Miami Game; Top Ten

I'd like to start by thanking Johnathon Birs of Capital City Financial for hosting me in his luxury box for the Miami game. Johnathon's generosity is second only to his skill in the Financial World.


What are we to make of our star quarterback being in love with his favorite receiver? We've gone over it before that Brady has become Moss happy and it's ugly when he forces the issue. I guess we can take some solace in the fact that, when the games have been close, Brady has played like Brady is supposed to. It is only when the outcome has been determined that Brady starts to force the issue. Still, this team preached 60 minutes of football all year and that shouldn't change just because they are nearing some records.

The Patriots put on a show in the first half on offense, defense and special teams. They were completely dominant. Brady was 14 0f 18 for 163 yds and 3 TD's. Maroney made the most of the 4 carries he got by turning in long runs of 51 and 59 yds and one TD. The Defense held Miami to only 103 yds to go along with 3 three and outs. So what the heck happened in the second half?

As for the offense in the second half it was the Brady Moss love fest. Brady was just 4 of 15 for 52 yds, got picked twice trying to force it to Moss and fumble once while waiting for Moss to clear a deep route. There were guys open on just about every force to Moss. The advantage of being at the game is you don't have to watch what the networks show you. I repeatedly watched Gaffney and Welker get open and to a lesser extent Stallworth. But the ball went to Moss. I think it's hard to get on the rest of the team for letting up a little against Miami. I mean, there was no way in the world Miami was going to put up 28 points in that game. The Pats new that too and they let up a little. The Defense gave up long drives, but as usual, for the most part didn't give up the score.


Game observations:

It seems like Gaffney has become Brady's go to guy on 3rd downs. He had three catches on 3rd down in the first half, all of which went for first downs.

It was nice to see the Pats making big hits, both in the secondary and on special teams.

I felt badly for Troy Brown when he muffed that punt. The place was electric when they introduced him pre game and he got a standing O every time he took the field. We were all hoping he'd get a TD catch to break the "most players on one team to score a TD in one season" record. The Pats have 21 players that have scored a TD.

Granted Miami stinks against the run but Maroney had 156 yds on 14 carries, 5 of which came with 3 minutes left in the game to kill the clock. Most importantly, Maroney found holes and ran hard.

Which gets me to Joshy. I had the whole luxury box screaming at him by the middle of the 3rd quarter. (Great fun for me!)
It started on the Pats second posession of the game. Incomplete pass, run Faulk around the right side for 7 yds then sprint to the line and run Faulk on the exact same play on 3rd and 3. The result was a loss of 2 and a punt. Good job Joshy. Then there was the 3rd quarter possession that started on their own 6 inch line. Joshy comes out with 5 wide empty backfield. Do you think Miami knew what the Pats were going to do? I'm happy with a pass from your own end zone, especially with Brady throwing it. But you've got to do it off play action. There HAS to be some THREAT of a run. Go 4 wide with one back, play action and throw or just throw, but at least there's a chance you MIGHT run if there's a RB in the backfield. Not Joshy. 5 wide incomplete, 5 wide incomplete and 5 wide incomplete - Punt. Maroney had 5 meaningful 2nd half carries with the Pats up by 28 points. Is it the passing game that needs work going into the playoffs or the running game? It's not like they weren't able to run the ball against Miami. It's not like they couldn't run it all the way down field and then throw it to Moss for his TD. Please Mr. Parcells, PLEASE hire Josh McDaniels and take him away from us!


TOP TEN

1 Pats

2 Colts

3 Cowboys

4 Chargers

5 Jaguars

6 Packers

7 Steelers

8 Seahawks

9 Titans

10 Browns