Patriots - Texans game

[trents]

Patriots' offense sure looked pathetic tonight. It's been struggling all year but their defense couldn't bail them out this time. On the other hand, Houston's defense looked mighty impressive except for the last few minutes when they started sleep walking, thinking they had the game in hand.

Brady doesn't have so many weapons anymore. His current crop of receivers just aren't getting separation and teams going forward are going to look at how the Texans neutralized Edlemena with double teams.

[Hawktawk]

Patriots' offense sure looked pathetic tonight. It's been struggling all year but their defense couldn't bail them out this time. On the other hand, Houston's defense looked mighty impressive except for the last few minutes when they started sleep walking, thinking they had the game in hand.

Brady doesn't have so many weapons anymore. His current crop of receivers just aren't getting separation and teams going forward are going to look at how the Texans neutralized Edlemena with double teams.

This is finally the year. The defense and weak schedule masked a team with a weak offense led by a 42 year old QB who is suddenly ordinary at best , mediocre to bad at worst . Couldn’t happen to a nicer franchise .

[RiverDog]

Patriots' offense sure looked pathetic tonight. It's been struggling all year but their defense couldn't bail them out this time. On the other hand, Houston's defense looked mighty impressive except for the last few minutes when they started sleep walking, thinking they had the game in hand.

Brady doesn't have so many weapons anymore. His current crop of receivers just aren't getting separation and teams going forward are going to look at how the Texans neutralized Edlemena with double teams.

This is finally the year. The defense and weak schedule masked a team with a weak offense led by a 42 year old QB who is suddenly ordinary at best , mediocre to bad at worst . Couldn’t happen to a nicer franchise .

I agree with both of you. The Texans aren't that bad of a team, sort of like the Ravens 2.0 with a dynamic, running QB. Brady doesn't move around in the pocket like he used to and doesn't have a field stretching WR. IMO the Pats stand a chance of losing not only HFA, but a first round bye as well, but they do have a schedule advantage in that 3 of their last 4 are at home, including their toughest remaining games in the Chiefs and Bills.

And yea, I can't stand the Pats, either. I've never liked that snotty spoiled prick Tom Brady, but mainly because I've been a bit jealous of their success. At this point, their success is hurting the game at a time when the popularity of the sport is beginning to flatten out. Time for them to leave the stage and not surface again for another 10 years.

[trents]

Brady looked pretty good moving around in the pocket on that last touchdown to Edleman late in the game but a lot of his throws were under pressure and off target. He's not particularly accurate under pressure but in the past teams have not been able to get consistent pressure on him. On the rare occasion when teams have been able to do that is when the Pats have lost. He no longer has a fleet of great receivers who get open and allow him to get his passes off quickly before the rush catches up to him. Houston doubled Edleman but manned up the other receivers so they could blitz often.

[RiverDog]

Brady looked pretty good moving around in the pocket on that last touchdown to Edleman late in the game but a lot of his throws were under pressure and off target. He's not particularly accurate under pressure but in the past teams have not been able to get consistent pressure on him. On the rare occasion when teams have been able to do that is when the Pats have lost. He no longer has a fleet of great receivers who get open and allow him to get his passes off quickly before the rush catches up to him. Houston doubled Edleman but manned up the other receivers so they could blitz often.

Yea, maybe. He just looks really heavy footed to me, ducks and hits the ground rather than side stepping and keeping the play alive.

Ironically Brady's passing yardage numbers this season ranks him 5th in the league but his QBR and passer ratings are very pedestrian. Obviously the Patriots will let him make the call on retirement, but if it were any other quarterback, they'd be trying to usher him out the door. It will be interesting to see what the Pats do in the upcoming draft, if they target a QB.

[Hawktawk]

Brady looked pretty good moving around in the pocket on that last touchdown to Edleman late in the game but a lot of his throws were under pressure and off target. He's not particularly accurate under pressure but in the past teams have not been able to get consistent pressure on him. On the rare occasion when teams have been able to do that is when the Pats have lost. He no longer has a fleet of great receivers who get open and allow him to get his passes off quickly before the rush catches up to him. Houston doubled Edleman but manned up the other receivers so they could blitz often.

Yea, maybe. He just looks really heavy footed to me, ducks and hits the ground rather than side stepping and keeping the play alive.

Ironically Brady's passing yardage numbers this season ranks him 5th in the league but his QBR and passer ratings are very pedestrian. Obviously the Patriots will let him make the call on retirement, but if it were any other quarterback, they'd be trying to usher him out the door. It will be interesting to see what the Pats do in the upcoming draft, if they target a QB.

Actually RD Tom Brady's contract is only guaranteed through this year and speculation has been if he wants to play after this year it's got to be in another uniform.NE has proven through the Belichick era how ruthless they are with declining players or guys they feel they can get more for than they are worth on the team. Brady will be no different. It's why Belichick threw such a fit when Brady and Kraft forced the trade of Jimmy G a couple of years ago. Imagine if he were sitting on the bench now with Brady playing like a 42 year old has been.

Its true his receiving corps is relatively pedestrian and makes you wonder why they dumped a healthy Josh Gordon. Bottom line though Brady has had a declining QBR for 3 years in a row and yesterday his first half production of 7-19 with a pick and QBR of 45 was the worst statistical first half of his pro career. They rallied a bit during garbage time but that game wasn't nearly as close as the score. With KC coming into town and a game vs Buffalo after that they could be going from the penthouse to the outhouse pronto

[trents]

Good states HT about Brady's declining numbers the past three years. To me, that says a lot.

I also wonder how much gas in the tank Bellechick has. Sometimes he just looks like a grumpy, tired old man to me. Contrast that with Pete's continuing energy and enthusiasm. I think the J. Garapalo thing took a lot out of Bill B. in the sense of his commitment to the franchise. I'm sure there are trust issues there now. And Kraft's extracurricular problems have been a distraction to the organization as well. There are cracks there now that weren't there before.

[RiverDog]

Actually RD Tom Brady's contract is only guaranteed through this year and speculation has been if he wants to play after this year it's got to be in another uniform.NE has proven through the Belichick era how ruthless they are with declining players or guys they feel they can get more for than they are worth on the team. Brady will be no different. It's why Belichick threw such a fit when Brady and Kraft forced the trade of Jimmy G a couple of years ago. Imagine if he were sitting on the bench now with Brady playing like a 42 year old has been.

I guess I'd heard that before. Thanks for the memory reboot.

Its true his receiving corps is relatively pedestrian and makes you wonder why they dumped a healthy Josh Gordon. Bottom line though Brady has had a declining QBR for 3 years in a row and yesterday his first half production of 7-19 with a pick and QBR of 45 was the worst statistical first half of his pro career. They rallied a bit during garbage time but that game wasn't nearly as close as the score. With KC coming into town and a game vs Buffalo after that they could be going from the penthouse to the outhouse pronto

The Pats have two tough games (KC and the Bills), both at home, and two marshmallows (Dolphins and Bengals). Even if they lose one of those, they still have a good shot of getting a first round bye, and with their defense, are still a very formidable foe, especially in a playoff environment. As much as I want to see them out of the spotlight, it's a little too early to be playing taps.

As far as why they cut Gordon loose, in addition to his frequent suspensions for substance abuse, he apparently was missing or was late for a number team meetings, and Belichick isn't one to tolerate disobedience even from his stars. They were probably keeping him on their roster just to keep him away from other teams before they were forced to let him go after he was cleared to play.

[obiken]

River, I dont hate the Pats and I dont love them. They are the model of the salary cap era. IF you asked me as a Hawks fan who I feared more, Elway or Brady, I would say Elway by far. IF JE had had a running game early on, who knows how many titles he could have won. They dont really have that defining SB Crush. I think you and Cbob would agree, they dont really stack up to the great teams of the past.

[Hawktawk]

Good states HT about Brady's declining numbers the past three years. To me, that says a lot.

I also wonder how much gas in the tank Bellechick has. Sometimes he just looks like a grumpy, tired old man to me. Contrast that with Pete's continuing energy and enthusiasm. I think the J. Garapalo thing took a lot out of Bill B. in the sense of his commitment to the franchise. I'm sure there are trust issues there now. And Kraft's extracurricular problems have been a distraction to the organization as well. There are cracks there now that weren't there before.

I read that Belichick was so angry about the Jimmy G thing he considered quitting. I dont know what the man has left to prove except that he can win one without Brady. I really would have a hard time picturing him going to another team. But maybe he has no life and will want to do this till hes 75.

[RiverDog]

Here's something that should run shivers up the spine of every Pats fan:

Even before Sunday's dismal showing, Brady's numbers were disappointing. In fact, the late surge against a relatively disinterested Texans defense in the fourth quarter meant that Brady's statistics actually improved slightly after cratering following the Cowboys game. From Week 4 on, Brady has been unrecognizable from his usual self.

...since Week 4, Brady ranks 30th in completion percentage, 30th in yards per attempt, 29th in passer rating and 24th in Total QBR. His rate stats since Week 4 are roughly in line with those of Mitchell Trubisky, who has completed 63.2% of his passes, averaged 6.3 yards per attempt, thrown two touchdowns for every interception and posted a passer rating of 85.7 to go with a QBR of 40.4. Bears fans might have been excited to hear that Trubisky would be compared to Brady in 2019, but this is not a fawning comparison for either passer.

[obiken]

I dont know Riv, When Don Shula was the coach of the Miami Dolphins there wasn’t a lot of things he tolerated. One of those was cheating. It was once said and confirmed by many players that during a visit to Oakland for a game against the Raiders the team found a Raiders playbook left in a locker room. Don Shula didn’t hesitate and quickly threw the playbook away, he said we don't do that here. It’s wonder he doesn’t care much for Bill Belichick. More wins than Billi and more SB trips with 4 different QB's, I go with Shula. But thats just me.

[Hawktawk]

I was just watching video of Brady sitting on the bench Sunday night screaming at his receivers to”speed it up, get more separation”figure it out!!” dropping F bombs and acting like a child .

Could you imagine Russ ever doing such a thing? Not even the prima dona Manning would scream at his guys on the sidelines , he’d just throw them under the bus in the post game interview.

We Seahawks fans are lucky, his teammates are lucky.

[trents]

For the most part, the conduct of our management, coaching staff and players have made me proud to be a Hawk's fan. There have been a few rotten apples down through the years but from what I can tell the team character is pretty good right now and certainly better than a number of other NFL organizations.

[RiverDog]

I was just watching video of Brady sitting on the bench Sunday night screaming at his receivers to”speed it up, get more separation”figure it out!!” dropping F bombs and acting like a child .

Could you imagine Russ ever doing such a thing? Not even the prima dona Manning would scream at his guys on the sidelines , he’d just throw them under the bus in the post game interview.

We Seahawks fans are lucky, his teammates are lucky.

10-4 about Brady, which is one of the reasons why I don't like that spoiled man child. He's a first class A-hole. Even in his post game pressers, of which only one sticks out in my mind as "throwing teammates under the bus", Manning was 10 times the sportsman Brady is.

Russell is the polar opposite, nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. He wouldn't be caught dead doing have the chit Brady does.