tonyto36 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 UP: 1. Rob Gronkowski Showed us last night why he is in the GOAT conversation. First time all season felt like the Patriots knew they had to go hard with him and let the injury roulette wheel ride, and it came up a big win. He was a monster in both the running game and passing game. Perhaps the most dominant TE performance I've ever seen. Not only was he great throughout the game, he was clutch and carried the team down the field in a ridiculous must-score-a-td situation in Pittsburgh, with AFC homefield on the line in a very loud stadium, he scored the 2 point conversion on a fade. With all the other receivers clamped down on, the Patriots needed him to win his matchup and he did. You saw the complete package from Gronk against the Steelers. Dominant blocker, high pointing balls in traffic, catching through traffic, big chunk plays down the seam, fade in the endzone, emotional leader, clutch time performer. You can't ask for a more complete and dominant performance. 2. Duron Harmon Made another clutch game sealing INT, but also from what I saw played well in coverage. Also had the tackle on Schuster to set up the game winning drive on 3rd down. Also, If I'm not mistaken, he was used a lot to help bracket Brown and did a pretty good job. 3. Shaq Mason I don't have all the numbers and I'd want to double check, but when I watched him, he seemed to always be winning his matchup. His pass blocking has improved a ton this year and he always seems to get a good push in the running game. And of course he's been great pulling and getting in front of the RB and making the right reads. HM: Chung, Jean-Francois, Flowers, Butler, Slater, Lewis, Burkhead, Guy, Brown, Brady DOWN: 1. Stephon Gilmore Soft in the running game and got beat several times by Bryant. Gilmore vs Bryant was the matchup we had to have be a big win for us and Gilmore lost it. We were fortunate that Brown went out, but it didn't even matter that much because Bryant kept winning. Also not stated as much because it's a bit more subtle, but it feels like we're running a lot less zone this year. This has resulted in teams destroying us with shallow crossing routes the past month or so. Only difference in the secondary is Gilmore and given his early season struggles, hard to not point the finger in his direction why the play calling seems handicapped. Rowe got left hanging out to dry at the end, but it might have really been Gilmore's fault 2. Elandon Roberts Was washed out too many times and caught guessing shooting gaps too often. Especially in the second half the Steelers started running more tosses and stretches and Roberts kept losing contain and shooting up the middle giving the Steelers easy runs outside the tackles. Corners can't be expected to take on pulling linemen and get to the running back. 3. Joe Thuney Gave up a bad sack and was hit or miss in the run game. All night he was getting pushed into Bradys lap and was a huge liability that Brady had to keep wary of. It's been a disappointing season for a guy who I thought might be a probowl calibre player this year. HM: McCourty, Rowe, Cooks, Allen, Harris, Lee, Richards, Gostkowski Notes: -McCourty blew the angle on Schusters long run to set up the apparent loss for us. -Rowe was put in a no win situation, clipped, crossing the field, and was in a bad matchup for him the entire game. -Lee missed a killer would-be sack on Ben that turned into a 7 point drive for the Steelers. -Richards continues to do nothing well and everything poorly, but he did have one good [and important] tackle in open space IIRC. -James White continues to be phased out of the offense -Brady, aside from one really bad interception, was pretty good. He had a rough stretch in the third quarter, but first half was good and dominant in the fourth in clutch time. -Lewis continues to run much better from behind the QB (I/singleback/etc.) as opposed to from the shotgun. Seems like McDaniels finally caught on. -Not sure, but I believe Jonathan Jones was put behind Eric Rowe in the depth chart/matchup list for some reason. Rowe is the better player when all things equal but Jones has played well lately and seems like a much better matchup with Schuster's speed. In the potential playoff matchup I expect to see Jones on Schuster, who roasted Rowe for most of the night. -Flowers was put into coverage too much, but was a factor getting to the QB. Not as good as you'd want against the run, but was passable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apparition Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Elandon Roberts has been such a disappointment this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter2_1 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 I thought Lawrence Guy was on a mission. 9 tackles from his position is brilliant. He was strong on his side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyto36 Posted December 18, 2017 Author Share Posted December 18, 2017 8 minutes ago, Starless said: Elandon Roberts has been such a disappointment this year. Likely because he's been exposed playing more/a bigger role because of Hightower/Van Noy being out. I always had him as our #4 guy behind those two and McCellin and now he's our #1. Guy will be out of the league in 2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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