The Game Ball Thread: Wk. 14 @ Arizona

SeoulSoxFan

I Want to Hit the World with Rocket Punch
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jun 27, 2006
22,089
A Scud Away from Hell
This team's offense won't get solved until the OL gets a makeover next season but a win is a win.

All the game balls to Judon & Uche.
 

Jungleland

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 2, 2009
2,351
Marcus Jones
Uche
Judon
Pierre Strong
Henry
Bourne

Offense looks borderline functional when you target Hunter and KB, who from 2021 would have thought
 

Dogman

Yukon Cornelius
Moderator
SoSH Member
Mar 19, 2004
15,182
Missoula, MT
Defense made some great adjustments. Uche and Judon are amazing. Just fantastic.

Offense is not good but made some plays when they needed them.
 

j44thor

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
10,961
Uchudon
Young RBs showed some promise good blend of power speed and vision.
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
SoSH Member
Apr 23, 2010
6,249
from the wilds of western ma
Uche and a clearly disinterested Judon- relentless 4th quarter pressure to put it away.

Strong and Harris- Some nice rookie thunder and lightning with skill players dropping like flies.

Marcus Jones- Nice offensive burst when they needed one, key interception, and laying the big, clean lumber on the Cardinals TE.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 24, 2002
48,209
This defense is really good. They do the bend/don't break thing well and they have playmakers at key positions, at least from my non-NFL-scout eyes.

Uche
Marcus Jones
Dugger
McMillan
Strong
Mac Jones
Bourne
Henry
Judon (always)
 

Garshaparra

New Member
Feb 27, 2008
527
McCarver's Mushy Mouth
Game ball to Aikman, a total NFL shill, talking up how bad the football has been this season.

Actual game balls to the d-line for yet another solid performance. The offense remains a mess, but we're on to Vegas.
 

Cellar-Door

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 1, 2006
34,463
Whole defense... the line particularly, but after a rough patch the makeshift back end held up too.
Rookie RBs... pressed into service and generally delivered
 

RorschachsMask

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2011
5,205
Lynn
After Uche’s first sack in what I think was the third quarter, I said he’s going to finish the season with double digit sacks. Well he got two more sacks after that lol, and is now up to 10 for the season.

His PFF score was 86 coming into the game, assuming it goes up a decent amount now.
 

BusRaker

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 11, 2006
2,371
Uche and Steve B (with help from pops) on the D side again prove the Pats are a Barmore away from the best D in the league.
Marcus Jones my new favorite Pat wins the Troy Brown award.

Bummed about Murray .. I mean he does that shift thousands of times in practice and games a year and now he has a 12-16 month plan to work again? I do that hundreds of times a year in soccer and I'm on the wrong side of 45, when does my knee decide to do that? Damn
 

Dogman

Yukon Cornelius
Moderator
SoSH Member
Mar 19, 2004
15,182
Missoula, MT
Uche and a clearly disinterested Judon- relentless 4th quarter pressure to put it away.

Strong and Harris- Some nice rookie thunder and lightning with skill players dropping like flies.

Marcus Jones- Nice offensive burst when they needed one, key interception, and laying the big, clean lumber on the Cardinals TE.
Disinterested? He is either doubled or chipped on the line by a TE or RB almost every play. Uche is running free because of it.

And he still leads the league in sacks.
 

Ed Hillel

Wants to be startin somethin
SoSH Member
Dec 12, 2007
43,559
Here
The drafting the past few years is looking pretty fantastic tbh. Mac might not pan out, but that entire QB class is a bucket of shitpiss to this point, and he'll probably get another shot with a real OC next year.
 

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
9,580
NOVA
I agree. They clearly have good young talent on the defensive side and can build on it no matter what the sh*tposters say. No Barmore and no Jack Jones and they held the Cards to essentially 10 points. Idk what more people want from that side of the ball.

Edit: meant as a reply to DeJesus
 

PedrosRedGlove

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 5, 2005
670
And Marcus Jones is a football player.
Seriously. What a Swiss Army knife. That sort of football IQ mixed with that athleticism is really special and very fun to watch. Not making any comparison but is this is something only a handful of guys have ever done, Deion, Patrick Peterson, Troy Brown and Julian Edelman here, though probably to a lesser degree. He's a weapon in all 3 phases.
 

Marciano490

Urological Expert
SoSH Member
Nov 4, 2007
62,312
I mean I get his frustration but it would be a mistake to do what you're suggesting. To do so would probably mean that BB will bench him and it would further set Mac back.
And doing this - or at least getting caught doing this - a couple times now is probably not a great sign for maturity. Yeah, Matty sucks, but that's in no way the proper way to handle it. Especially for a second year player.
 

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
9,580
NOVA
And doing this - or at least getting caught doing this - a couple times now is probably not a great sign for maturity. Yeah, Matty sucks, but that's in no way the proper way to handle it. Especially for a second year player.
Yes. I know he won a NC but that was in college. Calling out your coach publicly does not end well for the vast majority of players who do so. And, frankly, it shouldn't. BB should bench him if he goes further. He's kind of fortunate to this point that he's not been benched. But, yeah, calling Matt P. out like in a press conference or something would almost certainly be a death knell in his development.
 

Justthetippett

New Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,393
McMillan’s scoop and score deserves some credit, particularly given the red zone issues. Seven points was big there. Otherwise Uche, Ekuale, Marcus Jones and the rookie runners.
 

jose melendez

Earl of Acie
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 23, 2003
30,975
Geneva, Switzerland
Eh, at least one of the following must be true.

1. Mac Jones sucks and Colt McCoy is his best case scenario, or
2. The play calling is beyond abysmal and they're not giving him a chance to do anything, or
3. The offensive line is so bad that Tom Brady with Bill Walsh calling plays would throw for 230 yards with 2 td and 2 picks.

I think 3 is certain, and I'm not sure if it's 1 or 2.
 

Jimbodandy

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 31, 2006
11,406
around the way
Judon's getting too much love for his performance, because he gave up contain multiple times in a zeroed-in hunt for the QB. Still a good game, but unlike...

Uche--quarterback destroyer, but stays in the play. Does other stuff too. Basically a controlled menace out there. Top notch stuff.
Overall the defense did a fantastic job staying in their lanes overall and competing. Game balls all around.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2008
42,288
AZ
Kliff. Chance for a 9 point lead and he goes for it in a context where there’s a decent chance you end up kicking anyway.

In the second half they had two turnovers and three turnovers on downs. Credit to our defense but man he was really aggressive.
 

soxhop411

news aggravator
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2009
46,277

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
9,580
NOVA
I appreciate what the offense did without Parker and Meyers at receiver and Stevenson and Harris at running back.
Yeah they lost their top two receivers and their top two RBs and the Oline has been a mess and they still competed.
 

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
9,580
NOVA
Yeah they lost their top two receivers and their top two RBs and the Oline has been a mess and they still competed.
I mean this is why fans who root for other teams still envy our coaches. Not saying Matt P is the guy but just having a lot of non Pats fans in my life they cannot understand all our consternation. They’re almost like well damn welcome to the NFL. Still wish we had BB.
 

NortheasternPJ

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 16, 2004
19,272
Game ball to Hopkins for the most lazy careless ball handling and protection I’ve ever seen (Non Leon-Lett division)
 

54thMA

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 15, 2012
10,154
Westwood MA
Game ball to Aikman, a total NFL shill, talking up how bad the football has been this season.

Actual game balls to the d-line for yet another solid performance. The offense remains a mess, but we're on to Vegas.
His honest thoughts about the Patriots during the game were refreshing, basically saying they are not a playoff team.

Because they are not.

Squeaking in at #7 and then getting rolled by the Chefs, that's what the Patriots used to do to whatever tomato can they played in their first playoff game give or take for 20 years.

That said, credit to Belichick for rebuilding this defense, Ushe and Judon are monsters and he once again has found cornerbacks in the draft.

Rebuilt that shitshow of an offensive line in the off season and they'll be in business.
 

johnmd20

mad dog
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 30, 2003
61,996
New York City
This team could absolutely be a playoff team. How can anyone argue otherwise? They made the playoffs as recently as…………..last year.

That said, this team is not a super bowl contender.
 

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,291
Game ball to Hopkins for the most lazy careless ball handling and protection I’ve ever seen (Non Leon-Lett division)
LeSean McCoy is another guy who would regularly carry the ball with one hand away from his body like it was a dirty diaper. Guys are too big and fast to play it like that, even if you are remarkably strong fast and agile yourself.

The Parker situation was pretty disturbing. It was exceedingly obvious from the second he got up from the hit that he was woozy, the announcers said as much, and yet there he was about to run another play in a hurry-up situation while he could barely stand. I know they were trying to get a play off before a review could take place but geez.

Edit: Seems like the Jack Jones injury may not be too serious. Running into some real depth issues if he is not available moving forward so that would be a relief.
 

IdiotKicker

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 21, 2005
10,785
Somerville, MA
The defense is still a couple players away (CB1, young FS), but they’re in the upper echelon, and the pass rush was awesome last night. Consistent pressure with four guys rushing, which is everyone’s dream.

Marcy Jones continues to impress everywhere.

The offense is still very bad, but I had this team as a 6-win team heading into the year and they’ve exceeded my expectations now. Happy to be wrong, but not sure where they really go the remainder of the season.
 

Jed Zeppelin

Member
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2008
51,291
So what's happening with Uche? Advantageous matchups? Getting better at the little things? Healthy and/or stronger?

I know a lot of us were salivating over the physical gifts when he was drafted but until now I don't think we've really seen it. The guy I saw flying around and blowing lineman up last night looked like the kind of pass rushing athletic superfreaks that regularly makes offensive lineman just look ridiculous with both strength and speed in ways that seem physically impossible.
 

Garshaparra

New Member
Feb 27, 2008
527
McCarver's Mushy Mouth
His honest thoughts about the Patriots during the game were refreshing, basically saying they are not a playoff team.

Because they are not.

Squeaking in at #7 and then getting rolled by the Chefs, that's what the Patriots used to do to whatever tomato can they played in their first playoff game give or take for 20 years.

That said, credit to Belichick for rebuilding this defense, Ushe and Judon are monsters and he once again has found cornerbacks in the draft.

Rebuilt that shitshow of an offensive line in the off season and they'll be in business.
Both Aikman and Buck were calling out the poor play all around this year. When they talked about the Snowplow Game ending 3-0, I believe it was Aikman that mentioned that felt like that was the score of a lot of their MNF games this year. Perhaps they've been cursed with an inordinate number of poor matchups, but he's not wrong about the offensive quality being down across the board. Their last 3 weeks have been terrible games though - PIT/IND, NO/TB and now NE/ARZ. Sure, the Brady comeback was exciting, but it finished 17-16 because of how bad the offenses played, not some defensive cold weather struggle.
 

Shelterdog

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Feb 19, 2002
15,375
New York City
I mean this is why fans who root for other teams still envy our coaches. Not saying Matt P is the guy but just having a lot of non Pats fans in my life they cannot understand all our consternation. They’re almost like well damn welcome to the NFL. Still wish we had BB.
Remember this is a spoiled, spoiled fan base. A lot of the fans in the area and quite a few fans on this board constantly complained about Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia as the DC--and that's about as good as it gets.

That we're still complaining about draws on third and long that usually gain six, run clock, and make the field goal shorter after BB has been doing the same thing for twenty years--during which the Pats had the greatest run of success in football history--is beyond me.