I'll say.
Patriots kick deep, and MoJo takes a knee. So the Jags don't start on an aggressive note. Taylor gains 5 on a delay up the middle. Patriots then leave Lewis the TE WIDE OPEN over the middle, he spins out of a tackle and gains 23. Stretch handoff to Taylor loses 3. Tackle and gloat by the classless Junior Seau. Sideline pass to Northcutt gains 9 into NE territory. 3rd-3 from the NE46. Straight 4-man rush on 3rd down, and James Sanders makes a nice play, forcing MoJo straight out of bounds for just a 2-yard gain on the sideline pass. JAGWIRES GOING FOR IT ON 4TH AND 1. Garrard PLAY ACTIONS, rolls right and hits Lewis deep on the sideline behind Assante Samuel, who thought Garrard was going to tuck and run. BEAUTIFUL, AGGRESSIVE CALL. 1st-goal, Taylor is stuffed. Garrard has all night to throw on 2nd down but throws it away. 3rd-and-goal, HOO, WHAT A PLAY by Garrard, if it counts. He hangs very tough in the pocket, steps up, and as he's on the way down and being sacked, he unloads a wobbler for a WIDE OPEN Matt Jones(!) for an opening drive TD. Replay shows Garrard barely got the ball away before being sacked, if at all.
7-0, Jacksonville. Patriots are getting the run stuffed but their secondary is an amazing mess to open up the gain. Three times they left receivers WIDE WIDE open.
Patriot kick return comes out to the 26. John Henderson overpowers Mankins to open the game with a sack of Brady. 2nd-14. Screen to Maroney, the only LB out there gets blocked, and he's got a lot of running room, a 33-yard gain across midfield. With all night to throw, Brady ultimately scrambles for 2. Maroney powers off right tackle for about 6. On 3rd-2, Rob Meier STUFFS Kevin Faulk for a 2-yard loss. Now New England is going for it. Brady guns it to Randy Moss for 15. Patriots immediately go no-huddle. Dumpoff to Faulk over the middle is good for about 8, then Maroney bounces around left end for 5. 1st down at the 14. Gaffney takes a quick out pass, breaks a tackle and gets down to the 3. 1st-goal, Brady, who's in shotgun as always, absolutely blisters a pass to Ben Watson in the back of the end zone. He could only throw that because he saw Sammy Knight still had his back turned to the play, and he made sure to put it up high where Watson would be the only one who could grab it. Amazing throw ties the game at 7, and WE ARE ON in Foxborough.
Simms and Nantz are completely right to question why Belichick the genius didn't challenge the TD pass by Garrard. By rule, he should have been called down when his shin hit the ground, before he released the ball. Excellent analysis of the play.
Jags hold on the kickoff return, and we learn how truly and desperately bad off the NFL is for officiating when JEROME BOGER is good enough to call a playoff game.
Seriously. That Eyebrow Guy from the Budweiser commercials has got to go away. Now.
Jags from their 18. Ty Warren drops MoJo for no gain. Garrard gets time on a short drop and hits Northcutt WIDE OPEN in front of the secondary for 19. Garrard, again with all night to throw, eventually gets hit by Ty Warren, forcing a fumble recovered by Vrabel. Maurice Williams got beat on the play, but they gave Garrard plenty of time.
New England has it at the J29. Play action, Brady steps up and hits Faulk for 5. Faulk gains 5 off left tackle for the 1st. Another pass to Faulk for 9, with the Jags just rushing 3. 2nd down, Maroney up the middle for half a yard. 3rd down and the other half. Maroney gets the 1st off left tackle and drags a pile of Jags with him down to the 1. Maroney is met hard at the goal line as the first quarter, which took barely half an hour to play, expires with the game tied at 7.
=======Patriots 7, Jagwires 7 after 1=======
Maroney opens the 2nd quarter by driving in from a yard out to put New England up 14-7. Jagwires HAVE to answer with their next drive. They can't turn another one over.
Gostkowski's kick, though, dies like it was hit with a pitching wedge, MoJo adjusts to it poorly and flubs it, barely avoiding a turnover. But Jax will start from their own 5.
Drew pounds for 2. Garrard stands tall at the goal line and hits Lewis at the sideline. He jumps over Randall Gay, and the ball comes loose, but it would have been called as forced by the ground. MoJo fell on it anyway. Someone named Isaac Smolko gains 8 on a catch out to the 24. MoJo surges up the middle for 11. Lewis was hurt on his earlier catch and replaced by ROBERT ANGULO. Garrard again hangs tough, steps up and hits MoJo ALL ALONE in the middle for an 18-yard catch-and-run. Jax is across midfield. Super second-effort run by Taylor for 15. Taylor up the middle again for 6-7. Face mask on Seau will move the Jags to the Patriot 14. MoJo catches a tipped ball and still gains 5. Taylor snakes his way down to the Patriot 2. Jags go jumbo and Taylor gets 1. 2nd-goal from the 1. Big penalty; false start on my Illini boy Tony Pashos. But, getting all night to throw from the 6, Garrard hits ER-nest WIL-ford breaking to the left sideline for the tying TD, beating Assante Samuel.
14-14. What an AWESOME drive by the Jagwires; we are watching Ali vs. Frazier here.
Jackson's kick return is only out to the 19, though that probably doesn't bother the Pats a lot. Maroney breaks a couple of tackles on a screen and gains 7. Faulk gains 4. 1st-10, Maroney's stuffed for a loss. Wes Welker gets his first catch of the night, and it's third and a long one. Gaffney has the first down on an out pattern. 1-10 from the NE42. Brady (Tom)'s getting a lot of time to throw; he hits Brady (Kyle) now for 12. Maroney hits a nice hole on the right side for 7. Another handoff to Maroney for 5 or 6. Reverse, NOT an end-around, to Welker, who jukes his way for 13. Patriots have 1st-and-10 at the Jax21 as we reach the 2:00 warning. Faulk gains 3 left. Jax was blitzing there, but from the right. This is a HUGE defensive sequence for the Jagwires, with NE getting the ball back after halftime. Brady scrambles away from a sack but the Patriots are called for a chop block. It's 2nd-and-23 from the J34. Maroney bounces outside for a very significant 9 yards. 3rd-14. Brady goes short to Welker for about 7, and Jax uses a TO with 0:57 left. Gostkowski then BIFFS it from 35.
Jax gets it back at their 25, and they take forever for an 8-yard pass to Lewis and an incompletion over Northcutt's head. 3rd-and-2 with :26 left. Drew tries to bounce outside and gains nothing. What a disappointing, fouled-up possession by the Jags there. 3-and-out? NE takes a TO with :21 left and Jax punting. Welker weaves out to the 31 with the punt return, but NE has just 0:09 left.
Pats kneel on it to end the half, and I swear I heard home fans BOOING their SIXTEEN-AND-0 team at a home playoff game.
=======Patriots 14, Jagwires 14 at halftime=======
I love what both these teams are doing on offense and doubt either has to change a thing. What about defense? I'd like to see Jax bring more heat, and they were doing more blitzing at the end of the half; I'm looking for that to continue. The Pats ought to be thinking the same way. They're not doing a great job of getting to Garrard, and their secondary is getting its heads beaten in.
It is notable that Randy Moss had only one catch in the first half. Then again, I don't think Brady has an incomplete pass.
New England has a weakness; it's kickoff returns. This one again doesn't even get out to the 20. Brady steps up and hits Welker for 9.5. Maroney gets 2 and the 1st. Quick hitch to Welker for 2. Phil Simms is DEAD WRONG about Jax "not blitzing a single time in the first half". They were bringing the CB off the edge in the last 2:00. I do agree they blitzed very little. Shotgun draw to Maroney for 5. 3rd-3, well-drawn up play goes to Faulk for 8. He ran a short route into an area Gaffney had vacated with motion. Quick screen to Welker for 8. Brady is 16-for-16. Jax blitzed a couple of plays ago, and they show it again here, but Maroney busts a counter left open for 22.
SHORT kick to Drew, who returns it from the 10 to the 32. Taylor up the middle a couple of times for 7. HUGE 3rd-and-3 coming up. Who the hell dug up Matt Jones' career? Garrard hits him on a slant for 11 and a big, big 1st down. Taylor gets a couple up the middle. Garrard steps up and hits MATT JONES again, over the middle and burning Randall Gay for about 30. Jags at the NE20. False start - Pashos again - bumps them back to the 25. Taylor squirts through the line for 4. Jax calls a timeout and forces me to look at Eyebrow Guy again. Rodney Harrison blitzes, and the Patriots blow up the intended screen, but Vrabel, also blitzing, knocks down Garrard's wild pass attempt, or it would have been grounding or worse. Pats blitz again, but Garrard gets free and fires it to Dennis Northcutt at the goal line...... and he DROPS it because he's worried about getting hit by Assante Samuel. I'm going to boldly call that play the turning point of the game. Josh Scobee gets the consolation 3 to make it 21-17, but that drop by Northcutt was a game-breaker. And note New England's successful stop of the Jags because they BLITZED, like I was calling for at halftime.
You know, there's an art to writing commercials as cheesily bad as the Just For Men commercials are. I envy those writers. BTW, Lambeau Field today looked like Keith Hernandez' coffee table circa 1979.
Jackson returns the kick to the 24. Brady to Welker for 5. I think the Pats are trying to bore the Jags into submission with all these short passes. One of last week's Jag heroes, Derek Landri, screws up here with a late hit on Brady. Pats are out to their 45. Maroney hits it outside for 29 behind super blocks from Steven Neal and Randy Moss, legal this time. Maroney then hits them with 12 the other way, to the right. Simms is begging Jax to blitz. Word. Quick hitch to Welker for nothing. 2nd-10 from the J15. About 6 to Welker. Brady, with forever to throw AGAIN against ANOTHER vanilla rush, hits Watson in the middle of the end zone to put NE up 28-17. Watson's man slipped at the goal line. I have got to ask Del Rio what the hell is the danger of at least blitzing when the Pats are inside your 20? The danger of doing nothing, like you've been doing, is what you got - another Patriot TD. I'm not saying to go all Jim-Haslett on their asses, but at least pick your spot once!
Drew's return gets nowhere, and there's a penalty, so Jax will start from their 6, and the momentum of this game is all with New England. MoJo gains maybe 1. The third quarter runs out.
=======New England 28, Jacksonville 17 after 3=======
5 to Northcutt leaves 3rd and 5. Super leaping catch by Wil-ford gains 15, and a spearing penalty on Rodney WPOS Harrison adds 15 more. Garrard scrambles for 9 across midfield. Taylor bounces for 3. Play-action, and Garrard hits it deep again, to Reggie Williams for 25. His first catch. Blitzing WPOS flushes Garrard outside and he throws it away. 2nd-10 from the NE21. Drew bounces a draw outside and gets 3. On 3rd down, NE blitzes big, but Drew beats Seau and Ellis Hobbs outside for 8. 1st-and-goal from the 9. 2 tough yards for Drew. 2nd-goal, Garrard throws into triple coverage in the end zone and gets lucky WPOS Harrison doesn't pick it off. 3rd-and-goal. NE blitzes Vrabel, and Matt Jones can't come down with the fade pass over Gay. Would have been a very tough catch. Scobee chips it in from 25 to bring Jax within a score, 28-20.
Jackson gets driven FAR out of bounds at the 20, but there's no flag. Great, something for Bill Simmons to whine about. 9:39 left. A run BLITZ catches Maroney for a couple. Another Jag blitz blows up a screen, but Brady improvises, and Donte Stallworth never quit running upfield, while Rashean Mathis did, and it's good for a MONSTER gain of about 53 yards, which Nantz miscalculates as 48. Sure, now the blitz'll get blamed for that big play, but really it was A - superb play by Brady; B - sensational catch by Stallworth; C - negligence of duty by Mathis. Mathis letting Stallworth behind him deep wasn't the blitz's fault. Maroney hunts and pecks for 2 to the J24. Brady gets forever to throw again and spears a sliding Stallworth at the sideline for six. Good thing my keyboard doesn't lisp. Welker drops the 3rd-and-TWO, NOT 1, pass, forcing a FG attempt at 6:43. Gostkowski hits it, and New England has a 31-20 lead.
Jags are probably in hurry-up mode and could use a big kick return. Trickery in the form of a reverse on the return fails badly, though, and they're stuck at their 15. 12 to Drew, though, who nearly broke it for a lot more. Broken play ends up with Garrard getting taken down after a yard. Garrard stands up under heavy pressure and dumps it off to Drew for 4. 3rd-and-5, Vrabel flushes Garrard right, and the throw's off Northcutt's fingertips for force 4th down. The disorganized Jags take their second TO. 4th-and-5, Northcutt makes a super sideline catch for 8 and gets hit way out of bounds to tack on another 15. Great, Simmons'll be whining again. Oh, imagine that, a roughing penalty on worthless piece of shit Harrison. Jags are at the NE45. Thomas tips away a pass. 2nd-10. 4:30 left. Garrard, under major heat, weaves all over the field for a four-yard gain. Seau was blitzing there. 3rd-6. Lewis blows a catch over the middle to force 4th down. I guess 58 yards is out of Scobee's range, so the Jags will go for it again. And, the worthless piece of shit picks it off. Bad pass by Garrard; Matt Jones was blanketed by two defenders. The Pats will take over at their 31, and basically just need a first down to clinch it. Jags have only one TO.
Maroney stuffed for -1. 3 off left tackle. Jags let the clock run. At 2:38 left, Brady bizarrely calls a timeout. Call must have been a pass, and he saw something he didn't like. 3rd down, Brady throws a 1-yard hitch to Stallworth, and Mathis makes a TERRIBLE FREAKING tackle, and Stallworth goes right through him for the first down. Jags use their last timeout at 2:18. Pats should be able to fall on it twice and let the clock run out.
YES! THE CARDINALS ARE GETTING RID OF SCOTT ROLEN!
Sorry, back to the game. Pats made it 3rd-and-3 while I was celebrating the Rolen dump, er, trade. The Cards actually got Troy Glaus for him? Good luck, Toronto; enjoy Scott blowing routine ground balls at the worst possible moment, hitting into double plays and striking out with men on base. And enjoy the 80 games you might get out of him before he inevitably gets injured. The most overrated Cardinal, possibly ever, certainly of the last ten years.
Doesn't really matter; the Cards will be lucky to top 4th, even in the mediocre NL Central, in 2008.
My clock math was way off: Jax got the ball back at 0:22. Drew gains 12; why were they throwing up the middle there? You go through the effort to preserve the clock then call a dumb play up the middle?
New England's through to the AFC Championship, but if I'm them, I'm rooting for San Diego tomorrow. The way Jagwire receivers were getting open in their secondary, Peyton would throw for 400 against them. The Colts also figure in the Jagwires' future; for this fine young team to take the next step, they're going to have to add players who can help them beat the Colts. Their secondary's good, but they can always afford to get deeper. And their d-line is deep and has solid players, but they need an elite pass rusher. It'll be interesting to see how they develop.
Oh, yeah, Player of the Game. I'll have to be uncreative and pick Brady. Eye-popping stats: 26-for-28, and though 262 isn't a ton of yards, the 1st TD to Watson was a brilliant throw, the fake Statue of Liberty pass to Welker was, well, brilliant, and the long late bomb to Stallworth was, well, ok, another brilliant play. When they needed a big play, Brady made the difference.
Looking forward to more playoff action, and Scott Rolen's good-bye parade, tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment