I can't even
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The Everything NFL Thread - 2016-17 Season
- Thread starter Stallion
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I think this game really just proves what everyone already knew: if you're only up a touchdown and give Brady the ball and two minutes at the end of the game, he will score. There really can't be many other players in the NFL that are as good in a high-pressure situation as Brady.
Oh well, at least Seattle can say they were the only team to beat Brady this year. At his house too.
Steeler has it right. It was an entertaining game, and that's it. Slobbering over Brady, using this game to justify his rankings in an all time greatest qb/player list or even saying he's proved anything is complete nonsense. Brady is good(maybe great) qb sure, but like i said before this win changes nothing in terms of his standings among us fans. If you thought he was the goat before, you'll most likely think this is definitive proof of your delusion, or if you thought another qb is the best this win won't change anything. And why should it? It was just a fun game. Acting like Brady turned into some saviour going against impossible odds and winning through will and skill is nothing but an illusion. He played an awesome game, showed his greatness and gave us a satisfying ending to a mediocre season and because of that he has earned more respect from me. But at the end of the day what changed, really? Delusional fans falling deeper into their own fantasies and now proclaiming their opinions as facts? Unlike sb 49, i feel Brady played a bigger role in this win and for that he gets my respect and i thank him for the game.
Diehard Colts fan that wasn't sold on Brady being the GOAT until he proved it and won #5. He won #5. As much as it pains me to say, Tom Brady is the GOAT. No questions asked.
TheValkyries
proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
Spoilers: Brady played risky and dangerous and poorly in general throughout. That Edelman catch? Threw into triple coverage was on the defensive backs hands. Had another throw to Edelman that was in intense traffic later on. What saved Brady was that the Falcons defense was TIREEEDD. Their offense could not stay on the field. The Falcons were 1/8 on 3rd downs! 1/8!
Part of why they couldn't convert on third downs was because they were extremely aggressive on their play calling and kept getting behind on first and second downs. The Falcons run a lot of long developing plays and Matt Ryan struggles against blitzes so on passing downs the Patriots pass rush had enough time to get after him and the blitzes came home. Matt Ryan responded extremely poorly under pressure and had massive sacks for losses that crushed various chances at field goals. The Patriots secondary played disciplined throughout and had some really solid coverage most of the time (barring butler falling on his ass lol).
Keep in mind that the Falcons scored only 21 points on offense and one of those TDs was after a turnover. In fairness the turnover was deep in their own field so still had to put together a drive.
But while the Patriots did muster together some good defense to get the Falcons off the field they really struggled with the initial design of the running plays and the Falcons speed. But in their thirst for blood the Falcons got too cute and ignored those types of plays for the second half. Eventually they tried to return to it and Duron Harmon made a huge tackle for a loss and it spooked the Falcons away from trusting what was up to that point an effective strategy. Their runs between the tackles did not nearly have as much success as to the outside so they figured path of least resistance was to keep throwing. But Matt Ryan significantly stunk up the joint with his sluggish and spooked decision making when he couldn't find the guys who were normally supposed to be open.
So yeah a lot of hot takery will be about playcalling and all that but in reality a great offense that hadn't really been challenged by any great coverage schemes suddenly found their receivers locked up and slowed down and they flinched.
ALLL OF THAT leads to the Patriots having the ball for 43 MINUTES and running 93 plays!!! The Falcons D was fast and played a smart scheme against the patriots with some man cover 1 with 45 as a middle of the field robber which really clunked the fuck out of New England's scheme. After half time they started getting gassed and what was being stifled before started getting pulled on and tugged more and more until it would tear away. I predicted the patriots would play heavy with their pass catching running back Dion Lewis before the game and I said he'd be MVP if they didn't give it to Brady. I was wrong, it was James White who filled that literal exact role. 14 catches 3 tds and a 2 point conversion he was able to burn the Falcons for running their man coverage when they put linebackers on him. Malcolm Mitchell Marty B and Danny Amendola all made really solid contributions to make up for Hogan and Edelman not being major contributors for the most part (Edelman caught 5 of 13 targets I think).
Ultimately the bizarre thing about this game is how in the end of lot of analysis and predictions ended up being correct while being wildly wrong. No one expected the Patriots to look THAT BAD in the first half but the second half played out with the Patriots dominating the Falcons in ways that people expected was going to happen. There were a few lucky breaks and the Patriots benefitted from some missed plays from the Falcons on both sides of the ball but it's hard for me to say that the Falcons struggles were unheralded before or even DURING THE GAME. You could see their defensive backs start getting flagged for holding you could see their struggles on third down all of those things were happening while they were also clobbering the Patriots. And then it caught up to them and the Patriots started eliminating enough of their miscues to punish the Falcons defense for being tired.
TL;DR it's not the playcalling it was the NFL MVP being unprepared for things not being as easy as they normally are. Which tends to be how that goes in the past 8 times the MVP has played the Super Bowl.
Also don't listen to Pretzels Brady was off the whole game. But he put his big boy pants on near the end enough times to get his shit together. And the Falcons defense was wiped out.
Part of why they couldn't convert on third downs was because they were extremely aggressive on their play calling and kept getting behind on first and second downs. The Falcons run a lot of long developing plays and Matt Ryan struggles against blitzes so on passing downs the Patriots pass rush had enough time to get after him and the blitzes came home. Matt Ryan responded extremely poorly under pressure and had massive sacks for losses that crushed various chances at field goals. The Patriots secondary played disciplined throughout and had some really solid coverage most of the time (barring butler falling on his ass lol).
Keep in mind that the Falcons scored only 21 points on offense and one of those TDs was after a turnover. In fairness the turnover was deep in their own field so still had to put together a drive.
But while the Patriots did muster together some good defense to get the Falcons off the field they really struggled with the initial design of the running plays and the Falcons speed. But in their thirst for blood the Falcons got too cute and ignored those types of plays for the second half. Eventually they tried to return to it and Duron Harmon made a huge tackle for a loss and it spooked the Falcons away from trusting what was up to that point an effective strategy. Their runs between the tackles did not nearly have as much success as to the outside so they figured path of least resistance was to keep throwing. But Matt Ryan significantly stunk up the joint with his sluggish and spooked decision making when he couldn't find the guys who were normally supposed to be open.
So yeah a lot of hot takery will be about playcalling and all that but in reality a great offense that hadn't really been challenged by any great coverage schemes suddenly found their receivers locked up and slowed down and they flinched.
ALLL OF THAT leads to the Patriots having the ball for 43 MINUTES and running 93 plays!!! The Falcons D was fast and played a smart scheme against the patriots with some man cover 1 with 45 as a middle of the field robber which really clunked the fuck out of New England's scheme. After half time they started getting gassed and what was being stifled before started getting pulled on and tugged more and more until it would tear away. I predicted the patriots would play heavy with their pass catching running back Dion Lewis before the game and I said he'd be MVP if they didn't give it to Brady. I was wrong, it was James White who filled that literal exact role. 14 catches 3 tds and a 2 point conversion he was able to burn the Falcons for running their man coverage when they put linebackers on him. Malcolm Mitchell Marty B and Danny Amendola all made really solid contributions to make up for Hogan and Edelman not being major contributors for the most part (Edelman caught 5 of 13 targets I think).
Ultimately the bizarre thing about this game is how in the end of lot of analysis and predictions ended up being correct while being wildly wrong. No one expected the Patriots to look THAT BAD in the first half but the second half played out with the Patriots dominating the Falcons in ways that people expected was going to happen. There were a few lucky breaks and the Patriots benefitted from some missed plays from the Falcons on both sides of the ball but it's hard for me to say that the Falcons struggles were unheralded before or even DURING THE GAME. You could see their defensive backs start getting flagged for holding you could see their struggles on third down all of those things were happening while they were also clobbering the Patriots. And then it caught up to them and the Patriots started eliminating enough of their miscues to punish the Falcons defense for being tired.
TL;DR it's not the playcalling it was the NFL MVP being unprepared for things not being as easy as they normally are. Which tends to be how that goes in the past 8 times the MVP has played the Super Bowl.
Also don't listen to Pretzels Brady was off the whole game. But he put his big boy pants on near the end enough times to get his shit together. And the Falcons defense was wiped out.
The Falcons will be back. Their defense is young and not playoff experienced. It really was surprising how they terrorized Brady for 3 quarters but they got tired cause the offense either scored quickly or stalled. They couldn't get their defense off the field. But with experience that'll be patched up. They lost but make no mistake, the Falcons are here to stay
Valk I admittedly only skimmed your post but to say the playcalling was less to blame than Matt Ryan's play is just plain wrong. Props to the Pats defense, 5 sacks in 28(?) passing plays is outstanding, but the Falcons were averaging north of six yards per run throughout the game. Kyle Shanahan called five run plays and twelve pass plays in the second half, including that game losing series that has started making me wonder if the NFL is rigged again (only mostly joking, somewhere between bargaining and depression ATM).
Agree with everything else though. We did exactly what I bought we would do going in, prove how talented we were (especially on defense. This D is gonna me monstrous for the next few years) and get out coached.
Agree with everything else though. We did exactly what I bought we would do going in, prove how talented we were (especially on defense. This D is gonna me monstrous for the next few years) and get out coached.
TheValkyries
proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
People are grabbing this 5 run play narrative in the second half but it was 5 run plays after the 25 point lead halfway through the second half. But in actuality 10 of the 18 run plays the Falcons ran came in the second half. Over the course of the game the Falcons had a 50% down and distance success rate with their run plays and most (read: 6 of 9) of those came in the first half. In the second half they had 10 rushes for 16 yards and 5 of those second half run plays didn't even make it past the line of of scrimmage. They had 58 of their 104 yards on TWO plays on those crack tosses at the outset of their two early drives but they couldn't find that type of success later on after the Patriots showed adaptation.
Also what it means that only 3 of their 10 second half runs were successful is that the Falcons were put behind in down and distance on offense which means if they wanted to make first downs they had to go to the passing game.
On the one Matt Ryan sack everyone is getting after Shanahan for the Falcons ran the ball twice on that drive for a total of 1 yard. They ran it on the first down after julios freak catch for a loss of 1. Shanahan then went aggressive and went for a hard play fake play action pass on second down because his job is to run a successful offense not one that just settles for 40 yard field goals. Matt Ryan got pressured and fucked up. The play call wasn't all that bad in context, trying to catch the defense off guard for playing the run tightly and going for the Pass which had much better success rates over the course of the game. It wasn't the play calls fault the NFL MVP ran backwards and didn't throw the ball away. And it's not the playcallers fault for understanding that his running game had lost traction and his passing game just got him up the field off of two huge gains.
People are quick to lay blame and not quick enough to give credit. It's not their fault though given that the first half looked like a completely different game and everyone kinda glossed over the early signs of a differing trend.
Also what it means that only 3 of their 10 second half runs were successful is that the Falcons were put behind in down and distance on offense which means if they wanted to make first downs they had to go to the passing game.
On the one Matt Ryan sack everyone is getting after Shanahan for the Falcons ran the ball twice on that drive for a total of 1 yard. They ran it on the first down after julios freak catch for a loss of 1. Shanahan then went aggressive and went for a hard play fake play action pass on second down because his job is to run a successful offense not one that just settles for 40 yard field goals. Matt Ryan got pressured and fucked up. The play call wasn't all that bad in context, trying to catch the defense off guard for playing the run tightly and going for the Pass which had much better success rates over the course of the game. It wasn't the play calls fault the NFL MVP ran backwards and didn't throw the ball away. And it's not the playcallers fault for understanding that his running game had lost traction and his passing game just got him up the field off of two huge gains.
People are quick to lay blame and not quick enough to give credit. It's not their fault though given that the first half looked like a completely different game and everyone kinda glossed over the early signs of a differing trend.
Never said he wasn't off (Getting hit roughly 20 times in the first 35 mintues and not having a run game doesn't really help)
Just said I had faith he could pull off the comeback
ALSO
its time 2 change ur bio fam
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TheValkyries
proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
I'd do it if I could but I need an admin or something to do it.
Last time it was done by a jubilant tennisace before I even logged in after the game.
i gotchu fam
http://www.espn.com.au/nfl/story/_/...b-gronkowski-loses-shirt-lives-victory-parade
I've had to update my avatar
I've had to update my avatar
No, it's his job to win the game.
My problem with the Shanahan offense is that it allows very little room for audibles. Kyle was the only one with any input on the series that botched the game clinching fg attempt, or the particularly strange third down call the series before. Matt Ryan himself has almost no ability to change the play at the line of scrimmage, which is at least part of the reason why he continually snapped the ball eith 15 seconds on the playclock which is dumb in and of itself. You can blame Matt and the others (Freeman, Matthews) for not executing what they were supposed to execute, but in an important situation like that I believe the head coach and the QB should have outvoted the play caller and run the ball. Problem is in this system they aren't able to.
For the record, a successful run isn't necessarily one that breaks it when you are up big. You can settle for a loss of one on first down if you come back with a gain of six on second down. When the clock and the field position are your best friends, the guy calling the plays has a way easier time than the guys running the play. The end of that drive reminds me of some of the idiotic decisions in the Mike Smith era, i.e. Lions Falcons game in London. Inexcusable imo
I guess I should add that I don't blame this entire loss on the one drive or Kyle alone or anything... but if he had played that any other way the Falcons would have won the game. End of story. Gonna haunt a lot of players and coaches for a long time. As for the fans, well, I can never ever accept a win until the end of the fourth quarter when the clock strikes 0:00, I guess.
That seems like a great idea.
AHAHAHAHA one of the most entertaining games I've ever watched!! Was watching with a buddy and we were so pissed at the end of the game but then rejoiced when the penalty gave us better (though farther) field position. Bill Barnwell wrote a huge article about it sharing your opinion of the Caldwell/Smith idiocy show
Blount runs hot and cold. He has had stellar performances over the season and games where he runs into a wall to no effect every single time.
I will say though that I'm a Pats fan but not a diehard follower of the game, stats, all the fun stuff. But even from a layman's perspective Brady has entered into the realm of LEGENDARY. Fifty years from now anyone still interested in the game of football and it's history is going to come across Brady and his remarkable performances, records, stats, story, etc. I don't think they'll ever rename the Lombardi trophy, but rest assured Brady has well earned his spot in the Football Hall of Fame.
He's what Wayne Gretzky is to Hockey, Babe Ruth is to Baseball, or Michael Jordan is to Basketball. He's an iconic figure who shaped the expectations, drama, and the flow of the entire sport around him - whether you love him, hate him, or just want to be him.
And Belichick is Football's answer to Red Auerbach.
The big difference between Brady and all those guys was that they all had high expectations at the start of their careers, maybe not "definitely GOAT material", but they were all hyped up. Brady wasn't even supposed to be in the league for more than a few years. Have you seen his combine tape and workouts? He looked downright dreadful. For him to go from that to the greatest player the sport has ever seen is nothing short of almost impossible.
This is where the "system" argument stems from I think. Obviously we are never going to know because he's never going to play outside of new England, but that will always be am argument that some people bring up. Honestly I think it started out as the system, and then he gained enough experience at winning that he just became elite on his own. The system has continued to help him (and the players around him) thrive, but he's gradually taken more and more responsibility within it.
At the end of the day, football is more team and position oriented than the other major sports. No one with a sound brain would put Brady with Jordan. Brandon Marshall just listed four players he thinks are better than Brady. QB, he said yeah Brady's the best right now, but for example, he put Watt because Watt can play more than one position on defense and is a force wherever you put him, making him versatile. It's just that the league only cares about QBs (National Quarterbacks League), when you have middle linebackers or somethin busting their ass every single snap on the other side.
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