New England Patriots thread (MOD WARNING - #4503)

eagle eye

TaosHum wrote: »

Your thoughts, predictions, feeling for Sunday's game gents?

Very worried that a burner like Mike Wallace will destroy us tbh.

TaosHum

eagle eye wrote: »

Very worried that a burner like Mike Wallace will destroy us tbh.

Is Talib expected to play? Is so, then I wouldn't expect much from Wallace as he tends to be very quiet against top corners. From what I've seen of Wallace so far, the Dolphins coaching staff is struggling to get him involved. Tannehill still favours Hartline and the lack of a running game is hurting play action.

Have the Pats been burned on long passing plays often this season?

j8wk2feszrnpao

TaosHum wrote: »

Your thoughts, predictions, feeling for Sunday's game gents?

It's difficult to have confidence in the defense or the offense.

On the defensive side of the ball, it's all about injuries.
Will Talib and Kelly be back? If so, then I can see us having a good day; Miami have been worse than our OL at protecting their QB.

Offensivley, are we going to be the team that beat The Falcons or the team the was awful against The Jets (twice)?
Gronk being back is huge. Hopefully last weeks gametime will assist him further.
Having Danny back should also help.
But for me the OL has got to step up. Tom has been sacked too often.
Also, we need to run the ball. Ridney only had 11 carries, I'd like to see that be closer to 20.

I feel that we have more than enough to beat Miami, so I'm going to say we rebound and win 30:20

TaosHum

Odin Brief Watchband wrote: »

It's difficult to have confidence in the defense or the offense.

On the defensive side of the ball, it's all about injuries.
Will Talib and Kelly be back? If so, then I can see us having a good day; Miami have been worse than our OL at protecting their QB.

Offensivley, are we going to be the team that beat The Falcons or the team the was awful against The Jets (twice)?
Gronk being back is huge. Hopefully last weeks gametime will assist him further.
Having Danny back should also help.
But for me the OL has got to step up. Tom has been sacked too often.
Also, we need to run the ball. Ridney only had 11 carries, I'd like to see that be closer to 20.

I feel that we have more than enough to beat Miami, so I'm going to say we rebound and win 30:20

If Talib plays then, I would stick him out on Wallace and flood the box. Miami's run game has been ordinary and their blocking worse. Fins Tackle tandem is dreadful and you know your in trouble when your trading for Bryant McKinnie. Chandler Jones could have a big day.

My only hope is that Brady continues to struggle. Hopefully Gronk is still rusty and Amendola will be limited. The Fins defense has been good so far this season and with Wake and Jordan on the edge, getting pressure on Brady will be key.

I expect New England to win, but considering your struggles with divisional opponents so far this season, I hope that continues.

Son Of A Vidic

Well as you probably know, our new offense has been dire this season. In the last 3 games alone, Brady has been sacked 13 times, now if you add hits, pressures and knock downs then you can multiply that 13 by 4. Bad enough trying to get on the same hymn sheet as your new WR's without having to live with a crap O line. However, if our O line turns up and protects Brady then it could spell trouble for you guys. But I'm really not holding my breath on that happening tbh. Talib has been fantastic this season, so if he's on the field then I won't worry about Wallace. His man marking has just been exceptionally. Now if he's out and they put the likes of Arrington on Wallace, then we're fúcked.

Our run defense had been seriously weakened by losing Wilfork and Kelly. The Jets ran the ball 52 times for 177 yards against us on Sunday. They totally controlled the clock and kept Brady off the field. So we need to stop that or it could spell trouble. Traditionally, Belichicks teams don't tend to lose back to back games. But with the way this season has gone I wouldn't rule it out. It could be a close game and losing to the Phins wouldn't shock me at all. But I expect a lot from Brady and this offense come Sunday. Because if they don't start getting it together at week 8, I will really start to worry.

Son Of A Vidic

Talib and Amendola made practice for the third straight day, so there's a good chance both will now play on Sunday.

Son Of A Vidic

Don't know if you guys picked up on the hit Brady took to his throwing hand last week. I didn't notice it myself while watching the game, but a lot of reporters were talking about it during the week. Apparently Quintin Couples hit the throwing hand as he sacked Brady. Before the sack Brady completed 62% of his passes, after the sack he completed only 39% of his passes. Now that's a pretty significant drop off and would suggest that the hit on his hand did affect his play. Hopefully it won 't be an issue today.

Son Of A Vidic

Talib on the inactive list for today's game, Amendola is back. Hopefully he can make it through the game without picking up another inmjury.

me89

And now Vollmer has what looks like a serious injury:(

me89

Well that was just a horrible first half.

Not one positive thing came out of it

j8wk2feszrnpao

Awful half, so much wrong.
Sums it up when the Pats don't even have the confidence to try something with 30secs and 3 timeouts remaining.

j8wk2feszrnpao

Nice by Dobson to finished off a good drive, sparked by Ridleys run.

j8wk2feszrnpao

Still don't understand why Ridley hasn't had more touches. But at least we've seen a positive 3rd quarter!

j8wk2feszrnpao

Cole gets the stat, but that's Devin McCourty's INT!!

j8wk2feszrnpao

That was one hell of a turnaround.
The Pats stepped up, but the Miami OL just folded under pressure, 6 second half sacks for the Pats.

6:2, and hopefully Cinci can do their stuff at home, and we can gain a two game lead in the Div.

j8wk2feszrnpao

Reports suggest Vollmer has a broken leg. Best of luck to the guy.

Masked Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFjQw5Edrsc

That scream is not pretty.

j8wk2feszrnpao

Odin Brief Watchband wrote: »

6:2, and hopefully Cinci can do their stuff at home, and we can gain a two game lead in the Div.

Wow. Pity we didn't play this Jets last week. Geno turned back into Hyde. Rex's face was as enjoyable as his brothers two weeks ago.

Hopefully this weeks Steelers turn up next week!

Son Of A Vidic

Odin Brief Watchband wrote: »

Reports suggest Vollmer has a broken leg. Best of luck to the guy.

I knew it was bad when I heard it live and it was the final straw for me. Really, really getting sick of the crappy luck surrounding this team.

BKWDR

That combined INT at the start of the 4th Q was inspired...team work!

Son Of A Vidic

BKWDR wrote: »

That combined INT at the start of the 4th Q was inspired...team work!

It was a fine play and you'll be interested to know that McCourty and Cole often play Volleyball together.

Hazys

munstermagic11 wrote: »

Still don't understand why Ridley hasn't had more touches. But at least we've seen a positive 3rd quarter!

This seems plausible:

During the game, it was difficult to comprehend why the team's best pure rusher, Stevan Ridley, was seemingly used so sparingly. One theory floated from this perspective on Twitter was that perhaps it was a result of some in-house discipline for his actions on a touchdown run last week (he high-stepped it in), but with the benefit of time in putting together the snap counts, the feeling here is that probably wasn't it. An educated guess is that Ridley's lack of snaps were combination of: 1) Brandon Bolden being viewed as the best pass-protecting back and that being prioritized in this week's plan based on the varied blitzes the Dolphins had shown on film; 2) A rotation with LeGarrette Blount in the "big back" role that limited overall opportunities for both because the Patriots didn't have a lot of plays. Had the Patriots sustained more drives, the substitution pattern between Blount and Ridley likely would have been seen more clearly. The substitution pattern showed up by looking closely at the team's longest drives -- on the 15-play, second-quarter march, Ridley took all the "big back" snaps while Bolden was on for the "passing back" snaps; and on the 13-play fourth-quarter drive, Blount took all the "big back" snaps but one, while Bolden took the "passing back" snaps.

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4752095/snaps-exploring-ridleys-decline

Son Of A Vidic

Looking back on yesterday's game, the first half was offensively one of the worst performances this season. At one stage Brady was almost waving his hand for someone to get open. Time for some serious questions for JMD imo, why no Ridley for a large part of the game? He is a difference maker in the run game and his impact was immediate once he got on the field. He was our workhorse last season and there was every reason to think he could have gone even better this year. Blount failed miserably on one red zone TD attempt, then on came Ridley and he showed him how it's done. Reducing his reps is nonsensical.

Yet another big injury loss with the unlucky break on Vollmer's right leg. The OL men who stepped in did very well but losing Vollmer is a blow. The offense stepped up after the break and it was good to see us getting it together a bit more. Dobson made see nice plays and the TD pass from Brady was very nice. Pity about the lovely 30 yard TD pass to Gronk getting called back due to a hold called on Solder. Great to see Brady making a key scramble for a key down. You could see his hand was clearly swollen to the knuckles yesterday but he toughed it out and brushed off the post game questions about it.

Our run defense showed big holes on several plays yesterday. So we need to get Kelly back in there soon. But the defense, especially the front seven really stepped it up in the second half. They ran some great blitz packages and it's something we should do more in games imo. Ninkovich is a stud, so much of his work leads to others getting the sack. He has such a high motor and can just torment opponents. Some fine plays yesterday from our young rookie Logan Ryan and he showed himself to be a force coming in on the blitz. McCourty keeping the ball in bounds for the Int was a great play and while Cole did well to do his part. He made a bad miss on a tackle which let the Phins in for their second TD.

Fair play to Matt Patricia, will all the key defensive injuries this year, he's done a pretty good job so far in his second year as DC. Shutting the Phins out in the second half was a credit to him and his D. Hopefully the good work will continue and they can go from strength to strength as we enter the second half of the season.

And finally, kudos once again to Gost for doing another fine kicking job. He was spot on once again with all his FG's and it's no surprise to see he now leads the league.

SK1979

Pats have traded for Sopoaga. Is he any use? Will he help against the run? Surely must mean Kelly is worse than thought?

HigginsJ

SK1979 wrote: »

Pats have traded for Sopoaga. Is he any use? Will he help against the run? Surely must mean Kelly is worse than thought?

Sopoaga is a decent run stuffer. Pats gave a 5th rounder & got a 6th in return. His salary is only guaranteed this year. Think it's a no lose trade for the Pats

Hazys

Ya Kelly must be out for more than a few weeks, he hasn't practised yet since the injury.

I'd liked how the rookies were playing but they are on the small side and better against the pass than the run. Sopoaga is a big man, he has about 30lbs more than the rookies. I expect the 2 rookies to play together in longer yardage situations and Sopoaga in obvious running situations with the rookies rotating.

Surprised he was so cheap especially since he was starting for the Eagles, swapping a 5th for a 6th was the cost and the Pats 5th will be near the end of the 5th and the Eagles 6th near the top of the 6th.

Hazys

The decision to keep Allen over Mesko even looks better now. Mesko has been cut by the Steelers. Allen is cheaper (and a 3yr contract as opposed to Mesko in a contract year) and has clearly out performed him this season. Surprising because Mesko was the slightly better punter in the preseason.

Son Of A Vidic

Hopefully Sopoaga will help plug the middle, we were shredded badly a couple of times yesterday. So we really need his size and experience in there.

Hazys

Pointless fact about Isaac Sopoaga:

Isaac also attributes his strong throwing arm, reportedly being able to throw the ball 78 yards flat footed, to throwing 1–2 pound rocks at coconuts up to 70 feet high hanging from the trees. He would eventually develop enough strength and accuracy to knock down five or six coconuts in a matter of five minutes according to his own account.

Son Of A Vidic

Hazys wrote: »

The decision to keep Allen over Mesko even looks better now. Mesko has been cut by the Steelers. Allen is cheaper (and a 3yr contract as opposed to Mesko in a contract year) and has clearly out performed him this season. Surprising because Mesko was the slightly better punter in the preseason.

Tough to see a great guy like Mesko getting cut. Sometimes I think we forget to look at the human & emotional side to players. Mesko had such strong connections and a huge community role in the NE area. It often makes you wonder, how much the business end of the NFL can affect a players performance. Statistically speaking Allen is ranked 12th in the league right now for punting average. Mesko was ranked 31st.