Quick Take: Patriots 38 Dolphins 24

Good game to the Pats. It’s always a tough loss to a division rival, but I am not embarrassed Miami lost to one of the best teams in the league. In fact, I do see some positive for Miami. I was surprised by how well Henne played tonight and I’m sure our defense won’t be bad this year.

Again, good game to the Pats and I can’t wait until our next meeting.

Let’s hope Koppen makes a speedy recovery. I think the Pats have something going forward with Solder as well. He looked good for most of the game. The Pats will be set in the future with Solder at LT and Vollmer at RT.

Except that I thought the Pass-Rush was a little bit thin in that Henne too often was able to make a slight adjustment and avoid most of the pressure…..gotta give him credit, he played really well (for Chad Henne) and he did exhibit better than expected pocket presence, I was just hoping for more quality sacks/pressures…hope Cunnigham’s athletic ability will help translate into more pressure when/if he returns at full strength.

I’m always left wondering just how much of the statistical disaster that is the Pats pass-D is due to their willingness to play zone and let teams chip away and eat up clock while the Pats plan to squeeze the offense once they have a shortened field (the Fins 2/14 3rd down efficiency implies I might be on to something)…..I saw good and bad, but believe there’s more upside on D then we saw tonight.

So much of what happens on the field is determined by the coaches game-plan and the adjustments made throughout the game and at halftime……it’s the reason we were the best in the game in the early 2000’s….talent, teamwork and coaching…..we’ve struggled in all 3 of these phases since 04’ at different times and without all 3 working in unison/harmony your chances of winning are slim to none (throw in some luck and it really gets tough to win it all).

I think we saw the D get better after that first drive however there were breakdowns in coverage and some ugly plays….I know BB is willing to give up 100 yds rushing to keep a QB from getting into a rhythm (see Giants v. Bills in the SB) and I know he’s willing to let a QB throw dink and dunk and then squeeze him past the 50 yd line when the Pats are leading but there’s no way he’s happy with that performance as a whole….it’s there but it needs some refining.

If only the Olphins Defense decided to show up.
Henne played great though that is an encouraging sign, but still, our D must play better.

Oh well, at least that’s over. After that, he was possessed to play even better. Classic Brady. Very impressed with Solder. Can’t wait for he and Vollmer to be our bookends at the same time on field. Best wishes to Koppen. Hope he is back sometime this season. He and Cannon. The TE’s looked beastly. As expected though. Dowling was nice. He looks larger than his listed 6’1 198lbs. Great first showing by the rookie.

I’m down in Florida for the day and was watching the game with my father.

He turned to me and said, “Brady is a hell of a QB, isn’t he?” I simply nodded and said, “Yeah, I can’t wait until he retires.”

If only our D could atleast “slow” Brady lol it would have been closer. But I’m not too upset, we’re not the first team to get scorched by Brady, and we wont be the last. Our offense was a nice surprise for us atleast so let’s see how we rebound.

The silver lining: atleast I started Brady in fantasy (43 points FTW lol)

“Take that NFL”
Here come the Patriots

Guys, guys, guys
14 point game
Let’s not anoint ourselves emperors of football yet

Offense was good, but did leave some points on the field. Only allowed 1 sack for -1 yard though.

Defense gave me some scares but bend don’t break always does. Liked when I saw Miami’s Third Down Efficiency (2-14). Then I saw their Fourth Down Efficiency (4-6).

Surprised the Pats had less time of possession (28:27 to 31:33) Not but a lot but still less. They had a lot of quick scores but I like it most when they can slowly go down the field, eating the clock, tiring opposing defenses.

Next week on the road vs. the Chargers and they really scare the bejezzus outta me. It felt like last year’s win was really just them losing. How many times they can shoot themselves in the foot? Hopefully the Pats put up a dominating win to ease my fears.

Your team is freaking sick. Here’s to a Baltimore – New England AFCCG.

the defense showed some improvement, especially in one big category: third downs. The Dolphins were 2-of-14 (14 percent). That’s a long ways from the league-worst 47 percent the Patriots gave up all of last season.

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extra_points/2011/09/patriots_38_dol_2.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

In 2010, Gronk and Hernandez combined for 1009 yards. At the current pace, they would eclipse that total in the first half—of Game 6.

If the TE game expands for NE, the cascading effects on the rest of the offense will be outstanding.

How about, “He looked almost as confident and precise as Aaron Rodgers.”

By my count, according to the NFL gamebook, 181 yards of Henne’s total came in the final 11 minutes of the game following New England’s touchdown to take a 31-17 lead. Obviously, he played well all game. But there was certainly a point in the 2nd and 3rd quarters where the defense was doing a great job of forcing the Dolphins to punt. Their only TDs to that point had come on the opening drive and following the tipped INT.

The team as a whole let up late in the game, which is something a lot of us can’t stand after some epic collapses the past few seasons, and the defense went into something of a prevent mode. What this says, in my opinion, is that the late-game performance was more about mindset than ability. Our guys still had their legs and had shown they could shut down the Dolphins offense. From a fan’s perspective, I want to see the team step it up in the 4th quarter when they’re ahead, because a 3-score lead can slip away quickly when you allow a TD and are faced with another defensive series after an onside kick, etc.