Just Average

Though I say it sometimes, I usually don't like the saying "a win is a win." But, when we're facing a Rex Ryan coached defense and a team who's dedicated to their coach, I'll gladly accept it. 

Sunday's game was kind of mediocre, in my opinion. Offense didn't do anything spectacular and defense played good, not great.
I'm not shocked that we struggled and I'm honestly not surprised that it was a close game. I was kind of shocked at just how close it was, but...I keep reminding myself that the main thing is, we won. 

My biggest concern is that for the past few weeks, offense has gotten off to ridiculously slow starts, and really haven't come alive until the second half. Which, thankfully, we've still been able to win, but what happens if this continues into the post-season? We know that we can't wait until the second half to find our rhythm against a high-powered team like Denver, or Pittsburgh, or Indy, or if we get to the big one, a team like Seattle. Hopefully, the offense hasn't peaked already. This is when it really counts and when we need a fast-paced, high-scoring offense the most. We were without Jules and Blount, so that probably had a little to do with it, but there's no excuse for the past few games. Sunday was a horrible day for our offensive line. Brady was sacked 4 times in the first half, alone? Come on, give me a break. That's inexcusable. Not only did they fail to protect Brady, they couldn't block for Gray, Vereen, and Bolden, either. You can say that Brady had an off day. This was certainly not his best performance. I still put most of the blame on the OLine. 70% of Brady's problem was the lack of time he had to throw the ball. Pass protection is so important. Obviously, if the receivers don't have time to run the routes, the play probably isn't going to go too well. And that was the offense's problem for most of the day, Sunday. Brady's interception? Yeah, not a great decision on his part, but not entirely on him. I think he had what, maybe 2.4 seconds until he was swarmed by green jerseys? No wonder Brady was cussing his offensive line out, on the sideline. I can't say I blame him. 

With one game left to play in the regular season, now it's time to focus on fixing the agonizingly slow 1st half offense of recent weeks, and staying healthy. It's gotta start with improving the OLine. The main problem earlier this season was Brady's lack of trust in the offensive line. And again, I can't say I blame him. Hopefully Connolly will be good to go from here on out and we can keep our best OLine combination on the field throughout the post-season. That's a big deal. I'd like to see Jules sit out next weeks game; no need to put him out there and risk anything. I believe Blount and Arrington were out today as a precaution, so they should be good to go, just resting up. If Denver loses tomorrow night, then next Sunday's game at home against the Bills should be second-stringers and bench-warmers. We'll see. As Ninkovich said today, "oh yeah, go Bengals." <--- just for tomorrow night only. 

The Patriots just looked average for most of the game. Nothing special. Fortunately, it was enough for a win and most importantly, a first-round bye. I have to believe that New England takes things up a notch, come January. Fast paced, no huddle offense and no mercy defense.

Go Pats!