Great Win, But...

Those of you that made the bus trip, I'm jealous, it was probably a great time to attend. Hopefully I'll get to go with you next season. It was a great win on Sunday, but should we take it with a grain of salt because the Bills aren't very good? The humble blog author says NO!

A division win is a division win. Did you know that the Pats are 29-7 in their division in the Brady era? Yes I know, the Pats have beaten the Bills by an average of 28 points when playing for the second time in a season. And yes I know that the Bills don't pose much of an offensive threat. (Maybe they can re-acquire Bledsoe now that he's been benched in big D.) However, the Pats showed some offense against a good Buffalo Defense which, I think is ranked 14th overall.

The Good.
-Maroney's kick return. He won AFC special teams player of the week.
-The secondary: Asante goes without saying, but solid perforamces were turned in by all.
-Vince Wilfork. Let me expand on this for a moment. Do you remember the play early in third quarter, when Seau burst through the line and tackled McGahee for a 3 yard loss? If you taped the game, watch Wilfork on that play. Wilfork was blocked by the center, and the weakside guard was pulling to block the linebacker (Seau) in the hole McGahee was designed to run in. Wilfork saw the gaurd pull, got leverage on the center and moved close enough to the gap that the pulling gaurd had no choice but to double team Wilfork. Seau, now unblocked runs through the gap and looks like a hero.
-It was great to see Jackson get so open on his TD
-How about Gabriel's TD catch on a ball that should never have been thrown?
-Watson's 6 catches for 50 yards. (But it always seems like he either breaks every tackle or goes right down on first contact.)

The Bad
-The offensive tackles were aweful. Brady was getting hammered out there.
-While they finally scored a TD on a first posession, I thought the play calling was horrendous until miday through the 3rd Quarter. If the Pass rush is that fierce and Brady is getting hurried on every pass play, why not slow down the pass rush? Any NFL, college or high school coach will tell you that the best way to slow a pass rush is with screens and draws. I can remember one screen pass, and it was to Ben Watson. It turned out to be a decent game of play calling thanks to the 3rd quarter, but I'm still VERY weary of McDaniels.
-Hey, that's all I can complain about!

The Ugly
Roseanne Barr naked.

Here's where the Pats rank thusfar this season:

RushingYards per game -- 6th (131.5)Yards allowed per game -- 6th (83.8)
TurnoversDifferential -- tied-9th (plus-3 -- 9 takeaways; 6 giveaways)
PointsScored -- 10th (22.6)Allowed -- 4th (13.3)
Third down efficiencyConverted -- 8th (41.9 percent)Allowed -- 16th (37.8 percent)
Red zone efficiencyTDs scored -- 2nd (63.6 percent)TDs allowed -- 10th (42.9 percent)
Pretty amazing stats.

As Peter King would write, "10 things I think I think."

1. the Pats may be a dangerous offensive team come playoff time if Gabriel and Jackson continue to progress.
2. the Defense is good, but I'm not convinced that they are superbowl calliber.
3. the D can really prove itself next Sunday night against the league, I mean, Peyton Manning.
4. Stephen Neal is a very under-rated gaurd.
5. Maroney's gonna light it up back in Minnesota
6. the divorce rate would go down significantly if they took women out of the workplace (just a theory)
7. the Pats will win the superbowl as long as someone else knocks out Denver.
8. Rodney Harrison should be a first ballot hall of famer.
9. Rodney Harrison will not be inducted to the hall of fame.
FACT: Rodney Harrison is the ONLY PLAYER IN NFL HISTORY to record at least 30 INT's (31)and 25 sacks (28).
10. I think you should tell your friends to read this blog. (not that I'm counting)

Did you hear the latest on the Pats/Indy feud?

First the background: Indy's GM/president is Bill Polian. He hates the Pats. He built the current Indy team, starting with drafting Marvin Harrison right up to now. He's also a hot-head. When Indy played at the Jets on Oct. 1, Polian accused the Jets of turning up the stadium speakers when Peyton had the ball. He was so pissed, he threw a Jets employee into a wall.

Second, the action: Polian has heard rumors of the Pats shitty field. Well, he put in a formal complaint with the league, siting the Gillette Stadium turf being below NFL standards. The league then sent officials out to see the field and are making them tear up the field and re-sod BEFORE next Sundays home game against Indy. Did I tell you the league loves Peyton? (Look, I agree that the field sucks, but other teams have had to play on it so far this year, why should it HAVE to change now, right before Indy arrives?)

Last, revenge the Belichick way: Belichick put a request in to the NFL to provide extra security for the Indy game to protect the Patriot's employees! Slap in the face to Polian and I for one love it!

I'm having trouble figuring out the Minnesota match-ups, but I have a feeling that the Pats are going to win this one going away.