New England Patriots Thread Mod Warning Post #253

BizzyC

Overall, I feel like there are a lot of positives to take from that game.

Running game looked good, Harris looks very good and Stevenson finally starting to contribute.

Smith and Henry are starting to get more involved in the pass game.

Jones appears to be going deep more than he used to...

The Cowboys are a very good team this year, on both sides of the ball, and I thought we stepped up our game yesterday to a new high for this season.

The only negatives I have from the game were some of the coaching calls, but I honestly believe that the way we played yesterday would have been good enough to beat a lot of teams. If we can keep up this level from here on, we could still make the playoffs.

StringerBell

More disappointed in some of the calls on the sideline than the play on the field last night. Feels like one left behind there and a big chance to beat a very good football team. Course the cowboys did their best to throw the game at times too tbf. Hopefully can keep up the level and improve on the level also of course, of execution and that the play calling shows a little more trust in the offence sooner rather than later also.

AbusesToilets

4th & 1, punt

4th & 2, punt

4th & 3, punt

Burn 2 TOs at the end of the 1st half, get the ball with ~1:30 and a TO. Kneel the half out.

Mac throws a terrible pick 6, then immediately comes back and throws a rope against a DPOY candidate for a walk off TD. (in hindsight, it probably would've been better if Bourne took a knee at the 1yd line).

Weak sauce playcalling cost us that game. Our defense was getting smoked by Dak, you have to take every chance you're given. Also, please no to Bolden on anything other than special teams. Where were the TEs? Outside of Henry's catch, they were basically a non-factor. They should have parted ways with Josh when Brady left, over his terrible playcalling.

DJ_Eoghan

I think this is a chance missed. I was looking at our schedule before the game, and being realistic about it, I think we could finish about 9-8 at best, which I don't think will get you to the playoffs. The Cowboys was a game I did have down as a loss, so it's a pity not to steal a win having been in with such a chance. On the plus side, it looks like we'll be in it in every game we play this season, don't think anyone will crush us (except maybe the Bills, hopefully they're resting starters by week 17, because then maybe we could sneak an extra win).

I'm undecided on the going for it on 4&3 at midfield. You don't make it, and then the cowboys just have to go 10-15 yards to be in with a kicking chance. What I would say is that I don't think Bill planned for Bailey to only punt the ball as far as the 20 (34 yards, in general not a good night for special teams).

eagle eye

Some performance last night and it was needed to confirm the promise we showed in the two losses to the Bucs and the Cowboys. The coaches have something really serious to work with now and hopefully we can go on a run and maybe contend for a postseason place.

Just looking at the rooke QB performances and Mac is miles ahead of the rest. I always wanted him and felt he was the best in the draft class. To this point he certainly has been.

Mac Jones 1779 yards, 70.4% completion, 9 tds, 6 ints.

Trevor Lawence 1465 yards, 59.7% completion, 7 tds, 8 ints

Zach Wilson 1168 yards, 57.5% completion, 4 tds, 9 ints

Davis Mills 1047 yards, 64.9, 5 tds, 7 ints *6 starts

Justin Fields, 816 yards, 57.3, 2 td. 6 ints *5 starts

Trey Lance 354 yards, 52.1, 3 td, 1 int *2 starts

DJ_Eoghan

We did what we should, which is do a number on a bad team. Still, any day you get a 50 burger is a good day. To be honest, I never thought the fun would go out of beating the Jets, but it's getting a bit tiresome. Indeed, I've even stopped winding up my Jets fan friends in the States because there's just no fun in it anymore. Really liking what Bourne and Henry have done since they came in, hopefully they keep it up.

Can't remember where I saw it (think it was SB nation), and they were suggesting we needed trade for a CB (Fuller from the Broncos), a No 1 receiver (Gallup from the Cowboys) and DL depth (Trey Flowers). Can't disagree with getting a CB, I think depth is an issue now, as we've seen from SB52, you really can't go too far down the depth chart. I don't think a new WR1 is an absolute necessity, but obviously if we pick up someone good, go for it. Flowers is interesting, I think is contract is pricey, but I think he's one of those guys who could come back and do really well (like P Chung well). What do you guys think?

Shedite27

At WR I'd love them to take a shot on either Mims of Jets or Aiyuk of SF. Both look fairly out of favour with current teams, cheap contracts, but looed decent when they got on the field last year

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Don't think we should bother trading for those tbh, at least not mid season, not unless they come very cheap. We're still in a rebuild and all those pieces wouldn't get us anywhere near the Ravens, Bills, Titans, Chargers, etc.

Continue with the rebuild, hang on to the draft picks, sign the right free agents and hopefully in a season or two's time we'll be a contender again.

eagle eye

I'm in no rush, build through the draft is my belief.

I'm not hugely concerned with our secondary as we have a pretty awesome front seven right now. On top if that we have a great corner in JC and a lot of decent guys at the position. Then there's Dugger who has looked so good this season.

At WR I suppose we could upgrade but it's always a risk taking somebody whose not performing at another team.

I like the idea of keeping other teams from scoring and we are doing a decent job at that. I'm hoping for a 10-7/9-8 season. I'm happy to wait for the good times to return, I think we are in good shape in a lot of important positions now. Just a good draft and a FA or two from being serious again and 2022 is time enough for me.

BizzyC

Yeah, I'd agree that we could end this year on a winning schedule, and be back to AFC contention next season.

We've lost a few games this year due to coaching calls, and have had some close games that shouldn't have been (Texans).

I'm quite happy with our QB, RB, WR, TE situation.

My main concerns are OLine and Defence.

O Line has been terrible this year, a lot of that is coaching IMO, we have good players and are clearly missing Scar.

Defence has looked mostly ok, but we're getting old in places and need to start rebuilding.

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118074682#Comment_118074682

Have to say some coaching calls have been an issue especially on offense but Bill seems to be one of the few coaches able to consistently get a top tier defense. You have one of the best defenses in the league at the moment and I reckon he can keep it up. Check out teams like the Dolphins and WFT which were meant to be top defenses coming into the season according to many but it is much harder to keep a consistent defense than offense.

eagle eye

We are starting to look real good again folks. 😀

StringerBell

Wouldn't go that far, but it was encouraging for sure. Won 3 of 4 now since the loss to the bucs, on the right track for sure I think

BizzyC

Yeah, last night's game was definitely another step in the right direction.

The pick-6 really sealed the game, but the game was tighter than the score-line suggests.

We still had odd coaching decisions, like not running the ball with 1:30 left in the first half. Why we chose to pass when there was no real hurry required and ended up giving them back the ball with 50 seconds left is beyond me.

The protection for Mac still isn't good enough, we had a few red zone chances where he just had free runners in his face and he had to get rid of the ball before the receivers were ready - like the one that hit Henry in the leg.

I feel like we'll continue to be in tight games for the rest of this year, and we should be able to eek out enough wins to finished above 500 - but we're not that far off in kicking up a gear to winning more comfortably than we are.

el Fenomeno

Travelling across the country to beat LA when they had a bye week to prepare is a good result.

As an aside, it looked to be mostly Patriots fans in attendance. It's a disgrace that LA got 2 NFL teams.

DJ_Eoghan

That's the most non-home crowd home crowd I've seen since SB53! Maybe it's just me, but I thought the refs were piss poor towards us last night. Leaving aside the egregious stuff like the Mac hit, and the debatable stuff like the Henry holding call and Van Noy safety, it looked to me like Judon was being held an awful lot last night, which was probably just as well for Herbert because their right tackle was being beaten consistently by Judon. And it was obvious holding stuff, hands on the outside of the pads, which is why I think Judon was clearly annoyed at times in the second half. Guess this is what happens when you're not King anymore!

On a side note, I noticed something last night which I really wondered if it was coached. Judon was coming off the left side of the punt block formation all night, and it looked like on every play he was trying to bull rush the protector into the punter. Indeed, even on the Judon roughing the punter penalty, it looked like he fell into punter after pancaking the protector. I'm just wondering has Bill somehow found a new sneaky way to rough the punter without drawing a flag by pushing the protector into them.

Overall, a nice win. Jones did well to stick at it when he was going through a real rough patch and finished well.

eagle eye

When you don't have great protection you have to check down quickly. I'm not happy that Mac doesn't have protection but there's good lessons in it as well.

I think Mac is going to be a really good one at worst. This is a learning year, it would have been better if he could have sat for the year but not behind Cam as he's a different type of QB.

Patriots are managing him though much like they did with Brady when he became starter.

eagle eye

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118101380#Comment_118101380

Never seen a Cards game? They often have more fans against them than for them.

DJ_Eoghan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118102778#Comment_118102778

truth be told, I've never had much cause to watch the Cards, they've generally been dire to mediocre for most of my life with the exception of when Kurt Warner was QB, and also Carson Palmer for a while. Indeed, I checked because I didn't want to make baseless allegations and since I started watching football in 84, they have had 7 seasons with a winning record, and 25 with a losing record :)

eagle eye

So the division is a real possibility now with the stuttering Bills having lost to the Jags. They are 5-3, we are 5-4.

Next two weeks are huge now at the Browns and then home to the Falcons on a short week. If we could navigate those waters then we face the Titans and then the Bills before our bye week and the Bills again right after.

DJ_Eoghan

I think my thoughts on yesterday are summed up by 3 words you never think you would see together. ESPN have a headline reading "Chipper Bill Belichick...". If Bill was chipper, he must be pleased.

I had us needing to win 2 out of 3 for this stretch from Chargers to Browns, so if we could beat Browns that would be huge. Only thing is I don't feel we match up superbly against them. Bookends on the defence in Clowney and Garrett versus arguably the weak point of our O-line, running back comfortable pounding up the middle and lethal on the outside, a WR in Landry who we've struggled with previously, and Mayfield having clarity now he doesn't have OBJ freelancing with the route tree. I could see us winning this one but I could also see us losing it. A few weeks ago, I would have thought the Falcons was a nailed on win, they're a lot better now, but still think we should have too much for them.

eagle eye

Well against the Browns if you can get to Mayfield a few times early on he seems to lose his way and you can stack the box and put JC on Landry.

Pass rush is key against the Falcons. If you give Ryan time he'll pick you apart.

Shedite27

Bills twice in December, I'm optimistic we can push it so it comes down to those games.

Bills still have to play Jets twice tho, that could be 2 walks in the park for them or two Mike White masterclasses

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

If we get a playoff spot this season it'll be a phenomenal achievement. We're in the mix for 5-7th by my reckoning, although if the Bills recent form continues we could easily sneak the division. Looking at our schedule, I'd be fearful of no team. I'd rate the Bills' schedule of similar strength, although they have a game against the Buccs in Tampa. As mentioned above, our 2 games against them will probably decide the division.

el Fenomeno

It was also great to see Belichick call out Stephon Gilmore on his comments about how we handled his injury.

As if the world couldn't see he just wanted a better contract.

el Fenomeno

This Jones, Barmore, Stevenson draft class could go down as one of Bill's best ever.

paulie21

Meyers finally got his TD

eagle eye

I think that win is a big statement about where we are at. I'm of the opinion that we are serious contenders to win it all this season.

Great to see Meyers get his first TD. Everybody is doing a huge part in this, we have a team with everybody playing well.

Anything is possible at this stage. We play the Falcons next, then go to Tennessee, then the Bills in Gillette followed by the Colts in Gillette and then travel to Buffalo. If we win all those games we could be no.1 seed.

I believe now that we can win all those games. It's great feeling when your team is trending upwards.

StringerBell

Feels like a big moment in a season that one, really made a statement.

I won't get ahead of myself but plenty to like about this football team right now.

eagle eye

They are missing Patterson tonight.

We have Harris, it's good when you see JJ Taylor inactive, means our RB corp is in good shape

Potential trap game given.our big win over the Browns and with two huge games following it. Bill and his single-minded approach should prevent that happening.