The Game Ball Thread: Divisional Round vs Chiefs

[SeoulSoxFan]

Sometimes you need a little luck on your side. That last deflection/pass almost gave me a heart attack.

One and only game ball goes to Edelman. He makes the entire offense go, perhaps even more than Gronk.

This marks the 5th consecutive AFCCG appearance for the Pats. Only the 1973-77 Raiders have done the same. And:

10 AFCG in the BB/Brady era including the last five. Holy fucking shit. Amazing

 

[moondog80]

Andy Reid.

 

[Devizier]

Brady gets a game ball.
Offensive line (gasp) might have earned one too. Might be the soft bigotry of low expectations, though.

 

[Dahabenzapple2]

GRONK & Jules

Andy Reid

Yes Jules makes it go but the couple of drops were the reason we were sweating it out. Great win of course but with a couple of drops caught, they win going away.

I wish every Patriots opponent was game day coached like Andy Reid

 

[RedOctober3829]

Gronk
Edelman
Keshawn Martin
Andy Reid

 

[Reardon's Beard]

J11 G87 DA80 KM82

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

Brady gets a game ball.
Offensive line (gasp) might have earned one too. Might be the soft bigotry of low expectations, though.

Ware & Houston were not 100%, but the line held up remarkably well. Since linemen don't suddenly get better in a 2-week span, I have to chalk this up to defense respecting Edelman and coaching.

 

[axx]

Amendola. The cheap shot was totally cheap but it was the spark the team needed.

 

[Reardon's Beard]

Offensive Line

 

[RedOctober3829]

10th AFCCG for TB12. Unbelievable.

 

[Greg29fan]

Andy Reid

 

[snowmanny]

OK I'll say Brady
10th AFCCG

ED:Beaten by Red

 

[Hoodie Sleeves]

Edelman, and nobody else is even close to him. The offense is just a totally different unit with him in there.

Brady looked pretty good, Gronk looked pretty good, and Butler looked fantastic.

 

[Stitch01]

Offense back on point

Have no idea what I watched the last three minutes. Chiefs were incredible and I can't believe they threw the ball on the next series even with the gassed/MASH defense

 

[ernieshore]

O line for me. They were the biggest question mark coming in and they gave Tom the time he needed in a game where he passed on almost every play.

 

[BusRaker]

Malcolm Brown
I also was very impressed with Steven Jackson's pass protection

 

[Van Everyman]

Edelman, and nobody else is even close to him. The offense is just a totally different unit with him in there.

Brady looked pretty good, Gronk looked pretty good, and Butler looked fantastic.

Butler had a few breakdowns but also at least one play that was nails.

White had a solid game as well.

I'm not sure I'd say Edelman stirs the drink. I think you need him and Gronk both to make it work.

Phew!

 

[CaptainLaddie]

I still don't get the call to pass, but hey.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

@ktsharp Tom Brady will play in his 10th conf champ game next weekend. That's more appearances than 19 active franchises.

Damn it's a f*cking gift. What an incredible run.

 

[Bierman9]

JE11.... Is there a 7th round pick who has been more influential lately? Wow!

 

[Van Everyman]

I still don't get the call to pass, but hey.

Belichick has shown time and time again that if he doesn't have faith in how his team his playing on one side of the ball he will go for the kill with the guys on the other side.

 

[jablo1312]

I'm very ok with the call to pass. I'm fine with them taking a chance to end the game, and if it's incomplete they leave the Chiefs with 1 timeout and like 55 seconds left. You hope (and expect) that Brady doesn't throw a shitty pass there, but sometimes you get lucky.

 

[Hoodie Sleeves]

I'm not sure I'd say Edelman stirs the drink. I think you need him and Gronk both to make it work.

!

Don't get me wrong - Gronk is fantastic - and a game changer.

But the offensive line issues mean Gronk is a blocker when Edelman is out - Edelman helps Brady get the ball out quick - and Gronk gets to run more routes. Things are different when the offensive line isn't a mess, but right Edelman is way more important than Gronk.

 

[BigSoxFan]

I still don't get the call to pass, but hey.

Didn't want to give Chiefs another chance. Certainly a risky call on 2nd and 12.

 

[Jnai]

Tom Brady has played in over 1/5 of all AFC Championship games.

 

[Hoodie Sleeves]

I still don't get the call to pass, but hey.

There's 1:30 or so left, and they 3 timeouts. If you just run, you punt with about 1:15 left, and they have a legitimate shot. If you go for the first down, and get it, you win. If you don't get it, they have an additional timeout left.


I trade the timeout for the shot at the first down and ending the game every time.

 

[SeoulSoxFan]

JE11.... Is there a 7th round pick who has been more influential lately? Wow!

No, Welker was an UDFA though.

 

[Koufax]

They had great success on short passes all day. They needed another first down to avoid giving the ball back to KC. The problem wasn't that a pass was called, it was that Brady threw into traffic and got a deflection.

 

[williams_482]

Brady, Gronkowski, Eddleman, and Ninkovich stood out among the players, but I think the coaching staff deserves serious accolades. The fiasco on the opposite sideline notwithstanding, I Love that this team is willing to almost completely disregard the run game when they feel it favors them. I don't think any other team would have dared to air it out more than 75% of the time while leading for pretty much the entire game.

 

[DegenerateSoxFan]

Edelman. He really has that kind of impact.

The O-line. Phew!

Gronk. The queen on the chessboard.

The defense as a whole. They'll get better next week, but having the key guys all back showed.

 

[soxhop411]

“@RyanHannable: FWII: Julian Edelman left the locker room headed in the direction of the X-Ray room.”

 

[snowmanny]

Tom Brady has played in over 1/5 of all AFC Championship games.

Well, not over but yeah, 1 in 5. Amazing. I think Montana was in seven conference championship games.

 

[Jnai]

Well, not over but yeah, 1 in 5. Amazing. I think Montana was in seven conference championship games.

There haven't been 50 AFC championship games, I don't think.

 

[BigSoxFan]

“@RyanHannable: FWII: Julian Edelman left the locker room headed in the direction of the X-Ray room.”

Umm...not dealing with this again.

 

[snowmanny]

And he hasn't played in ten yet, either.

Oh I see. AFC not AFL. You're correct.

 

[Kliq]

Can't talk about the O-line being better and not mention Vollmer being back as the rock that steadied the rest of the line.

I thought Chung was awesome today. Lowered the boom on runners and did a great job covering a lot of ground and keeping Smith 5 yard dumps from turning into 20 yard gains.

 

[Jnai]

And he hasn't played in ten yet, either.

Oh, really good point. Let's edit the fun fact to account for meteor strikes.

 

[( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)]

Brady, Gronkowski, Eddleman, and Ninkovich stood out among the players, but I think the coaching staff deserves serious accolades. The fiasco on the opposite sideline notwithstanding, I Love that this team is willing to almost completely disregard the run game when they feel it favors them. I don't think any other team would have dared to air it out more than 75% of the time while leading for pretty much the entire game.

Agreed and i know what I'm about to say had nothing to do with their motivations for going super pass heavy, but it feels like a fuck you to the NFL. They want high scoring fantasy football friendly games and the pats are literally the model. I know I'm stretching here but anything that looks like a fuck you to roger is fine by me.

 

[snowmanny]

Oh, really good point. Let's edit the fun fact to account for meteor strikes.

Well as I edited above you were right on a technicality

 

[crossdog]

Edelman, Butler, Chandler Jones

 

[WayBackVazquez]

I still don't get the call to pass, but hey.

I can personally think of more than 1000 reasons. O/U on Brady yards was 300.5. God bless America.

 

[Hoodie Sleeves]

Amendola. The cheap shot was totally cheap but it was the spark the team needed.

Anybody know why they didn't just wave for a fair catch and then step out of the way on that one? Ball came down at about the 5 - would have been an easy touchback.

 

[nothumb]

Don't get me wrong - Gronk is fantastic - and a game changer.

But the offensive line issues mean Gronk is a blocker when Edelman is out - Edelman helps Brady get the ball out quick - and Gronk gets to run more routes. Things are different when the offensive line isn't a mess, but right Edelman is way more important than Gronk.

I don't disagree with this, but I think it's as much a measure of the deficiencies on the OL (and the fact that Edelman's skill set covers for them) as it is the relative value of the two players.

 

[RedOctober3829]

Edelman back in locker room per Twitter

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

OL was better because Edelman and Gronk were back. Brady had the quick pass open all the time, so the pressure never got to him.

 

[DeadlySplitter]

Up:
Brady was mostly great
JE11 after some predictable rust

Down:
Ryan - has he hit the wall? Looked terrible again
Butler - Looked lost a couple times, did make a play though
3rd down defense as a whole was pretty awful but I think that was partially a fluke and Smith's legs, we won't be seeing that again until maybe SB

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Brady all day long. Such an amazing decision maker.

Reid squandering time was nice, too.

 

[( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)]

OL was better because Edelman and Gronk were back. Brady had the quick pass open all the time, so the pressure never got to him.

Half the board was saying that this is exactly what would happen for the past two weeks. The other half kept saying they saw no reason for the optimism.

Guess we are all glad the first half was right.

 

[Ed Hillel]

Anybody know why they didn't just wave for a fair catch and then step out of the way on that one? Ball came down at about the 5 - would have been an easy touchback.

How do you figure, he didn't touch it and it still wasn't a touchback.

I did not think it was a cheapshot, it was borderline legal, but I thought it was dumb because the ball could have hit him with his back to the punt.

 

[Ferm Sheller]

Edelman back in locker room per Twitter

Wheeled back in a wheelchair, though.