back and he has shown that he can be a very reliable, even a go to, receiver when he is in sync with the quarterback. I did like that Brady kept going to him even after a couple of drops because it shows that Brady has confidence in LaFell's ability to make a play. I expect that LaFell will have better games going forward.
 

RedOctober3829

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sachmoney said:
Even though I dogged LaFell, I do give him a pass. It was his first game back and he has shown that he can be a very reliable, even a go to, receiver when he is in sync with the quarterback. I did like that Brady kept going to him even after a couple of drops because it shows that Brady has confidence in LaFell's ability to make a play. I expect that LaFell will have better games going forward.
The positive thing is that he looked healthy.  The timing will come as he gets more reps.
 

Al Zarilla

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Super Nomario said:
Three or four of the drops were imprecise passes by Brady; I'm thinking of two low ones and the post vs Revis that was behind LaFell. LaFell probably should have caught them still, at least some of them, but I imagine more practice will lead to better timing and more catchable balls from Brady.
If it were 49ers Tomsula and Kaepernick, they'd say they were avoiding interceptions with Revis close by. Do the Patriots ever make excuses?
 

GregHarris

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I'd give LaFell a pass too.  I think the biggest thing to take away from his game was the fact that he was getting open against the Jets D.  Assuming he fixes his hands issue with more practice, it looks like his foot is fine.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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On the Marshall play (per his comments in the NY paper) he was trying to get the attention of the slot guy to get him to back off the line a yard. If you noticed he was facing the slot player, not the defense. Had he just lined up and stood still he'd have been fine as you can have more than 7 on the line of scrimmage, not less. But Marshall probably thought the play was going to be live and not a spike and was trying to get in an alignment where both of them would be eligible. So he was moving his arms trying to get them lined up right and wasn't still at the snap. 
 

PedroKsBambino

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There was a section of the gamethread where people obsessed about the Pats running so little.  I think it's instructive to remember that when assessing strategy, there's pretty much "traditional NFL thinking" and "current New England Patriots" thinking, and what makes sense for the first sometimes truly does not for the second.
 
To that point, saw this stat on ESPN today on Run/Pass mix:
 
As ESPN Stats & Information noted, the Patriots are 4-0 over the past decade when their pass-play rate is 80 percent or higher. The rest of the league is 3-109 in such games.
 
http://espn.go.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/13975529/tom-brady-building-case-all-best-qb 
 
These guys are so exquisitely calibrated to execute a tailored gameplan that things which are true the rest of the time simply aren't with them...
 

crystalline

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Super Nomario said:
Three or four of the drops were imprecise passes by Brady; I'm thinking of two low ones and the post vs Revis that was behind LaFell. LaFell probably should have caught them still, at least some of them, but I imagine more practice will lead to better timing and more catchable balls from Brady.
You think the two low ones were not intentional?

Brady often targets guys like Edelman with throws that arrive about a foot off the ground. Especially in traffic and especially in the middle of the field. To me it's a pretty noticeable difference between the Pats' and other teams' pass offenses.

You frequently see 10 yard routes in the middle where Edelman puts both hands under the ball arriving low and just falls on it. Before him, Welker. I think it's a combo of protecting the receiver and avoiding tipped jump balls.

Edit: the ball behind Lafell was definitely Brady's error but I don't remember a low ball that made me think Brady had erred.
 

Super Nomario

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crystalline said:
You think the two low ones were not intentional?

Brady often targets guys like Edelman with throws that arrive about a foot off the ground. Especially in traffic and especially in the middle of the field. To me it's a pretty noticeable difference between the Pats' and other teams' pass offenses.

You frequently see 10 yard routes in the middle where Edelman puts both hands under the ball arriving low and just falls on it. Before him, Welker. I think it's a combo of protecting the receiver and avoiding tipped jump balls.

Edit: the ball behind Lafell was definitely Brady's error but I don't remember a low ball that made me think Brady had erred.
I think Brady errs on the side of going low-and-away for the reasons you mentioned, and on a couple of throws to LaFell yesterday he went lower and awayer than he needed to. That was especially the case on the pass right before halftime, where even if LaFell hauled it in he was too off-balance to run upfield and get a few yards to help them kick a FG. But this might have just been timing between the two - maybe Brady expected him there a tick earlier or a slightly shorter depth or he's just used to throwing to midget receivers and needs to put it higher for the 6'2" LaFell. And to be clear: these were catchable anyway and LaFell should have caught some of these, for sure.
 

JohnnyK

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crystalline said:
There was at least one play where Lafell's poor timing was evident. He was about 15 yards down field and on the left of Brady when the ball came his way, a little high. He jumped so early he had landed before the ball arrived and the DB was able to reach up and make the play. I dont have a clip or screenshot of it.
2:12 left in Q4. It looks like the ball was slightly tipped at the line, Fouts mentions it as well.
 

simplyeric

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crystalline said:
There was at least one play where Lafell's poor timing was evident. He was about 15 yards down field and on the left of Brady when the ball came his way, a little high. He jumped so early he had landed before the ball arrived and the DB was able to reach up and make the play. I dont have a clip or screenshot of it.
Yeah that was a really obvious play. He was in the right spot on his route, but clearly had trouble reading the trajectory of the ball.

JohnnyK said:
2:12 left in Q4. It looks like the ball was slightly tipped at the line, Fouts mentions it as well.
Ah, makes sense. A quick turn to see the moral equivalent of a knuckleball. Mirabelli would have caught it.

One thjng that I noticed on the Gronk TD: when he faked the block and then went out, he really did set and pause after the snap, really selling the block before he went. Nut that extra pause makes the timing even more tight. Is it really necessary for Gronk to sell that? Couldn't he have just gone straight through, given (?) that the D has committed to rushing two from that side?
 

bakahump

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NortheasternPJ said:
 

 
Nothing special in terms of value. I bet there's about 30 other teams who would love that value in the late 20's. 
 
Tavon Wilson @ 48, not as much.
That was a fantastic Draft.
Even if you take for gospel that a "1st Rounder should always be awesome" (which you shouldnt.....)
Ebner and Dennard at 6 and 7 have been (or were in Fonzis case) steals.
 

simplyeric

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I think that Brady's efforts on the first TD cannot be overstated: his scramble and then his sneak.
If we settle for 3 there, I think it's a much bigger problem for the Patriots as the game moved forward..that it had more weight than just the 4 points.
 

Super Nomario

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Curious game snap notes (from http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201510250nwe.htm):
 
  • They didn't rotate the OL this game, with Vollmer / Kline / Andrews / Jackson / Fleming going wire-to-wire. Wendell played one snap, I guess as an extra lineman. They didn't have a lot of options with only six OL active though.
  • Mayo didn't play a snap on defense (1 snap on STs), while Freeny played 22
  • Just 7 snaps for Scott Chandler
  • With Sheard inactive, Jones played all 72 snaps, Ninkovich 70/72
  • Just 7 snaps for Harmon a week after playing 71. 7 for Richards, too
  • 4 snaps each for Rashaan Melvin, Geneo Grissom, and Trey Flowers (debuts for Melvin and Flowers)
  • Brown led interior guys with 34 snaps
 

E5 Yaz

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Super Nomario said:
 
Curious game snap notes (from http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201510250nwe.htm):
 
  • They didn't rotate the OL this game, with Vollmer / Kline / Andrews / Jackson / Fleming going wire-to-wire. Wendell played one snap, I guess as an extra lineman. They didn't have a lot of options with only six OL active though.
  • Mayo didn't play a snap on defense (1 snap on STs), while Freeny played 22
  • Just 7 snaps for Scott Chandler
  • With Sheard inactive, Jones played all 72 snaps, Ninkovich 70/72
  • Just 7 snaps for Harmon a week after playing 71. 7 for Richards, too
  • 4 snaps each for Rashaan Melvin, Geneo Grissom, and Trey Flowers (debuts for Melvin and Flowers)
  • Brown led interior guys with 34 snaps
 
This just further illustrates that the Patriots are a week-to-week proposition on offense and defense. I'd love to be a fly on the wall as they put together who will be needed when.
 
Too bad Reiss no longer has a mailbag. Love to read his take on this
 

Over Guapo Grande

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Super Nomario said:
 
Curious game snap notes (from http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201510250nwe.htm):
 
  • They didn't rotate the OL this game, with Vollmer / Kline / Andrews / Jackson / Fleming going wire-to-wire. Wendell played one snap, I guess as an extra lineman. They didn't have a lot of options with only six OL active though.
  • Mayo didn't play a snap on defense (1 snap on STs), while Freeny played 22
  • Just 7 snaps for Scott Chandler
  • With Sheard inactive, Jones played all 72 snaps, Ninkovich 70/72
  • Just 7 snaps for Harmon a week after playing 71. 7 for Richards, too
  • 4 snaps each for Rashaan Melvin, Geneo Grissom, and Trey Flowers (debuts for Melvin and Flowers)
  • Brown led interior guys with 34 snaps
 
 
Wendell was lined up as FB on the QB sneak. 
 

dynomite

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Given how many snaps the Pats took close to their goal line, is anyone else surprised Chandler didn't have more snaps down there?

Those 2 TE sets gave the Steelers fits, and with so many fade patterns and high throws it felt like Chandler could have helped yesterday.
 

DJnVa

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Brady update:
 
His stats, pro-rated out to 16 games:
 
462 for 670, 5484 yards, 69% completion, 43/3 TD/INT.
 
NFL records for completions is 468 (Brees), yards is 5477 (Manning). He's slipped a little from the TD pace, but 43 would still be #8 all-time.