The good, bad and ugly of Sunday Night's game
While the Falcons and Patriots Sunday Night match-up brought together two good quarterbacks. The scheduling makers couldn't predict the situation these two teams would have been in coming into week 4 all the way back in April. The Patriots losing their key targets and the Falcons starting the year off 1-2 after missing out on a trip to the Super Bowl.
The billing may have been reduced a bit, but we still had a 3-0 New England team who isn't blowing teams out, but is dominating them in certain aspects of the game. And the Falcons who seemingly can't stay healthy and while minus the record, Matt Ryan almost never loses at home. It still provided to be a great game. Here now are some of the takeaways from the
game.
The Good:
Aqib Talib and the pass defense: Coming into this game, we all knew it would be a test to the New England secondary, but who knew they would have came up this big? Sure they gave up 400+ yards through the air, but just around 40% of those 400+ yards came within the last 7 minutes to go in the football game. A solid showing indeed.
Run defense: While I know the Falcons were a bit shorthanded, 58 rushing yards with most of the attempts being without Wilfork proved that the run defense certainly did improve from the past few weeks.
Tom Brady and communication: FINALLY, Brady's gang of receivers seem to be on the same page. Brady threw for over 300 yards and even had a few deep balls caught, with Gronk returning soon and the offense just now finding its groove, teams may need to watch out.
The Bad:
Vince Wilfork: Sadly, the Patriots lost a great player in Vince Wilfork and in all likelihood he'll be shutdown for the season with a tear in his Achilles.
Tom Brady still putting the ball on the ground: It's true, Brady once again fumbled the ball away on a short yardage 4th and short situation, being the second time this season in four games. While you can place some blame on the Center, all the fault resides on the QB for simply not handling the snap properly.
Aaron Dobson's scary injury: Dobson was attempting to catch a pass from Tom Brady before he was drilled and his neck whipped back, he was reported fine and left under his own power, but did not return in the game. He (Dobson) has reported since that he has some Back and Neck pain.
The Ugly:
The replay system: I thought the point of reply was to aid the refs in blown calls? First it malfunctioned on a questionable fumble by Julio Jones, and then it couldn't provide enough evidence to overturn a first down call or not. Blount was clearly over the first down marker, what else did the refs need to see?
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| Photo Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images |
game.
The Good:
Aqib Talib and the pass defense: Coming into this game, we all knew it would be a test to the New England secondary, but who knew they would have came up this big? Sure they gave up 400+ yards through the air, but just around 40% of those 400+ yards came within the last 7 minutes to go in the football game. A solid showing indeed.
Run defense: While I know the Falcons were a bit shorthanded, 58 rushing yards with most of the attempts being without Wilfork proved that the run defense certainly did improve from the past few weeks.
Tom Brady and communication: FINALLY, Brady's gang of receivers seem to be on the same page. Brady threw for over 300 yards and even had a few deep balls caught, with Gronk returning soon and the offense just now finding its groove, teams may need to watch out.
The Bad:
Vince Wilfork: Sadly, the Patriots lost a great player in Vince Wilfork and in all likelihood he'll be shutdown for the season with a tear in his Achilles.
Tom Brady still putting the ball on the ground: It's true, Brady once again fumbled the ball away on a short yardage 4th and short situation, being the second time this season in four games. While you can place some blame on the Center, all the fault resides on the QB for simply not handling the snap properly.
Aaron Dobson's scary injury: Dobson was attempting to catch a pass from Tom Brady before he was drilled and his neck whipped back, he was reported fine and left under his own power, but did not return in the game. He (Dobson) has reported since that he has some Back and Neck pain.
The Ugly:
The replay system: I thought the point of reply was to aid the refs in blown calls? First it malfunctioned on a questionable fumble by Julio Jones, and then it couldn't provide enough evidence to overturn a first down call or not. Blount was clearly over the first down marker, what else did the refs need to see?
