Patriots 23 Cards 21: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

NJCardFan

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Not much good in this game, a bunch of bad, and a whole lot of ugly.


The Good

Larry Fitzgerald-
The guy is just special. Catches his 99th and 100th TD passes for his career and as usual, in crunch time, he tries his level best to get this team into a position to win. I've often said that with all of the knucklehead, hot dogging and self promoting athletes out there, Larry is a shining example of what a professional athlete is and needs to be. If there is a word better than class that can describe him, he's it. I would try to get kids to emulate Fitz because he's such a fine example of dignity and class. By far my most favorite athlete of all time.

David Johnson-Like Fitz, this guy just hoists the team on his back and does his best to put them in a position to win. The guy is the workhorse running back we've been looking for since Otis Anderson.

At Least It's An Out Of Conference Loss-If there was ever a silver lining, this one is it.

The Bad

Play Calling-
Several times tonight Arians' play calling left something to be desired. Burning the rest of his timeouts with nearly 5 minutes to go, 3rd and 2 and passing, throwing 3 deep balls in succession on one series, needing a yard and not running behind Iupati and Veldheer, just off the wall stuff.

Chandler Jones-What's keeping him off of the ugly list is that he made a nice sack late in the game and his fumble recovery. Other than that he was nearly non-existent all night.

Drew Butler-Seriously, does he have pictures of BASK in compromising positions because I find it hard to believe that he is one of the 32 best punters in the world. I mean, I'd like to say he sucks but he has to improve tenfold just to reach suck. To quote Homer Simpson, he's the suckiest suck that ever sucked.

3 Frigging Yards-Cat is money from inside 45 but horrible from 45 and over. All we needed was 3 more yards. Thanks DJ.

What Happened To No Risk It No Biscuit?-Opening drive. 4th and 1 from near midfield. And we punt. The hell was that?


The Ugly

The Defense-
Totally uninspired tonight. Couldn't stop them on 3rd down if their life depended on it. Had them buried 3rd and 15 from their 20. Buried. We get the ball back with about 8 minutes left to either try to tack on more points or peel a good amount of clock off but no. As Stoud said in the Game Day thread, we said, "We don't want the ball. You need 15? Here's 32 yards!" Then, again 2nd and 16. What happens? Yep, 13 yard pass then another 7 yards. Then at 3rd and 11......

Patrick Peterson's Whiff-I love PP21. Believe me I do. But this isn't the first time he's ole'd on a potential but time hit. That was brutal and even though if Blount was stopped with no gain and their kicker being so money, I'd much rather force them into a 50+ yard kick than a chip shot which is what he got.

Brandon Williams-To quote Eddie from the Vacation movies, "I haven't seen a beating that bad since someone put a banana down my pants and turned a monkey loose." I mean, this kid was brutal. He could cover a book with a Hefty bag.

62% 3rd Down Conversions-Someone said they thought NE converted on 75% of their 3rd downs. Well, pretty good guess. Can't allow that to happen and call yourself a championship team.

I Believe This Team Was Still Playing Carolina-At least defensively. At times they looked like the Ketstone Cops. Especially on Blount's TD run.

Special Teams-Do I really need to get into specifics here?

Tackling-Like the free throw in basketball or the bunt in baseball, tackling is as fundamental in football as passing, running, and kicking. But this team can't tackle for beans. Peterson was awful and HB, and I love this guy, never uses his arms. Always goes for the big shoulder hit. At least he makes contact but he must wrap up. The rest, terrible. I counted at least half a dozen missed tackles that could have gone for losses and effected drives but we simply couldn't wrap up. This needs to improve.

That's all I have for now. I'm too tired and too pissed to do anymore. This was just plain bad. We handed them this game. Should have won but stupidity rarely wins. And Bill Bellichick is the greatest coach in the history of this game. He was short some defenders, Brady, and Gronk and still won this game. Do you think we would have a prayer if we lost that many players? Well, on to next week. Don't care who we play. Just frigging win.
 
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BillsCarnage

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Burning all TO's with more than 4min left was quite bizarre and then not letting the clock run to the 2min warning was baffling.

This team better find the magic switch or they'll be looking down the barrel of an 0-2 gun in a week.
 

NashDishesDimes

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Also not good:
Carsons decision making

Threw to John Brown in coverage too much. Hes not a possession receiver, not big enough, look for Fitz, Floyd, TEs, jaron brown, and DJ in those situations.
 

iLLmatiC

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Not much good in this game, a bunch of bad, and a whole lot of ugly.


Patrick Peterson's Whiff-I love PP21. Believe me I do. But this isn't the first time he's ole'd on a potential but time hit. That was brutal and even though if Blount was stopped with no gain and their kicker being so money, I'd much rather force them into a 50+ yard kick than a chip shot which is what he got.

Peterson ain't about that life. He's too prissy to get grimy and lay a hit when needed.
 

GoldGloveschmidt

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I think your point about DJ Humphries is wrong.

First - he wasn't the one called for holding on the last drive.

Second - Palmer had lots of time all night, with the exception of a couple corner blitzers who came in from his left or straight ahead. All of his sacks were caused by him holding the ball.
 

Mr. Boldin

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I didnt have a problem at all with the time outs. It allowed Arians to keep the whole playbook open and didnt force the offense into playing fast.

Williams was brutal and him playing zone when he had man responsibilities on that Hogan TD, likely cost us the game.
 

Brak

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If they aren't auditioning punters AND kickers on Tuesday, I'm gonna call my season ticket sales guy and complain. Loudly. Butler is just dreadful, and CatMan can't be trusted to hit a clutch kick, nor are his kickoffs consistent. Time to churn 'em both.
 

GoldGloveschmidt

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I look at the season in quarters. Losing 1 game per quarter is OK for 12-4.

This SHOULD be our toughest matchup by far of the first quarter. Bucs, Bills, Rams are all matches we can and should win. 3-1 would not be so bad.
 

Cheesebeef

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it just seems like STs are in no way important to this FO. Butler has been awful the previous two seasons... and no change. The return games /coverage teams have been terrible for two years. no change with the ST coach. Cantman can't be trusted outside 45 yards, no one brought in to challenge. it's a head scratcher to me.
 

nashman

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The punter is mind boggling he has been terrible since he got the job, seriously is their no college kicker that came out that could actually kick a punt? I find it hard to believe, and agree cheese our special teams just flat out suck! Could we stop running out of the end zone also on knockoffs I mean the 25 would be nice compared to the position we get geesh. And her I don't know maybe kick off to the 5 or so like every other team seems to be trying to do, nah we want Catman to blast it deep and hand them the 25 geesh the ST is just flat stupid in too many ways for that guy to keep his job!
 

mjb21aztd

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Good: the cheerleaders Fitz feel bad for him... Bad everything else
 

JC_AZ

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I woke up at 3 AM on vacation in Sicily to try to listen to the game...98.7 feed was not working so I followed the play-by-play on CBS sports...why in the hell I stayed up I am not sure, but it seemed that what I expected to be our strength, defense, was completely out of sync and asleep every time they had 3rd down...I would have still sacrificed Stanton for an experienced DB when the QB issues were floating around for some other teams.. Barkley played better in pre-season than Stanton and our DB's continued the same garbage as in preseason...JMHO from far away and not watching the game
 

mjb21aztd

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I use periods but replying on ps keyboard and its funky. Ill do a better job on periods lol
 

BullheadCardFan

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We started off the game totally unprepared and spotted them 10 points before we started to play.

ST's were bad, again.

D couldn't get a stop on 3rd down and it was down right embarrassing.

Got out coached on both sides of the ball. Bettcher is not a good DC.

Threw 1 yard pass when we needed 8 or more.

The list goes on and on.

Same old Cardinals as last year. Same holes and weaknesses that the coaching staff ignores.


If it wasn't for CP, DJ and Larry we would have lost even worse.
 

AZfaninMN

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I though Hump played a great game at right tackle. And that late penalty you're talking about that contributed to us losing was on earl Watford.


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