1 - I think Tracy Walkers loss was bigger than first appearance. He was a vocal team leader and he helped with secondary assignments. The back of the offense has regressed significantly since he went down.
2 - Not real surprised by the offenses lack of production this week. With Swift out and Amon playing gimpy and Chark out it was an easy game plan for Belichick. Stop the run on critical plays and shut out Hock. Ben has done well but with half the play book on the shelf or less effective with player staffing he was schooled by Belichick. He won’t be the last one.
3 - Based on theabove point I am fairly confident our offense will pick back up and play well this year.
4 - My biggest beef with DC is his hard headed tough guy in game management. I think it cost us a lot in this game. Belichicks teams play really sound football. You need to take points when you have a chance. We probably left 9 or more points on the field this week while setting up our defense (or offense) to give up points. I love being aggessive but against the Patriots in this game it was way to much.
5 - Defense may be able to improve some but I don’t see massive improvement at this point. We just don’t have the horses yet. Most of us were clamoring for a DT, Safety and LB in the draft. Rodrigo has done well but he is rookie and needs talent around him. I think Kirby will be ok but again he is a rookie and needs talent around him. DT is just a gaping hole right now. We have rookie or second year players scattered throughout the defense and many of them were 5th or later round draft picks or undrafted free agents. This really is apparent when you look out our 1 on 1 matchups. We struggle to win almost all of them. Until we bring in a few more dominant types the defense will struggle. We still need an impact DT, LB and Safety. We really need a shut down corner as well. Next year hopefully we get more talent on that side.
Bottom line - DC needs to calm down his aggessive game management IMO. The offense will be fine going forward and the defense will continue to disappoint. I still think we will win some games this year but it will be up and down and very frustrating to watch at times. The way the team has played the last two weeks is disappointing but I believe DC is self aware enough to find some solutions and get us back to playing smart and competitive even if we struggle to add wins. Next offseason Holmes needs to add substantial pieces to the defense. If he does fairly well at this then 2023 should look very different. If it does not then it would be time to look at Holmes and Campbell.
Isn’t this a lesson he should have learned three times over by this juncture though? He’s experienced in-game situations that should have taught him this lesson in a very clear way.
He stated in his presser today that he regrets none of the 4th down decisions and stood by all of them. That is not a sign that he is learning from his mistakes.
Is there anything in particular that gives you confidence that he will suddenly improve with his in-game decision making?
I was amazed last week we were able to put up 45 points without st brown and swift… 100% agree about Walker, that hurt a lot. Also i like Joseph so far, he’s taken his lumps but he’s getting playing time and developing. He kind of almost had a pick yesterday but he was out of bounds… and then there was PI… but anyway, I hope he gets some good film work in and comes out strong after the bye
I have been very defensive regarding the 4th down calls in the past, and I still like the aggressive nature of the staff, and how going for it on 4th can keep a defense on their heels. That being said, the one I definitely did not like was that 4th and 9, which resulted in the fumble (although maybe a forward pass) and return for a TD, I believe that was the same play? If they didn’t want to try a FG there and I don’t blame them, punt. It was 13-0 at the time, still a 2 score game, and the way the game was going you had to keep that close, and that went as bad as possible. Even if that resulted in a completion but no 1st, it was still a bad call because they gave them half the field again.
That was my biggest issue yesterday, just constantly giving NE half the field all the time. Pin the rookie back and make him drive the field, we have a great punter who can do that. The one punt he had he planted on the 5 I believe.
Anyway, definitely a poorly coached field position game yesterday. Especially in a game where it was tough to score but your defense was playing relatively well, comparatively speaking to past weeks.
There was a 4th and 2 in the third quarter which was maddening by Goff. Never gave St Brown a chance and threw the out straight away and short of the sticks despite NE having it covered. Had Goff shown a small bit of poise and pump faked, Raymond was wide open 10 yards down the field and probably takes it to the house.
One would hope. I don’t know what Holmes and Hamp think of it. I am normally not opposed to being aggressive. But you have to know your opponent and team condition. I just feel he totally missed that this week. I do realize that had we made a few of those 4th downs things would look entirely different. But it reminds me of Hunt for Red October when the russian sailor calls his captain and arrogant ass and says “you just killed us”. I think DC killed the team this week. I do realize the team failed to execute well on multiple of those 4th down plays. But has a coach you have to factor in failed execution into your decisions. Just because it can work does not mean it will work and against a Belechick led team, missing key offensive weapons it just seemed reckless. But I am not in the crucify Campbell camp yet. It is more concerning to me that the team has just not played well the last two weeks. Stacking more games like that will get me rethinking!
Goff had a poor game. He got rattled early because the pressure was bad and his safety blanket (ASB) was ineffective. Then we got behind and had to abandon the run, and especially with the injuries at WR we just couldn’t produce on offense. Combine that with bad luck, especially on 4th, and this is the result.
Was it Goff or did Ben Johnson not have a great game play calling? Honest question, I thought Goff looked rattled too.
What was interesting/frustrating for me was we would move the ball pretty well run or pass, then when it got to be red zone or close to it, 3rd and 4th down, we just had no answer to any of it and their defense adjusted perfectly to stop us.
We’ve been better on 4th than 3rd down this year I believe, which is it’s own issue, but they shut us down on 4th down where I had more confidence than 3rd downs
They did developing plays instead of quick ones, o-line is getting blown up, but Goff needs to go through his reads a bit faster and get the ball out quicker.
think it was more playcalling, especially in the first half, second half i saw quicker plays being drawn up and executed, but first half was just developing and slow
If I’m thinking about the same play. There were two guys on ARSB. That’s Goff’s tendency lock into his guy and still throw it short. I’m sure BB had his team prepared for that. It’s not rocket science
One of my biggest gripes is Ben Johnson shying away from what’s working and throwing for it on consecutive 3rd and short and 4th and short.
But also goff is throwing short of the sticks leading to 3rd and short and 4th and short.
I think Ben Johnson does a great job with coming o with scheme but I expect Dan to check him with the foolish decisions mentioned above. This is where he failed imo. As well as stuff like not benching AO in the middle of the Vikings game and instead waiting 2 whole weeks to make him completely inactive and blaming it on his lack of special teams ability… it’s just a joke.
The part that sucks is if stenberg blocks to the right instead of the left on the first 4th down we pick it up easily. Ragnow had his guy completely turned.
