Honestly, in terms of playoff things, here's how I see it. We're going to go 5-6 by the end of this week. We're behind the Bengals. Bengals play Oakland. Odds are they're going to win. Oakland could do desperation play and beat the Bengals, but it's unlikely. So, they're going to stay ahead of us. San Diego plays Baltimore. That's probably a loss. Rivers is just playing horribly as of late. Tennessee plays Jacksonville. If Henne continues to start, that may actually be a tough game, and Tennessee walks out with a loss. If not, they walk out with a win (but will still be behind us, thanks to losing to the Pats in week one). Colts play the Bills. That is honestly a toss-up. Outcome really doesn't matter to us after beating the Patriots. Colts win, that's one less team 'in the hunt' to worry about. Bills win, we still hold tie-breaker over them and Colts drop a game. Dolphins vs Seahawks. Dolphins lose, and it pushes them out. As for the Steelers, the Browns aren't exactly a gimme team anymore, especially with them not having Big Ben.
Call me crazy as well, but I think we see a big game from Hill. Just intuition, but I think he will be responsible for a couple of touchdowns for us (to make up for 'the drop'.)
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/11/21/chandler-jones-logan-mankins-out-vs-jets/ Chandler Jones and Logan Mankins out tomorrow. Makes this game a little bit closer...
OooO! That's pretty big. No Gronk, Hernandez rusty, Jones their best pass rusher out and Mankins out; a big part of the reason Brady is one of the least sacked QBs in the league! Things keep getting better for us. Shorter week for them, plus they have to travel. There is a lot in our favor this game!
This is a simple equation. If Stephen Hill learns to put his thumbs together when facing the QB, and loses his hands allergy to pigskin... we win.
Guy we might miss the most tomorrow? Random thought entered my head today that we won't have Iseiah Trufant tomorrow. He did a great job at blanketing wes welker the first time we met. this might hurt us more than we think
Bolden is suspended for 4 games for PEDs. Hopefully you have more to offer to the discussion than this.
I was expecting Mankins not to play and heard about Jones early on. I'm more concerned that it's something that will linger on past this game. The offensive lines issues that the Patriots had early on have largely been resolved. They are playing well as a unit. No one is missing Matt Light anymore because Solder has been playing well and Vollmer is playing at an all-pro level. The Jets certainly may pressure Brady but I think it will be a good matchup. I think the running game may suffer without Mankins but we'll have to see. Jones will be missed although it might force the D to blitz more and that might not be a bad thing.
You don't stop NE offense you slow it down. It's gonna have to be like last time minus spotting them fuckin 9 pts via KO TD and safety. We're gonna need 25+ pts, and the D must slow NE down. We need a complete game to beat them, half time adjustments will be huge like always.
No Tebow. Establish the run and the short passing game to control tempo. No turnovers. The Pats are going to score. Make it as hard as possible. Score touchdowns and not FGs.
There's only one player the Jets need to shut down to have a prayer and you didn't list his name. Bolden is out and there isnt a Jet scared of woodendickhead.
I still say the biggest thing Gronk being out does is allow a safety (most likely landry) to sneak up and help out on the run and short slants. When they have Gronk going down the middle you pull a linebacker out and open up those slants and dump passes that go for big yards. Start hitting little receivers and get physical you start seeing some drops, frustration, and mistakes. Offense needs to take advantage of Jones being out...play action, runs off the edge, rotate Greene, Powell, and Mcknight. Take a shot or two deep to keep the Pats honest. Huge game.
I agree that we need to establish the run, but only to set up big strikes down the field with our passing game. Yes, we did run for 124 yards, but we didn't even average 4 ypa. It's not as if we were gashing the Rams the way we did to the Colts, and the Pats defend the run very well. The glaring weakness of the 2012 Pats is their complete ineptitude defending the pass. We absolutely must exploit that weakness. Not attacking that secondary would be like hooking up with Linda Lovelace and not bothering to get a blowjob :grin:
