Knee Jerk Reactions to Week 3: Pats vs Buccaneers

 

Things to consider while dealing with the disappointment that my favorite summer show, “CSI: North Attleboro,” wasn’t even nominated:

*I have to admit, after those first two 3 & outs I was worried. Or to put it more accurately, I was in full on, 5-alarm panic mode. Like the offense was completely unfixable and I was doomed to watch them struggle to move the ball all year like I’d been Quantum Leaped into the body of a Jacksonville Jaguar fan (best clip ever alert). But something clicked on that third possession. On 3rd & 4, Brady was facing pressure and throw a technically horrible, back-foot, all-shoulder phaser blast to Aaron Dobson for 17 yards, and everything changed. The timing was in sync all of a sudden. Guys started coming open. The run game opened up. Brady was able to go through his progressions. They moved the chains. Throw in a synthesizer track, a drum machine and Kenny Loggins and you’d have an ’80s movie montage. I don’t know what caused it. Whether it’s an adjustment they made or just the dynamics of a football team getting on the same page or what. But if they can keep making progress, that one 3rd down conversion to Dobson could be the turning point of the season.

*Still, as bad as they looked, there’s no excuse for the Real Housewives of Foxboro to be booing a couple of 3 & outs by a 2-0 team in a game where they were down by 3. None. Fortunately that was right at the end of the 1st so most of the real spoiled Beautiful People hadn’t made it to their seats yet. Otherwise we’d really look like douches.

*The game ball in this one goes to Matt Patricia for a terrific adjustment. The book on the Patriots defense has been to put them in nickel, then gash them in the run game. So what Patricia did was keep the base 4-3 front, but sub out Steven Gregory for an extra corner. That put them in man free coverage on the Tampa’s 3 wideouts (with McCourty as the single high safety) and kept them strong up front against Doug Martin runs. And it worked brilliantly. Martin ended up with 88 yards on 20 carries. But by my public school math, 45 of those came on the last possession of the 3rd and the 4th, with the Pats up by 17 and just playing deep shell. It was a game plan that will be talked about when Patricia is replacing Greg Schiano in January.

*Brandon Spikes is usally the first guy off the field in nickel, and with a lot more reps this week he came up huge. Where Dont’a Hightower tends to lay back and catch ballcarriers like he’s fielding a one-hopper, Spikes is attacking the LOS on almost every down, the way he did to stuff that 4th & 1. And it sets the tone for the whole defense.

*Yesterday his presence in the middle freed up Jerod Mayo who blitzed from all over the formation. He came from the outside in the 1st to flush Josh Freeman into Rob Ninkovich. He had a coverage sack at the end of the 1st. At the beginning of the 3rd he blew up an inside zone run. As well as Mayo played, to me Spikes is the catalyst. His contract is up, so it might be time for Borges to start breaking out his old “The Pats are cheaping out on ___” columns and start Mad-Libbing Spikes’ name in there.

 

*I don’t use these muscles much, so I made sure to stretch out before I say this, but: Brady did not play well. At least not well for a guy who was 25 for 35 with two touchdowns. He completely overlooked 2/3 of his receiving corps wide open behind the defense, inexplicably looking to Zach Sudfeld along the sidelines instead. And that interception in the endzone was unconscionable. Just Sanchezian. So there, I said it. I’m gonna be sore in the morning.

*At least after the INT Brady gave Brady a good yelling. Though I think it would’ve been funny if Dobson had gotten up in his face and started screaming at him. I bet Tom would’ve really gotten a kick out of that and had a good laugh.

*It’s easy to say that Vince Wilfork hasn’t been doing anything. And he hasn’t shown up in the box score, granted. But my eyes tell me they’ve got him playing 2-gap, even in their 40 front, and he’s doing his job as far as drawing double teams and freeing people up. For instance, in the 2nd quarter on a 3rd & 5, Tommy Kelley was singled up against Davin Joseph, put a rip move on him and got a pressure. On Spikes’ 4th & 1 stop, Joe Vellano beat a single block and got in there. I’m not saying it’s all VW, (the way say Ray Lewis got credit for every tackle every Raven ever made) I’m just saying teams are game planning to contain him and it’s giving the other DT’s opportunities.

*God bless the schedule maker, because the Bucs are exactly what the Patriots needed. It’s like Vincent Jackson came over from San Diego and infected the entire team with Loser Mentality Virus. Just dumbass plays and stupid decisions all over the place. Trying to quick-snap the Pats on 4th & 5. Calling timeout at the end of the half to leave themselves time, only to give the ball back. Then leave the middle of the field open so Earl Campbell Brady could barrel ahead for 4 ½. Down 17 and they’re running dive plays and flips to the fullback. A master class on how to waste individual talent. It’s like “Schiano” is Italian for “Norv.”

*And worst of all was Jackson. The free-agent-wideout-the-Patriots-were-too-cheap-to-sign had more drops than catches, then spent the rest of the game getting his tummy rubbed on the sidelines. If Herb Brooks had been coaching that team he would’ve said “The abdomen is a long way from the heart.” (Which I admit is more metaphorically true than anatomically.)

*Nothing points out how incompetent the Bucs coaching is than the way they use Darrelle Revis. This is a guy who’s supposed to be able to cover five men at once. Who kills men by the hundreds and would consume the English with fireballs from his eyes and bolts lightning from his arse. So Tampa signs him for tens of millions to have him… play zone. If I was a Bucs fan (and only by the grace of God I am not) the sight of Revis playing outside leverage and Kenbrell Thompkins go free over the middle for first downs would put me on a hunger strike until Schiano was fired.

*The embarassment that is the Bucs though gave us the comedy sideshow that was John Lynch reminding us how good they are. Right. Like don’t let the fact that they’re now 0-3, lost to the Jets and barely put up a fight against the Pats fool you. They’re really the ’85 Bears. I mean, I’m not asking some network back bencher to go after people like he’s Bill O’Reilly. But why does he have to be Dick Vitale?

*The Pats rotated the hell out of their running backs, and oddly enough, Stevan Ridley looked like the slowest of all of them. If he hesitates that much in real life I bet he never wins an eBay auction.

*As one guy Tweeted, if Mathew Mulligan drops a pass, do you get to do the down over? I wish I’d said that. So now I have.

*It looked like the Pats plan was to match Talib up on Jackson. And while he wasn’t perfect, the secondary overall looked as good as we’ve seen from this group. They’re playing a lot of trail technique which puts them in front of guys, uses the sideline as help and forces them to throw over the top. As opposed to the old method of playing 5 yards off and letting them catch it, which they perfected in the glory days of Wilhite and Wheatley.

*Dennard really stepped up in that regard. Aside from losing the hand battle to Mike Williams for a 28 yarder early on, he was jumping routes and defensing passes all day. We need to hope that for the next five months or so, his judge stays in a Granting Continuances kind of mood.

*As much as I hate the NBA-ification of football, with QBs tossing balls up just to try to draw pass interference and receivers constantly begging for flags, I have to admit I was encouraged by Dobson drawing a call on a ball he was high-pointing. Aside from Randy Moss, we really haven’t had a WR who can make teams have to defend that pass. It’s a huge weapon if he can bring that to them on the regular.

*Hoomba’s two catches were a bonus. But the best thing he did was put on a streak of about 10-for-10 on kickout blocks late in the game while the Pats were running stretch plays trying to ice it.

*Speaking of which, I give no creedence to the speculation that Belichick called off the dogs because Schiano gave his kid a roster spot at Rutgers. Just like The Hood helped out Notre Dame this year and Jon Bon Jovi’s kid got signed as a walk on, it’s an amazing, what-a-small-world coincidence.

*This game was no masterpiece, but as Rutgers Alumni Intermural Games go, it was probably among the best.

*The Patriots have given up 34 points through three games. The last time they did that was 1979, which was basically the NFL’s Dead Ball Era. Granted it’s only three games, but those are the football equivalent of Pedro posting a sub-3.00 ERA in the Golden Age of PEDs.

*I love weeks that involve Brady Hugs way more than weeks that involve Brady Pissy Fits.

*Memo to the league: “NFL Hispanic Heritage Month” is a noble and worthwhile effort. As a Patriots fan, I’m going to suggest that if you need a tight end to be the face of the program, go with Tony Gonzalez.

@JerryThornton1