GDT Week 2 - Patriots go to Silverdome!

[Troy Brown]

4 hours ago, childofpudding said:

Holy crap, I'm reading through it right now and just dying.

Troy Brown: Are you still at the library?

GFalcon: yea getting my education so I don't have to sit in front of a computer all day drunk like you and work a wage job. Props to me

Troy Brown: it is 11:40 pm on superbowl sunday     i think im doing it right

I LOL'd. The thread is a classic example of people wanting to sling mud but not being able to take it when it comes back around on them.

Lol, I was super drunk, though, I'll give him that

[atmer]

Patriots have officially ruled out LB Dont'a Hightower (knee), WR Danny Amendola (concussion/knee), WR Matthew Slater (hamstring) and DT Vincent Valentine (knee) for Sunday's game vs. Saints.

All expected losses. 

[Hunter2_1]

Not sure I expect to win this game, you know. I think offense will be fine, but Brees will march us down the field at will. If we can make some plays, win the turnover battle, we should win. If not, I'd say they should win.

Still not panicking though. 

[Hunter2_1]

So, what are everyones keys to the game?

For me;

• The Saints primarily ran a zone defense against MIN, allowing a lot of quick hitting and crossing patterns to open up underneath. When the Vikings attacked deep, they often picked on strong safety Kenny Vaccaro and nickel corner De’Vante Harris. DO THIS ad nauseam.

 

• Finish all Red Zone opportunities. We were 3 for 6. We need to score over 30 points this week.

 

 

• Get off the field. The D HAS to force some punts. If we haven't secured the key above, and we don't force punts; it equals another blow out. 

[Hunter2_1]

....is anyone there? lol

[everlong]

18 hours ago, atmer said:

Patriots have officially ruled out LB Dont'a Hightower (knee), WR Danny Amendola (concussion/knee), WR Matthew Slater (hamstring) and DT Vincent Valentine (knee) for Sunday's game vs. Saints.

All expected losses. 

Saints might as well give Morstead the day off; our defense is going to get shredded.

[Jlowe22]

8 hours ago, Hunter2_1 said:

Not sure I expect to win this game, you know. I think offense will be fine, but Brees will march us down the field at will. If we can make some plays, win the turnover battle, we should win. If not, I'd say they should win.

Still not panicking though. 

This might be the weakest offense we've had in years.  Snead is suspended and Cooks is gone.  Ted Ginn is old and known for dropping passes.  TLL is fast, but isn't going to win any jump balls.  I also wonder how hard it is for a 6 foot QB to find a 5'7" receiver, especially with the oline in shambles.  Brandon Coleman seems to always be a nonfactor.  Michael Thomas is solid, but isn't un-guardable by any means. Fleener is hit or miss, and when he misses, he misses big.  Our RBs are solid, but they get zero blocking up front, and Sean Payton's playcalling is disastrous.  Brees still looks like Brees, but with our weak oline, who knows how long that will last.

I still expect a shootout in the dome, but if this turns into a battle of who's defense is the bigger dumpster fire, Saints always lose.

[Jlowe22]

2 minutes ago, everlong said:

Saints might as well give Morstead the day off; our defense is going to get shredded.

Dammit man, I wish you guys would stop saying things like that.

[mcmurtry86]

I think the Pats D will surprise a lot of people. Not having HIghtower will be challenging, but it's a much better unit than it showed in the 4th quarter of last week's game. They played pretty well for 3 quarters last week outside of the miscommunications which led to the big TD plays. I expect that those types of communication issues will get cleaned up quickly.

They'll probably give up some chunk plays, just because it's New Orleans and they do that to everyone But I'm not expecting the D to give up 500 yards and 35+ points the way some are predicting.

This game really comes down to whether or not the Pats offense can move the ball, eat some clock and efficiently score points when they get across midfield. Need more running back involvement and to work horizontally and not vertically. Get the ball into space to Burkhead, White, Lewis, Cooks and Dorsett and force the Saints to make their tackles. They're not a great tackling team, unlike KC. So there should be YAC opportunities.

I'd also challenge the middle of the field with drive and slant routes. Not having Edelman or Amendola hurts in that aspect, but White lined up in the slot or Dorsett or Cooks should be able to succeed there. McDaniels and Brady tried to make Cooks into Moss 2.0 last week, working him deep consistently. He's a terrific deep threat but he's talented enough to run the entire route tree and his speed should kill the Saints over the middle if they can get hm going sideline to sideline more.

[mcmurtry86]

3 minutes ago, Jlowe22 said:

This might be the weakest offense we've had in years.  Snead is suspended and Cooks is gone.  Ted Ginn is old and known for dropping passes.  TLL is fast, but isn't going to win any jump balls.  I also wonder how hard it is for a 6 foot QB to find a 5'7" receiver, especially with the oline in shambles.  Brandon Coleman seems to always be a nonfactor.  Michael Thomas is solid, but isn't un-guardable by any means. Fleener is hit or miss, and when he misses, he misses big.  Our RBs are solid, but they get zero blocking up front, and Sean Payton's playcalling is disastrous.  Brees still looks like Brees, but with our weak oline, who knows how long that will last.

I still expect a shootout in the dome, but if this turns into a battle of who's defense is the bigger dumpster fire, Saints always lose.

Ingram and Kamara are going to have to do a lot of work in the pass game for the Saints to win. Not just piling up the catches, but getting good YAC and taking advantage of miscommunications in the Hightower-less Patriots front.

[Jlowe22]

1 minute ago, mcmurtry86 said:

Ingram and Kamara are going to have to do a lot of work in the pass game for the Saints to win. Not just piling up the catches, but getting good YAC and taking advantage of miscommunications in the Hightower-less Patriots front.

I agree, we need them now more than ever.  

[Hunter2_1]

5 minutes ago, mcmurtry86 said:

 

This game really comes down to whether or not the Pats offense can move the ball, eat some clock and efficiently score points when they get across midfield. Need more running back involvement and to work horizontally and not vertically.

There's something in this non-Edelman factor. I used to just dismiss it in favour of "it's Brady, and there's plenty of other weapons". But he went from an average 2.4 seconds release to 2.9 without Edelman. He had THE deepest average throw in WK1, which is not what this offense is built on. As you say, we need more horizontal and quick passing, rather than lugging it deep 4 times per drive. 

[mcmurtry86]

Just now, Hunter2_1 said:

There's something in this non-Edelman factor. I used to just dismiss it in favour of "it's Brady, and there's plenty of other weapons". But he went from an average 2.4 seconds release to 2.9 without Edelman. He had THE deepest average throw in WK1, which is not what this offense is built on. As you say, we need more horizontal and quick passing, rather than lugging it deep 4 times per drive. 

Don't think that was losing Edelman as much as the play design, play calling and the work of KC's DB's and LB's at the LOS.

It looked like the Pats were expecting more zone and KC did a lot of press man outside and flooded the short zones with LB's (and the occasional DE) inside. It was a Rex Ryan-esque gameplan and not the typical Andy Reid D. Had the Pats had a week or two of film on this year's KC D and I think they would have had a different gameplan offensively.

 

[CP3MVP]

Hot take here I don't think Sean Payton was ever a great HC. More like a great offensive mind who kinda got lucky

[mcmurtry86]

25 minutes ago, CP3MVP said:

Hot take here I don't think Sean Payton was ever a great HC. More like a great offensive mind who kinda got lucky

In a league where the vast majority of coaches are replaceable or worse, Payton is one of the few who stand out as being a step above the average. He and Reid get a lot of criticism (much of it deserved) but I'd definitely take him over 25-28 other coaches in the league.

His biggest failure, other than being saddled with crappy GM's, is he's not a great staff builder