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

[schutd]

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.

DId you see the wasy The Pats adjusted to the new kickoff rules? Kicking it to the 1 or 2 yard line on many kickoffs? Meanwhile, Cat is booking them out of the back of the end zone. Aside from this new rule having the exact opposite effect of what the league wants, not scheming for that loophole shows a lack of detail orientation in that part of the game. Our STs are atrocious.

 

[SoCal Cardfan]

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!

He HAS to owe a huge favor to his Daddy... I can think of nothing else..... I've watched 2 different HS punter out kick him over the past 2 years.

 

[cardpa]

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.

Actually I thought that was one thing BA did that was pretty smart. As it turned out once the Cardinals got into NE territory, it forced NE to burn their TOs and if the Cardinals had made the FG, NE would have gotten the ball back with 30+ seconds and no TOs left.

 

[Captain Matt]

I understand disguising coverage and shifting at the line.... but didn't it feel like we just didn't know what in the hell the call was sometimes on defense? The Blount TD was one example. Get set. Communicate what you see in the offensive set. Then do your job....well.

The choreographed dance better catch BA's ire in the team meetings this week. That was childish (especially early in the game and trailing). Be a pro!

 

[NJCardFan]

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.

You're right. That was Watford. I owe DJ an apology on that one.

 

[NJCardFan]

Stupid penalties in general. Stopped them on 3rd down late but Minter dove at JG's legs, a la the Brady rule. The stupid dance. The late holding call. Just dumb in general.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Hump actually played quite well for his first ever start. And it was Watford who got called for the holding penalty late in the game, not Hump.

 

[Cardsfanstl]

Wolff said it on the post game show: Bradon Williams gave up 2 TDs. He cost the Cards 14 points.

Yep his mistakes cost the team badly. Lets hope this is a learning experience for him.

 

[BillsCarnage]

Despite all the issues, the biggest killer was 3rd down conversions for the Pats. There were 4 or 5 that were 3rd and (real) long.

Not to excuse Butler, but he did get hurt in the first punt when a Cardinal rolled up on his leg. He was limping slightly the rest of the game.

 

[CFLredzoned]

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.

Yeah I thought it made sense to use the timouts while NE still had the ball. Otherwise, they would have used the full 45 secs each play. So that's almost 1:30 that would have been taken off the clock.

Hopefully Watford was just having a bad day because he whiffed really bad twice - which is hypothetically much harder to do on the inside vs playing tackle. The first time, the guy got a clear shot on Palmer. The second time, Watford grabbed him and got the holding call. I wonder how much rope they give him with starting before it's Toner Time?

The part that's puzzling about Butler is how bad he is with placing punts inside the 20. It seems like he's afraid of a touchback so he aims for the 15. That has to be it because his aim can't be that bad when kicking from the 50.

 

[BurqueCardFan]

The ego's of these coaches never cease to amaze me. I said all pre-season that I could not believe that the coaches would be naïve enough to go into the season with an inexperienced CB #2 and long snapper. Couple this with the unwillingness to upgrade the punter. A team that is in win now mode should not overlook these minor details. I knew they would cost us a game sooner or later. I guess it's good that it happened early, so maybe they will correct it.

 

[BW52]

When you have a rookie starting at CB and the other starting CB shows up only a few times each season to try and justify his pay then you know it could be a long season.Still all in all if Palmer can stay healthy Cards can still be contender.

 

[JC_AZ]

Since I was unable to watch the game, the report on CBS mentioned Watford called for hold...who was he playing for and why?

 

[AZCrazy]

Chris Long pulled a cross into an open lane and had to be held by Watford not to destroy Palmer.

 

[GuernseyCard]

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.

The hold was on Watford.

 

[Iceman]

And for once in my life, I thought the refs actually called a good game. I am one to always look at a game and say, "what a terrible call!". I did not say that all night. The Cards killed themselves and can't point the blame on the guys in stripes.

To me, Cards played horrible (exception of the obvious, Fitz, Johnson, etc), but still should have won that game. The snap was bad, but Butler was able to get it upright. Cat had to let that play into his kick.

I am not too worried at this point, except for the secondary. That needs to be fixed ASAP or its going to be a long season. Or they will be just like ASU where they have to score 55+ points a game to win.

Just my take

 

[AZCrazy]

Good: our offensive line, one of the biggest concerns, actually did okay. There were a few sacks of debatable cause, but the offense didn't sputter because of the line nearly so much as the play calling.

 

[Iceman]

Since I was unable to watch the game, the report on CBS mentioned Watford called for hold...who was he playing for and why?

Mathis got hurt in the 1st half. He came back out and played the 2nd, but it must have started to bother him so thats why Watford was in. It was his leg

 

[GuernseyCard]

Mathis got hurt in the 1st half. He came back out and played the 2nd, but it must have started to bother him so thats why Watford was in. It was his leg

Mathis came back for the first series in the second half and then was replaced.

 

[Totally_Red]

Good analysis. Special teams, as usual, were poor. Ellington is not the answer at kick returner, but in fairness, the blocking isn't very good. Coverage units are mediocre at best.
And the kickers are average at best. The Cardinals lose the special teams (or transition) phase of the game more often than not. The game last night would have been ugly without the defense getting those two turnovers in good field position. Very disappointing lose to a wounded Patriots team.

 

[dylanbw]

- Using those 3 timeouts was actually great, and I have been praying for this for a long time. Generally speaking, you can usually spike the ball later on offense - when on defense we needed to prevent BB from bleeding the clock down every snap. very smart by BA.

- Special teams is an absolute abomination. Butler is below league average. For all the talk about about the "bad snap", thoughts the holder (Stanton I think) did a great job and most other kickers make that kick.

- That "roughing the passer" call on Minter came at the absolute worst time. Granted, that call was a part of the complete wussification of the NFL as Minter really did not hit JG that low.

- Speaking of wussification, PP21 is actually a worse tackler than Prime Time Deion Sanders. Blount is a load no doubt but can you wrap his legs and hang on until help arrives? WTF???

- Fitz, what an absolute professional.

- Palmer - Way better than what we saw in the pre-season thankfully.

- Memo to Chandler Jones - When you are down 10-0, and you do nothing other than fall on a fumbled ball which lands at your feet, that is not the time to get your dance on! Any high school varsity player could have recovered that fumble, so yeah congratulations on your amazing play! Golden did all the work ya big dummy!

 

[EndZone]

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.

I cant stand this dude. Have never liked him and I know I am in the EXTREME minority. This guys runs his mouth and cant back it up when the time is needed. Just like the punt return in the NFC championship game. Game on the line and big mouth will blow it.

 

[MadCardDisease]

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

The Bad


DJ Humphries-This kid got beat like a rented mule all night and his holding penalty late in the game had a lot to do with our losing this game.


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

I agree with most of what you posted but you are flat out wrong on DJ Humphries. First of all it was Earl Watford with the holding call that moved us back at the end of the game. Second DJ gave up maybe 2 pressures. However he had a solid first game and I thought he looked great blocking for the running game.

 

[MadCardDisease]

I cant stand this dude. Have never liked him and I know I am in the EXTREME minority. This guys runs his mouth and cant back it up when the time is needed. Just like the punt return in the NFC championship game. Game on the line and big mouth will blow it.

Extreme would be an understatement.

I just have a hard time understanding why you "can't stand this dude". Does he really run his mouth that much?

 

[EndZone]

Extreme would be an understatement.

I just have a hard time understanding why you "can't stand this dude". Does he really run his mouth that much?

Yes