Just a complete ball game. Everyone gets a game ball, especially the ST unit.
It's game ball time again!
It's game ball time again!
The Game Ball Thread: Wk.13 at Chargers
- Thread starter SeoulSoxFan
- Start date
Gunner Olszewski
Gunner Justin Bethel
Gunner Matthew Slater
Coach Achord
Chargers division:
Whoever the heck coaches their ST
Stan Kroenke and Dean Spanos ($5 billion and 70 degrees may not be glorious in 2020 but it will be in the future)
HM:
Pats division
Kick block unit
Rest of Punt Return unit
Damien Harris
Entire coaching staff
OL
JC Jackson
Whoever the heck scouts for UDFA DB's
Chargers division
Anthony Lynn
DC
OC
Gunner Justin Bethel
Gunner Matthew Slater
Coach Achord
Chargers division:
Whoever the heck coaches their ST
Stan Kroenke and Dean Spanos ($5 billion and 70 degrees may not be glorious in 2020 but it will be in the future)
HM:
Pats division
Kick block unit
Rest of Punt Return unit
Damien Harris
Entire coaching staff
OL
JC Jackson
Whoever the heck scouts for UDFA DB's
Chargers division
Anthony Lynn
DC
OC
Pains me this team, a very good team, is going to finish #8 in the AFC, and *just* miss a rematch with the Chiefs. That's my take.
Tons of guys had excellent games today. Gunner at the top of the list, but many others. Best game the Pats have played in a while. Absolutely dominating performance against a 3-8 team yes, but one with an electric young QB and statistically a pretty good defense.
this is a trash take for a game ball thread
Gunner/Special Teams
Damien Harris
Our coaching staff
10-6 gets them in. Yes its a long shot, but I believe this is still in their control.
As an aside...10-6 playoffs or not and Belichick is COY
San Diego has a pretty good offense. Outstanding defense today.
Game ball has to go to special teams.
Game ball has to go to special teams.
I didn’t see too much but it felt like every defensive play I saw Uche was like a whirling dervish. So quick.
Given that a team only supplies 12 game balls not including the kicking balls, Bailey and Folk get freebies.
BTW: When is the last time a team scored 45 points and also punted 4 times?
Offense (2):
Harris 5 yards a carry
Stidham if only for forcing Cam to pass better
Defense (5):
Adrian Phillips 12 tackles?
Guy, Uche, Butler and Winovich, still leaving out some worthy candidates
ST (5):
Gun Show
Cody Davis ?!?!?
The elder McCourty (true, by only 27 minutes)
Bethel
The rest for doing there jobs every week
Honorable ball to Lisa White for a horrific accident, the death of her husband, and the curser of Kevin Harlan
BTW: When is the last time a team scored 45 points and also punted 4 times?
Offense (2):
Harris 5 yards a carry
Stidham if only for forcing Cam to pass better
Defense (5):
Adrian Phillips 12 tackles?
Guy, Uche, Butler and Winovich, still leaving out some worthy candidates
ST (5):
Gun Show
Cody Davis ?!?!?
The elder McCourty (true, by only 27 minutes)
Bethel
The rest for doing there jobs every week
Honorable ball to Lisa White for a horrific accident, the death of her husband, and the curser of Kevin Harlan
Defense - especially the pass rush
Special teams - especially Gunner
Coaching - BB owning rookie QBs
Offense - basically mistake free
Special teams - especially Gunner
Coaching - BB owning rookie QBs
Offense - basically mistake free
This was a coaching clinic in every sense of the word. Anthony Lynn vs. Bill Belichick is the equivalent of the Crimson Tide vs. a small high school program. San Diego had no chance, from start to finish.
Cam Newton, Harris and the running game. I cannot imagine opposing coaches getting excited to play the Patriots offense - even with a terrible passing game (ex-Stidham) they present a huge problem given their varied, diverse run attack. The bonus here is the terrible weather that occurs around the playoffs now tilts to NE's favor.
There's not going to be bad winter in the SoFi dome on Thursday or Miami in two Sundays from now.
If they get to 8-6, we can maybe start talking about a playoff run. But Cam is still very hit or miss on throws, and they're not going to face a poorly coached team again until week 17.
I'm happy just seeing pieces playing well for the first time / again after that big slump in the 4 game losing streak. they really need to figure out QB though, Cam isn't going to be it.
If they get to 8-6, we can maybe start talking about a playoff run. But Cam is still very hit or miss on throws, and they're not going to face a poorly coached team again until week 17.
I'm happy just seeing pieces playing well for the first time / again after that big slump in the 4 game losing streak. they really need to figure out QB though, Cam isn't going to be it.
The Charger D and ST are just awful, but that's a really talented offense that was flat-out crushed. Truly impressive work by the Pats D to shut them out.
Game balls to the Pats ST (not just the runbacks, but punts and kickoffs too), the previously maligned linebacking corps and edge rushers. They were clobbering Herbert and his receivers, forcing drops and limiting the short passes to limited gains. Herbert had a full-on Manning face there by the end.
Game balls to the Pats ST (not just the runbacks, but punts and kickoffs too), the previously maligned linebacking corps and edge rushers. They were clobbering Herbert and his receivers, forcing drops and limiting the short passes to limited gains. Herbert had a full-on Manning face there by the end.
The direct snaps to Harris added an intriguing angle. Maybe they just wanted to put something different in coaches's minds and they won't use for more than what we saw. Or, maybe they have a few other plays in that package that they didn't want/need to show one things got out of hand. Either way, it shows a morphing of the offensive mindset from what we've seen for decades
Yeah, this is where I am. A solid team should be able to take advantage to an opponent's glaring weakness. Making what had been that team's strength look as bad as it did was what was most impressive
Holy crap yes, I'd completely forgotten about the Wildcat! Cam just split out and did nothing at all, but that could easily turn into receiving or blocking in a heartbeat.
Since he gets a ton of grief anytime anything goes badly... Josh McDaniels. That was one helluva game plan. Splitting Cam out for the wildcat, the WR runs, just a slew of great calls.
Hard to believe the Pats scored 45 points getting 69 yards passing from their starting QB. I still don't believe that's a sustainable recipe for success, but this is the game ball thread, so:
Special Teams - But Felger & Mazz say special teams plays don't matter, so...
RB's
OL
Cam's feet
All 11 on D
Special Teams - But Felger & Mazz say special teams plays don't matter, so...
RB's
OL
Cam's feet
All 11 on D
Nice to see Sony be productive after all the grief he gets here. He's had a good season when healthy.
It was nice seeing Sony back, but he mostly looked like the same guy who has only been moderately productive over the last 15 months, with little in the way of burst, wiggle or power. 35 yards on 10 carries is pretty blah (his catch and run was good though). At this point he shouldn't be any more than a way for Harris to get a breather (80 yards on 16 carries is much more impressive) every now and then.
Sony Michel's day was a bit better than the 10 for 35 indicates:
1: 10 yard pickup on 1st down.
2.: 4 yard pickup on 3rd-and-4 for a first down.
3-5: A triple of 3 yard pickups on 1st down to open the 2nd half.
6: A 4 yard run on 3rd down.
7: No gain after his nice catch-and-run in the 4th.
8, 9, 10: 3 runs (3, 5, 0) when running out the clock on the Pats penultimate series late in the 4th quarter.
It's not cherry picking to remove those last 3 meaningless runs, and his average is closer to 3.9 ypc when those are removed. He basically did what was asked the few times he got to touch the ball.
1: 10 yard pickup on 1st down.
2.: 4 yard pickup on 3rd-and-4 for a first down.
3-5: A triple of 3 yard pickups on 1st down to open the 2nd half.
6: A 4 yard run on 3rd down.
7: No gain after his nice catch-and-run in the 4th.
8, 9, 10: 3 runs (3, 5, 0) when running out the clock on the Pats penultimate series late in the 4th quarter.
It's not cherry picking to remove those last 3 meaningless runs, and his average is closer to 3.9 ypc when those are removed. He basically did what was asked the few times he got to touch the ball.
It is 100% cherry picking (it's not like he had a bunch of runs from the 1 yard line, and if he had broken one of runs for a long gain it would be used as evidence that he'd had a good day), and even then his average is under 4. Regardless, my comment wasn't even based on his numbers - he didn't look that good, on a day in which the Pats O-line spent plenty of time pushing around the other team. 11 touches, and he had just two real nice plays (his first run and his one reception).
Those last 3 runs were completely meaningless; he basically was told to run into a stacked box to run out the clock on a 45-0 game. Those plays literally do not matter.
I would agree he wasn't great. I thought he was OK in his first real game action in a while. In limited touches, he had no negative play, and for the most part did the job he was asked.
No negative plays is really his only positive. I don't mean that sarcastically, he very rarely goes backwards and he almost never fumbles, and we know these traits are ones that the coaching staff values highly (although maybe that mindset changes when the passing game provides nothing). He looked exactly as good as he's looked for the last 20 games or so (during which he averaged 3.98 yards per carry and was a non-factor in the passing game), which is to say pretty blah. For me that's not something worth getting excited about, but he is certainly going to be a part of the running game going forward (certainly with Burkhead out, if only to spell Harris now and then), so it's good to see he's back in his usual form.
View: https://twitter.com/danielrpopper/status/1335763809680572417
@danielrpopper
The Patriots lined up to punt 5 times in this game. The #Chargers had the wrong number of players on the field for 3 of those plays. On one series, they lined for a punt with 12, got flagged and gave up the first down, then lined up with 10 four snaps later.
@danielrpopper
The Patriots lined up to punt 5 times in this game. The #Chargers had the wrong number of players on the field for 3 of those plays. On one series, they lined for a punt with 12, got flagged and gave up the first down, then lined up with 10 four snaps later.
The coach preaching wrapping up the ball carrier. There was a stretch this season when the D did a poor job of wrapping up a runner or receiver. Today, they not only wrapped up consistently, but also went to the ball with speed and blowing up the play several times. Hall had a couple of nice plays. We might have something special in Uche. He's a real athlete and seems to have an efficient motor.
Forgot to add each team's uniform designer. Those Chargers uniforms might be the best and the Pats' uni's are a fine look too. Great looking matchup.
My memory may be off, but it seemed like they used Sony in quite a few RPO packages. I think all of his best runs came out of it, Cam had a couple of nice gains out of it as well, IIRC.
Could be a good way to remove some of the predictability of the offense when Sony is in the game.
Terez Hall showed up - to an honorable mention degree - in a way that has me wondering, Is he “developing” - game slowing down for him, understanding the scheme better with additional playing time - or is he just an example of “Well, SOMEONE has to make the plays?” Today he was active and in on a lot of plays. Hope he becomes another young player log to throw onto the fire.
Adrian Phillips was around the ball quite a lot, seems to be increasingly comfortable/in sync with the defense. Wino active again, Uche showing a ton of potential and quicks now that he’s finally been allowed to play. And Butler was once again a beast. Lawrence Guy had a good game, too.
File this a notch below honorable mention (though dishonorable mention isn’t quite right), but I was happy to see Harry do ANYTHING positively noteworthy. Nice TD catch. Please build on that. By a lot.
Adrian Phillips was around the ball quite a lot, seems to be increasingly comfortable/in sync with the defense. Wino active again, Uche showing a ton of potential and quicks now that he’s finally been allowed to play. And Butler was once again a beast. Lawrence Guy had a good game, too.
File this a notch below honorable mention (though dishonorable mention isn’t quite right), but I was happy to see Harry do ANYTHING positively noteworthy. Nice TD catch. Please build on that. By a lot.
The throw to Harry played to his strengths: size and good hands. Cam put it right where it needed to be. That was a good play.
I give the Josh McDaniels a game ball. He is doing everything he can to work with a limited group.
That said the effort level and togetherness of the team is obvious. This is one of my favorite teams to watch in the last few years.
That said the effort level and togetherness of the team is obvious. This is one of my favorite teams to watch in the last few years.
Yeah, they definitely - and Slater made this point after the game - have hit their stride. Will it be enough? The odds are against their running the table with a slate that includes three good, if beatable, teams, but it’s nice to see they are getting after it with purpose when a contingent of the fan base wants losses so they’ll perhaps pick 11th rather than 17th or whatever.
I am enjoying watching meaningful football into December for the 20th straight year.
As for a game ball, hard not to give one to Gunner for all the reasons others have noted. Lawrence Guy and Gilmore had big games, Gilmore did great work on Allen when he drew him.
This team has definitely Bought In (TM). Unfortunately I think that Denver loss is going to be the one that really kills them.
I really want to see this team make the playoffs (beyond just, you know, making the playoffs) because I think they'd have a chance at picking off anyone and the thought of ending KC or Pittsburgh's season is just phenomenal. That said, if they can finish 8-8 I'll call this a successful season all things considered. I honestly think winning out is as equally in play as getting killed on Thursday night, but either way heading into week 14 they're getting better and are hardly the least likable Patriots team of the last 20 years - if that's all the positives year 1 of the rebuild ends up having, so be it.
And one of the most frustrating? Not because of effort but due to lack of chemistry (no training camp) and Covid.
Earlier, BB mentioned playing a lot of younger guys than usual. It looks like those players are finally getting more comfortable on the field.
It'd be great to make the playoffs. However, I love that this team will make the fans really look forward to the off-season. Developing young players + tons of cap space will certainly do that.
Earlier, BB mentioned playing a lot of younger guys than usual. It looks like those players are finally getting more comfortable on the field.
It'd be great to make the playoffs. However, I love that this team will make the fans really look forward to the off-season. Developing young players + tons of cap space will certainly do that.
I'm with you - when things really felt like they were going off the rails a month or two ago, the hardest thing to swallow outside the prospect of a meaningless back half of the season were the minimal contributions let alone actual promise from the young, potential building block guys outside of Onwenu. Several Harris, Meyers, Gunner, Dugger etc breakouts and flashes later that's clearly no longer the case. Get something out of the rookie tight ends and go into the offseason a real threat to be interesting.
When they signed Chris Harris this off-season I thought the Chargers would be a top 3 defense in the league and a serious playoff contender. I mean, Harris/Hayward is as good a corner pairing as you’ll find in this league, and up front they’ve added Linval Joseph and Jerry Tillery to their stud Bosa/Ingram pairing.
Obviously, losing Derwin James in the preseason hurt them, but how is their defense THIS bad? It feels like every year the Chargers are worse than the sum of their parts.
Obviously, losing Derwin James in the preseason hurt them, but how is their defense THIS bad? It feels like every year the Chargers are worse than the sum of their parts.
Their special teams is really, really bad. They're 7th in offensive yards, 9th-best in defensive yards, but they below average in points in large part because they're 30th in starting field position offensively and 29th in starting field position defensively. They are 2nd-worst in FG%, 2nd-worst in punt return average against, 4th-worst in KR average against, bottom-10 in punting average, bottom-10 in punt return average, bottom-10 in kick return average.
I know people get frustrated when Belichick uses yet another 5th on a special teams guy or keeps some punt coverage player no one's ever heard of instead of the camp standout WR du jour, but teams win and lose games on special teams all the time. The Chargers have had awful ST forever. I think the analogy is baseball defense in the late-90's where we didn't have good metrics and the Sabermetric position was basically that defense doesn't matter because we can't measure it.
Busraker is right, Adrian Phillips needs a game ball too. That player is a tackling machine and is in the top 30 leading tacklers in the league. Pretty nice acquisition and not too shabby for an UDFA.