New England Patriots Discussion

[Nalej]

I didn't catch that at first.... but yea. Funny.

GET YOUR 84 JERSEYS OUT!

I for one will admit I was wrong about Branch. Completely.
Not too many times in my life I'm glad I'm wrong. This is definitely one of them.

[J255979-11nine]

Originally Posted by Jvig43

Seriously, haha but outside of those two drops he looks like hes going to be a huuuuge part of this offense.

Our last extremely athletic TE had an issue with drops as well.... I just don't wanna see this turn into another Watson scenario.

[ElectricEye]

What a ******* game. Deion Branch really proved me wrong. Still don't like the trade in terms of value, but he came through for us there. Still, you have to hate that all those passing lanes that were open before were closed most of the game. But still, I've said all along, this team has balls.

LOVE the fact Jermaine Cunningham destroyed Oher. Unbelievable how much trouble he had with him.

Also; Woodhead quietly had 100+ yards today and a lot of them were dirty after contact yards too.

[Nalej]

Soooo... two questions for my Pats fam...

-Where was Brandon Tate?
-Do we win this game if we still had R. Moss?

[ElectricEye]

Originally Posted by Nalej

Soooo... two questions for my Pats fam...

-Where was Brandon Tate?
-Do we win this game if we still had R. Moss?

-No idea. There were times Brady was looking to throw it down the field and no one was there. He has the big play on the reverse, but besides that he was nowhere.

-No idea. It would be a different game. The Ravens did an excellent job of clogging the middle of the field and taking away the passing lanes. We started getting yards when we started throwing jerk routes to the outside. That's troubling. It would be a completely different game, that's for sure.

Oh, and Mesko basically won that game for us.

[Jvig43]

McClains stupid pushing penalty was just as big as the punt I'd say. Such a stupid move by that guy. Cunningham with a little extra acting skillz helped.

[J255979-11nine]

Originally Posted by Jvig43

McClains stupid pushing penalty was just as big as the punt I'd say. Such a stupid move by that guy. Cunningham with a little extra acting skillz helped.

Play of the game!

[Don Vito]

Jermaine Cunningham was bitching on Oher, going around and through him. Spikes looks very good too, I am very impressed with our young defense. Ninkovich was everywhere, Chung looked good again, Wilfork was everywhere, saw a lot of Deadrick, Mayo had his usual high tackle performance, and Meriweather was laying people out (one penalty was BS). Flacco had a high completion percentage but aside from the one time Boldin beasted Arrington he was just dumping it off for the most part, the defense really looked good as the game moved along.

Hernandez almost cost us the game in OT, I thought there was no way we would win after that first drop at midfield. Welker and Woodhead are awesome, BJGE ran hard, Branch is ******* awesome, Gronk had a big play, and Tate was nowhere.

PLEASE REPLACE DAN KOPPEN!!!!!!!!!

[ElectricEye]

That was one of those games where the death blow never came. I was expecting it for two quarters, but they just couldn't deliver it.

Agree about Ninkovich. He's really breaking out for us. The tackle where he came in on the side of Ray Rice saved the game for us.

[Jvig43]

Defense in general in the last two quarters of the game really stepped up and played amazingly well. I cant believe we stopped them three times to win in OT.

[nhlkdog411]

Whole lot of good stuff to take away here..Defense stepped up BIGTIME with lots of guys making big plays, Branch stepped right back into the offense almost seamlessly and complemented Welker better than I think all of us expected, Woodhead looks better and better...and did I mention how big the defense was?(don't think I can emphasize it enough)

[ElectricEye]

Jermaine Cunningham=pass rush savior.

[descendency]

Dane Fletcher is the best coverage linebacker on the team. If he can play STs he'll definitely make the team as a dime backer. He's a name to keep an eye on.

http://draftcountdown.com/forum/show...5&#post2260685

:D

He made two plays in the first over-time drive against the Ravens that forced a 3 and out.

[ElectricEye]

Yeah, I was worried he would be cut soon when we didn't see much of him. Exciting to see him get into the game, loads of potential, just needs to develop.

[Nalej]

In BB I trust.
I'm glad Cunningham is progressing nicely.
I can't wait until we evolve from a "Bend-Don't Brake" type of defense to a
"No bend-No break-We just **** you up" type of D.
I feel like we're so close to it too. Another pass rusher and a talented DLineman (Maybe T.Warren back will do) and the one thing we can't draft or sign via FA.... experience.
I really think experience is all this group needs and they'll be elite

[Jvig43]

Gerald Warren is actually playing nicely for us for a vet, no complaints with him. But agreed, we need to get some playmakers at either DE or OLB and get our pass rush back and we'll have a great defense. I really didnt expect us to win this game all week, and am very glad we pulled it out. I dont however want to see these guys again come play offs haha.

[nepg]

Originally Posted by Nalej

In BB I trust.
I'm glad Cunningham is progressing nicely.
I can't wait until we evolve from a "Bend-Don't Brake" type of defense to a
"No bend-No break-We just **** you up" type of D.

Don't hold your breath. Even in the hey-day, they were a bend-don't-break defense. They were just a lot better at it.

[Jvig43]

Originally Posted by nepg

Don't hold your breath. Even in the hey-day, they were a bend-don't-break defense. They were just a lot better at it.

Whaaaaaaaa those defenses were amazing, I loved when we won games like 9-0 and such. It was hilarious watching teams try to do anything against us. I mean, Manning's face in those play off games were priceless.

[BradysKnee]

One thing I got out of this game if nothing else is that Kyle Arrington cannot start anymore.

[Jvig43]

Originally Posted by BradysKnee

One thing I got out of this game if nothing else is that Kyle Arrington cannot start anymore.

I'll take Arrington over Butler for sure. No PI calls, no getting abused deep. If he gives up those 10-15 passes fine. Just nothing to let the other team get down the field.

[ElectricEye]

Negative thing about the game; Deadrick looks like he's playing with cement shoes out there. When he's engaged and the play is in front of him he's fine, but I didn't like what I saw with him a hundred percent. Not sure he's going to be able to stick as a 3-4 DE.

Oh, and about this defense versus our old defenses, I think negp is selling the old teams short. We used to be able to shut you out and keep you under ten a couple times a year. They were bend but not break like, but they were also dominant units, especially pre-2005. I'm not sure this unit has it in it, but I'm walking away encouraged. Lot of positives today.

Going back over the game in my head and watching bits of it, I really can't say enough about Cunningham. Oher is overrated, but at the same time he's a hell of a linemen. Cunningham might not ever be a 10+ sack guy(doesn't have that elite first step to be that type of guy), but he's a real good technical rusher and he has really good athleticism as well. He made a few mistakes setting the edge, but he also did some positive things there too. We needed him to be good, and thus far he's really giving us some encouraging signs.

McCourty continues to impress. He gave up some yards to Mason, which was not a terribly good matchup for him, but he did a good job handling Boldin. He's the type of corner who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and be physical. He gets good positioning when the ball is in the air, besides the one PI call today. If we can get someone legitimate to compliment him, like say, a version of Darius Butler that doesn't suck, we might have something.

Best thing about today was how we closed to the ball and took the run away. The front seven was extremely effective today.

[Razor]

So.... How 'bout them Patriots haha? This was a game that I circled in my mind when I first saw the shedule. I thought that if we won it we could use it to gather momentum towards a playoff run, but if we lost it our season would pretty much be over. Needless to say that I have been very nervous all week, and I was a wreck yesterday in OT haha.

I have to say, I thought we just sucked in the first half yesterday. There are no excuses for that. And I think BB told them that at halftime. And I even thought that we didn't play all that we to start of the third quarter. But somehow they found a rhythm on offense and got the Ravens on their heels, it was pretty obvious that they had no idea what we were going to do next. On defense.... It's been a long time since I've seen something like that from this team. What they did in OT and the last 1,5 quarter of regulation was just amazing. Disciplined, hard-nosed defense, never giving up. If they can keep this up.... I'm not even going to go there. We all know this defense has potential, but I don't think anybody expected them to play like this so early. Just a fun stat on the Ravens offense:
Red Zone Efficiency 1/3 - 33%
Goal To Go Efficiency 0/0 - 0%

Disappointments:
Entire team the first two and a half quarters. Bad tackling, bad coverage, penalties, poor throws, poor blocking, dropped balls. Nothing worked. But if I had to point out one player it has to be Hernandez. Just didn't show up in OT.

Game Ball:
Deion Branch. What a homecoming performance by him. Clutch player. Idk what more to say. Welcome home.

This win feels even better than it did yesterday lol!

[AntoinCD]

Originally Posted by ElectricEye

McCourty continues to impress. He gave up some yards to Mason, which was not a terribly good matchup for him, but he did a good job handling Boldin. He's the type of corner who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty and be physical. He gets good positioning when the ball is in the air, besides the one PI call today. If we can get someone legitimate to compliment him, like say, a version of Darius Butler that doesn't suck, we might have something.

When Bodden comes back he should add a legitimate starting option across from McCourty and allow Butler to develop more and become a bit of a playmaker. Going up against bigger WRs outside definitely isn't his forté

[nepg]

I think Butler will develop into a damn good CB, but he was just getting abused by the big, physical WRs the first few games. Arrington is OK. He does a decent job of keeping everything in front of him...he's not the ideal guy you want starting in that spot, though.

I agree, the defenses in the past did a great job of keeping points off the board. The Pats have always given the offense yards, though. They just need to keep developing, and I think they'll put something together this year...they just need time. Very talented unit.

For a 7th round pick, I'll take Deadrick 10/10 times... I think it's important to remember that he was a 7th round pick and that there are things he needs to work on.

[ElectricEye]

I had greater expectations for him than your average seventh round pick. I thought he would go in the 4th or 5th, or maybe even the 3rd. His workouts killed him though. His footspeed is probably amongst the worst of all linemen in the NFL. Can't move laterally to save his life.