Look, it was a painful game to watch. I hate to blame the officiating, but the Patriots did get every single call. But you still have to place the emphasis on the players: it's their job not to commit the infractions in the first place. Even though we lost, it wasn't a lost afternoon. There is a lot of good we can take out of this game. Run Defense: Remember, it was 88 degrees out today, and I'm sure that the defense was more than a little tired out by the time that the second half rolled around. Kudos to Belicheck for keeping Jordan for the 2nd half, as a sort of secret-weapon, but as a whole, we still held the Patriots to 3.2 YPC rushing. Sammy Morris had -1 yards on the day. Maroney? 8 rushes for 16 carries. Our rush defense was, at least in the first half, stout at the point of attack and wrapped up the runner well. If we can assume that the defense was a little worn out in the second half, we can take a lot of pleasure in the rush defense. Rush Offense: We ended the day with only 104 yards rushing, but Thomas Jones looked shifty and elusive, and except for the first-and-goal series found the hole and hit it hard. His vision was excellent and he finally looked like a legit starting RB. When he struggled, I can blame it as much on the playcalling as on Jones. Washington only got 2 carries, looked good on them, but frankly I would've liked to see more touches. Pass Rush: We finished today with 3 sacks, including two in a row to start the second half. Pace again looked awesome but Kris Jenkins was phenomenal coming right up the gut to hit Cassel. We pressured Cassel almost every time he dropped back to pass, and this comes against a veteran offensive line. We didn't call too many blitzes, but our linesmen were getting in there. Even Bryan Thomas was having a great game, he reminded me of 2006 Thomas today. What we can improve on: Player Discipline: We committed 6 penalties for 60 yards, as compared to the Patriots 2 penalties for 10 yards. But the penalties really killed us today, we had a big Thomas Jones run called back, and a facemask penalty kept a New England drive alive that hurt us mightily in the field position. Obviously we can question the roughing-the-passer and offensive pass interference calls, but those really killed us today. For a Mangini team that prides itself on discipline, we REALLY need to improve. Offensive Playcalling: Honestly, Brian Schottenheimer couldn't possibly have called a less inspired game today. I know some might claim that Favre doesn't know the playbook, but we took like 3 shots downfield all game. The three straight runs on first-and-goal was painful to watch, and the pitiful use of Leon Washington really bothered me. There was no trickeration, and the constant passes back to the line accomplished nothing. Seriously, if Brian Schottenheimer wants to keep his job, he needs to open up the bag of tricks. Special Teams: I'd say "not-so-special-teams" but that's kinda tacky. Everyone is going to look at the Feely missed field goal and say it would've been great to have the 3 points back, but I see it as much more. That's momentum we never got a chance to have. Never underestimate the importance of scoring first. And Ben Graham, who was supposed to have had a great training camp, was pitiful. I mean, he averaged 27 net yards a punt, and looked awful. His punts were either short, or easily returnable. Feely looked decent on the kickoffs, but whatever. He's not the answer long-term.
Our kicking stinks. And our coaches think that Chad Pennington is still the qb. Hmmm lets see on the 3 yard line, run, run, run, kick. Not even attempt to pass.
Oh and lets get rid of Graham already he has been awful the last few years. He only good year was his first. Now instead of that funky bounce, it goes right into the teams arm.
Special Teams really broke us today. I can't believe how bad our punting situation is....and how good the NE kicker and punter's are. They had wonderful field position for much of the day...we certainly had the length of the field to cover each time we get the ball. Combine that with untimely penalties and NE was able to dictate the pace for pretty much the whole game.
It doesn't matter what QB we have under center. Our team needs alot of work. I'm ok with the Defense, but the O'line is still bad. I expect to see one or two more wins just because Farve is quarterbacking, but that's it.
That's the biggest thing right there. They need to let Ben Graham punt the way he did when he came to the NFL....he is a boomer, not a touch punter. If they keep forcing Ben to try to angle punts and pin teams deep, we will keep getting mediocre punts. If we want 55 yard punts we need to let him do the Aussie-rules style kick and if that's not going to cut it, let him go home. As far as place kicking, that miss in the first quarter was a killer. I don't really blame Favre for the pick because he had the right idea. The biggest concern right now is how little our front seven seem to have improved. The end-game stats show 3 sacks, but there's no consistency. I blame the coaching and the scheme.
Thanks, Jack. What I wanted to do was at least recognize that there was some good in today's game. Everyone so far is just focusing on the negatives, but look at the first three, not all was lost today.
What does that mean? Draft order isn't really an issue until you get down to the last 2 or 3 games and it's easy to predict. I mean, for Oakland/St. Louis/KC you could talk about draft order now, but for the rest of the league it is pretty much up in the air.
Dude out of the five wins you had in the last two years. (2007- 2008) Three were against the 1-17 Miami dolphins. You could have lost that week one game in Miami. Unfortunately for the Jets you won't be seeing too many teams as bad as the Dolphins this year. So with the number 1 Pick in 2009 draft the new Jersey Jets select......
We have 14 wins in the last 2 seasons dude, get your shit together. And if you're coming here as a Raider fan you need to go back to your apartment in the projects and smoke some more crack. With an owner who's more out of it than Ralph Wilson and a barely literate, overweight QB who can only throw a ball 84 yards due to retard strength, the Raiders are the unwiped, pin-worm infested asshole of the league.
First warning. There won't be a second. There is a Trashtalk Forum to service all your schadenfreude needs.
