Seahawks 24 - Patriots 23 Postgame Analysis

Ok, I guess part of this gig is when you make predictions to the world and then turn out to be 1000% wrong is admitting it, so here I go…I was completely wrong. I didn’t think the Seahawk offense could even stay in the same zip code as the Patriots offense. But then 4:05 PM came around and every single thing I thought that couldn’t and wouldn’t happen, happened. It was a total team breakdown. And not just the 4^th quarter like some people are saying, this happened from the 2^nd quarter till the clock hit 0:00. First off, what the fuck happened at the end of the 1^st half? The Patriots caused a turnover when the Seahawks punter basically shit himself and fumbled the ball with 0:40 to go and the Pats recovered at the 24 yard line. Brady then threw a quick pass to Welker for 15 yards. Then the Patriots for whatever reason waited 15 seconds before they called their second timeout of the half. They could have called a timeout and saved that extra 15 seconds or they could have rushed to the ball and spiked it and saved the timeout. Instead they wasted both time on the clock and a time out. And as everyone knows, the drive then stalled and on 3^rd down with 8 seconds to go, instead of kicking a field goal and taking the 3 points, something you always assume a team does on the road, they tried to score a touchdown. That’s fine and at the time I thought that was a good call, but the play they ran was basically a series of short slants and NO ONE was even in the end zone when Brady threw the ball away with 1 second remaining. The problem was there was no one within 10 yards of the ball when it touched the ground and Brady was called for intentional grounding and by rule, a 10 second runoff was added to the clock. The half was over and the Pats had blown a golden opportunity to add to their 17-10 lead. And obviously “hindsight is 20/20” but I’m thinking that 3 extra points probably would have helped when the game ended.

I’ll just jump now to my main complaint of the day. WHY CAN’T ANYONE IN THE SECONDARY TURN THEIR HEAD AROUND WHEN THE BALL IS THROWN IN THEIR DIRECTION!!!! Like I've never played football so I can’t speak from experience but I have heard professional analysts say the same thing and it just makes no sense that it keeps happening. Every single week all you hear from the play-by-play announcers is “well he didn’t turn his head to look for the ball so they’re going to call pass interference every time”. I swear every single game Arrington and McCourty have at least one pass interference a piece called against them. The frustrating part is that usually they are in decent position to break up the pass but they just refuse to turn and find the ball and they end up waving their arms like morons and either get a penalty called against them or give up a huge play or touchdown. Like they were making Russell Wilson look like Joe Montana yesterday. The guy was just heaving up passes and every time the Seahawk wide outs were coming down with the ball. The defensive line played decent and they pressured Wilson a decent amount but with the terrible secondary behind them it just wasn't enough.

Now back to the offensive problems. Richard Sherman can go on Twitter and say whatever he wants but he and everyone else knows that the Patriots beat themselves yesterday. At the end of the 2nd quarter they left at least 3 points out there and in the second half they left another 10-14 points on the field. They were dropping balls all over the place and it ultimately cost them a win. Just too many mistakes that this offense doesn't usually make. They had 475 yards of offense, 388 of which were through the air and they only scored 23 points. They shot themselves in the foot time after time and halfway through the 4^th quarter I started to get the feeling that this just wasn't their day.

It was just a tough game to watch because it was obvious the Patriots were the superior team but they just kept making horrible mistakes at the most inopportune times. They went to the red zone 6 times yesterday yet only came away with 1 touchdown. That never happens with this team and that’s why I am not concerned with this offense at all. They’ll be fine and they will continue to put up points and yardage and will probably end up leading the league in both categories come January. The defense on the other hand is in shambles right now. Opposing quarterbacks must salivate at the thought of playing against the Patriots secondary. They give up big plays constantly and will make costly mistakes at important times (ex: 46 yard TD pass with 1:18 remaining in the 4^th). They need to pick it up and need to do it quick because if they don’t the offense will have no choice but to score 30+ points a week in order to win.