The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - Week 15 - Patriots

I agree that Tomlin’s aggressiveness can be his weakness as a Coach. He’s a gambler and it can be infuriating. I think it is who he is at this point. He’s going to win or lose with that mentality and I can at least respect it after years of conservative turtling in the playoffs under Cowher.

Maybe he learns to balance it after a game like that? Not likely but possible. Haha.

 

Meh... Brady would have never thrown the ball to Heyward-Bey in the field of play on 2nd down setting up that play. He would have thrown it out of the end zone when no one was open and they would have had time to regroup and take another shot on 3rd down.

 

Meh... Brady would have never thrown the ball to Heyward-Bey in the field of play on 2nd down setting up that play. He would have thrown it out of the end zone when no one was open and they would have had time to regroup and take another shot on 3rd down.

 

im talking about that specific play. the entire game would be different if you want to talk semantics.

 

A savvy QB can make a coach look really smart. If you listen to what Ben said after the game he didn't even know what down it was. He said he wanted to spike so they could run another play.

 

Yeah and Brady would have handled that play as if he's done it a hundred times. He wouldn't have been panicked like Ben. Different abilities.

 

Not disagreeing that a QB can make a sideline look smart.
Im assuming that Ben meant FG when he said run another play. People here in Boston seem to agree with your opinion that Ben didnt know the down but I dont think that's necessarily true. I took it as run another play and go to OT. The Steelers sideline and Ben collectively looked like a monkey humping a football at the end of the game and that wouldn't have happened to the Patriots. True Brady probably wouldn't throw that pick but the entire team would be more in synch than just having Eli Rogers running a solo slant and everyone else standing around watching the clock tick away.

 

Maybe you're right. I just have a hard time accepting criticism of the Steeler's coaching when the comparable is the Patriots. I mean there's little question in mind that Belichick is a better coach than Tomlin. He's better than the rest of the league most Sundays but when you have the greatest QB of all-time it definitely hides any warts. If the Patriots were in the same situation as the Steelers Brady probably would have already thought ahead and had a play in mind if he found himself in that position after 2nd down. The Steelers had 11 personnel on the field. It's easily their most popular formation and there was 19 seconds on the clock. That's plenty of time to get lined up, communicate a play and throw the ball to the end zone. If that were Brady no one would be talking about the sideline because not only would Brady have never tried to throw his OC and head coach under the bus in the post-game interview he would have taken control and got a play off. No doubt in mind.

 

And since we're talking Brady is there any question that had he been at QB on 3rd and 4 with a little over 2 minutes to go the game would have been over and the Steelers would have never seen the ball again?





This is basically a two-man route with the other three guys running vertical to draw the rest of the DBs down the field. The Patriots only rush 3 guys and drop 8. If you're the QB in this situation with Brady on the other side in a 5pt game don't you know this is basically the ball game? Aren't you thinking to yourself take your time, find an open guy and we win this game?

Instead Ben, under absolutely no pressure whatsoever stares down JuJu bringing the safety down into the box and gives JuJu no chance to get the ball past the 1st down marker. I just don't understand why it was so important for Ben to get this ball out of his hands so quickly. The CB covering Eli on the far side runs hard to the sideline to take away the sprint out. If Ben just shows a tiny bit of patience he has Eli on the jerk route coming back to the inside and it's a very easy throw and catch for a 1st down. They would have needed one more to seal the game but even if the Pats got the ball back it would have been under 1 minute with no timeouts very deep in their own territory. It changes the way the Pats can attack the field with no timeouts.

I'm conflicted in criticizing Ben for this game because he did play well and he make some great plays and decisions throughout the game but at the end of the day I still come to the same conclusion when people talk about the Pats dominance over the Steelers....

They have Tom, we have Ben.

 

Spot on Beach, I remember saying...........you have to throw for the sticks, why the quick dump off. We've seen him pump to draw defenders and then look around and sometimes still go back to the guy once he's dragged guys with him or gone vertical....................which is why I would have ALSO gone for it on 4th and 1 on the next play. I know its our 30 yard line, but I remember thinking where I was watching...........the way you win this game is you don't let Tom get another try, you have to play to take the knee. Why not just go for it. If you don't get it, they score even quicker deep in your end, still need to go for 2, and you get the ball back in 2 min offense to try and tie with a fg or win it with a td.

Now as I say that Tom Brady also probably plays that game in reverse and manages it so that when they do score there is little time left, but as you say............they have Tom.

 

I'm reading today that James Conner will require surgery. Is DWill listening?

 

As soon as he threw that I knew they wasted 3rd down. Just spike it and set up the FG at point. 2nd down has to go to the end zone.

 

Pittsburgh Steelers sign Stevan Ridley.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/steelers-sign-stevan-ridley-200539214.html

 

Benny boy oh boy

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/ben-roethlisberger-hindsight-spiked-ball-170325197.html



Not putting it all on Ben.....coaching too, man.

 

What a great game to experience in person until it wasn't. I still got a feeling....

 

UGLY

- I'm only just now remarking on this because I'm only just now getting over it. Sean Davis was complete and total garbage in this game. He even blew his chance to redeem himself at the very end. Our players need to focus next time they play the Patriots because the Pats won't make their own mistakes.

 

Why was he garbage? Because he couldn't cover Gronk? Then every Safety in the NFL is garbage too. There were a couple of times he had perfect coverage and Gronk still made the play. The guy is just that good.

Still sucks he missed that INT though. That was ballgame. Gotta make those plays.

 

The 158 yards Sean Davis allowed when targeted would be a season-high for Gronk all on its own. Davis hasn't been great in coverage all season, and I won't give him a pass now that Brady was able to identify the canyon-like mismatch down the stretch. At best, Davis is poorly equipped to deal with a player like Gronkowski, even more than any other defender had prior this season.

 

I'm not gonna defend the kid Demo, because obviously he wasn't good enough, and he's not been good enough on more than one occasion this year. I just think that the team asked alot of him. They didn't give him alot of help from what I could see. They had Mitchell shadowing towards Gronk at times, but he never seemed to be in position to actually help. I can't think of many teams that ask a Safety to play Gronk in true man coverage and have success. Gronk is a mismatch for anyone, really. He's a 6'7" receiver that weighs over 250 lbs with deceptive speed. You can't put one guy on him and not expect to get beat.

Let me put it this way...if the Pats had put Malcolm Butler on AB all game and AB went off for 160 yards and a score, would you have said Malcolm Butler played like garbage or that AB just played like AB?