Ups and downs

Reiss, give BB a knucklehead Down for having Mathew Slatter return a kick-off in terrible weather conditions, when seasoned receivers had a hard time holding on to the ball. There is a time and place for a rookie to do this but NOT at that juncture of a game of this magnitude. It reminds me of the 4 and 13 play in the superbowl when they went for it instead of kicking a field goal.

Special teams get an F- in this game.

Also, everyone still want to trade Brady? No? Didn't think so. I'll say it again: This team is NOT the same without him, in wins or losses this season. You cannot put a value on him to this team. This team is fatally flawed without him, bad defense or not.

I agree with Reza. This wasn't Slater's first drop was it? I seem to recall at least one other that was similarly spontaneous (i.e. not due to pressure).

I think Deltha O'neal should have his name engraved in the Down Column or we rename the down column to the Deltha O'neal Column.

What a terrible player.

Deltha O'Neal gets burnt to a crisp -- more than once -- in every single game -- he's more porous than swiss cheese -- surely there is someone better out there -- how could they be any worse?

Type your comment here...

Gary Guyton up !!!

Am I the only person who watched the game? Or maybe you people are not aware of the rule change. If Randy Moss catches that ball in the back of the end zone he gets pushed out of bounds and it's an incomplete pass. CLEARLY!!

Coaching gets an F for having Slater back there handling the kick-off. Special teams continues to be awful---Maybe Brad Seely should be sitting w/Dean Pees up in the booth.

Agree with Classless---still want to trade Brady??? bunch of morons....

1 for 13 on Third down----Awful! Almost last in the league defending the red zone...

Don't pin this one on Cassel...couldn't disagree with most of you more. The O line looked like they were a bunch of Matador's and who greased the receiver’s palms this week? Clear and simple....Pitts D is much better than the Pat's offense and who didn't know that coming in??? If they had a chance to win this game, they needed some things to bounce their way.

I do agree that the Special teams units look like they need some special attention, they continue to give up huge yards on kick returns...other things are evident.

The O’Neil project is over...completely evident that a very mediocre QB (Worthlessberger) took advantage on any match-up against O'Neil.

Expect Seattle next week to watch this game close...O'Neil is going to be a bigger factor to the Seattle offense than their own running game!!

I agree with the sentiment regarding O'Neil. Seems that having one of the younger backup CB's in there would be for the best long term, because even if they play poorly, you can't really have a much worse game than Deltha did yesterday.

I also wish that Hobbs would stop with all his celebrating after making a play here and there. The secondary, Red Zone, and 3rd down defense have been horrible all year, and yesterday was a fine example of that-- point being that Hobbs doesn't have much to dance about on the occasion that he actually makes a play.

How 'bout an "up" for Ben Watson?

As maddening a player as he is, always showing flashes of being worth that first round pick before he drops another ball; he has made the two signature "hustle" plays for this team over the past 4 years. Running the length and breadth of the field AGAIN to tackle a defender returning an interception for what looked to be a sure touchdown...

Pats fans can question his skills, his hands... but this guy epitomizes "hustle."

To Marc:
Worthlessberger? I find it funny that you would say that after he managed to embarass your squad. Except for first drive and the interception on the second pass of the game, Big Ben was able to play mistake free football and lead his team to a stomping of your beloved PATS!! Mediocre QB, I think not not, he is not having a great season this year, but his numbers throughout his career so far warrant a better classification than mediore.

Down: WES WELKER

This game was lost at the line of scrimmage, not the secondary. The patriots continue to have the most over rated front seven in the NFL on defense. And Matt Light and Nick Kazcur were terrible again yesterday.

Also, don't forget about the cheap shot that knocked Welker out of the game, that was a terrible play and a defining moment in the game.

This is a team in transition. Injuries aside, there are players on defense that are either too young and mistake prone, too old and incapable of making big plays anymore, or simply incapable. We've been spoiled for a long time and now are getting a taste for how most of the teams in the league are: sometimes good, sometimes OK, sometimes awful. Feels a lot like 2002.

Matt Cassel returns to Earth. He had two picks, but could have and should have had five. He was throwing behind receivers all day long.....Cheap and dangerous hit on Welker. It occurred way after the play was over and Welker was clearly letting up. That guy should be fined and suspended and should have been ejected. There's no excuse for that.......I agree with poster above, Moss would have been out of bounds if he makes the catch at the back of the end zone........He's have had a better shot if the pass wasn't behind him.

To Everyone Who Will Comment On the Wes Welker Hit:

THE BALL WAS TIPPED(CAN"T ARGUE THE DEFENSELESS RECEIVER)AND THERE WAS NO HELMET TO HELMET CONTACT!!!

Tell me where the cheap shot was?

and that concludes the patriot's 2008 season. please enjoy the following movie presentation of "The Replacements" starring Keanu Reeves. See you next year.

Stop the crying, the bottom line is they got beat by a better team. This has been the case with all their loses this year (except maybe the first Miami game). This defense is in big trouble (as I have been saying all year, win or lose). They need at least 3 or 4 top players to get back to a top 10 unit. The offense, assuming Brady comes back, really just need a legitimate number RB (although another quality receiver would be nice). As we found out last year, it is much harder to win around here in the winter with just a passing attack. A good RB would make the O-line look better and open the passing game. It would also keep the defense off the field. Those championship teams with Corey Dillon were much more balanced.

Corey Dillon was only on one championship team.

Steelers Fan:

Come on....Roethlisberger is a game manager. He's not elite, he's not awful...he's good - if your good in the NFL than your team can survive and win championships with a great team (Pittsburgh has a great team). I don't think he would land in too many top 8 or bottom 8 QB's - that puts him in the middle.

Not to take too much away from his win on Sunday...but let's put most of the credit where it's due - the D. And Big Ben did what he usually does....manage the game.

I must stand and face the firing squad as I had a strong sense that the Patriots would prevail against the Steelers 24-10. The no-call on the pass interference in which Gaffney would have had a first down was huge as the play, along with Moss' first drop and Slater's fumble (no, he should not have been out there under those circumstances) drastically changed the momentum of the game. From that point on Cassel was forced to throw for a win which was playing into the Steelers' strength (pass rush). This was a classic example of how instrumental a running game is in order to enhance Cassel's, (or any inexperienced quarterback's ) success; without the disguise of a running plan the Steelers were just lining up and licking their chops. The no-call was huge! From that point on the Patriots appeared like sheep seeking shelter in a lion's den.

Sick of Fans Complaining about Football Hits: It came when the ball was tipped well out of Welker's reach and the receiver didn't even realize it. It's a good penalty because there was no way Welker could have made a play on that ball. The defender would have known that if he was playing the ball, but he was clearly intending to level Welker, catch or no catch. It would have been a fair hit if the ball wasn't tipped, but where and when that ball was tipped makes a huge difference. Welker was a defenseless receiver, because there was no way he could make a play on the ball but he got smacked for it anyways.

I agree, many unnecessary roughness penalties are too close to call, and most of the fines that players get for "rough hits" are ridiculous, but I think this is one case where it's a good call.

Mike - I was only able to keep half an eye on the game, so I only saw a handful of the offensive snaps, but amongst those there looked to be a lot of dropped passes that were right on the money; in fact, I suspect that they were a large part of the reason that we didn't change our offensive gameplan significantly even after the initial strip-sack (I would've switched to a two-TE shotgun package with David Thomas releasing after helping Light out, since he was getting manhandle in the shotgun, apparently). After that it seemed like the pressure was getting to Cassel and left him uncomfortable. Do you think McDaniels should get a spot in the Down column for his failure to adjust the protections when it became apparent that the ends were getting beaten, or is this all on Cassel, Kaczur and Light?

Sick of Fans Complaining about Football Hits:
You are showing your ignorance. Just because the ball was tipped does not change the fact that the receiver was in a defenseless position. Thats why he was flagged and thats why he will be fined and most likely suspended. Also, he left his feet and led with his head, while it was not helmet to helmet it was an illegal hit. End of story.

Mike,

I think you need to add a category to "Ups and Downs". You need a "Doghouse" Category. This category is for players who do something that pretty much loses the game for the Pats. I think you need this because it is hard to compare how Cassel or Gostkowski performed with what Slater, Moss or Gaffney did to lose the game last night.

Jabar Gaffney and Deltha O'Neil would have their own rooms in the Doghouse, of course.

This week, Matt Light would definitely be in the Doghouse this week. He got beat twice which gave Pittsburgh 14 points.

Just a thought....

How can you group Kaczur in with Light and say he was getting beaten all game. He gave up one sack on the second to last play off the game with the game completly over and Cassell was risking injury by running a rushed obvious pass play for god knows why. He OWNED Woodley for the ENITRE game. Him and Neal both had great games. Harrison is the type of pass rusher who abandons the run just to get a chance at the QB and its the Offensive Co responiblity to adjust for that on passing downs.