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I hate to seem like a braggert, but I called it!

The Joe Namath wannabe, Anthony Smith, is in fact the goat of the week. Not only was his guarantee wrong, HE was the reason it was wrong, getting burned on three of the four touchdown passes thrown by Tom Brady.

The comical thing is that the Patriots tried to play off the guarantee like they didn't care in the least bit about Anthony Smith. And then, BAM! they score a touchdown and Tom Brady goes directly to Smith and starts jawin' him. I know I've basically covered this in my previous blog, but what was Smith thinking?! Obviously he thought his team was better, which is perfectly reasonable, but then to go out and dare the Patriots to throw to the man he is guarding is just ludicrous to be honest. Especially for a  2nd year  safety.

 

Now to humble myself a little bit. My game strategy for the Patriots was, to be blunt, almost completely wrong. However, I was correct in one aspect, "The Patriots need to go out for one drive and do three straight running plays. If they dont get a first down, so be it, but they will still get a message across to the Steelers. The Patriot receivers only need the smallest of small passing lanes to catch the ball." Now let's take a look at the Patriots second drive of the game, courtesy of NFL.com.

1-10-NE 48 (5:39) 39-L.Maroney left guard to 50 for 2 yards (53-C.Haggans, 98-C.Hampton). 2-8- (4:59) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass short left to 33-K.Faulk to PIT 44 for 6 yards (92-J.Harrison). 3-2-PIT 44 (4:18) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass short right to 81-R.Moss to PIT 28 for 16 yards (24-I.Taylor). 1-10-PIT 28 (3:42) (No Huddle) 39-L.Maroney up the middle to PIT 18 for 10 yards (53-C.Haggans, 27-An.Smith). 1-10-PIT 18 (3:02) 12-T.Brady pass incomplete short left to 81-R.Moss. 2-10-PIT 18 (3:00) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass short left to 10-J.Gaffney to PIT 9 for 9 yards (26-D.Townsend, 20-B.McFadden). 3-1-PIT 9 (2:32) NE 68-O'Callaghan eligible. 39-L.Maroney left guard to PIT 7 for 2 yards (26-D.Townsend). 1-7-PIT 7 (1:51) 39-L.Maroney up the middle to PIT 4 for 3 yards (91-Aa.Smith, 27-An.Smith).

 

2-4-PIT 4

 

(1:08) (Shotgun) 12-T.Brady pass short left to 81-R.Moss for 4 yards, TOUCHDOWN

 

 Although it wasn't exactly three straight running plays, it did what it needed to do. The Steelers all of the sudden had to watch for the run, and that leaves singles on Randy Moss. 

The sad part is, you can count, using your fingers, the number of running plays the Patriots did. Nine. That's right, nine running plays using what I feel is one of the better running backs in the league. Certainly Laurence Maroney is getting frusterated with the amount of carries he is getting, and I still believe that the lack of running will hurt the Patriots eventually. The Giants have one of the best pressure D-lines in the league, and the passing game most likely won't open up with just four runs again.

 Anyways, I went on to predict the Patriots would have 100 yards rushing, which was way, way off. 

Now on to the Steelers.

O.K. Steelers, we all get it, you like to blitz. But when the Patriots pick up two first downs on four plays, all on short passes, you should probably stop, spread out, and protect against the pass a little better. It worked for the Eagles, and it worked for the Ravens, it's almost ironic that it didn't work for the best defense in the league isn't it? Thinking about it is actually almost shocking. But the Steelers appeared to be beating a dead horse after 7 straight short pass plays, including a touchdown, clearly diffused the explosive blitzing power of the Steelers.

Ben Roethlisberger's night certainly wasn't bad with 19 completions on 32 attempts and 187 yards with no picks. But this is another part where I was wrong, and my whole conspiracy theory-esque blog was hardly accurate. 

Willie Parker had a fantastic night with 124 yards on 21 carries, a 30 yarder being one of those. I claimed that a good running game would result in a better passing game and if that were true, Ben Roethlisberger's stats would have been through the roof. But the Safeties and Corners of the Patriots really stepped up their recently-mediocre play and came up with some huge plays to really shut down the Steelers passing offense. A game where you don't here about Heinz Ward is a good game for the opposing defense.      

 So closing out, a very good rebound performance by the Patriots after two shakey games. Tom Brady has the opportunity, believe it or not, to tie or break the single-season touchdown passing record in next weeks game against the Jets, considering he has had two five-TD games and one 6-TD game. Also, Randy Moss is only three touchdown catches away from tying Jerry Rices single- season record. So definitley keep an eye on this Patriots team.

 

Afterthoughts:

What a crazy play that the flea-flicker was, huh?

What an enormous stop that fourth and 1 play was by the Patriots defense. Poor play calling in my opinion.

And lastly, do you think it makes sense or not that Josh Mcdaniels, the Patriots Offensive Coordinator, is hardly, if it all, being talked about?

 

Leave your thoughts.

-xchrisxsays