Week 1: Game Balls vs Bengals
- Thread starter Eddie Jurak
- Start date
Don’t put it in the newspaper that we were holding Salva back from destroying false idols.
At first glance, we know that Daniels learned how hard NFL guys hit you when you play behind a bad line, Caleb Williams learned how important a good defense can be, and Bo Nix learned....well, he must have learned something. Not sure Drake missed much.
Although there are a few who deserve it, I'm only going to give one game ball, and it goes to Rham. He made the big plays when it mattered most, he held onto the ball in close/late situations when the defense was trying to rip it out, and he kept playing hard at the end even though it seemed like he played a ton of snaps and should have been exhausted. A+ game by Rhamondre.
Chase overall, yeah, but many of those catches Gonzales wasn't even on him. And, when he wasn't on Chase, I'm not sure they threw his way at all.
It literally looked like pretty much every Patriots game the past 2 seasons, except there was a noticeable, if unspectacular, upgrade at QB. Fewer penalties, too, though this seemed to be a pretty conservative crew in that department, and Mac was responsible for plenty himself, especially being slow to get to the line and read the D. It actually looked a lot like a game from Mac's rookie season.
Indeed. The line was much better than expected and the passing game was surprisingly adequate, but still pretty toothless. The Bengals D knew the passing game was barely any threat, and Stevenson still averaged nearly 5 yards a carry and got the tough yards at the end when they had to have them. I was pretty unenthusiastic about his contract (there are so few RBs worth being paid, and it's not like he set the world on fire last year), but he was absolutely the best offensive player on the field for either team today, and the biggest single reason why the Pats got the upset.
I knew this was going to happen on this board, but man, I did not think it would be this blatant. I mean, you all should just say the quiet part out loud:
I absolutely hate that Belichick is gone and I am going to project what could have been during this season.
This game was not the difference between Mac and a better QB. This was a better coached team today than last year.
The Pats were 7.5 point underdogs. The last time they pulled off a bigger upset was...Week 1, 2016 (9 point underdogs @ AZ, Pats won 23-21). It should definitely be ok to admit that this was unusual, and that things looked different today. Who knows if it lasts, but for the moment, this was definitely different.
They also avoided the huge back breaking penalty or other mistake too (like the Jakobi lateral vs LV or the Rham fumble vs Cincy). Oh and special teams were light years better than they’ve been the past two years as well. They sure looked like a team that was better coached in all three phases (well defense looked similar).
But scoring 16 points when your defense and special teams balled out against what was last year one of the worst defenses in the NFL isn’t exactly cause for rejoicing. Except that, again, they avoided the crushing mistake that would have lost so many games like this last year and the year before.
My exact thoughts. When Brissett felt pressure and didn't completely crap his pants that was a big upgrade. During this first drive I thought "oh this is what having a non-shiity QB is like." Brissett was here last year BB would still be here and maybe MAc was necessary
I’ll piggy back and say BB had really good drafts the last few years compared to the previous few years. Almost all the key players today were his picks especially on defense. He built a great defense since 2020. Can’t wait for the hate now. There is a ton of criticism of him as a GM since 2020. Those players showed out today. Mac killed this team both in play and spirit. Ugh.
Yeah it’s obvious and frustrating bc BB wanted to move on from Mac and Kraft blocked him.
NO, he didn't. it seems clear to me that the last vestiges of "we could have done this with BB" need be to flushed out of this system. They are hanging on like zombies and it's pathetic.
This is some straight up fucking bullshit. This is Disney fairytale storyland stuff. Never seen an article. Show me some fucking proof before the BB fans slurp over this.
It only occurred to me well after the game that the only prominent contributor from this year’s draft was a fourth round guard.
What's obvious is the color guard for BB who want to filter their game evaluations through a very specific filter. I assume they will let it go at some point and evaluate the current regime on its own merit, but all of the "look at what happens when a QB doesn't shit his pants" is coded as "see, give BB Brissett and we'd be talking playoffs" wet dreams which couldn't be further from the truth.
I mean, this is straight, "I wish BB were here to coach this win for us" @Reverend Imagine clinging this hard.
Fuck that. Coach Mayo won today. Let's move forward.
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Then why did they just re-sign half his 2020 draft class and extend 2 others from his 2021 class, several of them for big money?
Who else are they replacing them with? Unknown free agents from other teams? Undrafted free agents? They needed to resign some of their own guys just to field somewhat of a competent team.
I would say better coached offense. I thought the defensive effort was very reminiscent of what the Pats have done in recent years. But Brissett at QB (vs. Mac or Zappe) also mattered.
I thought we the strengths and weaknesses of Brissett were on display. Except for one play where he threw it up for grabs and it could have been an interception that would have taken 3 off the board, he took care of the ball. He made smart veteran reads. He made some big throws and some big runs. He was willing to take hits. From the coverage I've read he made the right calls at the line. On the downside he missed some throws and he was slow to slide on one play at the end of the first half and ended up taking a shot he needn't have.
You can kind of see both why he is a significant upgrade over last year and why he isn't a long term answer. But for now, it's great to have him.
BB deserves a lot of credit for what he did with the defense over the past 3 years. I wouldn't necessarily say that Mayo and Covington are just doing the exact same thing as years past, but it is clear that they are Belichick guys running a Belichick defense, maybe with some of their own ideas incorporated. Unlike the offense, nothing they did represents a break from the recent past.
I'm not sure how to allocate credit and blame for recent past drafts. Obviously, BB was the guy in charge but Eliot Wolf and Matt Groh were there, too.
In addition to Robinson, Polk played more than half of the snaps (though only one catch) and Wallace played 18 snaps as a 6th OL in running situations.
My initial thoughts were he was a decent run blocker but was pretty bad in pass pro… but that’s just off memory and tv viewing.
I liked the run blocking but the drop back pass blocking was a leaky bucket.
I didn’t see him mentioned yet or I read too fast but Austin Hooper had a couple nice grabs. Vederian Lowe looked like he might not be a total dumpster fire at LT. Chuks though is another story.
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A welcome sight -- the return to the clean play standard of excellence that was traditionally ascribed to "Belichick-coached teams" but which was sadly missing the last few years. Especially that performance coming on the heels of one of the least organised slate of pre-season practices and games I think we have seen for some time. How many of us foresaw that? I know I didn't.
Here's my question: how much does wanting to play hard for the new coach vs the old coach matter? How much is not trying to overcomplicate the pre-snap adjustments? How much is Brissett (savvy calm veteran) vs Mac? And how much is the players settling over the 2 weeks between cut down day and Week 1? Or am I missing another reason?
Here's my question: how much does wanting to play hard for the new coach vs the old coach matter? How much is not trying to overcomplicate the pre-snap adjustments? How much is Brissett (savvy calm veteran) vs Mac? And how much is the players settling over the 2 weeks between cut down day and Week 1? Or am I missing another reason?
Do a search, and you'll find plenty of links about how Bill was looking to trade Mac after Jones' second season. You may or may not agree that the stories are accurate, but they are there, and it's fair to note them when discussing this team.
BB shopped Mac, for sure. 2-second google:
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/bill-belichick-has-shopped-mac-jones-this-offseason
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/bill-belichick-has-shopped-mac-jones-this-offseason
It definitely spoke well of the coaching staff that the OL cleaned up the pre-snap penalties that plagued them in the preseason. I'm sure some of that was due to continuity (there was a lot of shifting of players in and out of roles through most of the training camp) and having some practices focused on actual game preparation. Much easier to be looking at 2nd-and-6 than 1st-and-15 all the time.
Low key game ball the Coach Mayo's outerwear. That jacket shed water like a duck in a rainstorm. Impressive.
Yeah, I just don't think the owner who backed Bill in letting Tom Brady go would exercise veto power over trading Mac Jones, though.
Yup, it was widely reported . Along with apparently being incapable of doing his own homework, he’ll now go silent when proven to be wrong about the story being somehow made up out of whole cloth by all of us BB honks around here.
From my memory they backed bill in moving on from Tom and then when he wanted to move on from mac it was something to the effect of 'no, you made your bed now lie in it'.
Stevenson, Brissett
ST
Marcus Jones
Mayo
The transition from Dysfunction Junction back to Patriot Way—clean football, execution, capitalizing on other teams’ mistakes—was a welcome sight.
ST
Marcus Jones
Mayo
The transition from Dysfunction Junction back to Patriot Way—clean football, execution, capitalizing on other teams’ mistakes—was a welcome sight.
This is your first and only warning: post like this again and you're not long for the board.
If BB did want to move on, and I believe he did, why didn't he bring in a better alternative than Zappe? That's what never made sense to me.
Zero turnovers by NE
Only 5 penalties
Only 1 sack allowed
+8 min in time of possession
50.0 avg punts
3-3 on FGs, 1-1 on PATs = 4-4 on kicks
Only allowed 5.5 yards on punt returns, with zero kick returns by Cincy
These are all marks of good solid fundamental play. Whether it's the coaching or the players just doing their jobs better, it's a huge difference from last year when it seemed like they were constantly making back-breaking mistakes, either turnovers or penalties or bad special teams.
Only 5 penalties
Only 1 sack allowed
+8 min in time of possession
50.0 avg punts
3-3 on FGs, 1-1 on PATs = 4-4 on kicks
Only allowed 5.5 yards on punt returns, with zero kick returns by Cincy
These are all marks of good solid fundamental play. Whether it's the coaching or the players just doing their jobs better, it's a huge difference from last year when it seemed like they were constantly making back-breaking mistakes, either turnovers or penalties or bad special teams.
One note on the offense…they didn’t have good field position, outside of the fumbled punt. Their drives started at:
NE20
NE20
NE17
NE18
NE30
CIN24
NE35
NE30
NE30
NE30
NE20
NE20
NE17
NE18
NE30
CIN24
NE35
NE30
NE30
NE30
What stuck out to me is that he didn't bail on plays. It was noticeable on that first drive. Brissett's skills may be limited, but he showed confidence in executing the limited pass plays that were called.
We’ll have to see how other defenses adjust, but I love the marriage of this style of running game to Rhamondre’s skillset. It lets him be patient behind the line and use his shiftiness to find a crease before taking on a tackler and either making him miss or running through him. I don’t know how it will play out over the full season, but when we talk about putting players in a position to succeed, this is such a good combination of skillset and scheme.
Beyond that, I think the whole coaching staff deserves a gameball. Not because they’re going to light the world on fire, but one of the areas of highest variance for this team was having two coordinators and a head coach who had never been at those levels before. And at least for Week 1, they didn’t make stupid mistakes in the logistics of the thing. I think this makes this season more likely to be in the 5-7 win range, whereas before the season I thought there was a meaningful chance of only 2-3 wins if the coaches couldn’t hack it. They still may fall short on talent and overall game design, but the risk of them being a complete dumpster fire seems low after what I saw yesterday.
Beyond that, I think the whole coaching staff deserves a gameball. Not because they’re going to light the world on fire, but one of the areas of highest variance for this team was having two coordinators and a head coach who had never been at those levels before. And at least for Week 1, they didn’t make stupid mistakes in the logistics of the thing. I think this makes this season more likely to be in the 5-7 win range, whereas before the season I thought there was a meaningful chance of only 2-3 wins if the coaches couldn’t hack it. They still may fall short on talent and overall game design, but the risk of them being a complete dumpster fire seems low after what I saw yesterday.
You seem to be the only one with the code breaker. You are seeing what you want to see. And as Rev said, it's really important to you.
It was a while back, but I thought he called plays when he was the OC in Buffalo.
Combine this with players seeming rejuvenated and really want to play hard for this coaching staff, might be a fun team to watch this year.
Just have to temper excitement with awareness that the level of talent is not conventionally viewed as exceptional. But who knows - maybe CW is wrong there too…