Tonight, the Patriots beat the Saints in the first pre-season game. It counted for absolutely nothing. I hadn't even planned to watch it, in fact.
And yet....and yet.....I love those boys so much!
You know who was awesome? Julian Edelman (who was also awesome in last year's playoff fiasco). You know who else? Randy Moss.
It was nice to see the team strong near the end and holding the Saints to a field goal when they were within 1st and goal. Smooth play calling by the Saints, incidentally -- they almost pulled off a pretty good semi-QB-sneak (I don't know what to call it!). But their 3rd-string QB evidently went to the Laurence Maroney School of Running Sideways Instead of Forward, which ended in basically naught. Nothing like when your 3rd-string team can outplay the other 3rd-string team. Final score was 27-24 for the Pats.
It's official: I am ready for some football!
Showing posts with label Julian Edelman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julian Edelman. Show all posts
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Edelman breaks arm
Apparently at the end of the game Sunday, Julius Edelman broke his arm. This is clearly a problem because we just released Joey Galloway yesterday (which tells you how bad this is). However, Belichick seemed to hint in a press conference yesterday that they would fill the position from within. Could be a promotion from the practice squad. Stay tuned.
Julius Edelman is the one who does the semi-Wes Welker plays.
Julius Edelman is the one who does the semi-Wes Welker plays.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Play Calling
Okay, we have a new offensive coordinator (of course, because our previous one beat us this afternoon). And I know that at times, we complained and griped about him. Too many fancy-pant plays. Not enough rushing. But he did get us the 18-1 season and kept the team going when we had Matt Cassel step in. I know that I complained too, and I stand by that.
But...
What on earth happened today? Why were we running with the clock tick-tocking away at the end of the 4th quarter? I mean sure, Denver has a good defense and Watson was off the field with an injury, but did we not have one single new play to throw out there that could confuse the Broncos? I mean, they figured out the 'pass to Welker' thing (even though not all of those passes were on). I will be forced to assume that Moss was covered for most of the game because he didn't show up much. But still, we should have tried to run it more in the 3rd, when we wanted to run out the clock, not in the fourth when we needed big plays?
Also, the only way for Moss and Brady to start connecting is practice, practice, practice. You may not remember when the Pats were merely scoring 34 points at the start of the 2007 season, but I do. And what I also remember is that Moss and Brady did not connect on every play. In fact, I'd give them about a 50% chance. Remember the last regular season game against the Giants? Brady passed long down the field, Moss missed. Next play, Brady did it again (it was his 50th TD) of the season on the exact same play and they did it. So let them try on some of those 2nd and whatevers.
Also, was Edelman even on the field in the second half? They didn't seem to throw to him. Try a double Wes Welker, I'll bet McDaniels wouldn't know what hit him.
Incidentally, Kevin Faulk (who has never been my favorite but did pretty well last year so I laid off on him) averaged - ready for it - 2 yards a carry (4 attempts, 8 yards). That is wretched.
But...
What on earth happened today? Why were we running with the clock tick-tocking away at the end of the 4th quarter? I mean sure, Denver has a good defense and Watson was off the field with an injury, but did we not have one single new play to throw out there that could confuse the Broncos? I mean, they figured out the 'pass to Welker' thing (even though not all of those passes were on). I will be forced to assume that Moss was covered for most of the game because he didn't show up much. But still, we should have tried to run it more in the 3rd, when we wanted to run out the clock, not in the fourth when we needed big plays?
Also, the only way for Moss and Brady to start connecting is practice, practice, practice. You may not remember when the Pats were merely scoring 34 points at the start of the 2007 season, but I do. And what I also remember is that Moss and Brady did not connect on every play. In fact, I'd give them about a 50% chance. Remember the last regular season game against the Giants? Brady passed long down the field, Moss missed. Next play, Brady did it again (it was his 50th TD) of the season on the exact same play and they did it. So let them try on some of those 2nd and whatevers.
Also, was Edelman even on the field in the second half? They didn't seem to throw to him. Try a double Wes Welker, I'll bet McDaniels wouldn't know what hit him.
Incidentally, Kevin Faulk (who has never been my favorite but did pretty well last year so I laid off on him) averaged - ready for it - 2 yards a carry (4 attempts, 8 yards). That is wretched.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Much, much better
The Pats looked like the Pats again today. Although sadly they carried some traces of the 2008 Pats, in that their red zone conversion was not great. But much was good:
1) If that's Randy Moss with a back injury, then everything is going to be o-k. He played a great game, running for over 100 yards and coming up with the big plays when he needed to.
2) Tom's precision is coming back. Sure, there were some plays where he was off. But overall he kept things together.
3) The running game -- while not spectacular -- was still pretty good. Fred Taylor came through with some key plays, picking up big yards (105 total).
4) Overall, I thought the defense played very well, allowing only 10 points. This was without Wilhite, Mayo, and Wilfork, who went out during the game. Now I would prefer not to have to play the rest of the season without these guys, but considering who was left, I thought that they did a great job. Also, Gonzalez was allowed no big plays and our corners played like corners. Yay!
5) I believe we were penalized twice for 5 yards. Much better than the past two weeks and more in line with what we expect from the Belichick-run Patriots.
There is one player who I still have issues with, but I will save that for a separate post. Followers of this blog can probably take a wild stab as to who that is.
As usual, though, the sky has not fallen and all was not over last week. I wonder too if part of the problem was that last week, we had expected Welker to play and designed routes involving him. This week, his absence was less noticeable. Edelman, while no Wes Welker, came up with a few nice plays, one of which was rather Welkeresque.
1) If that's Randy Moss with a back injury, then everything is going to be o-k. He played a great game, running for over 100 yards and coming up with the big plays when he needed to.
2) Tom's precision is coming back. Sure, there were some plays where he was off. But overall he kept things together.
3) The running game -- while not spectacular -- was still pretty good. Fred Taylor came through with some key plays, picking up big yards (105 total).
4) Overall, I thought the defense played very well, allowing only 10 points. This was without Wilhite, Mayo, and Wilfork, who went out during the game. Now I would prefer not to have to play the rest of the season without these guys, but considering who was left, I thought that they did a great job. Also, Gonzalez was allowed no big plays and our corners played like corners. Yay!
5) I believe we were penalized twice for 5 yards. Much better than the past two weeks and more in line with what we expect from the Belichick-run Patriots.
There is one player who I still have issues with, but I will save that for a separate post. Followers of this blog can probably take a wild stab as to who that is.
As usual, though, the sky has not fallen and all was not over last week. I wonder too if part of the problem was that last week, we had expected Welker to play and designed routes involving him. This week, his absence was less noticeable. Edelman, while no Wes Welker, came up with a few nice plays, one of which was rather Welkeresque.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Loss to the Jets
Okay, but at least we can feel slightly better that we did not lose to Mangini's Jets on the same play that they had been running all game (which is how we lost to them last year).
This year, they put up a good battle and eventually won it. The final score was 16-9, so we were within a TD. I'm concerned that, like last year, we're having problems completing once we get into the red zone. If we had scored three TDs instead of three FGs...well, speculation gets us nowhere, really.
I feel like in a way, there is positive here. We saw our weaknesses. That is good. I'd rather see them in Week 2 than in Week 10, when we can't change much. The defense was very good in the first half (mind you, the Jets got smarter in the second half and decided maybe they should, you know, try letting their QB throw). We'll be better in our next match-up because there will be tape of this Jets team that our coaches can study. Things are still a bit rusty, but I feel like we have potential. It would be great if we started living up to that soon.
Wes Welker was out with a knee injury, BOO! I thought that his replacement, Edelman, did pretty well. Not Wes Welker well, but let's be reasonable.
PS - Dear Joey Galloway, PLEASE CATCH THE DAMNED BALL!!!
This year, they put up a good battle and eventually won it. The final score was 16-9, so we were within a TD. I'm concerned that, like last year, we're having problems completing once we get into the red zone. If we had scored three TDs instead of three FGs...well, speculation gets us nowhere, really.
I feel like in a way, there is positive here. We saw our weaknesses. That is good. I'd rather see them in Week 2 than in Week 10, when we can't change much. The defense was very good in the first half (mind you, the Jets got smarter in the second half and decided maybe they should, you know, try letting their QB throw). We'll be better in our next match-up because there will be tape of this Jets team that our coaches can study. Things are still a bit rusty, but I feel like we have potential. It would be great if we started living up to that soon.
Wes Welker was out with a knee injury, BOO! I thought that his replacement, Edelman, did pretty well. Not Wes Welker well, but let's be reasonable.
PS - Dear Joey Galloway, PLEASE CATCH THE DAMNED BALL!!!
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