The Game Goat Thread: Wk.16 vs Cincinnati

Beomoose

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Mac. Even while the team was getting back into the fight, it seemed like his biggest throws were complete lobs that his receivers bailed him out on. The number of confidence-inspiring throws he made all day were possibly in the single digits, and he continues to do really dumb things when he's flushed from the pocket.
Every SoSH poster that complained about McD’s play calls the last 7 years.
Can only speak for myself, but my eagerness to see him depart was based on the assumption that we'd get a new OC who could take this offense forward, rather than whateverinthehell led to Matt Patricia calling plays for Mac.
 

chilidawg

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Mac. Even while the team was getting back into the fight, it seemed like his biggest throws were complete lobs that his receivers bailed him out on. The number of confidence-inspiring throws he made all day were possibly in the single digits, and he continues to do really dumb things when he's flushed from the pocket.
Wait, I was told that Mac's receivers were unable to make that kind of catch and therefore it was impossible to judge him because everyone around him sucks so bad. Now you're telling me he's lucky his receivers were bailing him out. So confusing.
 

8slim

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Wait, I was told that Mac's receivers were unable to make that kind of catch and therefore it was impossible to judge him because everyone around him sucks so bad. Now you're telling me he's lucky his receivers were bailing him out. So confusing.
Kendrick Bourne. The guy who has been buried all season. That’s the guy who made contested catches.
 

8slim

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Every SoSH poster that complained about McD’s play calls the last 7 years.
Always made me nuts. No OC is perfect but McDaniels was always one of the very best in the game. I knew we’d miss him a ton. I just had no idea Bill would replace him with a washing machine.
 

grsharky7

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Mac. Even while the team was getting back into the fight, it seemed like his biggest throws were complete lobs that his receivers bailed him out on. The number of confidence-inspiring throws he made all day were possibly in the single digits, and he continues to do really dumb things when he's flushed from the pocket.

Can only speak for myself, but my eagerness to see him depart was based on the assumption that we'd get a new OC who could take this offense forward, rather than whateverinthehell led to Matt Patricia calling plays for Mac.
Mac’s throws have no conviction at all. I was watching the Steeler game last night and when Pickett hit the game winning TD, my first thought was no way Mac rockets it in there like that. Just no zip on the the throw at all.
 

NickEsasky

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Mac’s throws have no conviction at all. I was watching the Steeler game last night and when Pickett hit the game winning TD, my first thought was no way Mac rockets it in there like that. Just no zip on the the throw at all.
It also stung that the WR they drafted after us made the game winning catch while ours dropped a long pass that was right on his hands.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Mac’s throws have no conviction at all. I was watching the Steeler game last night and when Pickett hit the game winning TD, my first thought was no way Mac rockets it in there like that. Just no zip on the the throw at all.
Seems like Thornton over Pickens is going to be another fun WR mistake to think about for five years. And yes I know supposedly the Steelers were going to draft TT if we didn’t but A) who knows if that’s true and B) it ultimately doesn’t matter.

Maybe he can turn it around with better QB play, better coaching, and a full normal and healthy offseason. These have not been the best circumstances for a rookie WR and for all we know I’d be singing the same lament about Pickens over Thornton if the roles were reversed (although Pickens is performing in a bad offense with bad QB play).

Edit: Ha, beaten to it by NE.
 

Dahabenzapple2

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This is my main gripe. 75% of the time they seem to be struggling to even get lined up, get motion in and Jones is constantly making adjustments and calling out coverages and then frantically clapping 1 second left praying they get the snap off. Guys aren’t even read to do their job at the snap.
Do they ever go fast? I can’t remember even one series? And they give up on play pass sets for seemingly games at a time. I remember when Bill’s offense was leading edge. Learned from Chip Kelly when he was at Oregon. Now it’s like the worst of the worst. Leading indicator for bad coaching on offense are play clock issues. Do we ever see this with the Chiefs?
 

Ralphwiggum

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Mac Jones sucks, but maybe more importantly he seems like a petulant child unable to contain his emotions and willing to do stupid and borderline dirty stuff on the field when things don’t go his way.

I was 100% a Mac guy going into this year. Now, if he’s the QB next year I’m finding something else to do on Sundays. Not only is he not an NFL QB, he’s an asshole. Dump him.
 

gtmtnbiker

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Seems like Thornton over Pickens is going to be another fun WR mistake to think about for five years. And yes I know supposedly the Steelers were going to draft TT if we didn’t but A) who knows if that’s true and B) it ultimately doesn’t matter.
Could we trade Thornton to the Steelers for some other WR? Then if they’re able to make him productive, we will know that it’s the coaches/system at fault.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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I’ve completely held off voicing any opinion on Mac other than “patience”. He doesn’t have a good team around him and his coach is awful. There’s absolutely zero trust in him from BB and Patricia and maybe it’s deserved? I’m still not sure… I don’t think vintage Aaron Rodgers would look much better under the circumstances. I don’t know what BB is doing and it came out of the gate like this. Just play-calling to not lose is absolutely no way to figure out what you have
. So here’s where I’m at- Mac is better than this. If he has a better line and half decent weapons and a more aggressive coach…. He could probably be good enough to win not just counting on a good defense. He’s got talent enough to be a middle tier QB in the league which is enough with a good defense to win it all. I don’t have confidence in BB anymore. I can’t believe that but I think he’s a mess and can’t figure out how to get unstuck.
 

OurF'ingCity

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The problem is there is just no area of strength for the offense at all. If you have a great OL and/or star WRs, you can make a mediocre QB look good. If you have a great QB, you can be successful even if your OL is banged up or your receivers are iffy. If you have a creative play caller on the sidelines, there might be ways to compensate for a relative lack of talent on the field.

But the Pats have none of that, so everyone ends up looking their worst - the OL looks terrible because Mac can’t step up in the pocket for get rid of the ball well, Mac looks potentially worse than he is because he’s often under pressure and his receivers are running sloppy routes or dropping passes, etc.

We saw this with Bourne yesterday - literally all it takes is one receiver having a good day and suddenly Mac looks, if not good, at least competent. Which makes it all the more frustrating he’s been stapled to the sideline - I get maybe he has a shitty attitude or whatever but on this team, the most talented players just need to be on the field as much as possible.
 

EricFeczko

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This game has goats and came oh so close to game balls.

Goats:
1. Stevenson, not productive on the ground, fumbled the game away when it was within reach.
2. Folk, who misses 2 PATs.
3. Offensive coaching

Not going to mention Mac because he made some plays in the second half, without which there is no almost comeback.

1. Marcus Jones. A decisive pick six with a great return. A catch on offense that should have been nothing, but was a 15 yard gain because of Jones' athleticism. Recovered the fumble that gave the Pats an actual chance to win. Led the team with 14 tackles, 12 solo. He was all over this game.
2. Matt Judon. Had a sack, and forced the could-have-been-the-difference fumble at the end.
3. Kendrick Bourne. The Pats as a team gained 285 yards. Bourne had 7 touches for 129 yards and a TD. A couple of great catches. Looked like the Bourne of last year.

Honorable mention: Meyers for being there to ctach the tipped ball and score, defensive coaching, which held the Bengals to 7 after being lit up on their first 3 drives.
Agree with all of this. In addition, the defense played well despite an injured and limited secondary.
 

Cellar-Door

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How bad are NFL teams this year? This Pat's team is like three stupid plays from being 9 - 6.
lot of injuries, inconsistency etc. around the league.
Only 12 QBs have started al of their team's games.
Plus defense league wide is struggling, the Patriots are without doubt a top defense, one of only 6 to give up less than 20 ppg, one of only 4 to give up less than 1.6 points per drive, 3rd lowest scoring%, while being near the top of the league in takeaways (7th on rate), and they lead the league in defensive scores.

The Patriots have a VERY good defense by 2022 standards, so they're in every game except against the true elite.
 

54thMA

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The entire Patriots organization from top to bottom.

My girlfriend got 5 tickets to the game for her, myself, my nephew and his two boys, call it a Christmas gift if you will.

His sons jack and Declan bawled their eyes out the whole ride home, those two kids are now scarred for life.

Then when we got to my sisters for our annual Christmas Eve celebration, my sister gives the boys matching Pat Patriot stocking hats, I thought they were going to rifle them into the fire pit in the back yard.

What an inept team.
 

Ralphwiggum

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Thornton is Bethel Johnson 2.0
Every time his name is brought up I feel the need to defend the guy. He had two key kickoff returns against the Colts in 2003 that helped seal home field advantage, and a TD in the freezing Titans game in the divisional round. Johnson did not live up to expectations, but we should hope Thornton ends up being as impactful as Johnson was during his tenure with the Pats.
 

Cellar-Door

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I'm not that worried about Thornton, he's a rookie, he missed time with injuries and he's not being designed for. He showed real flashes in a couple games. Guys miss deep balls, it happens, Chase and Higgins dropped 2 yesterday. He hasn't been instant impact but he's shown his speed plays, some good hands over the middle and some ability with the ball in his hands
 

tims4wins

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I'm not that worried about Thornton, he's a rookie, he missed time with injuries and he's not being designed for. He showed real flashes in a couple games. Guys miss deep balls, it happens, Chase and Higgins dropped 2 yesterday. He hasn't been instant impact but he's shown his speed plays, some good hands over the middle and some ability with the ball in his hands
Him being a rookie and missing time is a significant piece of why I am worried.
 

BigSoxFan

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Why start now? I don’t know why some people suggest that he’s a “weapon”. He’s nothing special. An overdraft who can’t catch or get separation. He’s fast. Yay.
Yup. Tony Simmons. Bethel Johnson. Tyquan Thornton. Join the club of guys I get excited about because of their speed who can’t do anything but run fast.
 

Gash Prex

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Rham - you can’t fumble there, just can’t do it

Folk - missing extra points is just not acceptable even under difficult conditions

Thornton- have to make that play

But for the above, the Pats win that game.

Hard to understand naming Mac as a goat but I guess that’s par for the course these days. He graded out fine by QBR and PFF
 

Toe Nash

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It also stung that the WR they drafted after us made the game winning catch while ours dropped a long pass that was right on his hands.
Not really anything new but I was thinking last night about how just taking the (one of the) consensus best WR on the board instead of Harry and Thornton would have changed this team, along with hiring any NFL quality OC. Just doing like, the obvious move instead of outthinking yourself or whatever Bill did.

How bad are NFL teams this year? This Pat's team is like three stupid plays from being 9 - 6.
They're also really close to being 5-10 if the Jets had switched to Mike White earlier and he stayed healthy. I think that's just how it is when you're not terrible but not good, especially when your defense can keep the score close most of the time.
 

FL4WL3SS

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I’ve completely held off voicing any opinion on Mac other than “patience”. He doesn’t have a good team around him and his coach is awful. There’s absolutely zero trust in him from BB and Patricia and maybe it’s deserved? I’m still not sure… I don’t think vintage Aaron Rodgers would look much better under the circumstances. I don’t know what BB is doing and it came out of the gate like this. Just play-calling to not lose is absolutely no way to figure out what you have
. So here’s where I’m at- Mac is better than this. If he has a better line and half decent weapons and a more aggressive coach…. He could probably be good enough to win not just counting on a good defense. He’s got talent enough to be a middle tier QB in the league which is enough with a good defense to win it all. I don’t have confidence in BB anymore. I can’t believe that but I think he’s a mess and can’t figure out how to get unstuck.
Of course he's better, but his "better" is still not very good. Aaron Rodgers would improve this offense infinitely, like it's not even close. He would be in the meeting room, giving feedback on plays, almost like a second coach. Nevermind the elite QB skills.
 

FL4WL3SS

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They're also really close to being 5-10 if the Jets had switched to Mike White earlier and he stayed healthy. I think that's just how it is when you're not terrible but not good, especially when your defense can keep the score close most of the time.
Which speaks to how BB still 'has it' yeah? His bad is still above average in this league. It's uncanny
 

Eddie Jurak

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Super confused by the dislike of the run on 1st down there by a few people on here. NE had 3 timeouts, a minute left, and the ball at the 5 yard line.
Yeah, I liked the run call there. If anything I would have liked to see Mac under center and Marcus Jones in motion as if to take a jet sweep handoff. But I'd rather have run Stevenson 4 straight times (with 3 TOs) than not at all.
 

mwonow

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The entire Patriots organization from top to bottom.

My girlfriend got 5 tickets to the game for her, myself, my nephew and his two boys, call it a Christmas gift if you will.

His sons jack and Declan bawled their eyes out the whole ride home, those two kids are now scarred for life.

Then when we got to my sisters for our annual Christmas Eve celebration, my sister gives the boys matching Pat Patriot stocking hats, I thought they were going to rifle them into the fire pit in the back yard.

What an inept team.
This is the Pats circa pretty well every year before Brady.

"We" were special for two decades. Now we're not.

Re: game goats, I'm with 54th and a bunch of others, this is really just the latest whole org meltdown in a crappy season. So - Matty P for not doing the honorable thing and telling BB he is hopelessly out of his depth with both the OL and the offense as a whole. Joe Judge for not saying the same to BB, wrt whatever he actually is supposed to do. Both guys for not insisting that Mac is not the answer to any question worth asking. Cam Achord for another year of ST suck. And BB for presiding over all of this.

Oh well - at least we don't have the Sullivans adding gasoline to the tire fire.
 

BaseballJones

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I still can't believe that Patricia is the defacto OC and coaching the OL.

Season lost before it even began.
Well, look on the bright side - if that's the only real issue, then one single move should basically fix for 2023 what ails this team in 2022!
 

54thMA

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I still can't believe that Patricia is the defacto OC and coaching the OL.

Season lost before it even began.
Yes it was.

And that is very frustrating.

And it's got nothing to do with being entitled fans or anything close to that; this team was 10-7 last year with a rookie QB, things were moving in a positive direction after the 2020 season, then this boneheaded coaching decision is made and things were doomed from the start.

No one liked it when it was first floated, when they struggled all camp and preseason long and then struggled all season long.

They are 7-8 and could easily be 10-5.

This entire mess is coaching related.

If I'm Kraft sitting there on Saturday seeing all those empty seats, I'm fuming, going to a Patriots game used to be an event, you were thrilled when someone had an extra ticket and asked if you wanted to go.

Now I'd rather go to a hanging.
 

8slim

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The entire Patriots organization from top to bottom.

My girlfriend got 5 tickets to the game for her, myself, my nephew and his two boys, call it a Christmas gift if you will.

His sons jack and Declan bawled their eyes out the whole ride home, those two kids are now scarred for life.

Then when we got to my sisters for our annual Christmas Eve celebration, my sister gives the boys matching Pat Patriot stocking hats, I thought they were going to rifle them into the fire pit in the back yard.

What an inept team.
Not to be a jerk, but that’s a good moment to teach kids. Scarred for life? I’m assuming that’s hyperbole.
 

Mystic Merlin

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The entire Patriots organization from top to bottom.

My girlfriend got 5 tickets to the game for her, myself, my nephew and his two boys, call it a Christmas gift if you will.

His sons jack and Declan bawled their eyes out the whole ride home, those two kids are now scarred for life.

Then when we got to my sisters for our annual Christmas Eve celebration, my sister gives the boys matching Pat Patriot stocking hats, I thought they were going to rifle them into the fire pit in the back yard.

What an inept team.
They’ll be fine.
 

54thMA

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Not to be a jerk, but that’s a good moment to teach kids. Scarred for life? I’m assuming that’s hyperbole.
It's sarcasm...............they actually had a great time; they're little kids, just being at the game is fine with them, plus they each had 210.00 worth of snacks.

The first Patriots game I ever attended was in 1968 at Fenway Park, they lost 14-0 to the Houston Oilers, but I was hooked for life.

But my older Sister did give them two Pat Patriot hats.........................;).
 

8slim

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It's sarcasm...............they actually had a great time; they're little kids, just being at the game is fine with them, plus they each had 210.00 worth of snacks.

The first Patriots game I ever attended was in 1968 at Fenway Park, they lost 14-0 to the Houston Oilers, but I was hooked for life.

But my older Sister did give them two Pat Patriot hats.........................;).
Ah, ok.