Game Ball - Wes Welker
It is pretty hard for me to pick the winner of the game ball after this sloppy non-sense. Honestly, this was the worst game of the season for The Patriots. The execution was bad in all three phases. Brady looked terrible. The offensive line looked like they should be playing in the Arena Football League, allowing the worst QB pressure team to sack Brady 3 times. The Defense gave up 343 passing yards to Chad Henne. Everything looked bad. If we play like this, we won't win many games. If Chad Henne could have avoided 1 of his 2 red zone INTs, we'd have been looking at a loss to the worst team in the league.
Wes Welker was the saving grace for the offense. Sure, Brandon Lloyd had a nice game, but it was Welker who kept the chains moving. Also, Welker broke Jerry Rice's record for most games with 10+ receptions. It's always nice to give the game ball with historical significance, but either way Welker was the best offensive player today. Hernandez couldn't separate, and he couldn't catch a few easy ones. Ridley had a nice game, but he wasn't a difference maker. Also, his bobbled pass-INT hurts his cause.
On the defensive side of the ball, no one really stands out. If anyone should get consideration, its Patrick Chung. However, both of his INTs were bad passes caused by QB pressure. It would be hard to give it to anyone on the defense after this performance. Dont'a Hightower did have a sack to top off his stat line of 6 tackles, 1 pass defensed, and 1 tackle for a loss. It was a nice game for the rookie, but he just doesn't compete with Welker's numbers.
Overall, this just goes to show you how dangerous every NFL team can be. Any win is a good win, especially on the road. However, no one in New England is going to be encouraged by this dud. The Patriots need to forget how good they are because whenever the world expects them to roll the opponent over, they have to fight for it. We need to take a good hard look at ourselves because this wasn't The Jaguars playing above their level, this was The Patriots playing down to their opponent. Let's just consider ourselves fortunate that we finished ahead on the scoreboard. Let's get back home, get ready for Miami, and the playoffs.
Fortunately, Houston lost to Minnesota today 23-6, and they have to face Indy next week. It's great that we were able to win, and keep the possibility of that first round bye wide open. Denver has a couple of "easy" opponents as well, but as we saw here, anything can happen in the NFL.
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| Look at that game face! via Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images |
On the defensive side of the ball, no one really stands out. If anyone should get consideration, its Patrick Chung. However, both of his INTs were bad passes caused by QB pressure. It would be hard to give it to anyone on the defense after this performance. Dont'a Hightower did have a sack to top off his stat line of 6 tackles, 1 pass defensed, and 1 tackle for a loss. It was a nice game for the rookie, but he just doesn't compete with Welker's numbers.
Overall, this just goes to show you how dangerous every NFL team can be. Any win is a good win, especially on the road. However, no one in New England is going to be encouraged by this dud. The Patriots need to forget how good they are because whenever the world expects them to roll the opponent over, they have to fight for it. We need to take a good hard look at ourselves because this wasn't The Jaguars playing above their level, this was The Patriots playing down to their opponent. Let's just consider ourselves fortunate that we finished ahead on the scoreboard. Let's get back home, get ready for Miami, and the playoffs.
Fortunately, Houston lost to Minnesota today 23-6, and they have to face Indy next week. It's great that we were able to win, and keep the possibility of that first round bye wide open. Denver has a couple of "easy" opponents as well, but as we saw here, anything can happen in the NFL.
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