Thoughts on Broncos-Pats AFC Championship game
Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 12:21 pm
*I thought the Patriots would win the game by forcing Peyton Manning into mistakes and intercepting his loopy throws. But it was Brady who made the uncharacteristic bad throw...the 1st half INT by Von Miller was one of the biggest plays of the game, IMO. It was also surprising that Manning led the Broncos the length of the field for a TD on their opening possession. It was their best (only?) drive all game.
*The backwards pass play was weird. When I saw it in real time, I thought Hillman should fall on the ball just in case. But then when the refs blew the play dead, I thought that was that. I actually agreed with Mike Carey's assessment (always a bad thing) that there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the original call. But, as usual, the NFL instant replay is just a coin flip and it came up for the Pats (and against Wade Phillips/home run throwback).
*It seemed like a big part of New England's gameplan was to isolate RB White on LB Hightower out wide on passing plays. I think this resulted in 5 incompletions. If White had better ball skills or was better at drawing pass interference penalties, then the Patriots might have had something with this.
*New England has done the "spread and shred" all year with good success, but it seemed like they needed to keep more people in to block. Miller or Ware would simply rush the edge and get to Brady in 1.5 seconds. It was almost comical at times.
*I had thought Peyton Manning was washed up after seeing him in preseason when he first went to the Broncos...he looked like the 1970 version of Johnny Unitas...no arm strength, has to throw everything early just to avoid interceptions. But then he went on to throw like 50 TDs that year. I thought he was REALLY done after his last regular season performance this year...yet here he is in the Super Bowl. Its hard to decide if you would rank Manning above or below Brady on a mythical top10 QB list.
*I am a huge Wade Phillips fan. I've even forgiven him for benching Doug Flutie. He really is one of the best D-coordinators in NFL history. It would be interesting to do a comparison of Phillips to guys like Buddy Ryan, Bill Arnsparger, Dick LeBeau, etc. The NFL is a weird league when a guy like Phillips has to beg for a job yet Rob Ryan doesn't go 15 minutes without being employed.
*Glad to see Owen Daniels do well in the postseason. He's carved out a nice NFL career, and he was always my midseason fantasy TE pickup.
*Despite misfiring on offense, New England could have very easily won that game...and then the two Gronkowski receptions would have been legendary. The awareness to avoid stepping out of the end zone on the TD reception was remarkable. I thought Gronkowski kind of got jobbed on the 4th down end zone play late in the game...probably wouldn't have caught a lob pass in double coverage, but Talib clearly had a handful of Gronk's jersey which kept him from getting maximum height on his jump. Ref was right there, too. Gronkowski is the best TE I've ever seen since Kellen Winslow.
*Disagreed with Belichick's decision to eschew the FG with 2:30 left, down 8, and 3 TOs remaining. I don't think NE had successfully-converted a 2 pointer all year, and they would have needed to do so when they bypassed the FG. Denver's offense had been in hibernation for the entire 2nd half. Perhaps Belichick didn't think he would get the ball back.
*The 2 point conversion was also weird. I don't know if the play was designed for Brady to roll out (which is the dumbest play that the NFL always tries...the rollout with the dropback QB), or if he was just flushed to his right due to pressure. Regardless, it looked like Gronk was open and I think he had to be the primary target on the play. Perhaps Brady didn't see Gronk or didn't think he could throw accurately enough on the run/roll out, but his decision to throw back to the middle of the field into all the traffic was puzzling.
*The backwards pass play was weird. When I saw it in real time, I thought Hillman should fall on the ball just in case. But then when the refs blew the play dead, I thought that was that. I actually agreed with Mike Carey's assessment (always a bad thing) that there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the original call. But, as usual, the NFL instant replay is just a coin flip and it came up for the Pats (and against Wade Phillips/home run throwback).
*It seemed like a big part of New England's gameplan was to isolate RB White on LB Hightower out wide on passing plays. I think this resulted in 5 incompletions. If White had better ball skills or was better at drawing pass interference penalties, then the Patriots might have had something with this.
*New England has done the "spread and shred" all year with good success, but it seemed like they needed to keep more people in to block. Miller or Ware would simply rush the edge and get to Brady in 1.5 seconds. It was almost comical at times.
*I had thought Peyton Manning was washed up after seeing him in preseason when he first went to the Broncos...he looked like the 1970 version of Johnny Unitas...no arm strength, has to throw everything early just to avoid interceptions. But then he went on to throw like 50 TDs that year. I thought he was REALLY done after his last regular season performance this year...yet here he is in the Super Bowl. Its hard to decide if you would rank Manning above or below Brady on a mythical top10 QB list.
*I am a huge Wade Phillips fan. I've even forgiven him for benching Doug Flutie. He really is one of the best D-coordinators in NFL history. It would be interesting to do a comparison of Phillips to guys like Buddy Ryan, Bill Arnsparger, Dick LeBeau, etc. The NFL is a weird league when a guy like Phillips has to beg for a job yet Rob Ryan doesn't go 15 minutes without being employed.
*Glad to see Owen Daniels do well in the postseason. He's carved out a nice NFL career, and he was always my midseason fantasy TE pickup.
*Despite misfiring on offense, New England could have very easily won that game...and then the two Gronkowski receptions would have been legendary. The awareness to avoid stepping out of the end zone on the TD reception was remarkable. I thought Gronkowski kind of got jobbed on the 4th down end zone play late in the game...probably wouldn't have caught a lob pass in double coverage, but Talib clearly had a handful of Gronk's jersey which kept him from getting maximum height on his jump. Ref was right there, too. Gronkowski is the best TE I've ever seen since Kellen Winslow.
*Disagreed with Belichick's decision to eschew the FG with 2:30 left, down 8, and 3 TOs remaining. I don't think NE had successfully-converted a 2 pointer all year, and they would have needed to do so when they bypassed the FG. Denver's offense had been in hibernation for the entire 2nd half. Perhaps Belichick didn't think he would get the ball back.
*The 2 point conversion was also weird. I don't know if the play was designed for Brady to roll out (which is the dumbest play that the NFL always tries...the rollout with the dropback QB), or if he was just flushed to his right due to pressure. Regardless, it looked like Gronk was open and I think he had to be the primary target on the play. Perhaps Brady didn't see Gronk or didn't think he could throw accurately enough on the run/roll out, but his decision to throw back to the middle of the field into all the traffic was puzzling.