Miami Christmas Thoughts

Oswlek

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I hope everyone enjoyed themselves this Christmas weekend. I feel like any other time of the year this game would have struck a chord in the fanbase, but our attention seems to have been elsewhere. (hopefully a lot of this :hug: :toast: and maybe even a little of this :bhump:)

I've been enthusiastic about the resiliancy of this squad for some time now and this game only amplified it. This team might get beat by a more talented opponent, but they aren't going to fold simply because a should-have-been 14 point lead turns into a 4 point, second quarter deficit.

Other than that, I am light on reaction. My family and I were travelling during the game, with only distracted moments of earbud illumination to follow along. I've read the recaps, but this board is typically much better at breaking games down. Any insight on the following players beyond the stat sheet?

  • Ellis
  • OL in the second half
  • McCourty
  • Silvestro
  • Deaderick
  • Mayo
  • Fletcher
  • Ridley

So lay it on me, and hopefully I can get a second chance to watch with informed eyes. Thanks, and Merry Christmas.
 
  • Ellis
  • OL in the second half
  • McCourty
  • Silvestro
  • Deaderick
  • Mayo
  • Fletcher
  • Ridley

So lay it on me, and hopefully I can get a second chance to watch with informed eyes. Thanks, and Merry Christmas.

After a dreadful 1st half, BB reportedly lit the players up at halftime with too many expletives to count. (acc to Mayo). The OL did better the 2nd half due in no small part to the Pats spreading out the formation to better determine the coverage from Miami.

McCourty was up and down. He had a couple of good plays on Marshall and a couple that looked like I was covering him. Not horrible like the 1st game but he could be so much better. The Phins were certainly targeting him.

Silvestro, Deaderick and Ellis weren't mentioned so I guess they did well but further study would be needed to determine their grades. Same with Fletcher.

Mayo had a pretty good game and appeared to be moving better. He would be so much better with Spikes in there.

Ninko was good except for that boneheaded PI call he had while covering the QB inside the 5. He bailed them out when he would have intercepted it had he turned his head instead of face masking the guy.

Ridley had a very good game. No worries on talent or will or heart.
 
Wasn't Ellis was in on two sacks? :confused:

I was hoping he would be initiating playoff beast mode. :grovel:

Did Fletch do anything noteworthy? He was on the field for every snap, acc to Reiss.
 
Thought Fletcher played very well.... Seemed to be all over the place.

Ellis made a couple of early plays. Don't recall much after that.

Thought McCourty was schooled again. Even on his pick the ball was way underthrown. A good QB toasts him on that one, IMO.
 
They are clearly resting Ellis for the playoffs. Smart move if they get some of the effort he put in vs. Miami. Showed rust, but made some plays.

McCourty continues to flop. He had a pick on an underthrown ball, but he is terrible. Chung returning will help big time in the secondary.
 
I'm reading a lot of sentiment similar to this today.

PFWErik Erik Scalavino



I'll take it. And agree, Pack won't make it to Indy. RT <s>@</s>SlawsonTony: <s>@</s>PFWErik Patriots/Saints this years Superbowl...34/31 Patriots
Even Bedard is shaking his head wondering what is wrong with the Packers. Rogers says he's not playing next week which should open a door for the Lions to walk through into the playoffs.

Ellis did have a sack early. Nothing dramatic after that but his name wasn't called for a screw up either so I guess that's good.

McCourty wasn't all bad and fwiw, he's still not getting any S help over the top. He was better than game 1.
 
I'm reading a lot of sentiment similar to this today.

Even Bedard is shaking his head wondering what is wrong with the Packers. Rogers says he's not playing next week which should open a door for the Lions to walk through into the playoffs.

Ellis did have a sack early. Nothing dramatic after that but his name wasn't called for a screw up either so I guess that's good.

McCourty wasn't all bad and fwiw, he's still not getting any S help over the top. He was better than game 1.

I may be mistaken, but I believe Detroit already locked up the playoffs against SD.
 
More on the Pats vs Miami.

Coach of the Week
New England assistant head coach/offensive line Dante Scarnecchia. It was amazing the Patriots won Saturday, given the pre- and in-game festivities along the offensive line. New England was down 17-0 at the half to Miami, and Tom Brady (7 of 19) had been sacked three times and chased around the pocket for 30 minutes. Much of the problems were line-related. Left tackle Matt Light hurt his ankle during the pregame warmups; with Sebastian Vollmer down with a back injury. Logan Mankins was shifted to tackle and made the first start of his career there. Donald Thomas made his first career NFL start, at left guard. When Mankins tweaked his knee a few plays into the game, Nate Solder moved from right tackle to left, and Marcus Cannon went in at right tackle. How about that: The Patriots played rookies at left and right tackle throughout the second half ... and Brady went 20 of 27 and put 27 points on the board (while being sacked just once) behind the makeshift line. Credit to Scarnecchia for having neophytes prepared to win a game New England, at halftime, had little business winning.
 
I'm reading a lot of sentiment similar to this today.

Even Bedard is shaking his head wondering what is wrong with the Packers. Rogers says he's not playing next week which should open a door for the Lions to walk through into the playoffs.

Ellis did have a sack early. Nothing dramatic after that but his name wasn't called for a screw up either so I guess that's good.

McCourty wasn't all bad and fwiw, he's still not getting any S help over the top. He was better than game 1.

Which means they should start ordering their tickets for Indy. :insane:

FWIW, I said before the season that GB would run roughshod over the league and then drop their very first playoff game, akin to the 2008 Giants.
 
RE: resting Ellis for playoffs..isn't he playing more mostly because of Carter being out?

I said it after the game that Dante is a beast. He and Pep have always been my two favorite Pats assistant coaches.

TB on Dante:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4713257/brady-credit-to-scarnecchia

Brady: Credit to Scarnecchia
December, 26, 2011
DEC 26
10:05
AM ET
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20
By Mike Reiss
During his weekly appearance on sports radio WEEI, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady acknowledged the work of offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia. In Saturday's win, the Patriots had to mix and match along the offensive line when starting left tackle Matt Light was a late scratch because of an ankle injury, and then lost All-Pro Logan Mankins on the second series.

"It was challenging to lose Matt. We prepared all week with him there and then he wasn't able to go. And with Logan going out there in the early part of the game, we ended up losing out on a lot of plays we had on the call sheet, and really not figuring out exactly how we needed to play the game until really the second half," Brady told Dale Arnold and Bob Ryan, who were filling in as hosts of the "Dennis & Callahan" program.

"I thought there were some adjustments that were made and the guys that went in there -- Nate Solder moved to left tackle and Marcus Cannon came in and played right tackle -- all those guys played hard and were committed to what we were trying to do. Ultimately, it was good enough.

"I can't say enough about Dante. His leadership at that position. He really handles the offensive line and coaches those guys extremely hard and he expects nothing less than their best every single day in practice and obviously in the game. I think you really see that. We lost [Dan] Koppen earlier in the year. We lost [Dan] Connolly. Then [Ryan] Wendell went out and Nick McDonald played center. There have been quite a few moving parts in that group, and they always seem to rise to the occassion. It was a great effort by all those guys up front."

On a different note, after both of his touchdown runs, Brady didn't spike the ball as he had the prior week in Denver. Instead, he took both to the sideline.

Chirstmas gifts for his sons, perhaps?

"One of them was a little slippery, so I didn't want to throw that ball any more. So I said 'take this one out of the game,' " Brady explained to Arnold and Ryan, before joking: "These boys have enough presents, between the Legos they got, and Batman. They made out pretty good at Christmas."
 
Wasn't Ellis was in on two sacks? :confused:

I was hoping he would be initiating playoff beast mode. :grovel:

Did Fletch do anything noteworthy? He was on the field for every snap, acc to Reiss.


Ellis was disruptive and collapsed the line often. The front four were good except for getting gashed time and time again by Reggie Bush.

Fletcher was lights out. He seemed to have figured out the Dolphins' snap count because he caused a fumble by getting to Moore as soon as he snapped the ball. He did it again later but Moore heaved the ball into the stands; it ended up being intentional grounding.

He also made some 1st down impeding tackles. He looked way faster than I've ever seen him before.
 
Thought McCourty was schooled again. Even on his pick the ball was way underthrown. A good QB toasts him on that one, IMO.

Except that it's hard to say (imo) how badly he really was beaten on that play. The reason I say that is because he picked up the football extraordinarily early on that play. Some 25 or 30 yards before he picked it, he was no longer covering his guy, he was drifting and waiting for the ball to get to him so he could celebrate. Had the throw been stronger, he had a good bit of time to play catchup and perhaps he could have. He was royally toasted at least twice, made a nice reach around knockdown on a sideline out and had a mixed day.

The biggest positive I am taking out of his recent mixed reviews as opposed to his early pure carp games is that he is finally looking for and finding the damn ball.

Cheers
 
MHO, the two biggest questions from this game are

Light
Mankins

Yes, I know it's 3 odd weeks till a playoff game, but if they are not healthy and ready to go that would be a big problem.
 
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