439 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

SI: Postcard from Camp
http://sportsillustr...?sct=nfl_t11_a0

[BSLChrisStoner]

Football Outsiders: Pats Preview
http://www.footballo...eviews-patriots

[SportsGuy]

An easy pick for the #1 seed...less injury issues than Houston.

Their schedule is something like the easiest in the league or close to it.

Their division blows.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Pro Football Focus: Patriots Preview
http://www.profootba...gland-patriots/

[BSLChrisStoner]

New England fell to 1-1 with a surprising 20-18 home loss to Arizona. Arizona has now won 9 of their last 11 games, so maybe they are better than anticipated; but you still expect the Pats to win that game at home.

Aaron Hernandez was knocked out in the 1st Quarter, but xrays on his ankle did not show a break.

Brady threw for 316 yards, but was sacked 4 times.

Coming off of his big Week 1 game, Ridley had 18 carries for 71 yards. Four Pats had 5 or more catches (Welker, Gronkowski, Lloyd, and Edelman).

Gostkowski missed from 42 yards out on the next to last play, failing to win the game for NE.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Gotskowski had made 38 consecutive 4th quarter field goals prior to that shank job yesterday.

Not having Hernandez should help the Ravens cause in week 3, but if Pollard can't go, I fear that Gronk will still have a field day (as Celek did in week 2).

[Oriole85]

ESPN: Pats' Bill Belichick fined $50K

http://espn.go.com/b...ichick-50k-fine

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has been fined $50,000 for "impermissible physical contact with an official" at the conclusion of Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens.

I thought he should've gotten a game, but if they weren't going to give him one for spygate, I guess it wasn't happening here, where he was docked 1/10 that amount.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Yahoo: NFL's one constant: Belichick, Brady winning together with the Patriots
http://sports.yahoo....e-patriots.html

[SportsGuy]

The stupidity of NE finally catches up on them in a blow out:

http://m.espn.go.com...storyId=8650833

[Mike B]

The stupidity of NE finally catches up on them in a blow out:

http://m.espn.go.com...storyId=8650833

Amazingly Brady was still in at the end of the game. Sometimes I wonder what BB is doing. No one will call him on it though.

[SportsGuy]

NE next 4 games:

@Jets
@Mia
Hou
SF

Tough stretch to be without Gronk although Hernandez should get back soon.

[Mike B]

NE next 4 games:

@Jets
@Mia
Hou
SF

Tough stretch to be without Gronk although Hernandez should get back soon.

I think they could go 2-2, but my gut tells me 3-1. The first 2, they have too much firepower for. Even without Gronk. The second two they are helped by being at home. Really interested to see them and Houston go at it.

[SportsGuy]

I think they could go 2-2, but my gut tells me 3-1. The first 2, they have too much firepower for. Even without Gronk. The second two they are helped by being at home. Really interested to see them and Houston go at it.

Even if they just lose 1 of them, that really helps.

At the Jets on a short week is tough even though they aren't that good.

Miami almost always plays NE tough, especially at home.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Yahoo: Belichick makes another baffling decision
http://sports.yahoo....-082742791.html

[Mackus]

Yahoo: Belichick makes another baffling decision
http://sports.yahoo....-082742791.html

Sweet, the ref (well, line judge) in the picture next to Belichick is the guy who works at the same place, and on the same project, that I do.

[mweb08]

Yahoo: Belichick makes another baffling decision
http://sports.yahoo....-082742791.html

It was the right decision imo, and did this author even point out the previous 4th down conversion that the Pats made in their territory? I skimmed some of it, but didn't see it. It's funny how certain people will jump on any of these failed 4th down attempts, but will gloss over when teams convert on 4th down.

[Mackus]

It was the right decision imo, and did this author even point out the previous 4th down conversion that the Pats made in their territory? I skimmed some of it, but didn't see it. It's funny how certain people will jump on any of these failed 4th down attempts, but will gloss over when teams convert on 4th down.

I thought they should have kicked, but don't think it was necessarily a bad choice.

I just didn't like the risk / reward there. If they don't get it, the game is over, as SF is already in chip shot FG position to go up by two scores. If they do get it, they are still deep in their own territory, not like they are on the verge of scoring. I felt like there was a better shot to punt it, get a stop, use your timeout and the 2-minute warning, and have Brady with about 1:20 or so left and no timeouts. The obvious risk is if you can't get the stop, the game is over.

If they were further up the field, or if they were only down 3 or 4 points where the FG doesn't make it a two possession game, I'd have gone for it. But their defense had a lot of stops in the second half before that one-play TD drive to give SF the lead back, plus SF would just likely be running the ball to force the TOs to be used and run the clock as much as possible. I think they put themselves in a more likely scenario to win by punting.

I do think that picking up a 4th and 2 was more likely than punting and getting the stop, but when you factor in the benefit of picking up the 4th and 2, still being 80+ yards from scoring, that it made the risk of not getting it (almost certainly losing the game) not worth the reward of going for it.

[mweb08]

I'd be pretty surprised if they didn't make the right move from a statistical analysis point of view.

I think they pick that first down up at least as often as they get the ball back. And really it doesn't need to be even considering the difference in clock and timeouts for when they would get the ball back after a stop.

[mweb08]

From Bill Barnwell: http://www.grantland... ... ek-15-news

The Pats-Niners game threw some interesting coaching wrinkles out there, but it's hard to find much fault with the decisions each team made. The Patriots were rightly aggressive on fourth down, including on their final fourth-and-2 attempt at the end of the game. Down seven with 2:24 left in the game doesn't leave you with many options, and while the Patriots could have punted the ball away and hoped for a muffed punt for a bad snap, they would have been giving the ball to the 49ers with the two-minute warning and two New England timeouts to stop the lock. That still essentially leaves the Patriots needing a stop on three running plays to get another shot at the ball, and then they would have needed to drive down the field with less than two minutes to go and no timeouts to score a touchdown, merely to tie the game up and have a shot at winning in overtime.3 If you think the Patriots were capable of driving that far without any timeouts, why would you believe that they wouldn't be able to pick up one yard on fourth down and that it would be a smart decision to punt? Indeed, Brian Burke's fourth-down calculator suggests that the Patriots should have gone for it if they thought their chances of succeeding were better than 5 percent. Five. They were, I promise.

[SammyBirdland]