Are there stats available that show splits by carry?
But the stat is Titans defending against passing plays to RB's, and they don't seem great at defending against TE's either. So, sure, they might go "large" with the intent to pass and if Titans stay true to form, they'll march down the field.
Why? They are prohibitive 85% favorites. About as high as it gets. That still means we lose 3 times out of every 20, leaving us with 8 months of WTF suck. It happens. If memory serves, the Pats were 78% favorites in the perfect season SB. The giants had more plausible paths to an upset than the Titans in this game, but still. Anyone who overlooks anyone is an idiot.
The Pats would have to shit down their leg to lose this game. That invalidates neither your point nor my own.
It’s huge, especially if he’s at full strength.
Sweet. Burn 'em deep once or twice while they try extra hard to cover the RB's...
I think SoSH, as a whole, is Sally Jenkins. We all deserve a slice of that cake.
I agree, given that the Titans knocked Kelce out last week -- they might be gunning for Gronk this week. Or worse.
WBZ just had 25 degrees at game time and dropping and 10-20mph winds during the game.
I’d want as neutral conditions as possible given the Patriots have a massive advantage that can only be interrupted by creating a large amount of volatility in the factors (climate, turnovers, sickness, etc). But that’s just me.
It’s not just you. Especially on the wind. The patriots passing game is light years better, wind can be an equalizer. Least wind possible please
That's exactly right. When you have the talent advantage, you want the game to be played straight up. When you have a talent disadvantage you need to find ways to disrupt that - scheme, weather, luck, bad calls, freak occurrences, trickery, once-in-a-lifetime plays or performances, etc. Make anything but talent be a deciding factor.
Yeah, I'm bucking the crowd thought on this one.
Coming back to this concern, I don't see the Pats getting trapped. I can't think of a playoff loss over the years that I thought was down to them looking past an opponent. Even that ridiculous Jets loss in 2010 was more about playing tight and Ryan's D disrupting Tom than not being up for the game, I would think. I also think that the Titans came back from 3-21 to a team that beat the Patriots gives Belichick and the players themselves all they need to not take this team lightly.
The players on the team shouldnt be overlooking the game. Its a pretty boring game as a fan. Its not much different from the Bills coming to town week 16, higher stakes I guess but the Pats arent going to lose this game barring some sort of crazy injury situation. I can't say Im particularly excited about it beyond getting it out of the way and getting to a more competitive AFCCG.
I was actually thinking of the 59-0 game vs Titans in the snow in 2009 when I was reading about bad weather. Patriots seem to thrive in bad weather. The two playoff victories over the Colts in 2003 and 2004 also come to mind.
Yeah, that makes sense for sure and I understand what you are saying. I wonder how long the Titans will stick with the run? Hard to do if you are down 2 scores.
That second half is the source of whatever nervousness one could feel about this game. TEN did a good job limiting the number of drives KC had and the roulette-wheel-o-life had KC come up empty on those limited drives. And more fundamentally, TEN has better odds of winning this game than they did of coming back from 18 down in the second half last week. Stuff happens.
