analysis

Now that the season is over I finally made myself sit down and rewatch all of the AFCCG. If there’s one thing about All-22 game film, it really takes the emotion out of it. It’s still kind of strange when watching particular plays and remembering moments of false hope that I might’ve had.

The headline? The Pats just didn’t come to play in this one. It’s sad and really somewhat surprising, given that they usually put up a much better fight. But the whole team looked tired. They weren’t making the big plays. And in the big moments they could not execute.

Maybe it was the Denver air, maybe they were just happy to have made it to the AFCCG, but they couldn’t do much of anything and looked flat while watching the Broncos make every little play and fight for every extra yard.

I’ll have to go back and watch the Ravens game next so I can enter the offseason with a good taste in my mouth. Still, this didn’t take anything away from the 2013 team. The took as far (or really further) than anyone could’ve expected.

Some notes:

– Would’ve liked to have seen more of Ridley in this one. He was making something out of nothing like he often did during the season. I think they put everything on Vereen a little too soon.

– Don’t think I can remember Alfonzo Dennard getting eaten alive like he was in this one. Faced with Demaryius Thomas he gave up five catches on seven targets for 90 yards. I like Dennard, but let’s not pencil him in as a #1 corner.

– Don’t want to overreact to one game but Ryan Wendell was dominated by Terrence Knighton.PFF graded him out at a -3.9. Wendell is a free agent, I’m not sure I can realistically argue he has a long-term future at center for the Pats.

– PFF totaled 10 missed tackles for the Pats defense. That sums it up right there. Chandler Jones had one of the worst ones that would’ve been a tackle for loss and ended up going for seven yards.

– Brady was off in this one. I thought he could’ve had Matthew Slater on the second possession deep throw but he underthrew him. Maybe it was the Denver air, but his accuracy was off. The missed one to Edelman was also pretty bad.

– Saw a lot of the same old thing we always see against the Pats – Cover 1 with no respect for the deep ball.

– I like Chris Jones and think he’ll be a good part of a rotation in 2014, but he was out of place getting asked to play 74 snaps in this one. Aside from a drawn holding call, he was essentially a non-factor.

– Speaking of non-factors I didn’t see much of anything out of Steve Gregory. I know he was praised as one of the smartest guys in the secondary, but I’m starting to think there has to be a way to upgrade him, especially considering how expensive he’ll be in 2014.

– Dont’a Hightower was one of the few guys to show up in this one. I feel pretty good about him moving to middle linebacker next year, we’ll see how that plays out.

Overall I think the 2013 Pats gave everything they had but in the end, they just didn’t have the horses to go into Denver and pull off the upset. It just sucks that they didn’t bring much fire or compete to the game. Seemed like they were fighting themselves as much as they were fighting the Broncos. Every offensive drive lacked pace and rhythm, most noticeably on a fake end around to Edelman where Brady overthrew Dobson by a mile.

In those key moments that decide the game, the Pats never came up with the big play they needed to and the Broncos did. The failed two-point conversion is a perfect example of that.

The 2014 Pats will look a lot different than the team that finished the season in Denver. It should be an interesting offseason as always. There are good pieces in place, but still a lot of refining to be done at almost every position.