You know how we always say when another coach does something stupid "thank lucky stars we have BB and his staff"? Today the worm turned. I hated the second half "kickoff". It completely flipped momentum. Don't do something that stupid again, Bill.
The drop kick was in the first half and had no bearing on the final outcome.You know how we always say when another coach does something stupid "thank lucky stars we have BB and his staff"? Today the worm turned. I hated the second half "kickoff". It completely flipped momentum. Don't do something that stupid again, Bill.
The drop kick was in the first half and had no bearing on the final outcome.
It definitely had an impact on the game. I don't know why up 14-0 they chose to do something that could give the opponent a short field and a cheap opportunity to help their effort to come back. If they drive the whole field after a touchback it's one thing. But giving them the ball on the 40 just because you think a low percentage play will work isn't worth it up 2 scores.The drop kick was in the first half and had no bearing on the final outcome.
Assuming the Pats kicked off and had a touchback, we are talking about 20 yards of field position. I assume Belichick and the special teams coach saw something on film that made them think that the play could be successful. A slightly better kick, just a yard or two longer, and it's past the first line.Comments like this assume confidence/momentum/etc mean nothing in a game played by human beings.
I made some points in my previous post replying to someone else but you brought up some other points.It definitely had an impact on the game. I don't know why up 14-0 they chose to do something that could give the opponent a short field and a cheap opportunity to help their effort to come back. If they drive the whole field after a touchback it's one thing. But giving them the ball on the 40 just because you think a low percentage play will work isn't worth it up 2 scores.
Jordan Matthews said the drop kick was taken as an insult by the team. They were dead in the water there. Giving them a spark was totally unnecessary.
Now, there were things that were worse than this play that happened after. This was just the one play where you had total control over the situation and screwed it up royally.
I understand that the attempt comes from something they saw on film. I disagree on doing it however. On the Matthews comment, I believe it gave the whole team life. I know how psychology and momentum can affect a team during the game. They go and score to make it 14-7 and are back in the game. There's a different mindset for the defense now and they do their job then special teams comes up with a big play to tie the game. That one decision by the Patriots got the ball rolling downhill. This is similar to how the ineligible plays in the playoffs helped spark the Pats offense. They didn't affect the outcome of the game but they helped flip momentum from one side to the other. Obviously, the Pats had their chances to flip the momentum back with the long drive in the 3rd but it didn't happen. The drop kick was a needless gamble at that stage of the game. If they want to break it out in a situation when they're trailing and absolutely need it, then I have no problem because the reward outweighs the risk.I made some points in my previous post replying to someone else but you brought up some other points.
Why did the Pats choose to attempt the drop kick? Something they scouted that they thought could work is the first thing. But I think they saw this particular moment to put the game away and give the offense a short field. With the injuries on offense my assumption is that the coaching staff knew the limitations of the offense with no Edelman and no Gronk.
Jordan Matthews can say all he wants but the Eagles offense did next to nothing after the drop kick. They scored 14 points.
If special teams does its job and Brady doesn't try to force a throw at the 1, this game is completely different. The attempted drop kick, in my opinion, has zero bearing on the outcome.
Assuming the Pats kicked off and had a touchback, we are talking about 20 yards of field position. I assume Belichick and the special teams coach saw something on film that made them think that the play could be successful. A slightly better kick, just a yard or two longer, and it's past the first line.
You know what gave the Eagles life? A blocked punt for a TD, a pick six, and a punt return for a TD.
3 sacks and 13 hits. Almost enough to change his middle name to Carr.Did the offensive line play poorly? I don't know but it seemed to me there were not a lot of guys open. That Brady pick-6 was a killer. I can't believe that the special teams have fucked them over so much in the last 2 weeks. Very un-Pats like.
I thought the offensive line was quite poor. 4 sacks allowed. It seemed like Brady was under siege all day. I don't see the "hurries" count anywhere, but I recall it being at least 12 drop backs (out of 39 or so?) where Brady was facing intense pressure.Did the offensive line play poorly? I don't know but it seemed to me there were not a lot of guys open.
Doesn't matter. Fire his ass. Unprepared and amateurish in the extreme.Firing the special teams coach would be a Rex Ryan move.
If the special teams coach isn't fired by tomorrow morning I will be shocked and angry. 3 special teams TDs allowed today, absolutely unacceptable and not an NFL-level performance. Fire his ass and move on.
I'd say:Special teams and LaFell. If I see him quit or let up halfway through a route again I'm going to go through another set of remotes.
However I'm not even remotely worried. Won't see that poor of play again from special teams, that's for damn sure.
I stayed off SoSH today. Did anyone have a good theory as to that drop kick by Ebner? That was a head scratched for me.
Why not cut Ebner since he was at the epicenter of all the special teams mishaps?I THINK IT WOULD BE THE PERFECT ACTION TO TAKE AND IT WOULD MAKE ME HAPPY, SO THERE.
Do you think ST was good today? Do you think that maybe giving up 14 points (and that hideously stupid pooch kick) was an optimum result? Do you think that maybe they had serious problems on STs and it never got fixed?
They were hot fucking garbage today and someone needs to go.
Unless I see stats to the contrary, I'm on board with this analysisI think guys are not getting open and Brady is holding the ball longer, thus the hits and sacks are piling up.
Special teams were terrible today. No one needs to be fired tomorrow. The Pats don't really work that way, if BB doesn't Joe Judge is up to snuff he won't be back next season. He's not going to huff and puff and fire a coach in season because of one hideous game.I THINK IT WOULD BE THE PERFECT ACTION TO TAKE AND IT WOULD MAKE ME HAPPY, SO THERE.
Do you think ST was good today? Do you think that maybe giving up 14 points (and that hideously stupid pooch kick) was an optimum result? Do you think that maybe they had serious problems on STs and it never got fixed?
They were hot fucking garbage today and someone needs to go.
Agree with this. Judge has led a #1 unit for the entire season. A reactionary firing would be completely out of BB's playbook.Special teams were terrible today. No one needs to be fired tomorrow. The Pats don't really work that way, if BB doesn't Joe Judge is up to snuff he won't be back next season. He's not going to huff and puff and fire a coach in season because of one hideous game.
Yes, that's what I mean. The pick-6 throw was definitely a bad decision, but the Eagles got lucky in that the ball deflected perfectly to Jenkins and then he was able to run it back the entire length of the field.I think he means in terms of how bad the decision/execution was, not how much impact it had in the game. It was a worse play, even if the consequences weren't as bad.
Is that you Stephen Ross? Dan Campbell? Great Grandma Ford? Jim Irsay?I THINK IT WOULD BE THE PERFECT ACTION TO TAKE AND IT WOULD MAKE ME HAPPY, SO THERE.
Do you think ST was good today? Do you think that maybe giving up 14 points (and that hideously stupid pooch kick) was an optimum result? Do you think that maybe they had serious problems on STs and it never got fixed?
They were hot fucking garbage today and someone needs to go.
He had Blount on a check down for a short gain or at least a safe throwaway. Protection was fine (only 3 rush). First read off play-action was backside on the post (Martin) / wheel (Amendola) combo but coverage was tight. LaFell is running a deep cross (from the same side) - really, he's a decoy trying to take the safety with him (which would open a window for Martin on the post). But the safety plays it perfectly, passing LaFell off across the middle. LaFell continues toward the sideline instead of to the corner as Brady anticipated. But he has two defenders deep on that half of the field and one underneath (defensive end who impressively dropped into coverage about 20 yards down field). Just a bad decision by Brady.I just don't understand the brady pick in the end zone after the trick play. I'll never understand it. It's first down, right? Just throw the ball away. That's what Tom has been the best at lately.
But maybe the answer isn't the OL, but having two more exceptional players to throw to that will be open..and also help everyone else to be open?My fear is that the consistent rushes/hits on Brady are really affecting his decision making, and it won't get fixed even if Edelman & Gronk are back (at least fixed enough to get deeply into the playoffs.)
I don't see an answer on the OL.
Agree with a lot of what you said here. For any football game if someone told you one team would literally hand 21 points to the other team via mistakes/miscues ( blocked punt TD, INT TD,Punt TD ) and throw in another INT for good measure the odds of winning that have to be around 3 percent or so even if the other team is terrible as the Eagles were the 3 weeks prior.Phew - now we don't have to deal with the pressure of being the only 1 loss AFC team!
But, seriously, I'd be a lot more discouraged if Gronk and Edelman were healthy. The past 2 weeks have basically been Murphy's Law on a football field for this team and they've nearly pulled out each game. The special teams play kind of baffles me but I'll get over it.
Also, the defense certainly wasn't the reason we lost today but they didn't really force the issue until the very end. No sacks or turnovers until the Eagles' 2nd to last drive? Game flow let eagles be conservative with Bradford but we need to do better.
Immediately after the game I felt like the pass blocking had been awful. I'm about 2/3rd of the way through reqatching the Pats possessions, and it doesn't look as bad as I remembered. No one being open was a big problem, as were the dropsies. Also, the two INTs were really bad, but otherwise Brady did some nice work (again) moving around/scrambling to buy time.I think guys are not getting open and Brady is holding the ball longer, thus the hits and sacks are piling up.
Yes but what I don't understand is why waste an interesting trick play at that time. The drop kick onsides is not a bad idea but why not save it for when you really need it. The Eagles player that recovered the kick also made a hell of a play.Assuming the Pats kicked off and had a touchback, we are talking about 20 yards of field position. I assume Belichick and the special teams coach saw something on film that made them think that the play could be successful. A slightly better kick, just a yard or two longer, and it's past the first line.
You know what gave the Eagles life? A blocked punt for a TD, a pick six, and a punt return for a TD.
This is the best post in the thread IMO. They couldn't stop the run early and the O line continued to have some problems. I am not concerned about having random special teams problems going forward.I tend to think serious problems would be ones which are consistent week to week. The Patriots Punt and Kick units have been excellent all season until, well, today. (I'm not counting last week, it was a rookie/practice squad guy in a big spot in poor weather). Let's see how the team responds with protection and lane assignments next week.
OL was the bigger worry and Brady made some bad throws. Lafell was not very good today.