It Is What It Is » Sunday NFL Notes: Going inside the numbers with 2014 Patriots
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Tom Brady to Randy Moss to set the NFL’s Single Season Receiving Touchdown record with 27. (2007)
Still love this moment.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/shushxo-vanillacts-tom-brady-to-randy-moss/
Why Are Patriots Fans So Damned Miserable? – Eric Wilbur’s Sports Blog – Boston.com
Why Are Patriots Fans So Damned Miserable? – Eric Wilbur’s Sports Blog – Boston.com
Happy stress-free Sunday morning! I found this article pretty interesting because I feel like I’m on the front lines of what Eric Wilbur talks about.
Bruce Allen does a really good job simplifying the different factions of fans that follow the Patriots. As you might guess, I do find myself in the first group described here by Allen, though I don’t despise the opinion side, I just want them to know what they’re talking about:
The first group of fans thinks the ‘reporting’ side of the media generally does an OK job covering the team. They despise the ‘opinion’ side, who they feel only find fault with everything the team does despite its record of success. Despise may not be a strong enough term. That second group of fans feels the opposite. To them, the ‘reporting’ side are a bunch of homers, while their heroes on the ‘opinion’ side tell it like it is. Both fan bases have very strong feelings about these groups.”
Here’s the thing for me, I’m fine with accurate, insightful criticism, there just isn’t much out there currently. Also, no matter which sport or team, there are always good fans and bad fans.
Some people just like to take out all their negative energy through their sports fandom and that’s fine.
So I accept that there will be people bitching about Josh McDaniels’ playcalling every single week. Someone will tell you “your a idiot” in the comments. Some people are angry. Okay.
I have been a Patriots fan since the 80’s. I’ve shot 3/4” video on the sideline of their ninth straight loss to open the 1992 season. I saw my first fight in the parking lot of Sullivan Stadium. I remember what it was like when the Pats sucked.
I’ve blogged about the Patriots since December of 2007. I know what is fair or stupid criticism. Yes, the Patriots have been very good over that stretch, but there were plenty of mistakes.
But the major talking points of the past few weeks were just entertaining speculation posing as journalism.
Wilbur asked the “Trade Brady?” question last week so clearly it was the backlash against this that was impetus for today’s article.
Wilbur certainly has the right to ask the question, but the answer to me is simple and immediate:
No. The Patriots should not trade Tom Brady.
I have followed the team with a microscope for eight years. I don’t need to read Wilbur’s reasoning of why it could make sense. It doesn’t, and really, it’s so obvious that it feels like Wilbur is just trolling Patriots fans.
And now with today he’s scolding them for calling him out on it.
That kind of discussion doesn’t really interest me and I don’t blame Brady and Belichick fans for sniping back at the hot sportz take.
There certainly are things worth discussing and debating. But that’s not what’s on the main airwaves outside of Greg Bedard’s weekly appearance on WEEI.
The biggest problem for the old-guard media is the emergence of football fans who are more knowledgeable than about the game than they are.
With the availability of All-22 gamefilm and more X-and-O-centric websites like SmartFootball.com and MMQB.SI.com, the game is no longer just a mystery of strangely-choreographed violence.
But the old media is still trying to get by on gut feelings and tired storylines. Those who want to know how much Cover-1 Robber the Pats are running just aren’t interested in what Dennis and Callahan are selling anymore.
Ultimately though, so what if not all Patriots fans are pissing and moaning about their team. Is that really the problem? Isn’t it okay to be loyal to your sports team? To give them the benefit of the doubt? Who cares. It’s a sports team, not some dictator.
We can all agree that someday these will be the good old days, and all the Patriots fans who are still left can enjoy being miserable about how it feels to be 1-6.
Until then, let’s accept that despite their flaws and mistakes, what we’ve seen the last 14 years from Belichick and Brady has been extremely special.
I’ll be enjoying it, win or lose, because I know they’ll go down swinging, not trading Brady five games into the season.
Belichick has also been among the best draft managers in football in terms of trading down to acquire talent, a skill that is strongly correlated with consistent, sustained success. Belichick has struggled at times with scouting college players and identifying talent, but by remaining patient and acquiring extra picks, he has reduced the risk involved with that weakness. Furthermore, his ability to scout the league and adapt his schemes to fit players who were marginalized elsewhere has also created incalculable value for the Patriots.
Bill Barnwell | The Trade – Was Belichick to New England the Best Deal in League History? (via writtenbyrj)
https://www.patspropaganda.com/belichick-has-also-been-among-the-best-draft/
Not the time to make definitive judgment on Patriots’ defense – ESPN Boston
Not the time to make definitive judgment on Patriots’ defense – ESPN Boston
Good read from Reiss, and I totally agree with his observations that the defense was essentially gassed. They’re a lot better than they showed, because once again, as was the case in the two losses, it was simple matters of not getting off blocks and not making tackles they were in position to make.
They have just two games between now and mid-November. They’ll be a lot fresher by then.
Pats Posits: A divisional win is a divisional win
Going into last night’s game I didn’t really care much about style points, and there were certainly none to give out, at least on the defensive side of the ball.
Given the events of the past week – two divisional games in five days, losing defensive and offensive leaders for the season, and missing two of the interior offensive lineman who had stabilized the protection – add it all up and it was one of those games where all you really care about it getting a win and that’s what the Pats got.
Here are my Posits…
So much of the defensive problems were reminiscent of the Chiefs game, except instead of Chandler Jones losing contain every play it was Rob Ninkovich. So many of the runs seemed stopped in the backfield by the “wall” that Wilfork and Chris Jones had created, and as Ninkovich tried to crash down to finish the ball carrier it opened up the edge and allowed him to bounce outside for a big gain.
These kind of things are fixable and really, it’s way out of character for Ninkovich to be playing like that. He will be better.
Overall the defense looks like they really need the 10 days to get healthy and regroup. But there are some things that will remain concerns, primarily Jamie Collins playing middle linebacker. It’s been clear this year, Collins is awesome on passing downs and in space. When asked to take on offensive linemen he doesn’t have the physicality to defeat them, instead needing to use his athleticism to slip around blocks. This is somewhat of flashback to Gary Guyton playing mike, a bad situation that culminated with the 2009 playoff loss. I don’t know what the answer is, there might not be one, but Collins is going to get run at a lot the rest of this year.
Chandler Jones came through with some big plays this game, including his sacks, as did Dont’a Hightower despite playing with a bulky knee brace. The long break is needed for Hightower to get back to form. He’ll really have to be the all-everything of the linebacking corps going forward this year. This is his defense now.
Interesting that Kyle Arrington only played one snap as Dennard move the slot. I’m not sure if Dennard is best there, but I really like his play of late despite some penalties and catches allowed. How the Pats use those two going forward will be something to watch.
As I tweeted last night, I wonder if the Pats still would’ve pursued Browner if they knew holding and illegal contact would be called like this now.
Patrick Chung continues to show up as the Robber safety and will be needed even more to help stop the run without Mayo. He was PFF’s top graded Patriot defender.
Third down defense was atrocious until the red zone. I don’t get it. The players change but the results since 2010 remain the same – the Pats are simply one of the worst teams in the NFL in getting off the field on third down. For going on five years in a row now.
As for the offense, I thought it was a decent step forward for the offense. The protection was decent and Brady seemed to have a good sense of when Rex was bringing the house and when he was dropping the house.
Can’t get enough of these deep shots that Brady is taking now.
What a difference Brandon LaFell is making to this offense. This is the guy we’ve been missing in recent years. Not a deep threat, a big receiver who presents a different matchup problem that the Welker/Branch/Edelman/Amendola guy.
Not sure if Vereen will have the same workload as he did last night for the rest of the season, but he stepped up to the challenge of being the go-to guy last night. The Pats seemed to take extra steps to put him in good position. Vereen has a great chance to earn another contract from the Pats. If he plays like he did last night consistently, he’ll be a lock.
Jonas Grey showed enough hard-running to sell me on getting him more involved. The fact that he had more carries that Brandon Bolden shows you the Pats probably feel about Bolden the way that I do. He’s a fill-in back, not a feature guy.
Edelman has earned enough good will that he gets a pass for his drops last night. Let’s just hope it doesn’t become a habit. Without those drops, the Pats end it a lot earlier than they did.
Like just about everyone else, I’m not sure why the Pats keep rotating Marcus Cannon in. My best guess is that they’re trying to preserve everyone, but he’s a liability even when he gets in there for one snap. Solder has had a rough year, but I’d still much rather leave him in there all game.
Really, really worried they’re running Wifork into the ground again. Luckily Siliga and Walker look like capable interior replacements if anything happens to Big Vince. As a threesome they are formidable.
Really happy for Danny Amendola. He really provided a spark with his kickoff returns and then that carried over into two huge game-cliching/saving plays. Let’s hope he can keep it up. A fourth tough receiving target would take this offense to unstoppable territory.
