https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHI1bGJCMSE&feature=youtu.be
Trags breaks down an impressive win by the Pats over the Falcons!
Pats Posits: The New England Football Machine Rolls On
After showing brief glimpses that they were a good team through the first six games of the season, the 2017 New England Patriots finally turned in their first consistent performance in a 23-7 win over the Atlanta Falcons. Yes, rumors of the Patriots demise have once again been exaggerated.
Simply put, it all worked against the Falcons. The four-headed running back monster finally showed how well it could power the offense, and most importantly, close games out. The much-maligned defense turned in one of their most impressive performances in recent memory, and they did it without Stephon Gilmore. It was a total team, total game win, the first of its kind this season and it was incredibly refreshing.
I’ve been saying there was a good defense inside there somewhere, and against the Falcons we saw what they were capable of. This is where the bar is, and it’s now set pretty high. Way above the worst defense in the league, but maybe not quite the all out domination we saw on Sunday night through the fog.
It looks like the 2017 Pats finally realized the season had started and that’s bad news for an NFL loaded with parity.
Here’s what I think in the Posits.
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Pregame Meal: Hmmmm, Lots of Tix Still Avail
A quick glance at the Patriots ticket exchange this morning showed over a hundred tickets available for tonight’s game, which is a first for this season. Maybe it’s because it’s a late one or maybe because fans have, in the words of Hudson from Aliens, “a bad feeling about this drop“.
Does any of us really know what to expect tonight? It seems like a tall order to expect the Patriots defense to hold the Falcons under 30 points no matter how bad Atlanta’s looked in back-to-back home losses to the Bills and Dolphins. Those poor performances were largely powered by turnovers. In the last three games the Falcons have seven turnovers, but those are fickle as we saw with the 2010 Patriots’ defense who lived off turnovers and helped power the team to a 14-2 season. Then the Jets didn’t have a giveaway in the playoff game and the Pats couldn’t overcome it.
On paper it would appear that the Patriots defense must get a pick or force a fumble if they’re to get the Falcons off track.
Still, I, like most of you I’m sure, am still waiting for the Patriots defense to suddenly come alive. It’s been too many years of good football for the sloppiness and inconsistency to continue. At least that’s what I’m still telling myself. So as much as I want to just resign myself to it being a long night of the Falcons going up and down the field, I can’t bring myself to abandon hope just yet, especially when great football defense can happen even when you think your defense sucks.
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A Look Back: The Fan Journey of Super Bowl 51
On Saturdays I try to take a historical look back at the matchup the Patriots will be facing tomorrow. Obviously there’s one big game on everyone’s mind in Pats-Falcons history, so it’s a good chance to remember how crazy it was to live through that game.
For the Patriots, it was maybe their ultimate moment. An impossible comeback that sealed their greatness for even their most ardent doubters and haters. If you can’t at least look at that game and put aside all the conspiracy theories you’re not truly a football fan.
Usually football games don’t really impact us any more than we let them. It all depends on how invested you allow yourself to be. But for me personally, Super Bowl 51 impacted my life in a very real way that ultimately was in large part responsible for 2017 being a life-changing year for me.
For that, no sporting event will ever compare to Super Bowl 51. I’m still wrapping my head around it even eight months later to be honest.
Let’s start with how we all felt when the score was actually 28-3, when it seemed almost assured that the Pats were about to lose their third Super Bowl in ten years.
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Patriots Gameplan: Week 7 vs. Atlanta Falcons
The Super Bowl 51 rematch is here as the defending champs take on the lead-blowing Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football. This is a tough game for the Patriots on a number of levels. Atlanta will certainly play with something to prove. They had the Super Bowl in hand before falling apart, and yes, it’s a new year and new teams, but the majority of the Falcons are going to play just a bit harder after seeing banner number five hanging over Gillette Stadium.
Then there’s the on-field part of the equation, where the Patriots are off to a horrendous defensive start and now have to face last year’s MVP and one of the best receivers in the game. No, the Falcons haven’t been quite as dominant this year and have in fact lost their last two-straight, both to AFC East opponents, but something tells me they’re going to bring their A game this weekend.
Seven weeks in, as we start to get a better and better sense of who this edition of the Patriots are, it seems like there might be something different about this year’s squad. Whether it was Mike Giardi’s piece here or Mark Daniels on NBC Sports last night, there are murmurs that this team is a lot more guarded and defensive about criticism.
Will that turn 2017 into a rehash of 2009’s “I just can’t get this team to play the way they need to” version? Only time will tell. That team proved over and over again that they weren’t mentally tough and, say what you will about the 2017 Pats, but they’ve certainly shown good resolve in the face of adversity thus far. Just because they aren’t as verbose or media-friendly as years past doesn’t mean they have character problems.
Still, this team has shown plenty of problems on the field. Unprecedented problems. Can they get those corrected and win their third-straight game of the season against a team that will be out for revenge and looking to drop the hammer early and often?
Here’s the gameplan to make it happen.
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Scouting Report: Atlanta Falcons
Yeah, yeah Bill Belichick has sworn the Patriots players to not mention last year’s Super Bowl in preparation for this weekend’s rematch with the Atlanta Falcons, and while I usually try to ask myself “What would BB blog” that’s out the window as far as the next fews days. At least somewhat, because really it’s unlikely that there is all that much we can take away from that game back in February because, as you might remember, the Pats laid a giant turd on the field for three quarters.
Avoiding that kind of start will be imperative because as much as I’d love to whip up another comeback tee shirt, the odds of the Pats climbing out of a similar hole are less than likely.
Here’s some of what we know about the Falcons this year. They’re coming off two-straight AFC East losses, one to Buffalo 23-17 and last week’s to Miami 20-17. Both came at home which is mind boggling when you consider Matt Ryan coming off an MVP season and most of us thinking the Bills and Phins were going to be mostly rebuilding this year.
First Down Problems for Pats Defense Continue
After the first game of the 2017 season, a blowout loss to the Chiefs, I pointed out that it was first down where the Chiefs did most of their damage and prescribed simple improvement on first down as a key for a defensive turnaround.
Checking back in on first down now, after six weeks, there hasn’t been much improvement. In fact, for a defense mired near the bottom of the league in almost every category, their poor work on first down is some of the most glaring.
Here are the numbers from the past four years:
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