Mid-Week Notes

If anyone is still worried about the Pats and this week's game in particular, this blog is for you.

Over the last 2 seasons the Pats have lost 4 times. In the games immediately following a loss, they are 4-0. Brady had 10 TD's and only 1 interception in those games. As a team, here is what the Pats have done the week after the last four losses:
W 31-10 at Philadelphia
W 38-30 home vs Tennessee
W 40-22 at St Louis
W 23-7 at New York Jets

Pretty impressive, but if that's not enough evidence for you going into the Pittsburgh game here's one more thing: Ben Roethlesberger. The 'experts' are talking about how comfortable he looks in the pocket and that he's 15-0 as a starter in the regular season. He's 2-0 this year with a rediculous QB rating near perfect (152 or something like that). The REAL stats to look at are what he's had to do to win and that's hand the ball off. The Steelers have run 106 offensive plays in 2 games this season. They RAN 73 times and threw only 33 times. In the second half, Roethlesberger has thrown only 8 times in both games combined! Simply put, he hasn't been put in any type of situation to have to make a play to win. When the Pats put him in that situation in last years AFC championship game, he threw 3 picks. They must simply stop the Pittsburgh ground game to put the game in Big Ben's hands.


*Belichick uncharacteristically criticized the NFl during his press conference on Tuesday when
asked about his non-challenge at the goal line. Belichick said it would be nice if the league had
cameras on the goal line specifically for reviews of TD's. The replay is subject to whatever
camera angle the network has of the goal line, in most cases 1-2yards past of the goal line so when we all watched the replay, it was not at the same angle as the line judge, essentially making any review of the play difficult or inconclusive.

*ESPN's power rankings are out for week 3. Colts, Steelers, Eagles then Pats 4th. Carolina is
way down at #9. Go figure.

*Randall Gay was seen on crutches in the locker room on Tuesday. He was not putting ANY
weight on his ankle.

*After all the talk about the 3-4 or 4-3 defensive alignment, Belichick played several snaps in
what could be called a 3-3: 3 Dline, 3 LB's with Guss Scott in as the third safety with Rodney
Harrison up at the line of scrimmage. It will be very interesting to see how they attempt to
handle Pitt's running game.

* Onus on the O-Line. The Pats offensive line has been described as nervous, skittish and weak
by writers this week. It was pointed out that in addition to the false start penalties, they have
gotten absolutely NO push at the line of scrimmage. As a matter of fact, on most run plays
they have been pushed back 2-3 yards. No wonder Dillon looks like Antwan Smith. The O-Line
play will have to improve if the Pats are to win this week. Perhaps the Pats can come out in 4
or 5 reciever sets, spread out the D, pass the ball up and down the field and then sneak in a run
here or there. It worked 2 years ago against Pitt in the season opener.