GDT Week 1 - Thursday Night Football vs Chiefs

[1ForTheThumb]

Haven't read through the GDT yet, but I can imagine it's full of hot takes and overreaction. I'm totally prepared for a week of doom and gloom in the media and around here. Year after year it's like no one learns anything. "Omg how are they going to survive without Edelman?" "You see how bad Brady looked without Edelman? He looked lost out there!" "Fire Patricia! What a signing Gilmore was!" I'm ready for the hot takes. GIVE ME ALL THE HOT TAKES!

• I fully expected this offense, or this even the whole team, for that matter, to start off slow. Did they miss Edelman last night? Absolutely. Will they adjust and will their offense eventually be one of the best, if not the best, come the end of the season? Absolutely. Edelman is someone who makes their offense tick. He's the guy Brady can lean on to get separation when it seems like coverage is so tight, like it was last night.
• That being said, it's going to take time this offense to click. There's new pieces (Cooks, Dorsett, Allen, Gillislee, Burkhead, etc.) and they'll find their identity.
• In the first half, I thought the OL played great. Maybe that's in part due to the Chiefs rushing 3, but Brady had all day to throw. Second half, not so much. Felt like the Chiefs adjusted and started to rush more guys, and Brady was getting pressured.
• Probably my only positive take away from last night Gillislee. It's clear what his role is. He's going to be a TD machine this year. Disappointing he didn't convert either 4^th Down, but I think he's going to be a big upgrade over Blount.
• I was surprised how little Dion Lewis was used. I'd like to see him involved more going forward.
• It's pretty clear Amendola isn't durable enough to return punts. He's a crucial piece to this offense with the injuries to Edelman and Mitchell, and we really just can't afford to have him back there. It's too bad, really.
• I'm sure the big talk (after all the Edelman injury overreactions) will be about the defense. My general feeling? I'm not worried about it.
• The Chiefs are a team that lives off underneath throws, checkdowns, and crossing patterns. If you want to beat them, the key is to limit the big play, because I really believe you can't beat a team like the Patriots (when their offense is clicking) how the Chiefs primarily move the ball. And the Patriot's defense just didn't limit the big play. The Hill TD was busted coverage…pretty clear Gilmore thought he had safety help. Just a miscommunication that they will sure up. Hunt long TD was similar. Just busted coverage. They'll will fix those issues.
• I'm sure the game day thread was full off "WHERES THE PASS RUSH!?" per usual, but it's clear they were worried about Smith's legs, and were more concerned with keeping him in the pocket. Smith balled out. Credit, where credit is due.
• I thought Wise flashed a little at times last night. Flowers is going to have a big year.
• Hope last night spells an end to the Jordan Richards in a LB type roll experiment. He's too slow and doesn't react well. Thought he and Van Noy had bad games.
• When Hightower went down…the season flashed before my eyes. He's way too important to this team and they really can't afford to lose him for a long period of time. On video, the injury looked bad. I don't think he'd be riding a bike on the sideline if it was a sort of serious tare. But I'm not a doctor. Fingers crossed.

Overall, I'm not worried. Probably the calmest I've been after a Patriots loss in quiet some time. Belichick will whip these guys into shape, I'm sure of that. The Saints offense is going to be a nice test next week. They'll be ready.

[atmer]

The truth is that the game was pretty even until we lost Hightower and Dola. We have several problems to fix, but the most concerning is the dependency we have, at the moment, to few quality players, that are not very durable. That is truly the only thing that scares me. The other stuff, offence timing, defense cohesion, some miscommunication, all that I wholeheartedly trust or coaching staff to fix during the season.

[1ForTheThumb]

1 hour ago, Hunter2_1 said:

Gronk being a non-factor scares the living hell out of me. Any explanations? 

That Eric Berry guy is pretty good.

[Hunter2_1]

1 minute ago, 1ForTheThumb said:

That Eric Berry guy is pretty good.

He's had a stud cover him before (with help) and still produced (seahawks). 

I'm not panicking either, first games in sport tend to be an adjustment period. There will be some other upsets this weekend. 

[1ForTheThumb]

The Chiefs defense is very, very good. Marcus Peters is a stud, Eric Berry, Houston is a force. It's a great unit that I feel like many around the league refuse to give credit to, for some reason.

People freaking out about what Brees is going to do to this defense...but Brady is going to have his way with the Saint's garbage defense next week.

[mcmurtry86]

People are underrating KC. They're a top AFC team and Reid usually coaches well against the Pats (outside of clock management)

Pats were sloppy and out of sync and still were ahead or down by one score for the majority of the game. A couple plays break in their favor early and they probably win easily. The game got away from them due to uncharacteristic failures on D which can mostly be attributed to a lack of cohesion.

Frustrating game and an ugly box score but not much which isn't fixable. 

The front 7 is the only real concern for me right now. 

[Deadpulse]

22 minutes ago, mcmurtry86 said:

People are underrating KC.

This is baffling me. I dont understand why people are calling this shocking/stunning/etc. If you didnt know the teams and you read the headlines you would have thought we lost to a bottom of the league team, not the stiffest competition in the AFC. 

[Hunter2_1]

51 minutes ago, 1ForTheThumb said:

The Chiefs defense is very, very good. Marcus Peters is a stud, Eric Berry, Houston is a force. It's a great unit that I feel like many around the league refuse to give credit to, for some reason.

People freaking out about what Brees is going to do to this defense...but Brady is going to have his way with the Saint's garbage defense next week.

I said in their thread, I think the Chiefs are THE most underrated team in the league.

They won that minefield of a division. Also, do you remember the Divisional round game here a couple of years ago? They marched us down the field at will that day as well. They were a mistake away from tying late. Always converting 3rd downs. This is a classy, effective outfit. 

[Hunter2_1]

Snap Counts On D

Kyle Van Noy	68	100.0
Trey Flowers"}">Trey Flowers	68	100.0
Stephon Gilmore"}">Stephon Gilmore	68	100.0
Malcom Butler	68	100.0
Devin McCourty	67	98.5
Duron Harmon"}">Duron Harmon	62	91.2
Malcom Brown"}">Malcom Brown	48	70.6
Patrick Chung"}">Patrick Chung	45	66.2
Alan Branch"}">Alan Branch	42	61.8
Jordan Richards	41	60.3
Eric Rowe"}">Eric Rowe	36	52.9
Dont'a Hightower	35	51.5
Lawrence Guy"}">Lawrence Guy	26	38.2
Cassius Marsh"}">Cassius Marsh	23	33.8
Adam Butler	20	29.4
Deatrich Wise	17	25.0
Elandon Roberts	9	13.2
Jonathan Jones"}">Jonathan Jones	3	4.4
David Harris"}">David Harris	2	2.9

[1ForTheThumb]

3 minutes ago, IheartMyV8 said:

Looks like Hightower has a minor MCL sprain

 

Bullet dodged. Thank god

[atmer]

2 hours ago, Hunter2_1 said:

Snap Counts On D

Kyle Van Noy	68	100.0
Trey Flowers"}">Trey Flowers	68	100.0
Stephon Gilmore"}">Stephon Gilmore	68	100.0
Malcom Butler	68	100.0
Devin McCourty	67	98.5
Duron Harmon"}">Duron Harmon	62	91.2
Malcom Brown"}">Malcom Brown	48	70.6
Patrick Chung"}">Patrick Chung	45	66.2
Alan Branch"}">Alan Branch	42	61.8
Jordan Richards	41	60.3
Eric Rowe"}">Eric Rowe	36	52.9
Dont'a Hightower	35	51.5
Lawrence Guy"}">Lawrence Guy	26	38.2
Cassius Marsh"}">Cassius Marsh	23	33.8
Adam Butler	20	29.4
Deatrich Wise	17	25.0
Elandon Roberts	9	13.2
Jonathan Jones"}">Jonathan Jones	3	4.4
David Harris"}">David Harris	2	2.9

David Harris and Jordan Richards are a strange case. As someone else said it could be a game specific to try to counter KC speed, but nonetheless I expected to see more of Harris in typical run configurations.

[atmer]

Lets break the doom trend here and see who do you guys thought that played well despite the loss?

On offense: I'd say Gillislee and Dola were the strong points. Cooks had its moments also.

On defense: Well, that is a little more difficult, after all we gave 41 points. But I think Flowers had a good game.

The special teams unit played pretty well also. The two consecutive rushing the passer was a little annoying, but I can understand as a blocked punt in that position would have been a great turning point.

[mcmurtry86]

As crazy as it sounds, the defense wasn't too bad yesterday. The blown coverages can be fixed and the secondary played well other than a couple of awful breakdowns.

The 3 starting safeties and Gilmore (other than the one big mistake) played well.

Up front, Guy and Adam Butler flashed.

On offense, Cannon looked solid - indicating last year's improvement is real. The RB's were mostly good. Amendola was his usual reliable self.

The Richards thing is weird in light of letting Freeny go. If they want a LB who can run (and Harris can't), why waste a roster spot on both Richards and Langi? One of those spots could go to someone who can contribute even if at a below average but not awful level. The LB group is thin and woefully slow. The plan seems to be to compensate with safeties which can work but last night KC found the right matchups and exploited everyone the Pats lined up at LB.

[Hunter2_1]

2 hours ago, atmer said:

Lets break the doom trend here and see who do you guys thought that played well despite the loss?

On offense: I'd say Gillislee and Dola were the strong points. Cooks had its moments also.

On defense: Well, that is a little more difficult, after all we gave 41 points. But I think Flowers had a good game.

The special teams unit played pretty well also. The two consecutive rushing the passer was a little annoying, but I can understand as a blocked punt in that position would have been a great turning point.

I'd go for that, exactly. I'd add Gostkowski to the good. Not many had good games on D. I'd say McCourt tackled well. 

[ChazStandard]

7 hours ago, mcmurtry86 said:

KC did a good job taking him out of the game. Having one of the top 3 safeties in the league helps a lot in that regard. 

Plus, he was largely held out of pre-season - so he hasn't played competitive football in nearly a year. It will take him some time to warm up, like in 2014.