In response to zbellino's comment:

"McCourty wasn't a very good corner. HE has been a pretty durned good Safety"

called that needed change early last year

In response to bredbru's comment:

Except tonight ... and numerous other games .... where they don't run ... and they pass well. 

Sorry man. No magic formula. 

If football were as simple as "run it 50% of the time and you win," everyone would run it 50% of the time ... and every game would end in a tie?

The Jets play man aggressive ... the Jets come at teams with exotic blitz packages. In fact, it's almost identical run/pass ratios through 3.5 quarters, almost identical game plans by the defense. Totally different results. 

The difference, for "anyone watching" was that Brady was sharp tonight, he was just decent in that Jets game, the defense was amazing tonight, they were abysmal in that Jets game. 

The difference, as it is the vast majority of the time in football, is execition. 

In response to bredbru's comment:

Ummm... so did I ... point? In fact, I've said the two biggest mistakes last post-season were bumping him back to corner and deactivating Ridley because he fumbled.

 

In response to zbellino's comment:

C'mon... you are btter than this. Not sure about your pass run ratio. that looks off. Secondly, except for one, every scoring possession had a runs and PA integrated. Lastly, today, even though TB went on SG a lot, they almost always had Ridley lined up as HB. The stats you mention misses on a lot of details... not like you.

Here are the drives.

First Q1 possession: Run for 4, run for 14, run for 4, pass inc, pass inc penalty, pass inc penalty, run fumble recovered by hern, pass for TD

Second Q1 possession: Pass inc, run for 0, pass for 14, pass for 18, PA for 13, PA for TD

Q1 Summary = 9 pass (2 PA), 5 run

First Q2 Possession: Run for 4, run for -2, pass for 11, run for 2, pass for -2, pass inc (PI), fake run pass for 15, pass for 12, tb under c but tb recognizes 1-1 on hern so qiick pass for TD

Second Q2 possession: run for 3, pass for 5, pass inc, punt

Third Q2 possession: Pass inc, pass 4, pass for 10 but hern was penalized, pass inc, punt

Fourth Q2 possession: run for 1, pass for 6, pass inc, punt

Q2 summary = 9 pass, 5 run

First Q3 possession: run for 9, run for 4, pass inc, run for 2, pass inc, punt

Second Q3 possession: pass inc, PA for 11, pass inc, pass inc, pass TD

Third Q3 possession: pass inc, pass for 7, pass inc, sack, punt

Fourth Q3 possession: run for 2, pass inc penalty on hou, pass for 9, run for 4, PA for 14, run for 5, run for 0, tb runs for 6, end of Q,

Q3 Summary = Pass 15 (1 PA), 8 runs

First Q4 possession: fake handoff pass for 18, pass inc, screen pass fumble recovered for TD

mayo's been good all season. a couple of years ago that he should be making the tackles about 1-yards ealier. that was because he was baby-sitting people around him. he used to drop back really far to help the secondary, so he had to cover a bigger distance when the other side they fail to anticipate a run. not this year. he's been pretty prompt with his tackles.

In response to zbellino's comment:

You've hit the nail on the head. This simplistic "pound the rock" philosophy being offered as a panacea for every ill from a bad defense to the heretofore mediocre talent available to actually accomplish that feat is astonishing.

A cavalcade of facts, quotes and tried and true football axioms have been showered on the usual suspects for nearly two years without even a tiny dent being put in the hackneyed drone of the beer swilling football strategist mentality.

 

90% of the problems on this board are #1 Rusty and #2 the incessant insistence that power running is the ultimate answer to every football dilemma.

 

 

In response to zbellino's comment:

You're right on the money as always. That's exactly how I see it.

In response to zbellino's comment:

i'll give you execution is important, however im sorry z,

i can watch football like  a chess match, and i do. and i can see when a game plan, a sequence, or tendencies cause a less than optimum result. and i acknowledge that i value having the threat of a run and a pass on virtually every play and you do not. i can live with that. its a big world, filled with lots of different opinons.

peace man, and congrats to the pats and teh fans or at least the fans who support one another.

In response to zbellino's comment:

you ask point? 

point is some people can see football and others can hear it diagnosed for a year and still not understand, and due to emoional insecurity need to lash out when they dont understand or agree.

i said the sme things about ridely, including seeing his potential after first preseason game i saw.

many of the noisiest here attack, then later when something comes to fruiton are too weak inside to acknowledge. 

one of the thing i like about you here is you have a lot to add. we have one major difference ( see above), and we  have plenty shared  observations ove rthe time ive been on the board as well.

In response to JohnHannahrulz's comment:

which is key...

Let's all relax and enjoy a really solid win by the Pats. Regardless of so-called critics out there, the Pats D IS improving each week and is peaking in time for the playoffs.

 

Go Pats!

In response to TrueChamp's comment:

It's all about executing the game plan! It's scary to think about how good this offense is and can be now with the success we've had running the ball this year. Defensive Coordinator now have to develop game plan with an eye on stopping the run which has opened up a portion of the play book we've not be able to take advantage of around here since clock killin Cory Dillion "pounded" defenses.

The Patriots of 2012 are a scary bunch to defend..Make no mistake about it, the stats don't lie. Entering last nights game the Patriots we're among the leaders in rushing yards from scrimmage. A stat that we've not seen in these parts for some time.

Someone above said it best, "the threat of a good running game and having a back that can break the big one" is far more daunting to defend, than a team committed to running the ball. The old "three yards and a cloud of dust" mentality. Play action doesn't work if the opponent doesn't respect your ability to pile up chunks of yardage on a single play...Enter Ridley & Vareen (with a shout out to the O-line), both of these guys have shown the ability to make the tough yards between the tackles and if they have any daylight on the stretch play, they can break a big one. Which is why in last nights game on the TD to Llyod he was able to get behind the safety who bit on the play action.

If last night's game did anything it sent a message to every team remaining on our schedule and future playoff opponants...You'd better prepare your team to defend play action becasue we're likely to see it used more frequently from this point forward...a scary propostion when you factor in Welker and our tighends ability to attack linebackers and Llyods ability to stretch the field

In response to ricky12684's comment:

"fools" idiotic". It's the bigot also known as girl repellent.

In response to bredbru's comment:

SO instead of explaining the difference in ther "chess match" like I asked you move on?

Ok.

But that's not what I call seeing football like a chess match.

Sorry B. 

The spread was amazing tonight, as it has been on other nights. And sometimes it's not, because nothing is amazing every single night ... including games where they are balanced  ... like that Jets playoff loss, where balance produced very few points.

Nothing works 100% of the time in football ... that is the chess match. No magic game plan that beats every team .... asserting otherwise is ... well ... naive. 

People on this internet forum talk about football in absolutes and it, in the end, has nothing to do with what football actually is on the field, how it is played, how it works strategically, and how it works tactically. 

 

In response to zbellino's comment:

This is why it's absurd to throw out pass-run ratio statistics from the two Giants' Super Bowls as if those explain the whole game.  Much more significant in both those games was the match-up between our O-line (less than 100% in both games) and the Giants excellent D line (and LBs). That and the defense's inability to prevent big pass plays by the Giants in the fourth quarters. 

I really dont understand how people can be so down on Mayo. I think he has lived up to his expectations. He rarely misses tackles, he is constantly in the backfield...his coverage is probably the weakest part of his game and even that is above average. You rarley ever see him get blocked out of plays, he plays every down, he never gets knocked backwards. I just don't get some people. Where was Spikes last night. He was non existant. I thought he was going to make the tackle in the backfield on the goalline run for a TD, but Houston beat him at his game as he came flying through the gap.(great block). But other than that...nothing. I really think some of the posters here need to reassess what they are looking for out of Mayo and maybe put their expectations in line with that of BB and the game plan that he has drawn up. Mayo and Wilfork are your 2 strongest ancors on this defence. Period.

In response to tcal2-'s comment:

not every player can shine every game.  Spikes did his job and freed up mayo to wreck havok.  a good defense is about having a number of players who can make an impact every week to force the opposing team to account for all of them and thus increasing the potential one is uncovered

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In response to RockScully's comment:

This is the key that some people on this board fail to understand. The Patriots made a statement when they opened the game with 3 straight run plays. The commitment to the run is also why that play action pass (that Brady is so good at) worked so well.

 

I agree, well played all the way around. We ran against one of the toughest run defenses. Didn't they allow only one other rushing TD or 100yd game or something? The OL showed some grit too...I wish Brady wasn't on the ground so much, but I think they minimalized most of the damage knowing how they have wrecked other teams.

In response to TrueChamp's comment:

Why would he say it sucked? The running game was good enough to get the Texans to bite on play fakes. Everyone knew going in that the Texans were tough against the run. They got tough on Welker too but no one is saying he sucks. The offense just shifted their attack elsewhere. The whole game was a matter of constant adjustments. The first time out BB called was huge. He adjusted the D and after their second posession the Texans' offense was shut down. They adjusted their D in the second quarter and got some 3 and outs but wee readjusted the offense during half time.