I think the "luck" perspective is pure bullshit. You don't win a game in the NFL, or high school for that matter, after being down by 2 scores purely by "luck." What we saw was a team that refused to lose, that kept fighting, HARD, all the way to the end and in doing so created their own opportunities....and then took full advantage of them. This is a good football team. By mid-season they will look like a championship team too. Recognize it for what it was - extraordinary effort by the whole team and coaching staff.
Blocking a punt isn't luck anyway, its execution. Having your opponent muff a punt, mishandle a snap, etc. is luck but not blocking a punt.
Heard Rex on Kay's show...that was a play Westhoff drew up. McKnight had to play off center until the last minute in order to mask the play. Westhoff said the play required McKnight to have precise execution or else it wouldn't work (too early - offense is tipped off -- too late - you get through but the ball is kicked). The defensive line basically acted like Moses and parted the path for McKnight.
The defense was playing its first real game after a shortened offseason and some pretty big changes in system and personnel. Miami only had two real drives in the first three quarters of the game, and one of those only resulted in a field goal. Our third-down defense (which allowed 49% conversion last year) held Miami to 2 out of 14. I am not trying to oversell our defense, but I think that there is more cause for optimism than some people seem to realize or accept. That said, SD could still make them look silly on Sunday...
I think the key element of the Pats-Phins game that Jet fans here are missing is that Henne had a very good game. The Pats D had a combination of 20 sacks, hits, and hurries (4-10-6 respectfively) over the course of the game, and Henne showed both poise and good decision making the entire game. I know Jet fans don't want to hear this, but the Henne you saw last season, isn't going to be there THIS one. Start being prepared for a lot of Henne/Sanchez comparisons this year. He now has 4 legitimate good receiving options in Bush, Marshall, Bess and Fasano, If the Phins had won the game you would have seen about 100 yds in receptions that were highlight reel quality. On the negative side, Henne was the team's leading rusher, so they will have to improve on that. Brian Dabol is going to be a big help to the Henne, and it already shown in the first game. Some of the yds the Pats gave up were in garbage time, some were the results of spectacular catches, but there were a lot of yds that Henne EARNED with good decisions and accurate passes, I don't know how good the Phins will be this season. They had a top 5 defense last year and it was supposed to be better. They had a top 5 secondary, which on paper should have given the Pats a lot more trouble. They had what should have been an ideal match up on D with Wake on Solder, a rookie who had a short TC, and was playing out of position due to an injury. Perhaps the most surprising thing I saw, besides a record breaking performance by Brady, was that it was the PHINS who were gassed in the Miami heat, and not the Pats. THAT should never happen. SD will be a tough test. Top 5 QB, #1 rated D, #1 rated offense last year, and I HAVE assume, improved STs. Fortunately it will be in NE. It will be another track meet. This will be a very competitive game. It will be a good chance for the Jets to grab the lead in the division, since they will enter the soft part of their schedule with the Jacksonville pussy cats coming to town. BTW- in a Jets related note. Sean Ellis had about 30 snaps and while he was solid (as usual) against the run, he was invisible on the pass rush. Also, just like last year when the Pats beat SD, in a game where SD thoroughly dominated all the stats, the Jets took a similar gift last week. HOWEVER a win is a win, even if you don't "deserve" it. And as much as I begrudge Romo for blowing a gimme win and helping MY team, Jet fans shouldn't be ashamed to take it. Wins are just TOO hard to come by in the NFL. Besides there will be a game down the road that the Jets will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Just part of the normal yin and yang of an NFL season.
The part you fail to see and the point most reasonable Jets fans are making is the defense you saw Monday, is the exact replica of what the Pats had last season. All last season it was the same story. Your team was up huge and the defense sat back and allowed yard after yard. Sure the Pats had a bunch of picks, turnovers etc but that was because your opponent basically had to throw like crazy in order to play catch up. Your opponents were playing desperate football. Your team has what, 9 consecutive games of over 30 points in the regular season? That is fantastic not taking anything away there. The typical analysis of why the Pats 2010 defense was letting up huge amounts of yards was what I said in the above paragraph....... Nothing but garbage time yards, the Pats defense is fine, there is nothing to see here. Sorry just like you come here to tell us something that is patently obvious to any air-breathing Jets fan, "Sanchez isn't a great QB" we are saying your defense is just a little north of stink. You can file it away under whatever you like, whatever helps you sleep at night. However, your defense looked pretty bad against a mediocre offense, one devoid of a between the tackles running game even. When the games get real and Brady doesn't get 30 points can your defense be tasked to stop the other team from scoring. You think your team can win a low scoring game against a team with an upper echelon defense and even a mediocre offense, like last years playoffs. I happen to think you will see more of the same. I do not trust your defense. In short put it up to your nosy and it doesn't smell so rosy.
This is all accurate, IMO. I don't really feel like I saw a whole lot of improvement by the Patriots' defense, with the exception of two areas: 1. Pass rush. They got to Henne a lot. He's pretty mobile but they made him really uncomfortable back there at times. 2. 3rd downs. They were dead last in the league in this area in 2010. They held Miami to 2/14 on 3rd down. A lot of that was mitigated by the fact that Miami went for it on 4th down five times, and converted four of those. But in normal situations in a tight game, teams aren't going to roll the dice like that. Miami was desperate. No matter how good a team's offense is, their defense has to be able to steal them a game or two along the way. I'm not entirely convinced the Patriots are at that point yet. I do think this group will do better than the 2010 team did, but I don't know if it will be enough of an improvement to make a difference in January. Just trying to be objective and keeping it real...
In reply to the Henne comments, it's just one game first off. In your first game last year he had 300+ yards and 2 TDs. Only difference is last year you guys caught the INTs this time you dropped a couple. Henne also doesn't shine when it counts most, I will admit he has the skills to put up big numbers but when a big play or TD is needed he doesn't show up. The same happened when we played them at their home last year. 300+ yards but the 4th quarter came around and he drove 70 something yards and got a FG out of it. Very similar to your recent matchup. To complete that game Henne threw a game ending pick. This is now his 4th year so this is HUGE for Henne. After the first drive, you guys scored 14 points and had a missed FG. Henne had 4 drives resulting in punts but still putting up yards. That 87 yard drive that only resulted in a FG killed them as did the 76 yard drive that resulted in a turnover on downs. So before we start crowning Henne Marino just like Phin fans do after a good game the past few years lets see him do it when it counts.
The results might have been similar to last season's opener, but you are dead wrong to thing THIS defense is remotely similar to last year's. About the only 2 things I can think of that will be similar, is that the defense will be much better at the end of the season than the beginning, and that while the yards may pile up, the Pats WILL be in the top 10 in SCORING D by the end of the year (just like last season) Here are just some of the differences. 1. One of the worst DLs in Pats history has been replaced by potentially one of the best and deepest. In Miami the Pats recorded 4 sacks, 10 hits and 6 hurries. That's 20 combined and more than ANY game they had last year. 2. Not only has the talent improved, so has the maturity. After having the YOUNGEST D in the league, the Pats have added a lot of maturity on the DL in Haynesworth, Carter, and Ellis. They also got back Lee Boddin of the IR to add some maturity to the secondary. 3. In the past the Pats rarely have had a DB over 5'10. THIS season the Pats currently have 9 DBs on the roster and only THREE of them are under 6'. Its a fundamental change in defensive philosophy. Its a response to the reality that EVERY team has a couple of big WRs. 4. The change from the 3-4 to the 4-3 is not as new as most think, but the fact that the Pats have allowed the DL to be more aggressive than in the past IS new. So is the use of more press coverages than we've seen. (though they are STILL more zone than man in their coverages. Again this D is no where near where they need to be if the Pats are going to go deep in the playoffs, but historically most of BB's D's do improve over the course of the season and like I said, there were a lot of yards given up that was more about Henne's good play than a deficiency in the Pats coverages than Jet fans are currently willing to admit . Well you certainly have a right to your opinion. But if you think the Pats D is "just north of stink" because they gave up 417 passing yards, on the road, in a game they had a 3 TD lead at one point, what would you call that "elite" Jet D who gave up JUST 70 yds LESS, at home, in 13 FEWER attempts. Now be fair. Again, you summarily dismiss the Miami offense and ignore Henne's good game. You are correct about their lack of running attack, especially between the Ts. But before you throw stones at the Phins, you might look at your OWN team, whose running attack was even worse than Miami's That may be true, but the question IS, will the Jets or Pats actually HAVE an upper echelon defense at the end of the year. Because if we are both being fair, NEITHER team showed it in week one. You might see a similar result next week, Granted we ARE playing one of the the better offenses in the league next week. Its hard to think that we can hold them under 20 points. However the smell test works BOTH ways. The Jags are NOT a good offensive team, you'd better pray you get a much improved performance from you own suspect D Nice jousting with you, BTW
I think this is pretty spot on, but idk why our defense shoudn't improve over the course of the season and play its BEST in January. As I wrote earlier, you really can't expect much in the very first game from a defense where 100% of the players are either joining a new team or learning a new defensive system. Also, we have a handful of young contributors (McCourty, Barrett, Dowling, Chung, even Mayo) who should improve with more experience. And just as importantly we shouldn't be overworking our older veteran players over the course of the entire season, because players like Wilfork, Bodden, Haynesworth ALL have quality depth players behind them who we actually WANT to see playing time, injuries or not. The only exception might be at DE, where I expect to see Ellis and Carter getting the majority of snaps, unless Cunningham shows up and surprises. Idk if our defense's best will be enough come January, but neither do I think it is fair to make that judgement now. I will also readily admit that I could have made an argument very similar to this last year concerning young players and improvement, but our defensive improvement over last season was largely mitigated by the fact that we ended up matching up the very extremes of our DL depth against a very strong Jets OL.
A Jet fan dispensing a dismissive retort to an opposing substantial post, with smarmy, if somewhat witty and amusing, remark, What a shock.:wink: Granted it is a VAST improvement over the usual GFY you'd see over at JI
If the Jests were New England, they still wouldn't have won a Super Bowl since 1969. :rofl: Just stop with the BS. What exactly have the Jests won since 1969? When they win 3 SBs in half a decade and make the playoffs 8 of 10 years, then the media will take them seriously. BTW, Tom Brady is one of the greatest QBs to ever play the game while Mark Sanchez isn't even the best QB in New Jersey. :smile:
I've only seen highlights from Monday night, but my opinion is that it's crazy to read as much into one performance as the Pats fans above are doing. Be optimistic, sure, but wait till they play a few more games before drawing conclusions. Same goes, of course, for 30 other teams. I'm excluding the Titans who are that bad.
The New York Jets, put YOU (the "Boston-Babe Parelli" Patriots) on the map--never forget that. While the Ken Dawson Chiefs and Darrell Lamonica Raiders got their asses handed to them on behalf of YOUR AFL NOTHING franchise at the time, DO acknowlege the Jets putting YOUR AFL NOTHING franchise on the NFL-FUCKIN-MAP douchebag. Brady? Awesome QB, a brillant talent who throws a nice ball and who illustrates the fact that the most important position in football (QB) often ends up a crap shoot even among the "draft experts" given Brady's 5th round selection. To that end, why you haven't constructed a "Mo Lewis" altar outside that white trash cement bowl of a stadium of yours is beyond me. Then and now
