Happy for Chargers. It hurts the Jets but still it is nice to see an underdog defeat a powerhouse on the road.
Chargers are definitely the team I want to take the 6th seed if the Jets don't manage to pull out some sort of miracle.
Brady/Belichick at Miami. Consider how much better NE has been than Miami during the Brady/Belichick era, and then look at the results (I began with Brady's first start at Miami): Miami Dolphins 30-10 New England Patriots Miami Dolphins 26-13 New England Patriots New England Patriots 19-13 OT Miami Dolphins Miami Dolphins 29-28 New England Patriots New England Patriots 23-16 Miami Dolphins Miami Dolphins 21-0 New England Patriots New England Patriots 49-28 Miami Dolphins New England Patriots 48-28 Miami Dolphins (Matt Cassel was QB that season) Miami Dolphins 22-21 New England Patriots New England Patriots 41-14 Miami Dolphins New England Patriots 38-24 Miami Dolphins New England Patriots 23-16 Miami Dolphins So in games with Brady as QB, the Patriots are 6-5 at Miami, and the gap between New England and Miami is not nearly as large this season as it was in those past matchups.
Since NE had their bye: Patriots down 10-3 to Panthers at the half Patriots down 24-0 to Broncos at the half Patriots down 17-7 to Texans at the half Patriots down 6-0 to Browns at the half combined score: 57-10
Wow interesting find. That would definitely go against what I expected. They've played great in the second half. Lost in the dramatic comebacks has been Gostowski blasting important 50 yarders like nothing. Couple in HOU to help them and then one in CLE. The bad part for NE is that you shouldn't really be playing with deficits against CLE and HOU, but a win is a win and they're the #1 seed currently.
I heard something about NE struggling in Miami so I went back and looked at the games. That's why their terrible first half performances are 'hidden'. They're 3-1, so no one pays attention to the fact that they've been playing poorly. They were just horrible against Cleveland and Houston. Two bad teams and they needed luck to even have a chance to make those comebacks.
Yeah luckily for them, once your in the playoffs, it's just those 4 (or 3 for them it looks like) games that matter. Although that has been their downfall in the playoffs recently, being the better team but playing okay and getting beat by a worse team on it's game. I need to see if the stats back it up, but I think their RZ offense was bad without Gronk. So they have 3 tuneup games here to figure it out before the playoffs. I think having Vereen back will help as they can maybe use multiple RBs to cause a mismatch or something.
Rewatching some SD highlights, SD could be a dangerous team come playoff time. If their offense clicks, they just eat the ball/clock and dink and dunk to create shorter games with less possessions. That's definitely something the NE/DEN/IND D can have a lot of trouble with, but I think something the KC/CIN could slow down. If you rewatch IND/DEN games they had, you can see how they basically just take the ball out of Peyton/Lucks hands. They also score TDs on those drives and sprinkle in a couple defensive stops, you are giving the opponent around 5 possession to get 21 points. They might miss out on the playoffs though with BAL and MIA 1/2 game ahead of them right now EDIT: Rivers is also at 69.9% completion and with 28 TDs. The only QBs to have 70+ completion percentage and throw for over 28 TDs are Drew Brees and Steve Young. Joe had 26. If it wasn't for Brees/Peyton, Rivers could win MVP. Right now though, it's between those 2 unless Calvin manages to break some all time receiving records. EDIT2: Some more fun trivia, this season has Brady's second highest GWD amount with 5, which ties his 2001 amount of 5. In 2003 he had 7. Josh McCown leads the NFL in QBR. Foles leads the NFL in QB rating. Jay Cutler is #3 in sack percentage (meaning he gets sacked less). Last year he was #31. Many QBs are inching closer to the 600 pass attempted mark. From the NFL start to 2009, it has been done 20 times. 2010 onwards it's been done 11 times. In the 2000s it's been done 19 times, 12 times before 2000s, 31 overall. The 700 mark was broken once ever, by Stafford in 2012.
How about them dolphin fans lol That are fighting for a playoff spot and the entire stadium is empty lmao
I saw that too and their stadium doesn't have an 82k capacity either. Probably bunches of snowbird new Englanders there as well
Idiotic INT for EJ Manuel, but Henne hits a receiver in the hands and he drops the ball. 3-3 in Buffalo-Jacksonville. (Obviously this is only interesting in terms of whether Manuel is a viable QB going forward for Buffalo.)
