2008 Patriots Game Thread

[Cocos Disciples]

Bummer. 3 way tie for the East now with the Bills and Jets. Should be a good second half of the year, Buffalo next week.

[TheKilo]

The Pats gave the Colts this game. Whether it was the Gaffney drop or the ridiculous Thomas personal foul. Should be 6-2' date=' we outplayed the Colts today and have nothing to show.[/quote']

 

Cry me a river

[YanksHater213]

The Pats gave the Colts this game. Whether it was the Gaffney drop or the ridiculous Thomas personal foul. Should be 6-2' date=' we outplayed the Colts today and have nothing to show.[/quote']

 

Doesn't make a difference, you can't make stupid mistakes and expect to win games. The Pats made the stupid mistakes, and the Pats lost the game, and I'm not surprised. While it's true that those 2 mistakes cost us the game, that's why football is what it is. It hurts to lose a winnable game, but it's no use saying we "should be" because we aren't.

 

Matt Cassel look great last night. That was easily his best game, and Cassel playing good is more important than the wins and losses right now. As he improves, the Ws will come, and he looked great last night.

[mtbykr]

The drop by Gaffney was big and hurt, the penalty by Thomas hurt (although I don't believe he knew the play was over, so tough to fault him). What really lost this game was poor clock management and not having a TO near the end of the game. Calling our last TO on the 4th down play hurt us by losing the TO, and the fact that we had gotten the 1st down. It also hurt because we didn't have a challenge left..on the drive for the winning FG, Clark fumbled and knew it but we couldn't challenge.

 

 

Doesn't make a difference, you can't make stupid mistakes and expect to win games. The Pats made the stupid mistakes, and the Pats lost the game, and I'm not surprised. While it's true that those 2 mistakes cost us the game, that's why football is what it is. It hurts to lose a winnable game, but it's no use saying we "should be" because we aren't.

 

Matt Cassel look great last night. That was easily his best game, and Cassel playing good is more important than the wins and losses right now. As he improves, the Ws will come, and he looked great last night.

 

Cassel has been improving, I will take a win over Cassel looking good anyday.

[YanksHater213]

The way I'm looking at it, if Cassel improves, the wins will come. I'd much rather see us lose a close game right now with Cassel looking good, as opposed to Cassel leveling off and being inconsistent the rest of the way.

 

Despite the loss, I'm real happy where this team stands as of right now.

[Dojji]

Cassel looking great tonight. They're really playing Patriots football.

[John Handa]

Big win today. Showdown VS Jets next week.

[mtbykr]

It's being reported that Adalius Thomas broke his arm, and continued to play another series with a brace. He will need surgery and will be placed on IR. Pretty crazy the amount of top guys the pats have lost this year, by my count it's:

 

Tom Brady - starting QB

Laurence Maroney - starting RB

Rodney Harrison - starting SS

Adalius Thomas - Starting OLB

Tank Williams - SS

Barry Stokes - Reserve OL

Anthony Clement - Reserve OL

Bo Ruud - reserve ILB

Shawn Crable - Resere OLB

Kenny Smith - Reserve DL

Ryan O'Callaghan - Reserve OL

 

 

AD is a big loss, he's been playing great and will be very hard to replace.

[ARod2212]

Thursday should be fun. It'll be interesting to see how the Patriots handle losing Thomas. Their schedule is a cupcake down the stretch, we'll see if they blow any games they should win.

 

A Jet win Thursday would be a big step for them, but it'll take more than that for the Jets to win the East.

[Dojji]

It's a mistake to think that because we haven't seen a guy make a big play recently he hasn't been a factor, especially on defense, but Thomas hasn't really shown up for awhile. If the reserve plays OK we should be fine in theory.

 

So here's a question: If we still had Brady, how many of our losses would have been wins?

 

To be honest, I only see one. Before the Colts game, I saw none. The losses to the Phins and the Chargers were both blowout situations because the D didn't show up to work that day. And I'm not sure even about the Colts game. Cassel did not play poorly and Gaffney can drop a Tom Brady pass just as easily as he can drop a Matt Cassel pass. The reason I still call that a game Brady could have won us is the deep threat to Moss might have netted us a TD and given us a buffer.

[TheKilo]

Helps when you have the easiest schedule in the league.

 

I said 10 wins before the season started, I'm changing that to 11. I see them losing Thursday and then to the Steelers.

[mtbykr]

It's a mistake to think that because we haven't seen a guy make a big play recently he hasn't been a factor' date=' especially on defense, but Thomas hasn't really shown up for awhile. If the reserve plays OK we should be fine in theory.[/b']

 

So here's a question: If we still had Brady, how many of our losses would have been wins?

 

To be honest, I only see one. Before the Colts game, I saw none. The losses to the Phins and the Chargers were both blowout situations because the D didn't show up to work that day. And I'm not sure even about the Colts game. Cassel did not play poorly and Gaffney can drop a Tom Brady pass just as easily as he can drop a Matt Cassel pass. The reason I still call that a game Brady could have won us is the deep threat to Moss might have netted us a TD and given us a buffer.

 

 

AD has played the most snaps out of anyone on D this year at 99%. He is also the defender (one of 2) that has the comm helmet. He is very versatile in that he can rush the passer, play the run, or drop into coverage........and can do all 3 at a very high level. He also plays on special teams in certain situations. Vrable will pick up the comm duties, but AD will be very hard to replace. The inside person is Pierre Woods, but there could also come an outside choice as Junior Seau (while mostly an ILB, has played OLB for the pats) or Rosie Colvin are both on the street.

[TheKilo]

Adalius Thomas has made up for Vrabel/Bruschi losing a step this season - he can't blitz because of it (and I believe that was the best part of his game, lauded before he signed with NE). He's been tremendous, even though Mayo's getting all the pub.

[mtbykr]

Ty Warren was on WEEI this morning and they asked him about the upcoming game against the Jets and starts by saying "We have Fredo coming in.........."

[ARod2212]

Jets signed Ty Law, he's playing Thursday night. I like the move. Adds depth to the secondary, which was the weakest part of the defense.

 

http://blogs.nfl.com/2008/11/10/jets-sign-cb-law/

[TheKilo]

So is Ty Law cut Friday morning, or afternoon?

[Cocos Disciples]

May as well keep him for the year I guess.

 

Thursday's game is big.

[Mr Crunchy]

Law is the playmaker that we have been missing in the backfield for a while now..Assante Samuel was good,Law was electric...7 years ago..Hampered by injury and weight gain he is a shell of himself..Of course if he was in the dime package last year he wouldve caught 1 of the 5 pix Manning threw up for grabs in Nys last drive and we would be champs again..The Jets have lil to lose on this move,I think the Pats wouldnt mind having him back either for 7 games.

[mtbykr]

Anyone catch the new NFL network commercial promoting the upcoming pats/jest game? The ballwashing is getting out of control.

 

 

http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/11/nfl-network-thinks-brett-favre-is-hero.html

[YanksHater213]

If they don't show the game tomorrow on some local affiliate down here in RI, I'm going to be slitting somebodys throat, and dropping a bomb on Roger Goodell's office. What a f***ing crock of s***.

[mtbykr]

not to mention it's the NFL network which has the worst announcers possible. Their pre and post game stuff is usually pretty good, but the announcers are terrible.

[Dojji]

5 years ago Law was the playmaker that we have been missing in the backfield for a while now

Edited for truth

[YanksHater213]

I found out that they only broadcast the game not on NFL network if you're in Boston or Manchester, NH, so I'll be heading out for the game tonight to Chili's or something.

[mtbykr]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2008/11/viewing_options.html

 

 

A few emailers have asked about viewing options for tonight's Patriots-Jets game, which is being broadcast on NFL Network (8:15 p.m.).

 

This information might be helpful:

 

The game can also be seen in Boston on WCVB Channel 5.

In Manchester, New Hampshire, it can be seen on WMUR Channel 9.

In New York, the game will be on WPIX Channel 11.

http://www.NFL.com/live also provides a "companion live broadcast" to the game.

[Dojji]

Gonna need another big game by the Law Firm tonight.

[mtbykr]

There is a chance that Sammy Morris might be back tonight...he would be a better option in the weather against this defense in my opinion

[Dojji]

I dunno, if he's 100% maybe but there's NO way that he's 100% so we're probably still in "Any Warm Body" mode.

 

The weather shouldn't be a huge problem for the kind of game Cassel plays, and it might even help the slot game by slowing down the D. Welker, BJGE and, if you're right, Morris will play a big role tonight.

[mtbykr]

Schefter puts it in perspective:

 

http://blogs.nfl.com/2008/11/13/banged-up-pats-continue-to-adapt-win/

 

 

During the 2003 season in which they won a Super Bowl, the Patriots set an unofficial NFL record for the number of games that potential starters missed due to injury.

 

New England broke the record the very next season. And now the first-place Patriots are back at it again.

 

New England never, ever, EVER will draw attention to it. But this space will. Hard not to.

 

Once linebacker Adalius Thomas is added to the season-ending, injured-reserve list, which could happen as early as Thursday, New England will have an astounding 11 players on IR. Those 11 players would have started about 50 games by now. It also means the Patriots have upwards of $20 million on injured reserve this season.

 

And it’s more than just quarterback Tom Brady, the best player in football, who is out for the year. It is a list far more extensive.

 

The other Patriots already on injured reserve:

 

Running back Laurence Maroney

Offensive tackle Ryan O’Callaghan

Offensive tackle Anthony Clement

Offensive tackle Barry Stokes

Defensive lineman Kenny Smith

Linebacker Shawn Crable

Linebacker Bo Rudd

Safety Rodney Harrison

Safety Tank Williams

This also does not include guard Stephen Neal, who spent the first half of the season on the Physically Unable to Perform List, or running backs Lamont Jordan and Sammy Morris and defensive end Jarvis Green, who have missed extensive time due to assorted injuries.

 

Yet, all the ultra-resilient Patriots do is win. Over and over.

 

[RedSoxRooter]

Anyone else watching the game tonight? there's something screwy with the stupid nfl network signal where the audio just sucks. Its too quiet for the game so you turn it up and it sounds terrible, then when they go to commerical it almost blows the speakers out - but sounds great. It's annoying the hell outa me. I'm tivo-behind so it's 7-0 Packers if anyone cares

[Cocos Disciples]

You can hear the cheerleaders pretty well, at least on my TV. Pretty annoying, but it drowns out the suck that is Cris Collinsworth. 10-3 Jets after 1.