The Haphazard Blog

I’m disappointed with that loss. It looked like Super Bowl XLII out there. The Jets walked the walk.

There was a lot said about Bill Belichick versus rookie QBs. I wasn’t really buying it. Usually rookie QBs are playing on a bad team. Belichick’s only loss to a rookie QB was against Ben Roethlisberger. Aside from the fact that he has proven to be a play maker, he was playing for a good team. (I can not call him a good QB when the passing playbook consists of 1 play per formation: Run the drawn route, then scramble.) I think Belichick strives when he has more film, not less. Same thing with Mark Sanchez. There is very little film on the guy. Let’s see how he looks in the second half of the season.

Tom Brady was a pinball back there. He wasn’t sacked so much, but he was hit and it seemed like he had little time to throw the ball. Despite that, the game was close. The difference was basically the way the Jets came out to start the second half. They got that quick TD (missed tackle on the long play) and it was enough of a gap. The Patriots could not get it done when they had the chance. Settling for FGs instead of TDs. It probably hurt not to have Wes Welker out there. His replacement for the game, Julian Edelman, had 8 catches, but I heard this morning that he was targeted 16 times. I’m sure they weren’t all drops, but I saw some for sure. Joey Galloway is supposed to be a really good WR, but it seems like his hands are worse than Ben Watson’s have been over the years. Isn’t Galloway a former Seahawk? That could explain it.

The defense did a good job for the most part. They were stopping the run and did well on third down. It certainly is better than was predicted. I would have to put the blame on the offense. They looked like the guys who played the first 54 minutes of the Bills game last week. They won’t be as prolific as 2007, but right now there is a chasm between how they look now and 2007. Surely they can only get (a lot) better going forward. And if the defense is better than expected, this could be a better all around team than 2007.

That was a great come back. It reminded me of the Super Bowl winning Patriots — making the plays they needed to win. They were lucky to win that game.

Tom Brady didn’t look comfortable until he was in the hurry-up offense. Was it his knee? Was the hurry up going so fast that he didn’t have time to think about his knee? He was uncharacteristically inaccurate. Some passes high, some passes low. There were also some drops in there. I think back to last year. Before Brady went down, both Randy Moss and Wes Welker fumbled the ball. But, Brady was accurate. I joked to my brother who was 84? Ben Watson came up big. He has been known more for dropping passes and not living up to the hype. Is this the (contract) year?

The defense was getting destroyed on screen passes and short passes. They did a good job against the run. The red zone defense was not good. I assumed this would be an area they’d really improve in this season. They were really bad at it last year and Bill Belichick usually fixes major deficiencies year-to-year. Jerod Mayo went down and I’m not sure how bad it is. He did run a bit after getting hurt. I’d think that means it isn’t season ending. My feeling going into the season was he was going to be our Ray Lewis — a real play maker. Didn’t have much of those. I can only think of the pair of sacks at the end of the game. Looks like they’ll be able to get to the passer on obvious passing situations. They really need some play makers on defense.

The big play was obviously the forced fumble on the kick off. I don’t think the defense forces a 3 and out if Buffalo doesn’t fumble.Heads up play by Brandon Meriweather to make the hit and hold Leodis McKelvin up for Pierre Woods to knock the ball lose. Stephen Gostkowski was also Johnny on the spot to get the ball.

Next week it’s the Jets. They’ve been doing a lot of talking (and I’m sure there will be more). I’d say no one does that and gets away with it, but Joey Porter was able to do it last year. I think if Brady has better accuracy the Pats will be fine.

My brother told me the Patriots traded Richard Seymour this morning. I was definitely shocked. Once I found out the compensation from the Raiders (2011 #1), I started to really think about it. My feeling was that’s it? Using the system from past drafts, that’s either a low 2010 #1 or 2010 #2.

I thought of other Patriots trades. They traded Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel for a #2. Cassel signed a new contract worth Tony Romo money. Matt Schaub netted two #2s for Atlanta and he signed a smaller deal. Richard Seymour is an All-Pro and constantly mentioned as a top 5 lineman. They traded Deion Branch for a #1 before the 2006 season and he isn’t a #1 WR. Dallas traded a #1, #3 and #6 AND paid Roy Williams the same as Randy Moss ($9M/yr). Why did they trade him for so little?

I can see why they traded him in general. They can’t franchise him and Vince Wilfork at the end of the season. One of them would be able to walk. If either walked, the most they could get is a 3rd round compensatory pick in the 2011 draft. Seymour is older. The defensive line was shutting down the run well all preseason using a lot of groupings including rookies like Ron Brace and Myron Pryor. Not sure how this affects the pass rush. There’s also potential to have a very high pick in a draft that may have a rookie wage scale. The team isn’t better, but hopefully they aren’t noticeably worse. I guess we’ll see as the season goes on. The defense is supposed to be the weak link with a returning Tom Brady.