Questions / thoughts on the game

What happened to Stephen Davis? Was he pulled do to injury or because he was in effective?

Why didnt we rotate our d-lineman in the game? I saw that as one of the main factors in our defensive breakdowns.

Why did we go for 2 points so early? I am not crying here, but I really dissagreed with that call and it put us into another 2 point attempt. We went to it too early IMO.

What the heck was our defense doing when the Pats was lineing for a 2 pointer? It looked as if they werent ready for that play whatsoever.

The only other thing I hated about this game was Kasey's kick off, but what can you say except $hit happens.

Our defensive secondary was picked on a lot due to the lack of pressure that we put on Brady and I see that as a two part issue. A. the Line of the Pats did one heck of a job on our front 4 and B. we didnt rotate players.

Peppers seemed to be exposed for rushing wide and not maintianing his spot, but you could say he was driven wide, either way, it was his realestate to hold.

Just random thoughts.

 

not directed at you but...it is funny when they win and it is because they soundly beat the other team, but when they lose it is because they made bad decisions.

 

dunno; we did rotate, everyone in pads got play along the DL. We gave them about as much time as we usually do; dunno; yep; and Peppers is usually better about contain than that. But most of the league abuses that outside corner for having the tackle take the end on rush moves to eliminate contain. Too many good pursuit teams, and too many ends looking to get an edge on the tackle.

 

Yeah we as most fans do try to come to grips with the whats and why's. This board, at least some of the people on it does temper our excitement on wins with sound discussion about weaknesses and flaws within our team, so I would dissagree that when we do win we take the "its all good" approach. Either way I could care less what other think, I for one think we played a hell of a game and had a hell of a year and am proud of our guys. The questions I had were just parts of the game that I noticed that bothered me some.

As far as the D-line rotation the only player I noticed other than our starters was Wallace. Course, I havent watched any of the tape yet, so I probably will when I do.

 

I'm betting ineffectiveness. But that wasn't his fault.

We did, but we didn't have Moorehead active, which hurt the interior, IMO. Wallace got a ton of PT, as did Burton.

My guess is that Fox assumed a continued tight game, and in that kind of game, the difference between 3 and 4 points is huge. I don't think anyone on either sideline expected the shootout that followed.

I remember at least 3 plays when our defense looked like they were executing a Chinese fire drill. Completely lost. I give credit to the NE coaching staff for that.

Exactly. It was a bad play, but it's not like they got the ball in field goal range. They still moved the ball another 40 yards downfield after that.

Charlie Weiss out coached Mike Trgovac, IMO. The Patriots' offensive line played one hell of a lot better than I expected, and maybe better than any line we've faced all season. But more than physical play, I felt scheme and execution were the keys to beating our front 4. And yes, more than once Brady looked way too relaxed back in the pocket. But that doesn't let our secondary off at all. Terry Cousin was Brady's bitch, and Manning was owned by David Givens and Deion Branch.

That's something I noted much earlier in the year, and I really think that's where we miss Fields. His absence left a gaping hole on the strong side that has yet to be filled, by Favors, Caldwell, or Witherspoon. Peppers has been out on an island all year, and it's been a weak spot. Philly found it 2 weeks ago and took advantage for a while until Mills started shifting Morgan over to that side to help.

 

Personally I was frustrated with Cousin's pass coverage. It seemed like every time he was matched up man to man the Patriots went to his man. He got lucky that pass interference was called on one big play he gave up, but then he's on the coverage of the pass that set up the game winning fg. He didn't jam the receiver at all on that play. Allowed the receiver to get a free run off the line.

 

The Patriots coaching staff had the Panthers game planned perfectly....except for giving up the long ball. I counted 9 (Pats) men in the box many times, daring the Panthers to throw the ball. That beast DLineman they have (Washington?) is a run stopping machine. Remember the regular season game vs. Indy...4 tries from the 1? Patriot coaches made the decision to take away the run and they have the players to get the job done thus FORCING Jake to beat them and he darn near did it.

Carolina did rotate on the Dline, Phil Simms may not have noticed but I did. During the first half the Carolina defense was on the field way too much, you could include most of the third quarter too. They had to be dragging in the second half and there is nothing that you can do about that, no matter how good you are. Patriots game plan working here also.

Yeah, in retrospect Fox is probably wishing he had'nt gone for 2 so early...he's only human.

By design (see: coaching) the Patriots quick snapped on the conversion to catch Carolina off guard. Great strategy (see: exhausted defense) and it worked beautifully.

I feel bad for Kasay he just screwed up big time. Somebody was gonna flinch, thats how these close games end (see: Rams defense).

I have no answers for the lack of pass rush. I see that as the main reason they controlled most of the game, moving the chains, wearing Carolina down.

As athletic as Peppers is he can be driven outta the "hole" and his aggressiveness (and youth) can be used against him vs. a well coached and talented (and larger) opponent. The book on beating a playmaker DE is to run right at him, it worked.

Sometimes you can learn more from a tough loss than to keep making the same mistakes and winning ugly. The lessons have a way of sticking in your mind more. But this is the Super Bowl, lots of time to contemplate. I feel your pain.

 

I did not and do not agree with going for 2 when we did it. I do not think it is ever good to go for 2 unless it is late in the game and you need it. If we had went for the 1 on both of those then we would have been up by three when the Pats scored their last touchdown. There is no way they would have went for 2 in that situation so we would have been down by four. That would have made Vinetari's field goal good for a tie and over time.

I do not blame our loss on that factor but it certainly did not help.

 

I want a rematch w/ NE with Fields and Pittman healthy! Those 2 come back next year move Gross to OLT and get a good free agent ORT and if we stay healthy we'll even give Vick fits!