Back in the blogging saddle today after my Thanksgiving weekend was ruined by a stomach bug that killed my appetite for the past four days. Perfect timing for that.
Anyway, I can’t remember feeling better about a loss than I do about the Pats’ third one of the season in Green Bay.
Those trying to rush to judgement about anything we “learned” in this one are fooling themselves. The Packers are one of the best teams in the NFL and just as unbeatable at home as the Patriots are.
Still, the Pats took them down to the wire and showed they’re not the pretenders they might’ve been in years past. It would’ve taken a perfect game yesterday and the Pats did not have a perfect game.
Really, if you take back Devin McCourty’s poor angle on Jordy Nelson’s long touchdown near halftime, a play he’s made every time this year, and this one would’ve been even closer.
But most important is the lesson the Patriots should’ve learned yesterday – what it takes to beat the best teams and the kind of effort they’ll need in the playoffs. Even better is that the Pats will stick together as they head directly to San Diego.
That kind of trip, especially after a loss, can really forge a team’s resolve. Now they’ll get a chance to regroup together and they should be a better team for it.
Once again, as we learned in 2007, it’s not about going undefeated in November/December, it’s about putting together three near-perfect games in January/February.
Of course, the one rub is that they are now clinging to a tie-breaker lead over the Broncos for the top seed in the AFC. With the final quarter of the season to go, their margin for error is zero.
My Pats Posits after the jump…
Posits
The defense was so inconsistent in the two most important areas, in the red zone they stopped the Packers all four times in the red zone, but on third down they gave up first down 10 of 17 times. They had been on a third down tear the last three games, not surprising they fell back to earth against that offense.
So it was just those quick-scoring drives in the first half that were the difference that included big-plays of 45, 32, 28 and 45 yards. Those four plays really won the game for the Packers.
Let’s not forget scoring in the second half was Patriots 7, Packers 3.
The Pats offense was not clicking like they usually do. Some of the problems stem from the interior of the offensive line, who once again played less than their best on a big stage. There’s no quicker way to give Tom Brady and the running game problems that when the guards and center are struggling.
Dan Connolly received a team-worst -5.0 pass blocking grade from PFF. Wendell had a -1.5.
Unfortunately with the way the game unfolded, with the Pats getting behind early, they were never in position to really get their ground game going.
I just don’t know how or why Brandon Bolden was suddenly getting carries again, though he did look good on his touchdown run.
Same thing with Logan Ryan, I don’t know how he continues to see time over Kyle Arrington. Not that either of them, nor Dennard were particularly good.
Once again this game came down to their #3 and #4 receiving options against our #3 and #4 coverage options and they beat us. Specifically Ryan/Arrington on Davante Adams and Patrick Chung on Quarless.
Hard to write a much worse season story for Aaron Dobson who finally got in a game, promptly hurt his hamstring and left the game. Maybe it’s the curse of #17.
Edelman is really taking a pounding the last couple weeks. I hope the cumulative effect doesn’t add up to something more significant. He could use a break, but he won’t get one until the playoff bye week.
Jamie Collins continues to impress me with how physical he’s playing. He’s taking on blockers with force, especially when blitzing, while he used to try to duck around everyone with his athleticism.
Another solid showing from Hightower, who picked up a sack on a strong blitz.
More credit for the Pats run defense who bottled Eddie Lacy up after the first drive for the most part. Seemed like Hightower/Collins/Chung were in on every run tackle, swarming the ball.
As I kind of expected, this was the game that made everyone realize we need a player like Chandler Jones who can get pressure by himself. Ayers has been solid but he’s not the force Chandler can be. If they can get to a three-man rotation with Ninkovich for the playoffs, it should really benefit the pass rush.
Don’t really understand those complaining about the Pats not blitzing enough. I thought they did a good job picking their spots, but against a great quarterback you can’t just send 5 and 6 rushers every down. The problem was the three they sent couldn’t win the individual matchup to finish Rodgers after the secondary took away his initial reads.
Felt like the offense was a little too top-heavy, and as the Packers did with Adams, they needed someone like Wright, Amendola or Vereen to have a big game. None of those matchups were exploitable it seems.
If the Pats had gotten a lead I shudder at the thought of what Blount would’ve done to the Packers run defense.
Overall it was just nice to enjoy a game of two really good teams going hard at each other. You have to adjust your expectations against a good team and not read too much into the stats. They’re going to make plays and put up points, but it’s about holding them to field goals and getting off the field on third down. The Pats did one of those things consistently.
It’s also nice to not have a “What does it all mean” day today. The Patriots are still a very good team capable of beating anyone in the NFL in any location.
But I’m glad we won’t have to go through Lambeau again to get to Arizona, that’s for sure.
