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Superbowl XLVI

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Comments

  • #1262
    Paully D
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,710 ✭✭✭✭Paully D


    matthew8 wrote: »
    I echo the sentiments of everyone saying that the Pats could use a WR but defense is the clear priority. It's like with the Ravens, we could use another edge rusher to replace the aging Johnson or a MLB to replace Lewis whenever he stops, but the defense is elite, and the focus has to be on offense, unless we find a very good talent in the draft on defense.

    I think the Ravens will go for defence in this draft.

    I posted around Christmas time on the draft thread saying I think we'd go for ILB, FS and C in whatever order in this draft and a couple of other Ravens fans agreed. Mike (I think) said we'd go for LT, ILB and C.


  • #1263
    matthew8
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,599 ✭✭✭matthew8


    New England Patriots
    Paully D wrote: »
    I think the Ravens will go for defence in this draft.

    I posted around Christmas time on the draft thread saying I think we'd go for ILB, FS and C in whatever order in this draft and a couple of other Ravens fans agreed. Mike (I think) said we'd go for LT, ILB and C.

    I think we'll go that way based on talent available. A lot of people seem to like this Burflict guy. But I really don't think that's the need. Our OL is average. There'd be no stopping our offense (or any offense) if we got an elite LT and a replacement for Birk. I'm happy with our guards and I'm giving Oher one more chance, but you have to wonder just how much help the coaches are giving Oher. They should be able to coach all the false starts out of him.


  • #1264
    eagle eye
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 41,971 ✭✭✭✭eagle eye


    Morrisseeee wrote: »
    From a neutral's perspective, ye have a very good offense, won 13 games in the reguler season, QB beats Marino's record. So not much needed on the Offense to improve it. Your point above says that teams need their best players, and your defense needs players, ie. they were pretty poor last season.
    There's an old saying: 'Defenses win SuperBowls', well.............QED.
    And yet in the playoffs we ranked 5th on defense and 5th on offense.

    We gave up less yardage than the 49ers against the Giants. They scored 21 against us and 20 against the 49ers.

    I'm not saying our defense is perfect but its not as bad as some people make out. You see the D wasn't great early on in the season and had a lot of bad games and then they had bad regular season stats and the media ran with that because we were among the superbowl favourites and so were the Packers whose D was abysmal this season. But right towards the end of the season the Patriots D did improve a lot. And in the playoffs they ranked 5th of the 12 teams that made it.

    Now our much vaunted offense surprisingly to some of you guys only ranked 5th in the playoffs. What does that tell you? For me it tells you our Offense is good against mediocre/poor teams but when you come up against better Defenses they are not so good. So when you analyse why this might be it becomes very clear that the deep threat is a big issue. There are also problems on the line at center and right guard but outside WR is a huge one. There should always be a hole in a defense to exploit but we didn't have that because of an injured Gronk and nobody to stretch the field. We get that player who can open things up for us and then we have an offense that will take on the top defenses in the league.


  • #1265
    Tesco Massacre
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 814 ✭✭✭Tesco Massacre


    I've only read bits and pieces of the last few pages, so apologies if this point has been made already: I'm not sure a deep threat would have made the difference on Sunday. Remember, they had Moss in '07 and the Giants dealt reasonably well against him...and he was the best WR in the NFL at that time.
    I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to have someone like that in the team again or that it definitely wouldn't have made a difference on Sunday, but in order to go long to someone Brady needs time to set up the pass. Time that I'm not sure the Giants would have afforded him.


  • #1266
    kmart6
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,173 ✭✭✭✭kmart6


    Moss still had 63 yards and a TD in that game, where he would have been facing double coverage a lot! Very hard to compare elements like that too though!


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  • #1267
    kryogen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 25,953 ✭✭✭✭kryogen


    New England Patriots
    This ^^^^^^^^^

    Moss still managed to have an impact in that game.


  • #1268
    Lothaar v2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 228 ✭✭Lothaar v2


    eagle eye wrote: »
    Now our much vaunted offense surprisingly to some of you guys only ranked 5th in the playoffs. What does that tell you?

    I see what you're saying - Brady obviously choked. Just like Peyton does every time he doesn't win the Bowl. :)


  • #1269
    kmart6
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,173 ✭✭✭✭kmart6


    So I was thinking, and this might be crazy, but how about some Superbowl stuff in here....

    SoundFX Videos are up.....

    Everyone should have a look, always good to watch! Another great job by NFL Films!

    Some funny points in the videos, Parry sounding almost surprised when Chad come onto the field, Wilfork trying to steal the ball and say he had it all along and Parry saying Welkers dropped pass woulda been the game!

    Interesting hearing BB telling his D to take away Nicks and Cruz and make Eli throw to Manningham, shame the last bit just couldn't work for them!


  • #1270
    Morrisseeee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,150 ✭✭✭Morrisseeee


    New England Patriots
    eagle eye wrote:
    And yet in the playoffs we ranked 5th on defense

    Yep, I'll agree that your defense stepped up a notch in the playoffs, and it started against the Broncos, that game gave them renewed confidence. But.................if we ignore the Bronco game, why? because it was a mismatch from the outset, the Pats only played 2 games, against the Ravens & the Giants. In both games both QBs had ~300 yards, and receivers had 100+ yards.

    Now if we take the Giants D, they stepped up big time after the Redskins game, they held the Jets to 14pts, Cowboys to 14pts, Falcons to 2pts, Packers (away) to 20pts, 49ers (away) to 17, and Pats to 17pts.

    I guess to sum up, I'd rather have the Giants or (better again) 49er D than a superb deep threat WR.


  • #1271
    neilster
    Closed Accounts Posts: 719 ✭✭✭neilster


    Morrisseeee wrote: »
    :eek:


    From what i can see the Pats need a compliment of needs ....Tallaght is saying that they need maybe 4 big needs ...CB , Safety ....Pass Rush ...Deep Threat ....they have 4 big picks that could take care of that depending on their Board and needs vs value and lets not forget Free Agency ....Particularly at Corner Back both draft and FA are very deep

    Cortland Finnegan , Brent Grimes , Brandon Carr , Carlos Rogers will all be available

    In the draft the likes of Dre Kirkpatrick and Alfonza Dennard and Stephon Gilmore could all be available in the second round (imo not all of them )

    If Mark Barron makes his way past the Jets (who have an awful lot of other needs) and the Chargers (who have an awful lot of other needs vs Bob Sanders ) and the Texans who might get the right reciever landing for them ....the Pats could get him with the first pick...that would be an enormous upgrade ....Dennard at 31 ......a Sanu/Toon/Falling first round WR at 46

    but this is quite good at outlining some of the reasons for the lack of deep threat ....its response by the Giants...what that allowed the Giants to scheme and the direct implication for that on the Super Bowl result

    http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/the-hidden-play-of-super-bowl-xlvi-justin-tucks-third-quarter-sack;_ylt=AvuB7BXAyNCga793AY2btedzTrt_?urn=nfl,wp18647

    "Eli Manning's 38-yard pass to Mario Manningham on the New York Giants' game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter is rightly regarded as the play of the game in Super Bowl XLVI -- it was, quite simply, the single-greatest throw this writer has ever seen. But if there was a "1a" play for the Giants, it had to be Justin Tuck's sack of Tom Brady with 6:12 left in the third quarter.

    Not only did the third-down takedown stop the Pats from driving when they were still up, 17-12, but Brady re-aggravated his left (non-throwing) shoulder on the play, and backup Brian Hoyer was seen throwing on the sideline during the Giants' corresponding drive.
    Before that sack, Brady was on an absolute tear -- he broke Joe Montana's record for consecutive completions in a Super Bowl, and he was 20 of 24 for 201 yards and two touchdowns. After that sack? Try 7 of 17 for 75 yards and the pick by Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn on a deep attempt to tight end Rob Gronkowski.
    How much did it affect him? Hard to say -- Brady made a few more errant throws after the play, but the receiver drops were also killers. The famed drop by Wes Welker was a great touch pass that was high but in Welker's hands, and two plays in which Deion Branch ran across the middle and couldn't come up with the ball were also adjustment errors by the receiver.

    What happened to the Pats in the last 20 minutes of the game was just as much about the Giants' brilliant defensive adjustments. With full knowledge that New England had no deep threat (they played their safeties shallow through most of the game), the Giants did something they also did in Week 9 when they beat the Pats, 24-20 -- they kept linebackers in the middle of the defense as zone spies to counter Brady's seemingly endless slants, crosses and posts. On Branch's first drop, linebacker Michael Boley was waiting for him just off the middle to Brady's left, and Branch didn't slow up to find the pocket where Brady was throwing.
    As our buddy Greg Cosell wrote on the NFL Films blog, Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell called this game about as well as any coach possibly could.
    So, while it's not clear that correlation equaled causation on the Tuck sack, we do know one thing -- Brady's stats did a total 180 after that play. That's one reason I thought Tuck should have been named the Most Valuable Player of the game ... until Eli Manning uncorked the best throw I've ever seen"


    The mention of no deep threat ....keeping linebackers as spies etc encapsulates what happened...whilst no-one is saying to the likes of Matthew or Morriseeee that a WR is front and centre and must be first pick ...it has to be a consideration in picks 2-4...and again its not a move the chains guy an Anquan Boldin ....that wont get it done .

    In an ideal world youd go into the 3rd round and pick out Mike Wallace like Pittsburgh did so it can be done


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  • #1272
    neilster
    Closed Accounts Posts: 719 ✭✭✭neilster


    Tesco Massacre wrote: »
    I've only read bits and pieces of the last few pages, so apologies if this point has been made already: I'm not sure a deep threat would have made the difference on Sunday. Remember, they had Moss in '07 and the Giants dealt reasonably well against him...and he was the best WR in the NFL at that time.
    I'm not saying it wouldn't be nice to have someone like that in the team again or that it definitely wouldn't have made a difference on Sunday, but in order to go long to someone Brady needs time to set up the pass. Time that I'm not sure the Giants would have afforded him.

    I think Doug Farrar's ESPN article that i have included above explains the difference the lack of a deep threat made

    a) it meant the Safeties didnt have to play as deep ...Linebackers could "spy" in coverage and took away the slants, posts and crosses and resulted in an interception and an inopportune throw .

    this all halted production resulting in zero points, 7 for 17 etc people can point to drops etc but the exact same process took place in Week 9


  • #1273
    neilster
    Closed Accounts Posts: 719 ✭✭✭neilster


    Paully D wrote: »
    I think the Ravens will go for defence in this draft.

    I posted around Christmas time on the draft thread saying I think we'd go for ILB, FS and C in whatever order in this draft and a couple of other Ravens fans agreed. Mike (I think) said we'd go for LT, ILB and C.

    I echo what Paully says ....I think after he heals up Matt Birk will return .... whilst a Peter Konz present at the Ravens spot may make Ozzie Newsome ponder ...he wont get past the Chargers , Tennessee , Cincinnatti , Pittsburgh or Chicago ....a top 25 Guard/Centre talent wont get to the Ravens spot but neither will DeCastro , Cordy Glenn or Reilly Reiff (people project him at Tackle but there are fears he cant handle it ).... and Mike Brewster at Centre or Other Guards are a reach

    They might consider Kelechi Osemele but that doesnt solve Centre ...isnt Birk coming back ???

    No if Don'ta Hightower or Burfict is there the Ravens will go ILB ....They are roughly the same position age-wise and end of the road wise ...Lewis vs Birk ...so its down to the talent on the board ...Hightower will be gone imo so Burfict it is and the Guards left would be a reach


  • #1274
    Dublinwon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 88 ✭✭Dublinwon


    I think you'll find Michael Jackson is the corpse. A junky paedo one at that. The queen of pop as the whole world knew she would stole the show. Best halftime performance ever then again she is the most successful recording artist ever unlike that freak you mention that had his first hit in 10 years when he finally succumbed to his addiction to drugs


  • #1275
    Dublinwon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 88 ✭✭Dublinwon


    I think you'll find Michael Jackson is the corpse. A junky paedo one at that. The queen of pop as the whole world knew she would stole the show. Best halftime performance ever then again she is the most successful recording artist ever unlike that freak you mention that had his first hit in 10 years when he finally succumbed to his addiction to drugs


  • #1276
    me-skywalker
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭me-skywalker


    Dublinwon wrote: »
    I think you'll find Michael Jackson is the corpse. A junky paedo one at that. The queen of pop as the whole world knew she would stole the show. Best halftime performance ever then again she is the most successful recording artist ever unlike that freak you mention that had his first hit in 10 years when he finally succumbed to his addiction to drugs

    LOL WUT??!! hahahaha *wipes tears from eyes*


  • #1277
    me-skywalker
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭me-skywalker


    The American Football forum should baton down the hatches in a week or so... I see Jurassic Madge is playing in a couple of weeks. We could be under attach from yer won again judging by the recent posts she's living for the night..

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=78542744&postcount=337
    Dublinwon wrote: »
    Ooh all this teenage angst god love ya. Go and buy some biactol. As madonna fans we don't base her success on looks ( I hope the scary bla bla doesn't either) but it looks like her little monsters are very sensitive. I simply said I preferred madonna . Read ( if you can) my posts again and you'll see that. Even better come back to me in about 30 years and see will bla bla be still around. Don't think so . I mean she's hardly around now . A 2009 one year wonder that's all she was, a bit like Moshi monsters this year. Then again you probably all have that album too


  • #1278
    Paully D
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,710 ✭✭✭✭Paully D


    Just re-watched this game again, I had forgotten just how good that last Giants drive was and how tension filled the last 5 minutes were. The drop by Welker, the catch by Manningham, Bradshaw's TD and the Patriots last drive in which Gronkowski was actually quite close to catching the hail mary all played a massive part in what was a very good game.



    On a similar note, the 2011 edition of America's Game will first be shown on September 4th on NFL Network, 3am our time. It will feature Justin Tuck, Victor Cruz and Eli Manning. Should be a good watch as are all of those features.


  • #1279
    Paully D
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,710 ✭✭✭✭Paully D


    Just seen this on one of those random facts pages on Twitter.
    UberFacts ‏@UberFacts
    Super Bowl XLVI had an actual playing time that lasted a little more than 12 minutes.

    Does anyone know the average? (I don't, by the way :))


  • #1280
    johnmcdnl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,740 ✭✭✭johnmcdnl


    Paully D wrote: »
    Just seen this on one of those random facts pages on Twitter.



    Does anyone know the average? (I don't, by the way :))

    considering the average play would be 5 seconds or less it's not really surprising..

    10:43 is the average actually according to Linky

    Actually a very interesting read - I'll not quote it because it's pretty long but worth a read.


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