Opinion

A rather crazy play after a bad officiating call lost the Patriots a win, or at least a chance at one in overtime, and the Las Vegas Raiders capitalised with a 30-24 victory at home.

In the game against the Minnesota Vikings, a catch was in question and Hunter Henry was denied a touchdown. This time the officials gave an out of bounds Keelan Cole a touchdown that threw the good work of the Patriots defense into disarray, and eventually a loss on the road.

Dare I mention, the timeout called by the Patriots sideline just as Jakobi Meyers caught a touchdown pass from Mac Jones? No, okay. 

I always try and give you the positives, but that Sunday game in Vegas was plagued by bad coaching for both teams, and a horrible mistake by the officials.

However, what is broken can be fixed, even if it does take time and there were some good numbers that came up out there in Las Vegas!

Number 8, Ja’Whaun Bentley, brought some heat most of the afternoon/evening from the beginning of the game with a nice tackle and continued throughout with plenty of good pressure on Derek Carr, securing himself a sack. 

Defense was the name of the game, and whilst Matthew Judon and Josh Uche didn’t rack up as many numbers in Vegas as usual, they were playing complimentary defense, a nice indication of the strength of the defensive unit. 

It was a shame that the defense, with its 3 sacks and 58 combined tackles, just wasn’t quite enough to carry this team through. 

What did have a good try at carrying… the running back corps! And whilst it’s no surprise Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for the brunt of the running backs 216 yards, Kevin Harris and Pierre Strong continue to show a little sparkle. And, I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of confidence in the running back room for 2023. 

Okay, so right now confidences in this team may be few and far between, there is a slither of a chance they make the playoffs in a wild card capacity. And whilst next season is a must for some significant coaching changes, there is plenty in this Patriots locker room that I hope returns!

If you partake in my podcast A Clare Perspective, you still have a few hours to get those mailbag questions in (before the evening of Monday 19th December) for my festive fun show later this week, and don’t forget to catch up on my latest shows with the fantabulous Mark Schofield, Andy Hart, and the 50th episode special edition with Tyler Dunne where we discuss Ty’s interview with Mr Red Sleeves himself, Matthew Judon. 

I wish all who celebrate a truly Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas, until next time, and next year you lovely lot! Go Pats!

If you celebrate, I hope that you and yours all had a lovely Thanksgiving, and if you didn’t see my tweet please know I am thankful for you…

And whilst I sit and write this, I have myself a sneaky piece of leftover pie, something sweet to take the edge off the game that was the Patriots at Minnesota last night. 

I don’t know about you, but I think maybe the most frustrating thing I took away from this close loss of 26 to 33, was the parts of the team you were confident in, special teams and the defence, generally were the weaknesses in a game against a good team. 

However! As you lovely lot know by now I like to be positive, and whilst this loss stunk, I’m going to attempt to highlight those things that you might smile about instead!

I can’t gloss over the things that went wrong, the unnecessary penalties, one from Myles Bryant, Jon Jones pulling face masks, and Pierre Strong running into the kicker. Poor Strong may be sitting out the festive season in the Belichick dog house!

Some fans will be ready to highlight poor officiating too, and I gotta say I can’t disagree, but those are points the Patriots can’t control… I mean Hunter caught the ball with his hand between it and the floor and he broke the line for a touchdown, worse case scenario it was a catch… but like I said, things they can’t control so I shall move swiftly forward!

Whilst that touchdown may have been denied, we weren’t fully deprived of some Thanksgiving tight endage. Yes folks, that high pitched noise your dog reacted to, may have in fact been my squeal of celebration, as Mac Jones found Hunter Henry down the middle of the field, with several men attempting to get hold of him, unsuccessfully, as he crossed the line for his second touchdown this season. Possibly, the sexiest thing this thanksgiving… but I digress. 

Jakobi Meyers may have had only a couple of plays (official stats: 4 targets for 3 receptions for 62 yards), but the catches he made were great! Good throws from Mac and nice catches by Meyers. Unfortunately, he seemed to get a little banged up and I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns up on an injury list of sorts this coming week. 

Rhamondre Stevenson continues to be a beast, even when he doesn’t have a super successful game, it is ridiculously difficult not to look at this guy and put him on your good list for his sheer prowess, power, and growing versatility in this offence. 

Whilst the defence didn’t seem to show up as strong this game, there were still some fantastic plays. Judon was denied a sack, but I would bet a couple of bucks on Kirk Cousins having the occasional Mr Red Sleeves nightmare. Raekwon McMillan displayed some of his football smahts, aka instincts, as he charged around making some great shut downs. Josh Uche had a beautiful sack to commence the fourth quarter, a big rush and a big play. Definitely a tasty treat to begin the dish of the last quarter of the game this Thanksgiving. Jon Jones may have incurred a few penalties, but he had an interception for 55 yards, and almost notched up a second before the game was done. 

So there you have it once again you lovely lot! And with the fantabulous Tom Shaw-Mellors doing the Pats Prop on tour thing, I shall be holding down the fort and will be back next week with your Pats Prop preview of the upcoming game against the Bills! 

I gotta say you lovely lot, these game recaps are becoming rather tricky to write, even when the Patriots do win, but I aim to please, so I shall give it a go!

So, it’s safe to say that the offense is of a worry to us all, and with David Andrews out with injury now… do we really want to talk about it? 

Okay let’s skim over some of the details, whilst Hunter Henry played 84% of the snaps he was only targeted once, for one catch, and Jonnu Smith was in for 54%, with four targets and four receptions, sigh. 

And whilst Parker, Agholor, Bourne and Thornton were in the game, it was really only faithful Jakobi Meyers who made it in the Clazzy notebook, with four receptions for 52 yards.

However! The running backs were utilised a little more. Damien Harris had a nitro injection for the second half of the the first quarter, with his 22 yard zip, and a fabulous stutter step, and Hunter throwing the block! Rhamondre Stevenson steamrolled into the end of the second quarter with a 19 yard gain on the 3rd and 16, unfortunately a great run from Mac Jones was then erased by a holding call from Cajuste. That darn laundry! 

I tell you what, let’s talk defence shall we?  

The Patriots defence feels like a force to be reckoned with at this point, ranked tenth on PFF, currently they have the top sack-er in the league, in the sheer gem that is Matthew Judon. 

At this point I would love to just take you through the ramblings that are my game notes, because I think they may paint the picture quite well:

Judon for the QB nightmare! 6 yard scramble by Zach Wilson

Bentley drilled the RB.

Uche and Bentley with pressure on Wilson.

Flush. Flush. Flush. 

And that was just within the first two minutes of the Jets possession in the first quarter! 

What followed was Devin McCourty with pressure on Mims, not to mention the catch he should have made when Zach Wilson threw him the ball at the end of the second quarter!

Deatrich Wise brought his six-year-jump-‘A’ game to this game too. What with his excessive pressure on Zach Wilson, batting the ball down to start the second quarter, hunting guys down like a ferocious tiger, 2 tackles, 3 assists and one sack! 

Bentley, Dugger and Jon Jones are names that seem to be appearing on the good list most weeks now, and whilst I do hate to repeat myself, like I said, this defence is a force to be reckoned with!

There were plenty of almost too. Especially in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter. Godchaux almost had a touch down if it weren’t for Zach Wilson’s darn elbow, Wise with an almost bat-down-for-an-interception, Kyle Dugger and Jon Jones both almost had interceptions, and then the game almost went into overtime if it weren’t for the rookie Marcus Jones and his mammoth, game on the line, punt return of 84 yards for a touchdown!

It wasn’t a pretty win, but it was a win. Defences may win you games, but only time will tell as to how many!

Until next time, you lovely lot, go Pats!

Sunday saw the Patriots move to 5 – 4 to enter the bye on a win. But it ain’t all sunshine and rainbows folks. 

Let’s get the offense out of the way first, and then we can really relish in the defense shall we?

It’s unfortunate to say, but it doesn’t matter which way you spin it, the Patriots offense is not doing good. 

But, they have high paid tight ends and plenty of wide receivers, I hear you cry! And don’t we know it. But the tight ends aren’t getting chance to play to their price tag abilities, and the wide receivers aren’t getting much of the ball either. 

Whilst Rhamondre Stevenson continues to be a serious performer, his late first quarter one handed catch was a gorgeous thing, he is maybe the only glimmer of beast mode on an offense that has a weak offensive line, and a quarterback that doesn’t seem to be aware that usually year two is where you make a performance jump. 

I have to be honest with you lovely lot, I’m not sure who is to blame, but am suspicious it’s a little bit of everything, including coaching. The offensive line is weakened, but they are also suffering some a serious rotation, as Bill said, they are “playing a lot of people” and I don’t know about you, but that just doesn’t feel great for consistency. 

The one spark may be with the return of David Andrews we see some return to solidarity on that line, but until we do, Mac Jones may continue to look increasingly uncomfortable in the pocket. I mean, can you blame him?! Would you be a little on edge if your centre drops back into you three steps, and your left guard is a rookie who keeps getting benched? 

We did see the tight ends attempt to make some plays when they were given the opportunity, Jonnu Smith can RUN and we all know what Hunter Henry can do from last season, but having to utilise them much more for blocking takes them away from the passing game, and being able to put up those numbers we are all crying out for. 

HOWEVER!

Yeah, you must have seen it coming folks, you know I’m not one for being too negative, and the Patriots did pull out a win, it’s just right now we are having to swallow a cold pill of realism when it comes to what the Patriots are doing on offense. 

When I run though my game notes from Sunday there wasn’t pages and pages, but there was a lot about the defense, and I’m sure every soul that covered the game could say the same thing. 

Matthew Judon’s name appears literally every week, if there was ever value for money, holy heck then he is it! Judon continues to be the thing of quarterback nightmares, as Mr Red Sleeves hunts them with the intensity of blood hound and TAKES THEM DOWN!

(Apologies, but the excitement has to be let out somewhere!)

The Colts offensive line is the highest paid in the NFL at the moment, and the Patriots defense pretty much made them look like a bargain basement sell off! 

Marcus Jones had a great punt return to start the second quarter, Jonathan Jones ran about 30 yards to block a Colts punt, Jalen Mills had good coverage of Michael Pittman, and caused a key incompletion that was followed by a quarterback sack from Josh Uche. 

Mack Wilson levelled out a returner, Jahlani Tavi had a take down, Lawrence Guy caved the Colts offensive line and Jabrill Peppers finished off a runner. Jack Jones had great coverage, and not to repeat his kudos, but if Matthew Judon didn’t have the sack, he helped in some way shut the front door! Poor Sam Ehlinger was boxed in most of the night, with Deatrich Wise continuing to own up and show up too.  

Finally, the latter part of the fourth quarter had another interception by Jonathan Jones and an almost interception by Devin McCourty!

So the defense do-w-minated as we like to say (for those of you who aren’t Patriots Unfiltered listeners, it’s just the way Paul Perillo says dominated when it needs extra emphasis). Whilst there is a lot of concern on the offense, Mac did still get the ball out to Stevenson on a short left that resulted in a touchdown, had a great ball placement to Jakobi Meyers towards the end of the second quarter, and whilst the punter part of special teams may have been having a bit of a bad night, the expert kicking leg of one Nick Folk, put a lot of valuable points on the board for the Patriots in their home win. 

So there you have it you lovely lot, week 9 is in the bag! Next week is a bye so there maybe a bit less from me without the need for a game recap, but as they say, tune in next time and Go Pats!