Projo Pats Blog

The focus today is on bad plays and questionable use of timeouts -- but I'll leave those issues to Jim Donaldson and crew and focus on something else that hurt the Patriots last night, and that was the inability of anyone to come through with a big play.

Last night's game was competitive but oddly dull, and that reflected in part the reality that while the Patriots only did a few things badly, they didn't do anything all that well, either, and they failed to take advantage of the natural opportunities offered to them by facing the Colts.

Matt Cassel was 25 for 34 -- an impressive 73-percent completion rate -- but he threw for only 204 yards, which added up to an anemic 6 yards per attempt (compared with a 6.8 average for Cassel in the seven weeks leading up to this game). This against a depleted Colts secondary that earlier in the week lost cornerback Marlin Jackson for the season, and had its other starting corner, Kelvin Hayden, unable to play. The Patriots' vaunted receivers were matched up against Tim Jennings and Keiwan Ratliff, who was just re-signed by the team following Jackson's injury. And yet the focus seemed to be on controlling the ball and the clock -- something the Patriots did with great effectiveness -- rather than on getting points on the board.

Big plays are important to this team because points have been hard to come by for New England, even when the Pats do control the ball. Once inside the red zone, they score touchdowns only 47 percent of the time, which is 22nd in the league. Indianapolis, for all of their struggles on offense, punches the ball into the end zone with a greater success rate -- 77 percent -- than any other team in the NFL. Their problem has been not getting the ball into the red zone enough (22 times, compared to 30 for New England).

But we digress. When Cassel finally went downfield, he threw a perfect pass that should have been a 39-yard touchdown strike, but which a wide-open Jabar Gaffney dropped. It was the second time in two weeks that a Patriots receiver misplayed what should have been a touchdown pass for Cassel -- Randy Moss missed one against the Rams last week -- so Cassel's ugly seven-touchdown-to-seven-interception ratio should at least be a little better.

The Patriots not only failed to hit the home run on offense; they also came up short on defense. That might sound harsh, considering that the Patriots held Indianapolis to just 19 points despite the injuries in their own ranks. Yet whenever the Colts needed points -- when they fell behind briefly in the third quarter, when the Patriots tied it in the fourth -- Indianapolis took the lead back on the very next drive. The Patriots did not pick up a single sack and did not force a single turnover. You got the feeling that while Peyton Manning was not tearing it up, he was always going to be able to do just enough in this game to give his team the victory, and the Patriots weren't going to do anything to stop him.

TOUGH CALL, BUT THE RIGHT ONE: Patriots players Randy Moss and Matt Light both indicated that they disagreed with the crucial fourth-quarter penalty on David Thomas that ended up killing a potential game-tying or go-ahead drive for the Patriots. When I first saw the replay last night, it looked like a bad call to make with the game on the line. Thomas' hit came so quickly after BenJarvus Green-Ellis was stopped on the second-down play that I questioned whether Thomas could have held himself up. After looking at the video a few more times, I agree with the call: Robert Mathis had clearly let up on the play and was putting himself in a defenseless position. That said, I can't judge Thomas too harshly, because holding up in the heat of the moment is much easier said than done.

VINATIERI'S LONGEST IN SIX YEARS: Even in ideal conditions like he had last night, I didn't think Adam Vinatieri had a 52-yard field goal left in him, but clearly I was wrong. Vinatieri's game-winning kick was his longest since Nov. 10, 2002, when he kicked a 57-yarder for the Patriots against the Bears in Champaign, Ill.

TOUGH BREAK FOR WHEATLEY: Rookie cornerback Terrence Wheatley made an outstanding play in the first half to break up a long Peyton Manning-to-Marvin Harrison pass -- the best of his young career -- but suffered a hand injury on the same play and did not return. Cornerback Ellis Hobbs said the injury was a big blow to the team: "It's tough, because he was definitely on his game. He was actually giving a positive vibe back there for everybody. It's just tough to see anybody go down. I hope he's all right." (Boston Globe)

COWBOYS HIT BOTTOM: The New York Giants' swarming defense made Brad Johnson look bad, then made Brooks Bollinger look worse in New York's emphatic 35-14 thumping of the Cowboys at Giants Stadium. But the most embarrassing thing about yesterday's game for this Cowboys team, which was built to win the Super Bowl but now will be lucky just to make the playoffs, had to be the way the defense got pushed around by the Giants' ground attack -- to the tune of 200 net yards and a whopping 5.9 yards per carry. On Derrick Ward's uncontested 17-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, it didn't look like the Cowboys players -- particularly rookie cornerback Mike Jenkins, who pulled his arms away as Ward went charging by -- even wanted to make contact. The Cowboys now enter their bye week and will be eagerly awaiting the return of Tony Romo to their offense. But as our friends at the Dallas Morning News note, Romo can't tackle running backs.

The Giants have been doing this kind of thing to teams all season. Their 5.2 yards per carry is by far the best in the league. Next week they will face one of the NFL's tougher run defenses when they face the Philadelphia Eagles, in a game that will have big implications in the NFC East. Philly is 5-3 and looking like an elite team again after a rough spot that "just happened" to coincide with the loss of Brian Westbrook to an injury. Yesterday was a not a great day for Westbrook (60 yards rushing, 35 receiving), but Donovan McNabb connected with 10 different receivers, including backup tight end Brent Celek, who had 131 yards on six catches playing in place of L.J. Smith (concussion).

AND WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF THEY WERE ON THEIR GAME? The Cowboys played so poorly yesterday that New York's 21-point victory could accurately be described by a New York Times headline writer as an "uneven performance" by the Giants.

WINNERS AND LOSERS: On the scoreboard, it says that Chicago was a winner yesterday and Green Bay was a loser. That means the Bears are 5-3 and all alone in first place, while the Packers are 4-4 and tied with Minnesota for second. But who looked like eventual division champions? It was the Packers, who took the previously undefeated Titans to overtime on the road. Meanwhile, the Bears were tested by the winless Lions, and more critically lost quarterback Kyle Orton -- one of this season's best stories so far -- probably for a month with a high ankle sprain (Chicago Tribune). Welcome back Rex Grossman.

THE UGLIEST LINE: JaMarcus Russell of the Raiders was 6 of 19 for 31 yards, no touchdowns and one interception in yesterday's shutout loss to the Falcons. He was also sacked four times for a loss of 21 yards, meaning Oakland had 10 net passing yards on the day.

 Tags  Dallas Cowboys Football Today Indianapolis Colts New England Patriots New York Giants

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