They marched down from their own 25 to Tampa's 37 in under a minute, how is that "playing like shit"? It was an also an "absolute gamble" to ask Folk to try to exceed his career long FG kicking in pouring rain - a gamble that didn't work out.
People are still talking about him fucking up by going for it on 4th and 2 against the Colts like 15 years ago. Because it didn't work. Yet, he's a genius for giving Peyton the ball first (different game) in overtime going into the wind...because it did work.
20 of that was a gift PI. They got another gift in the missed false start on Wynn and Mac was hurried on every throw, but besides that, they definitely marched behind the stellar play of the OL. The decision was a coin-flip, but completely defensible. Sucks it didn't work out.
I thought the decision to kick was stupid well before the ball doinked off the upright.
No. As I recall at the time, most supported going for it, as the numbers slightly supported it. Just as the numbers slightly supported going for it last night. Neither instance is a glaring "one way is correct, the other is glaringly wrong" scenario, but neither was it a coin flip. It was probably closer to 55-45% chance of the more favorable outcome if you go for it.
Another consideration is that the Tampa secondary was defending most of the field during the earlier parts of the drive. On the 4th-and-3, they would be defending a 5 yard window around the sticks without any threat of a running play. Much easier ask of the Tampa defense. And another false start or a hold by the OL would knock them out of FG range completely. Mac made some throws, but this one would be by far the most difficult for him to make.
And the stats do not take into account some of the key context.
we’ll even the refs don’t know the rules as the other team has to let the guy come back in and more than once on separate plays the Bucs players blocked Slater when he was outside the lines (beyond the initial block that took him out).
Frankly I'm impressed that Folk came that close to actually making it. I do think the Patriots win the game if he makes it so it's at least somewhat defensible but no way was it 50-50.
This is really an unfair take on the discussions that are going on in this thread and elsewhere.
Literally no one is saying that Belichick should be fired. Belichick is a great coach but not above criticism, and criticizing him - even harshly - is not anywhere close to saying he should be fired.
I think there were a few saying it last night. Definitely a small minority though.
I'd rather give Brady a last chance down by one than give it to him with the lead to do kneel downs.
Slater made no obvious effort to get back in bounds, though.
Agreed. I'm hardly the biggest football fanatic on here but I've been watching the NFL for a long time and that was as obvious an application of that penalty as I've seen.
yeah people pointing to the shove when he finally tries to come back are missing that he ran half his run before that, and the flag was likely already on the field by then. You have about 10 yards tops to make a strong effort to get back in, before the ref is reaching for the flag he went at least twice that and then didn't make much of an effort off the bump and ran another 15-20 before coming in again.
I do not think it a penalty to block a gunner out of bounds and/or try to keep him pinned against the boundary. It IS illegal for the gunner to not attempt to get back in bounds as soon as he is able, even if he is being re engaged while doing so. You can’t run along the boundary for twenty yards without re engaging, in other words.
If both players were indeed out of bounds, then the block should have been a penalty. But I can see why such a call gets missed when Slater keeps running down the field and then turns inbounds.
I didnt' see that happen. The TB players, smartly, IMO, ran right along the sideline (but inbounds), parallel to Slater's 30-yard out-of-bounds sprint. Slater would have gotten blasted the minute he stepped back inbounds. I suspect Slater was surprised that they were keeping up with him, knew he was screwed, and hoped he could get away with it.
I think the only controversy (at least in the game thread) is that Slater made a great hit and caused a turnover. He also made a rookie mistake to nullify it.
Not a 100% sold on the "2019 Brady" unless you meant earlier in the year. I mean he threw an absolute dime (probably better than any pass he threw the last half of his year in New England) to Brown that was caught and called back on a penalty. He also threw a really good pass to win the game with a TD that Brown probably should have caught. I am just saying it wasn't vintage Brady or even his "A" game, but it was way better than what he did against the Titans.
I mean, even in the MOST generous interpretation you're asking a ref to notice that one of his feet MAY have been like 6 inches on the line when he made contact, to call a bailout penalty.
Honestly do not see any block in the back. The initial block to push Slater out of bonds by Delaney (#30) was perfectly legal. Then Delaney gives him an extra push while both are out of bounds, which could be flagged, IMO. But I can see how that was easy to miss. Then Adams (#26) shoves Slater, but by then Slater had essentially committed to the penalty, and if Adams was out of bounds it was just barely.
This is a bad take regarding Brady. Dude was the highest rated player on the Bucs yesterday per PFF. He wasn't amazing, but he was pretty good and drops made his numbers look a whole lot worse than he played. And "we" were ready to move on from him? Maybe speak for yourself there.
Brady went 22-43 last night with 6.3 Y/A and led exactly 1 TD drive, which started at midfield. He was sailing throws all over the place despite having time most of the night. He wasn’t bad by any stretch but I thought it was a pretty mediocre game for him. To coop’s point, it looked like late season 2019 Brady to me except with the benefit of a solid OL, 3 really good WRs, and Leonard Fournette.
Up: Jones, Judon, Meyers (HM to Bolden).
Just as a point of comparison:
no I don’t as the “best metric” - but even that author basically torpedoed his own point and limitations of advanced stats.
“Attempted air yards” is a useless stat in my mind
Plus, Faulk made it and only a shitty spot created a narrative it wasn't a bold and correct decision.
