Ups and downs

Deltha O'Neal was by far the worst corner in my opinion i would much rather they start Terrence Wheatley along side Ellis Hobbs for the rest of the year to atleast see if he is going to be able to be a starting caliber corner or if they need to address the situation again this year in free agency/the draft. Either way im sure Deltha wont be back next year so i would rather give the time to a rookie to gain experience.

Mark LeVoir did really well in my opinion he could turn out to be a really big pickup for BB if this guy ends up starting the rest of the year and actually doing really well. That would bode well for next season.

Not sure how Moss could be considered a "down", he got open deep for 2 TD's and Cassel badly misfired on both plays. The only catch he had a legitimate chance to make was the one that Jammer almost intercepted after the game was way out of hand. The ball on the sidelines was clearly knocked away by Jammer, a good play by the CB, not a bad play by Moss.

I'd give Moss an "UP" because he got himself in position to make plays and didn't harass Cassel when he missed him on throws a college QB should be able to make.

Giving Deltha O'Neal a down is an understatement. When I look at this game, all I am thinking is the worries I once had about losing Asante Samuel has been realized.
And I am starting to wonder if Brandon Merriweather is made from a piece of paper. That guy is always laying down after defending a jump ball.

Sorry Mike, but I don't see how the defense giving up 100 yds on the ground is really an up considering the average. And we know we are in trouble when the punter and a backup tackle are the only other ups, and one of them is for one hustle play. Ouch!

Coach Belichick, Ty Law is on Line Four right now.

I think we need to realize that with Cassell, the Patriots will not be scoring a whole lot of points and the offense is just not gelling with him and has no emotions. The loss of Brady has deflated the team and it's showing. The best thing is to put in O'connell and see how he does and give him some expierence to back up Brady. I think the Pats will be going about 7-9 this year. Need to work on a lot of areas for next year. One big area, get a new defensive coordinator.

Great job Reiss, I think you nailed the ups and downs, but I think you were a little to nice! Here’s my take.
Up
Chris Hanson – It’s about time you earned a paycheck!

Mark LeVoir – Could be the bright point of this season. By the way, what’s up with Stephen Neal's. Any signs of a return!

Run defense – I’ll give the D that much, I guess you have to stop some plays.

Down
Matt Cassel – I could go on for hours. Holds on to the ball too long, won’t take chances, can’t throw down field, no pocket presents, and on and on! Bottom line is the kid is not a NFL quarterback. The experiment is over.

Ellis Hobbs/Deltha O'Neal/Terrence Wheatley -- These guys are just too small, too slow and have no hitting in them. Receivers are just pushing them out the way and on beating them up!
Randy Moss – In the works BB, “He is what he is” and what he is, is not much without a super star quarterback, and I mean any super star. He’s on dimensional, double team him and take away the long ball and he disappears

Pass rush – Good job on this one (“Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers dropped back to pass 27 times and was hit a grand total of zero times.”). What pass rush! It’s been M.I.A. all year.

Short-yardage package – Sorry but I blame this one on Cassel also. He had guys open.

Ricomandog,

Moss was taken away last night???? How stupid are you??? He was wide open for 2 td's... Get a clue. What superstar QB has he had???

A short yardage package should be able to run for a yard and a half. Ridiculous to bring in all that beef and pass, pass, pass. Fergawdsake, stuff it in there!

Any chance we can get Otis Smith back on the field. I know he's 57 years old but I'm pretty sure he could better then O'Neal.

I feel like Cassel lost this one. Even the best Secondary gets burnt sometimes, but Cassel looked like he was panicking out there. With Brady at the helm the Pats easily win this one. But still, I can’t blame Cassel for the way he plays. He is who he is and we all knew that going in and the coaches and personnel people knew it to and chose not do anything. Cassel should have been gone a year ago and we should have had a serviceable number two guy. Is Doug Flutie keeping in shape? Pats go 6-10.

what is up with dan koppen he was continually pushed into the backfield and horribly beaten by a single bull rush. maybe it is time to look at someone else or give him some help. comeon oline gurus

DOWN: TEDY BRUSCHI, THE WORST PLAYER ON THE FIELD

FREE GUYTON

Cassel was absolutely atrocious. I counted at least three times the ball was thrown at the ground. And these were not throwaways!! There were also more than a few overthrown balls - one to a wide-open moss in the end zone. Cassel also failed to recognize a wide-open Ben Watson in the end zone. I think the poor play of the quarterback has a rippling effect on the rest of the team. I strongly agree that we need to give O'Connel a shot as a I don't think Cassel represents the future as the back up quarterback.

I wanted to give Cassel his chance but the experiment is over. He cannot work the middle/deep part of the field - Moss was open at least 3 times - he holds the ball too long but conversely doesn't allow the play to develop - Watson in the end zone, etc. They barely even try to throw middle or deep, obviously knowing it won't be successful. You cannot have a QB that forces you to abandon 2/3 of the field. Yes, the defense is problematic, particularly the pass defense, but if the O is scoring that takes the pressure off, reduces the opposing O's opportunities to score, etc. This game, more than any other, demonstrated that he is not the guy. Time to put in O'Connell - Cassel is gone after this year anyway, you cannot get to a SB (which is our only goal) with him, so you might as well 1) give O'Connell the experience and 2) see whether he might be able to get it done. If he can't get it done, you're no worse off and now you're backup QB has valuable experience.

This is a good defense...not great but good. The offense is not giving them time to rest and make adjustments during the game. I still think that the offense is partially to blame for the poor play at cornerback for the Pats. They can't stay on the field and they're wearing the "D" out. Rivers had a cleaner shirt than A-Rod in the postseason....are they that bad or are they tired?? No pressure = open recievers, doesn't matter who you have in the backfield.

Cassel still doesn't see the field and he's second guessing himself all the time. I think next years number 2 QB, Kevin O'Connell should get some reps soon. Brady is going to have a challenging year if he can make it back and I don't see him playing 16 games. The number 2 guy needs reps now to help the team in 2009.

This is still a great team and they can make a serious run if they can start putting points on the board every week. The defense can manage the game if they have time to work on the sideline.

Why oh why is BB so opposed to getting some decent CBs?

He's still bitter from his time as a secondary coach?

Also, Chris Hanson had a tackle on a punt return. [Sproles, I think]

What baffles me is how other teams can do what we can't do. Have a tall, fast receiver with a deep threat? Double cover him. Can't hit the long ball? Soften up the D with intermediate crossing routes - take the 12 yard completions. The lack of adjustments is what is killing me! EVERY kick return went one way - up the middle. EVERY kick return had SD player leading to break up the wedge and then swarm the returner at the 20. Rivers was looking to put the ball 4 inches out of Deltha's reach - use the height advantage. Never did O'Neal jam his man at the line. Maybe this is way beyond my football IQ (which I happen to think is pretty good) - can anyone else shed some light for my sanity's sake?

Cheers,

Davo

Hey Rico, You made me laugh on Monday morning, which is extremely hard to do.

Randy Moss – In the works BB, “He is what he is” and what he is, is not much without a super star quarterback, and I mean any super star. He’s on dimensional, double team him and take away the long ball and he disappears.

So, randall cunningham, jeff george, gus furrotte, and recently retired Daunte are superstars?!!!!!!
Bold statement from a receiver who has over 13,000 yards and 126 td's. When is your next comedy act? I want to buy a ticket

My Problems with the pats:
1st and foremost THE DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR - when you have a weak secondary and a strong front 7, then you need to make sure you get to the quaterback as fast as possible.. BLITZ, STUNT, whatever... otherwise what happened last night will happen again.. whoever is calling the defensive plays needs to figure out a way to put some pressure on the qb.

2nd - Matt Cassel - (ricomandog is right) - lets give another kid a shot, whats the worst that will happen? we lose? I'd rather throw O'Connel into the mix, hopefully bring some spunk back into the offense and throw it downfield. i do feel that Cassel is gettin the short end of the stick, hes not a brady but hes not really helping the team either. (terrence wheatley too - might as well let him learn now than next year)

3rd - Offensive coordinate -thats right, WE ARE NOT THE PATRIOTS OF 2007! we can't pass on 1st and 10, 2nd and 10 and now its 3rd and 10.. its a must that they change the offense, to suit the team that is on the field, not the team that was on the field last year. we should be running to open the pass, not passing to open the run. They are putting the game on cassels shoulders, they need to get the pressure off him.

Patriots will be lucky to break an 8-8 record this year.

A big down to a coaching staff that refuses to adjust. Not talking about in-game adjustments, although those would be nice. I'm talking about adjusting their approach to suit the players they have available to them.

Offense:
Wouldn't bring in a veteran QB because their offense would take too long to learn? So they think this is better? If a rookie in your system for all of camp, or a veteran from another team can't learn your offense, simplify the offense for them!

Defense:
It's easy to look at the roster and think the defense is getting old., but here's the thing. Opposing teams figured out our defense a while ago. the D doesn't attack. Doesn't disguise. They sit back there and think, "Our scheme is so good we don't have to take chances."

The schemes have been figured out, and the players aren't good enough.

Maybe I'm too old and senile, but it doesn't seem like that many years ago that Patriots defenses regularly attacked and confused opponents.

There were years when we had defensive rosters full of retreads and rookies, but they attacked and dominated.

you can put 4 CBs on moss and id bet hed still get the ball 50% of the time.

in this game he was in single coverage ALL THE TIME.

those 2 drops were NOT his fault. he wouldnt be able to make those catches if he has glue on his hands. the CB just broke the play well.
and moss was wide open at least a couple of times, if only our pathetic QB would make the fricken throw. i couldn't overthrow it like that if i tried.

our secondary sucked... but i blame the coaches on this one. its not deltha's fault if he cant stop a receiver whos 4 inches taller than him. we pats fans have been warning the coaching staff about our stupid midget cornerbacks for centuries now, but they have done nothing about it.

as far as sunday night goes.. the blame for this one goes to cassel.

if youre playing in a team that has the BEST wide receivers in the NFL both deep and slot, the best o-line, and a pretty good running back corps and you cant win games, then im sorry but it's the quarterback's fault. this team is every NFL QB's dream. just look at brady's stats before 2007, when he didnt have all of these weapons... they were very good, but never exploded like in 07.

Moss is sulking because the ball isn't being delivered to him the way it was last year. There were 3 passes last night (2 sideline) and the deep one to the endzone where he gave up and didn't compete for the ball. He's saying the all right things but he is starting to behave the way he did at the end of his time in Oakland.

I am sure we are all angry and frustrated about how the PATs played. I think this game was lost by the lack of intensity of the PATs as a whole. The Chargers were at a different level. Their offensive line didn't even allow a QB hurry, let alone a sack. I think what changed the momentum of the game was when the PATS decided to kick it at Charger 31 on forth and 5 and missed! That emboldened the chargers offense for the rest of the game. I believe that was a bad coaching decision that turned the game around!

BENCH CASSEL, ONEAL, AND BRUSCHI! Our Defense is PATHETIC!!!!!! Cassel reminds me of Bledsoe with those feet shuffling and indecisiveness.

One more observation… I am not impressed with Dan Pees this season. Where is the pass rush????

The Pats are too old at some positions on defense and too young at others. Not a great combination. Maybe it will all come together at some point. Where is Capers' supposed influence? I thought he was hired to bring some creativity to the defense.

Randy Moss is visibly not trying to catch the ball as hard as he tried with Brady. He would have done all he could to catch a not so perfect throw if it came from Brady. Not so with Cassell.
Let's all be realistic, optimism is wonderful, but reality is what we are stuck with.

RYAN, BRENT,

I wasn’t meaning to criticize Randy Moss for what he does best, which is catching the long ball and he does that better than anyone in the NFL. But he needs someone who can get the ball out there where he can catch it. Case in point, last year’s record setting TD against the Giants, Brady missed him on the first try and on the very next play he hit him in stride for a 50 plus yard TD. That’s great, but don’t expect him to be going across the middle or becoming a 1st down 10 catches a game guy. That’s what I meant by “he is what he is”.

Alex,
Bledsoe was a 1000% times better then Matt C... He could throw the ball last ten yards.

To All Pats Fans:

I really enjoyed watching the game last night. Matt Cassel is Awesome!! He shouldn't even be an NFL QB, why do you think he was a back up in college? Your defense is a joke!! Tedy Suckski should not even be on the field. And Deltha Oneil gets worked every play...Moss is such a baby, unless he has the perfect ball throw to him, he gives up. You are NOT just a bad team because of the loss of Tom Brady. YOU ARE JUST A BAD TEAM. PERIOD!!!

Brad21 made a good observation. The coaching deserves most of the blame., They did not have a good game plan. They assumed that since the chargers had the 32nd ranked defense (meaningless statistics), somehow the PATs would be able to throw a lot of deep balls. The difference is that PATs don't have a great offensive line and Cassel is not able to execute like a seasoned QB. The play calls put the offense in difficult situations where the defense could pressure the line and QB. The defensive scheme is bland. They have been playing this prevent defense for so long and it seems to barely hold up last year because they put so many points on the board but this is a different team and teh coaches have to adjust.

Rico,

I understand your point. I think Moss make good catchs off of short routes. He did against San Fran. You are right, his greatest strength is downfield and in-stride.

Maura are you serious or just joking? How can you judge that he is not trying to catch the ball. Making that assumption I assume you are saying the Pats are trying to lose?

pats have gotten 1 sack in the past 3 games...where is the pass rush and where is shawn crable? the next 4 games are brutal broncos on mnf the rams the colts and the bills.

It's easy to blame the corners, but where were the safeties? On most of those deep throws, it was one-on-one coverage. The safety help seemed virtually nonexistent. I don't know whether this was by design or not. [They were probably helping out the linebackers on the underneath stuff, because those guys really haven't been able to make it happen in pass coverage.] Before, in the nickel, they would often play something resembling a cover 2 (my guess is it was probably closer to a cover 4). Last night we saw two deep corners and who knows what else. And it was attacked continuously. Seemed like another game where defensive adjustments were lacking...

PS - I'd add Sammy Morris to the ups. I thought he ran well -- out of the wide packagges too.

I agree with the others that Moss does not belong on the down list.

On the play where Jammer tipped it on the sidelines, you can clearly see that Moss had Jammer beat, but he had to slow down which allowed Jammer to close the gap and make a play on it. It was a great play by the CB to recover on a play where Moss had him clearly beat.

Randy Moss was ready to make big plays, but big plays require big throws.

One thing Cassell did well this time was recognize when he was not going to make a play and scramble for yardage. That saved a number of drives. It is not a great way to win games, but it is something he will need to do if he does not get better at reading the field.

Separated at birth -Matt Cassell and Drew Bledsoe (nice guy but too tentative and indecisive) and Deltha O. and Duane Starks (I can't even watch). Hey Bill, no disrespect but it's time to admit Asante would have been worth the cash. Now can we at least let the new kid take a shot.......and I mean you Kevin O. This really is turning into the lost season.

I would not put Moss as a "down". Those two passes to the sidelines were under-thrown! Am I the only one here who thinks this???? It always feels like Moss is kind of SLOWING DOWN to make those catches(hence the backs always catch up). And when he is wide open, the pass doesn't even get there! If Brady had thrown those passes, he would have put the ball IN FRONT of the receiver and Moss would have blown by the coverage full speed. Cassell is not throwing the ball with conviction. I would love to see him OVER THROW a pass past Moss.

Please, get the rookie quarterback in there.......At least he won't be scared to throw for more than 5 yards.

I don't think this is the game they ought to win..almost every weakness of the patriot showed this game.. i mean knowing they don't have brady, the offense will struggle, but i am now amazed that even the defense has this problems almost 3 weeks now. Given the talent they have i do believe they ought to do more.. Can someone help answer my questions?
- what happed to Mike Vrabel, AD, and the linebacking corps pass rush?
-where is Richard Seymour? I believe this pre season, he was all good to go, but after the Jets game, I don't see him in the games(physically).
-is the O-Line really that bad knowing that they have multiple PROBOWLERS(Light,Koppen,Mankins)?
-do you think that our secondary is the worst in the league?or we do all the blaming on the new coach and his schemes?
-can someone please tell Bill to give Kevin O'Connell a break? Even with a known loss they won field him for experience..

I am not a critic of the team, i am just a fan saying what i feel.. I am not seeing things like this can hinder our team, i am hoping for a come back next game..Eventhough Denver has the materials to win i believe they can will this in from of the PATRIOT FANS.

Like what McNabb did to the Eagles last week,he called them out and was successfully in that game they played that week. I think TOM is still the leader of the Patriots,he should gather the team, give them a pep talk and tell everyone they have to do this.. Prove they can win with everything on the line..

Guys, I do believe there is still a chance, everything will be GOOD.. This is the year we will come out of adversity again and take it all.. But we need all the help we need..we need FOCUS, INTENSITY, and SWAGGER that we will crush every team that will face us..That is something we had last year that now is sometimes being left out. And most specially the fans, we should go with them all they way..

Nikko from phillippines:

I do believe there is still a chance, everything will be GOOD!! HAHAHAHA, OH, HAHAHAHAHA!!! Are you serious? Have a chance for what? A 6-10 record!!

Wake up man!! Your squad is bad in all aspects of the game.

@Laughing,

So are you sure they are as bad you think they are? i do believe they are not performing their best this last few games, and the loses only shows they rooms for improvement,, Winning doesn't always make your team great but Losing will always make them better!! Hmm.. i do believe your a Jets fan, i wonder how long can Bret take your team, without him you will be smoked and be 3-9 this season..

Haha, i'll wait for your comments after the Denver game, by then let see who will laugh..