The Game Ball Thread: Week 7 vs Falcons

edmunddantes

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Great to see the D stopping teams versus the D getting lucky.

CBs get the game balls. What a great night for them.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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Bademosi, Shaq Mason, Butler and whoever called for the Falcons to tee the Pats up with great field position with two minutes left in the first half.
 

steveluck7

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Gotta give one to the non DH LB crew. Marsh blocks a fg, Harris makes a few big hits in the run game and Van Noy makes a great tackle on the 4th and goal

Edit: not that Hightower was bad but those 3 stood out esp, the way this early season has gone for them
 

DeadlySplitter

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Atlanta playcalling. Also we seemed to have their FG blocking figured out.

not that we didn't play really well, but Atlanta was pretty poor in all phases too. would have been a near 30 point win if the refs were better.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Might have been Butler's best game as a Patriot. Up there.

If he and Gilmore can find some chemistry this could turn into a really special defense against all odds after the first 6 weeks.

I'm going to give a nod to Marsh. That was just an effort and hustle play to block the field goal on a play where guys often just go through the motions. Maybe it doesn't matter too much in a 23-7 game. But if Atlanta gets the first score, who knows what might be different in that game.
 

PseuFighter

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those uniforms. they've given up seven points over eight quarters in those uniforms.
 

ehaz

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All those Jameson Caskmates commercials for distracting Sarkisian.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Everyone on defense, great performance all around.

All four running backs had some good plays; James Tecumseh White has to be among the most disliked men in Atlanta these days.

Gronk for both receiving and blocking, Cooks and Hogan with good grabs. Hope Hogan's ok, looked pretty shaken up, glad they took him out there.

Ghost was nail.

O-line let Brady get hit early but they settled down. Brady had that one pick get called back played better as the game went on.

Josh for that nice play design on Cook's TD and Patricia for the nice game plan with the secondary.
 
Apr 7, 2006
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Agree with all of the above, although Marsh was running around quite a bit (not always in a good way), so a game ball just for the block isn't something I'm fully on board with. What I am on board with (that hasn't been mentioned yet) is...

Brandin Cooks. Very solid game for him. Like seeing him contribute without the benefit of a bomb. A number of "in tight space" plays.

Dion was dynamic and held up. Hope they keep feeding him and he keeps getting up.

No game ball for Burkhead, but a very nice game for him, if in only a few spots. EDIT: Didn't realize he carried 6 times for 31 yards. Love it.

EDIT: Gotta give a game ball to DAVID HARRIS for playing way more than he has this season and getting a couple nice crunches on the RBs. We may not have another chance, so...game ball it is!

Finally, Adam Butler, big sack for everyone's second-favorite UDFA named Butler.
 
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wilked

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Van Noy had two very nice plays. I can't exactly remember the first, but remember it being good
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Here's a stat for you that I think really captures the game.

Falcons had only 8 drives, one of which was the 15 second drive at the end of the first half. So, effectively 7 drives.

In the last six games, the Patriots' opponents had 14, 10 ,12, 9, 12, and 12 drives.

The Patriots had a ball control offense that kept the Falcons off the field and gave their defense a chance to be great. Over 160 yards rushing, averaging 4.5. Burkhead and Lewis were both over 5 yards per carry. Brady had one big carry to keep a drive going. The Falcons could just get no rhythm, because the Patriots were just taking huge chunks of time off the clock every drive.

The other thing that stood out was the Patriot's tackling. I don't know where the stats are kept but I would think the Patriots had their best opponents' yards after first contact that they have had all season.

Edit: typo
 
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riboflav

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Um... there's been a lot made of Butler's game tonight but what bout Adam Butler? Dude is coming on big time.
 

Super Nomario

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Here's a stat for you that I think really captures the game.

Falcons had only 8 drives, one of which was the 15 second drive at the end of the first half. So, effectively 7 drives.

In the last six games, the Patriots' opponents had 14, 10 ,12, 9, 12, and 12 drives.

The Patriots had a ball control offense that kept the Falcons off the field and gave their defense a chance to be great. Over 160 yards rushing, averaging 4.5. Burkhead and Lewis were both over 5 yards per carry. Brady had one big carry to keep a drive going. The Falcons could just get no rhythm, because the Patriots were just taking huge chunks of time off the clock every drive.

The other thing that stood out was the Patriots tackling. I don't know where the stats are kept but I would think the Patriots had their best opponents' yards after first contact that they have had all season.
The drives thing shows how the final score undersells the offense's performance. 23 points is meh, but 23 points on 8 drives - the last one of which they weren't even trying to score - is awesome. They didn't punt after the first quarter, scoring points on all of their drives except the last one when they ran the clock out.

As far as negatives, the pass rush was pretty invisible tonight (as it was last week). For all the criticism the D got early in the year, I thought the pass rush was actually OK the first few weeks, but Wise and Flowers have tapered off a bit and they aren't getting much out of the DL in the pass game. Obviously it didn't matter tonight with the rest of the D playing so well.
 

H78

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Game ball to the fog for giving us what's hopefully a much more common camera angle during NFL broadcasts from this day forward.
 

pokey_reese

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The four-headed rushing attack. It's not often that the Pats put up 160 yards on a non-Colts opponent, even one with a bad rushing defense. Rex looked shifty and fresh, and it was good to see Lewis healthy after such a heavy workload last week. Really though, they all looked better at hitting the holes the O-Line was opening tonight. Not sure if it was a scheme thing, or more practice, but it seemed like all season the run blocking didn't seem horrible, just out of synch (even if the pass blocking was bad), but tonight the RBs found those holes and got into the secondary.
 

tims4wins

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I'm not a religious person, but the absolute blind faith that I have in BB / TB to get the job done must be the closest thing there is to believing in some sort of god. Is this how religious people feel about whatever god they worship?
 

loshjott

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Vegas oughta set the default HFA for the Pats at -5 rather than the usual -3 since they manage to get so far into everyone's heads when they come to Gillette.
 

Red Averages

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Vegas oughta set the default HFA for the Pats at -5 rather than the usual -3 since they manage to get so far into everyone's heads when they come to Gillette.
Of course the Patriots got blown out by 15 at home in week 1, barely beat HOU by 3 pts at home in week 3, Lost to Carolina by 3 in week 4, and then blewout the Falcons at home.

Great game all around, really can't think of anyone that had a bad game, coaches included. It was a worrying start with the constant pressure ATL was getting, but the O-line/coaches adjusted well. Brady does such a great job of moving within the pocket to asset the O-line as well. Doesn't get enough credit for that aspect of his game.
 

BaseballJones

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Lots to be happy about, on both sides of the ball.

The Patriots failed to score on their first two drives, but then scored on each of their last 5 drives, except for the last one where they ran the ball down Atlanta's throat, draining the clock, until taking three knees at the Falcon 17. If they wanted to score there, they would have - and most likely a touchdown.
 

Bowhemian

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Game ball to the defense for an overall excellent game.

Game ball to the ATL coaching staff for deciding to go for it on 4th and 6 before the half. They were only down by 10, and were getting the ball back after the half. A punt would have put the ball at the 20 (assuming a touchback), giving the Pats a much longer field. Sure, the Pats still had 2 minutes and 3 time outs left, so I think you could assume that they would have picked up 3 points either way. I don’t know, I think it was a bad decision. Gave the Pats bonus points going into the half. Hey, I’m not complaining.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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They were shooting off fireworks after TD’s? Is that new? Is he getting that confused with the minute men?
Pretty sure it was pre-game fireworks. The start of the game was smoky and that soon gave way to a beautiful blanket of fog. Weak excuse making from Julio. Lost a tiny sliver of respect for him seeing those quotes.
 

TheoShmeo

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I thought Bademosi and Jones made a big difference last night. The oft repeated explanation is that the communication has improved.

But why is that? Is it just time? Or are they better with the next man up duo than they are with Gilmore and Rowe?

I know it’s not that simple. I also know that I’m not anxious for Bademosi and Jones to return to the bench.
 

Toe Nash

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Game balls all around but I think my special one goes to Dion Lewis for trucking Ricardo Allen for an extra 5 yards on this run:

Not that Allen is a huge guy but I didn't think he had this in him.
 

Van Everyman

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Another point I made in the gamethread was that I was somewhat stunned that Jones spent as much time during a pregame interview he did with Tirico(?) about his Super Bowl catch. The *only* acceptable answers to that question is "It doesn't matter, we lost," "This is a different season" or possibly "That wasn't even the best catch in the game." Instead he went on about it for, like, two minutes including a ridiculous humblebrag that it wasn't a big deal because he's so used to making catches like that. It was just ... wow.

Jones is an A+ talent and I get that every team isn't like the Pats with their "Onto Cincinnati" stuff. But between this and Ryan looking shell shocked on the sidelines as the end of the game, it seems pretty clear that this is another Super Bowl opponent that the Pats have splintered and broken.

You begin to understand why everyone was so desperate to hang them during Deflategate.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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Jones actually had a good game. This clearly was not one of those "take away their number 1" kind of defensive schemes and instead seemed a bit more focused on overall defense and run stopping.
 

Super Nomario

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Jones actually had a good game. This clearly was not one of those "take away their number 1" kind of defensive schemes and instead seemed a bit more focused on overall defense and run stopping.
It seemed like they doubled him a lot early in classic "take away #1" mode but with the big lead in the second half they played more vanilla zone and he caught a bunch of shorter stuff. He ended up with 9 catches but none longer than 16 yards.
 

DJnVa

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Jones had a good game in the same way a guy that hits 2 HRs against the last man in the bullpen late in a 15-4 blowout loss does.

He had 3 catches for 33 yards in first half, and 4 for 36 on the lone TD drive in the 4th quarter after game was essentially over.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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As all-world WR divas go, Jones is a hell of a lot more professional than most. I can't be mad at him.
 

BigSoxFan

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I’ll never understand why Julio Jones isn’t a TD monster. We’re into Week 8 now and he has 1 TD, which came in garbage time last night. He’s only had double digits once with 10 in 2012 and he’s played his entire career with a good to very good QB in Ryan. His career is looking more like Andre Johnson and less like the Moss/Calvin Johnson that his talent/physique suggests.
 

Jnai

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One last thought. I spoke to Matt Chatham at halftime, he had D.J. Shockley on his podcast to preview the game. Shockley was Ryan's backup for a couple of years, does a lot of football media down in Atlanta since he was both on the Falcons and the Bulldogs. Shockley said that before the season, Sarkisian had Matt Ryan come in and told him, look, I know you have had something like six different offensive coordinators, I don't want you to have to learn anything new at this point. And he told Ryan that he could put together a playbook with his favorite plays from all of the offensive coordinators he has played with, and that's the playbook that the Falcons are using. I think that provides some interesting insight on the stagnation of the Falcons offense. I would imagine that most of that playbook is still Shanahan stuff. But no matter whether Ryan got to pick out plays he liked or not, Sarkisian is the one calling the plays during the games each Sunday.
From football outsiders. That is some serious Wtf material.
 

weeba

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I'm not a religious person, but the absolute blind faith that I have in BB / TB to get the job done must be the closest thing there is to believing in some sort of god. Is this how religious people feel about whatever god they worship?
Once they got the ball back at the end of the half, I knew they'd just march down the field. Blind faith.