A look at who’s up and who’s down from the Patriots’ win over the Jaguars
Up
Tom Brady – Quarterback takes the high-percentage throws and finishes 26 of 28 for 262 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
Laurence Maroney – Running back continues to shine, totaling 122 yards on 22 carries and one touchdown, while adding a big 33-yard catch-and-run to set up the team’s first score.
Run blocking -- Plenty of holes created as the Patriots total 145 yards on 29 carries (5.0 avg.).
Donte’ Stallworth – Receiver delivers the play that ultimately finished off the Jaguars , a 53-yard catch in the fourth quarter.
Ty Warren – Defensive end simply overpowers Jaguars right guard Maurice Williams, creating a strip sack that sets up the Patriots’ second touchdown.
Down
Randall Gay – Cornerback starts in place of Ellis Hobbs but seemed to be a step behind in coverage.
Stephen Gostkowski – Kicker misses a 35-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Rodney Harrison – Safety did have an interception, but picks up two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for late hits.
Kickoff return unit – Normally a strength, the unit averages just 18.2 yards per runback as drives began at the 26, 19, 18, 24 and 20 after kickoffs.
Pass defense – Patriots seemed particularly vulnerable – from the pass rush to the coverage. Short passes to the outer edges of the field hurt them most.
SUNDAY PLAN: We'll plan on taking a look at the snaps played by offensive skill position players in the early afternoon. After the Patriots learn their foe in the AFC Championship Game, coach Bill Belichick is scheduled to hold a conference call.
Oh, boy! If the Pats play pass defense in the AFC championship game like they did last night Manning will tear them apart and the only sound you'll hear at 17-1 will be Don Meridith singing, "Turn out the lights..." Yeah, I'm pickin' the Colts over the Chargers and hopin' the Pats hit a few receivers coming off the line.
Kickoff return unit was really Chad Jackson, he had some lanes to run but he was very tentative hitting any kind of hole. Reminded me a little like Maroney was running earlier this year.
BTW, not only was the catch by Stallworth helpful in sealing the game, the last first down he stretched for was big too...
You know you have a problem when Brandon Meriweather keeps a cooler head than Harrison and tries to calm him down. Rodney having HGH withdrawals or what? I just have a bad vision that play like that is going to lose a game for the Pats.. I hope not but he sure is making some stupid plays at crucial times.
The pass protection was fantastic by the OL. Brady had time and even on the first play when he was sacked, it was on brady and not the OL. Watson could have been an UP but he is not hand catching balls! Samuel should have been a DOWN but I guess Randell Gay was worse. Samuel was beaten for a touchdown and gave up a huge play AGAIN by trying to wonder and jump routes instead of covering the receiver
I thought that the problems with the defense was entirely because of the soft pass rush defense that Dean Pees used in the first half. I dont care who the quarterback is, a rookie, a seasoned vet, any QB will have a field day if given as much time as Garrard had to stand in the pocket or move out of it and find a receiver.
In the 3rd quarter it was obvious that the defense had adjusted, did some stunts,and blitzed an occasional LB and it made a huge difference.
If they play soft, like that, against the Colts, Manning will eat them alive. The defense needs to go back to the movenemt, the stunting, and the safety blitz to get Manning flustered, and he WILL make mistakes. He isn't perfect.
The game plan, which was asjusted at half time ,was to crowd the box and stop the run. With only three db in the field ,and nobody getting to the qb of course there were plenty of receptions. I agree , in fact I think Samual had a worse game than Gay. On several occasions he failed to stay with his man while Gerrard ran around and our line was stopping the run, instead of rushing the qb. Thank god they made adjustments and blitzed Gerrard in the second half.
I think Harrison had a heck of a game, I only saw one personal foul commited, mabe someone can explain that first one to me. With the size of their running backs it took two to bring them down.
Which brings me to the officials, missed the Jag's tackle move back b4 the snap, missed a facemask on Welker, too many late hits by the Jags.
There will be a different game plan next week, hopefully some officials who know how also.
OK - so the Pats squeaked out a victory over the Jags. That only makes the dismay of other team fans more sticky and yucky. I maintain my position: This is not the team to overcome the Dolphins perfect season.
Ohg.
http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/01/08/new-england-patriots-love-or-hate/
------------
I dont care who the quarterback is, a rookie, a seasoned vet, any QB will have a field day if given as much time as Garrard had to stand in the pocket or move out of it and find a receiver.
------------
Exactly, this "let them try to beat us while we rush 3 is stupid when playing crappy QBs (Boller, Feeley, Eli)... Make bad QBs make a QUICK decision. At least last night Peas started to bring pressure in the 3rd instead of the 4th like he had in the past. Hopefully the DBs come to play next week because we need to bring heat.
I think Samuel should have his tattoo removed, he was constantly trailing the play!
Show me the money will be sent packing after this year.
If we do play the Colts the game plan will be different. We took away Jax #1 strength and took them out of their comfort zone. Garrard stepped up and played a big game and our pass D struggled a bit but when Asante and Hobbs get healthy this week and everyone is back to playing their roles I expect the D to play a very solid game, whoever it is we play.
No need for everyone to panic, these other teams are all here because they make plays as well. All we need to do is make more plays then they do in the end. The best teams in football reside in the AFC and no one said it was going to be easy.
The Jaguars' streak of 11 games scoring at least 24 points ended yesterday. They played some pretty good defenses during that streak in Tampa Bay, Tennessee, Indianapolis, San Diego and Pittsburgh (twice). Maybe the D wasn't as bad as we all feel. It looks like Jax can make some plays on offense.
The long drives and pass yardage weren't great, but as Nikos pointed out, Maroney got twice the yards of taylor and jones-drew. If the game plan was to put the game in Garrard's hands (one fumble, one int.) it worked. And the defense dropped two int.s (Merriweather and Harrison) and the first TD was borderline a sack (but maybe not indisputable). If Gostowski makes the field goal, they cover the 13 1/2 spread
I think Asante had a down game, he bit on the play action on the first drive leading to the big fourth down completion, which led to a touchdown also couldn't keep up after a move by the receiver on thier second touchdown. He was seemed more responsible than Gay for the points on the board.
Also Rodney's second "late hit" looked like a legal hit to me.
anyone else impressed with meriweather? shouldve caught that pick, but made alot plays breaking on the ball and blitzing. also had a monster hit on one of the big wideouts.
How could you leave off the Kickoff Unit. They were terrific. Great job keeping Jones-Drew very quiet. They punished the Jaguars return unit with some wicked hits too.
On a down note, I think you left off Assante Samuel. Give me Ty Law in his prime anyday of the week over this guy.
Go Pats!!!!
love the offensive participation - would be very curious to see defensive participation as well. yes it was great to see meriweather out there for what seems like the first time this year in the biggest game of the year.
I agree with many of the others. Granted you can only see the plays covered by the camera, but it looked like Asante got burned a few times and I would have expected a Pro Bowler to have had a bigger impact with less help because others played to stop the run.
I also think you are too harsh on Rodney. Yes the penalties were bad, but I thought he was the lone highlight for the D.
Rodney was huge against the Jags. I expect to see Asante come out and have a big game this Sunday.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
ask reiss
Questions will be considered for Mike's mailbagbrowse this blog
by categoryINside Boston.com