Great breakdown from Oliver Thomas on Browner!
Rank the remaining games in terms of level of difficulty. Here’s mine: 1. @GB; 2 @Colts; 3 Dolphins; 4 @San Diego; 5 Lions; 6. Bills 7. @NYJ. Not as bad as first thought. SD has come down to Earth, the Jets should be packing it in by week 16, the Colts have no defense. Green Bay will be tough (on the road against an unfamiliar opponent). Dolphins and Bills (maybe) should be playing for something.
Here’s mine, basically the same except at the top.
7. @ Jets – just a chance to rub some salt in the wound that it is the 2014 season for them.
6. Bills – Garoppolo time!
5. Lions – good test, but I think the Pats will be ready for them after the beatings they gave us in recent preseasons. Hope Megatron plays to see him vs. Revis.
4. @ San Diego – they’ll present some challenges, especially on the road. Depends on which Chargers team shows up – last weekend’s one that got blown out by the Dolphins or the one that got off to a hot start. Probably one that comes down to the end.
3. Dolphins – I kind of think they’re overrated right now and I have my doubts they can put up much fight in mid-December weather in Foxboro. But if there’s a playoff spot on the line it could be a good one.
2. @ Green Bay – Fun matchup but not a critical game for either team. Good road test for the Pats at a time when they should be rounding into the best football.
1. @ Indy – The LOS has been a house of horrors for the Pats (4th and 2, SB46) and the Colts would love nothing more than to finally get a win vs. the Pats after getting dominated the last two times in Foxboro. This feels like a proving game and one that will impact the playoff seedings. Big, big tilt on national TV. Can Andrew Luck play a perfect game? That’s what it will take.
Hey Mike, I can’t help but see Amendola as the equivalent of a trap game for defenses right now. With adjustments being focused on LaFell, Gronk, and Minitron, it feels like Danny is one overlook away form bustin out a big game. What are you thoughts on Amendola moving forward?
I think that’s a good way to put it. As I said in an answer earlier this week, I think the bye week needs to focus on ways to get guys like Amendola and Wright (and maybe Dobson) more involved in the passing game. Teams will catch on to what the Patriots are doing with Gronk-LaFell-Edelman. Not that that means they will shut it down completely, because that’s a very tough trio to contend with, but there will be times where they cause the Pats offense some problems. Those are the times where switching gears to Amendola/Wright/Dobson might help.
Figures. The one time you don’t post my comment I have a prescient comment last week about special teams favoring the Pats against Denver and what happens? NEP special teams owned DEN in that game!
Really wish I had posted that one now. It was a great point and something I’m kind of mad at myself for ignoring. I focused a lot on Denver’s lack of depth this offseason, they’ve been lucky so far on the injury front, but you were right – where that shows up most is on special teams and that really made a huge difference in this game. If I’m Denver, that might be the area I’m most concerned about right now.
Alright Mike, we’re up to the bye week so it’s time for some mid-season superlatives. Who are your… 1.) Biggest Surprise, 2.) Biggest Flop, 3.) Best 2014 Draft Pick so Far, 4.) Funniest Pats Moment thus far (on or off field), and 5.) Biggest WOW moment of the year thus far. Thanks!
Love it. Here goes:
1) Biggest Suprise – few options here, but let’s take one from each side of the ball. On offense, I have to go with Brandon LaFell. What a perfect fit and signing at half the cost of Emmanuel Sanders. He brings size and physicality to a wide receiver corps that badly needed it. On defense it’s Patrick Chung. He was an old favorite of the blog and I thought he’d be strictly a role player, but as he proved against the Broncos he can be an every-down player and is a great tool to have on defense.
2) Biggest Flop – Probably Aaron Dobson, but it’s pretty easy to see why the Pats like LaFell over him. I haven’t written him off completely yet, but it’s scary how his career is following a similar trajectory to Chad Jackson. I’m just not sure of a single trait Dobson does better than anyone else. You can’t say that for the rest of the wide receivers.
3) Best 2014 Draft Pick So Far – Bryan Stork. Going to take a closer look at the offensive All 22 today but with him at center and Connolly/Wendell at guard the Pats offensive line has looked strong down the middle. Most impressive was seeing him handle Terrance Knighton, the guy who blew up our gameplan in last year’s AFCCG. Malcolm Butler is probably second at this point even though he wasn’t drafted. Still giving Easley a pass, my hopes remain high on him, we just need some patience until all his explosion comes back, hopefully by the playoffs.
4) Funniest Pats Moment: All of them revolve around Edelman – from his Dunkin Donuts shorts to him and Brady tossing the ball back and forth to see who spikes it, he’s brought a lot of character to the team.
5) Biggest Wow Moment: There’s been a few but Gronk’s catch against the Broncos was a huge head-shaker. Just a ridiculous catch. But in the big picture, the blowouts of the Bengals and Broncos were “Wow’s” that left e shaking my head for days after the game.
