Patriots vs. Broncos, Keys For a Pats Win

by Middlesex on Dec 15, 2011 12:12 AM EST

Not all of these keys need to be addressed to win and many of them won't.

About that defense...

Move on from Ihedigbo at safety.

After further review he had a worse game than I thought. He's still an improvement over Sergio Brown but that's not saying much. Nate Jones doesn't appear much better if at all. With Patrick Chung missing practice again, we may be stuck with Ihedigbo. Matthew Slater can hopefully build off of his two games at safety but still I dread the sight of Ihedigbo in coverage almost as much as I dread the sight of #31.

McCoutry needs to build off of his performance.

Assuming he didn't reinjure himself, McCourty had an inconsistent game. Which is good. Throughout the year he was consistently bad but he had some nice flashes towards the end. He needs to build off of that if the Pats are to have a chance. If he and Arrington both have a good game together....

Vince Wilfork and Andre Carter need help.

These two had a good game against Washington despite the 15-yard penalties they both accumulated(with Carter's for some reason costing a wouldbe McCourty interception) and all of the yardage the Redskins run game managed to get. But they need help, especially a mile-high. Kyle Love is an excellent rotating DT, but I'm not convinced that "Mini-V" is starting-quality. He may function better as Vince Wilfork's backup in this game with all that thin-air. As for Andre, he is going to need help in setting the opposite-edge against the Denver run game and pass game. Maybe more Brandon Deaderick?

About that offense...

Would the 2nd WR please step up?

Whether it be Deion Branch, Chad Ochocinco, Tiquan Underwood, or whoever we just signed, Brady could use more than a single wideout to go with a pair of Tight-Ends. What if Wes Welker or Rob Gronkowski are drawing double-coverage? TE/WR Aaron Hernandez(formerly Tebow's favorite target) has looked much better than he did immediately after his injury earlier in the season, but sometimes the TEs have their timing mangled by opposing defenses.

The Center needs to hold.

Actually, the Left-Guard/Center area needs to firm up. Wendell looked more solid at Center than McDonald(who got most of the reps vs. Washington), but maybe I'm missing something. LG Logan Mankins hasn't been himself all season. Pressure up the middle is the kind most likely to kill dreams of playoff glory and this game is going to have a playoff atmosphere to it.

Establish a run-game.

Don't let Tebow control the time of possession.

The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SBNation.

Tweet Comment 13 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

It looked like Slater was benched for Jones...

…although that could have been because of an injury to Slater.

Pats Pulpit | Follow @Rich__Hill

by Richard Hill on Dec 15, 2011 1:27 AM EST reply actions

Yup, Slater was limited in practice with I think a shoulder.

The lack of continuity back there is frightful.

It is what it is

by Middlesex on Dec 15, 2011 9:42 AM EST up reply actions

And Ihedigbo has been playing in searing pain

my goodness. This is a hurting unit in more ways than one.

Keep the faith!

by Marima on Dec 15, 2011 10:59 AM EST reply actions

Keys

1. I don’t get how moving on from Ihedigbo would be better. We don’t have a better option, so unless you want a scrub out there, which i dont, were stuck with him. He is a good situational run stuffing safety, its just to bad he is starting.
2. McCourty had a horrendous game, absolutely horrendous game. Don’t give me he can build off that game because I don’t buy it. Its not like the pick he had (that got called back) was a good play by him, it wasn’t. Its time to take away the last year goggles and view McCourty for what he is this year, a burden on the team.
3.Definitely need a good rotation in the game, especially against a run based team like denver.
4. Wasn’t Branch hurt or something during the game?
5. I really think that four and 5 are related. it seems that whenever we get a good balanced attack, we also get a good balanced throwing attack.

Go pats!

by Timberg193 on Dec 15, 2011 11:41 AM EST reply actions

ugh... you'd think people would take in the time to actually analyze a player's game performance....

McCourty had a bad first half, and very good second half. I counted these:

McCourty defended 1-4 passes in the first half (1 PI).

McCourty defended 2-3 passes in the second half (and that one completion he had great coverage).

That’s what I counted. I didn’t count the plays where McCourty was in zone, such as the TD reception where it was the safety’s job in that area. Not McCourty’s.

I’ll take 11 players with heart on the field over 11 guys with just talent. Talent is fleeting, it goes away over time. Heart is what drives you to be better. To push yourself beyond what you think your capabilities are. To show us that when you strive, all things are possible.- SMP

by Jack'sAxe on Dec 15, 2011 2:21 PM EST up reply actions

I did watch the entire game

McCourty played like garbage the entire game. I don’t care if he picked up his play slightly the second half. He is going against Rex Grossman, he is not mr. accurate. Either way you spin it McCourty was a wreck the first half. You can’t have that.

by Timberg193 on Dec 17, 2011 2:06 PM EST up reply actions

Yes he was a wreck in the first half

but was very good in the second half.

Instead of just saying that a player was bad the entire game, analyze his performance and you may find something you didn’t know before. McCourty was bad the first half, and very good the second half. His performance in the second half is something he CAN build off of. Also it doesn’t help to have incompetent safeties behind ya.

Not saying he did great. Just saying he had a strong second half, and it can be something he could build off of but that remains to be seen.

by Jack'sAxe on Dec 17, 2011 5:02 PM EST up reply actions

Instead of pretentiously assuming that I am overlooking the second half

Understand that I agree he was better in the second half, but I still think he did not look good either way. I am a big time McCourty fan and want him to do well as anyone, I just was very unhappy with his performance.

by Timberg193 on Dec 18, 2011 6:05 PM EST up reply actions

I still think he did not look good either way.

Well fine then. Can’t convince you otherwise. You’re saying that even with his strong second half performance he still stink for the game (which for me, I completely disagree with that, and overall only think that he had just an average day).

But it seems that he DID build off that performance because he was great today.

by Jack'sAxe on Dec 19, 2011 1:25 AM EST up reply actions

I’m saying against a suspect offense he had a miserable first half. Then he had a strong second half against the suspect offense. So it wasn’t a good day for the man.

Its never as good or as bad as people say it is, so no McCourty wasn’t the worst player in the NFL that first half, however he was not an amazing corner the second half either, especially considering the variable that the Redskins are a bad offense.

That translates to in terms of grading him against the Broncos O that doesn’t throw the ball that well. So its not as good as it may seem, however it was a positive performance that hopefully turns into a pattern and then solidifies itself in the playoffs.

by Timberg193 on Dec 19, 2011 10:26 PM EST up reply actions

I’m saying against a suspect offense he had a miserable first half. Then he had a strong second half against the suspect offense. So it wasn’t a good day for the man.

Which I agree with. Just didn’t agree when you said he had a “horrendous” game.

Jury is still out on McCourty. All i said was that he did not had a horrendous game. Just a good game. Or an okay game. Whichever word you want to use. Point is, he had a bad first half, and very good second half, and the second half is something that we DO have to take into account as a whole. It shows that he didn’t let his first half performance down for one thing, and someone mentioned that in the second half he playing was playing a tad hurt. I think it averages out to be just a good game. Not amazing, not great, not horrendous or bad. Just good.

Jury is still out on McCourty though, and I will continue to see what he can do.

by Jack'sAxe on Dec 21, 2011 11:50 PM EST up reply actions

Even "shutdown corners"

give up completions. To me it seemed like McCourty played more aggressively on the ball than he has in awhile. Also I take heart in seeing him obviously tweak his shoulder again at the end of the game and he played through it like a champ. I hope they draft more players like McCourty. I think he will learn and he will get better.

by Oughat on Dec 17, 2011 5:32 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs

The way I look at NE pass defense performed, it makes all NE's games are very epic.

Fans glued to their seat, hopes and despairs every time the defense shows up on the field. Can they hold? Oh, crap, what a such (put your expletive remarks here). Please TB, score for us because we can’t hope a bunch of yoyoes wouldn’t even hold the 33rd ranked offense in the league. You know, somethings like that along the line.

And if you watch the Denver games, you will see the same thing like that with their offense. Hope & despair through out 4 quarters. Oh crap, the receiver drops the ball. Oh crap, here come the 4th quarter with 5 min to go and we are way behind with our offense. Can he come back and win again? and here we go again.

Man isn’t that fun? That’s why NE games & Denver games are the best in my book this year. Bar none. And they meet each other this weekend. I’ll be drunk at the end, regardless who wins.

Me: Words can fool men but Nature doesn't give a damn!
David Brooks: The premise of the current financial regulatory reform is that the establishment missed the last bubble and, therefore, more power should be vested in the establishment to foresee and prevent the next one.

by MadDogExtra on Dec 15, 2011 2:41 PM EST reply actions