Stats on Pats Weekly By Ian Abreu, southcoast247.com correspondent
Week I Wrap-up
In my honest opinion, Super Bowl championship ceremonies never get old, in fact, they get sweeter and sweeter. And so was the case last Thursday night as the Pats hoisted their third championship in four years high into the rafters of Gillette Stadium. Watching the banner rise before last week's game, it appeared as though Gillette was about to crumble due to the craziness of the Gillette faithful; but once Ozzy Osbourne hit the stage and blasted out "Crazy Train," it became quite evident that Gillette was on the verge of some sort of "meltdown" if you will. Oh, and to boot, the Pats won 30-20, a game in which the Raiders defense continued to flop around and not find an answer for Mr. Clutch himself, Tom Brady. As we take a look in this week of the Patriots notebook, we'll analyze both the good and the bad that can be taken from Thursday night's game.
Tom Brady proved yet again to be the catalyst for the Pats offense on Thursday night, setting the tone with 306 passing yards, a pair of touchdown passes (Tim Dwight and Deion Branch), and no interceptions. Brady did a great job in spreading the ball around, finding seven different receivers. Running back and 1600-yard rusher Cory Dillon found the end zone twice as New England's offense opened with a splash. As we discussed earlier, this is a contract year for wide-out Deion Branch, his performance on Thursday showed me that he's intends to prove to every NFL team who may be interested that he an elite receiver that deserves to be put into the class of a Terrell Owens, Joe Horn, and Marvin Harrison. The reigning Super Bowl MVP had seven receptions for 99 yards with a touchdown. Pretty impressive considering he didn't see one snap during pre season, isn't it?
Defense Sporadic at Times
As mentioned in my column last week, linebacker Chad Brown has looked very un-impressive in the early stages of the season and oddly enough, he was removed from the game briefly in the first half by Bill Belichick. From that point on, their formation was changed from a 3-4 to a 4-3, with Jarvis Green now joining the defensive line with Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour, and Ty Warren. The move most certainly shut down the running game of Lamont Jordan and eventually, the high-flying passing game of Kerry Collins to Randy Moss (130 yards, 1 td) was met a stand-still as the linebackers, safetys, and cornerbacks finally began to play in sync with each other. After the defensive "bleeding" became isolated, Brown returned to action late in the half and the Pats went back to the 3-4.
Pats Gear up for Carolina in Super Bowl XXXVIII Rematch
The Pats head for Carolina to battle the Panthers next week in what should be an offensive showdown. We've already discussed how the Pats offense has been clicking in most aspects; but what about the Panthers and their run-and-gun offense of Jake Delhomme, Stephen Davis, Steve Smith, and certified Patriots killer Ricky Proehl? This is a team that put up 20 points last week against a much improved New Orleans Saints defense with relative ease. Hopefully New England's linebacking corps, mainly Chad Brown will be all set to go and on the same page come Sunday afternoon. Again, the 3-4 defense as is for the Patriots scares me; we'll soon see what happens come next week and the week after. Trust me, Belichick will not be afraid to make some drastic changes if results are not met. That's a fact!
See you all next for another edition of Stats on Pats Weekly. Feel free to email me your questions or comments at patsstats@southcoast247.com.
In my honest opinion, Super Bowl championship ceremonies never get old, in fact, they get sweeter and sweeter. And so was the case last Thursday night as the Pats hoisted their third championship in four years high into the rafters of Gillette Stadium. Watching the banner rise before last week's game, it appeared as though Gillette was about to crumble due to the craziness of the Gillette faithful; but once Ozzy Osbourne hit the stage and blasted out "Crazy Train," it became quite evident that Gillette was on the verge of some sort of "meltdown" if you will. Oh, and to boot, the Pats won 30-20, a game in which the Raiders defense continued to flop around and not find an answer for Mr. Clutch himself, Tom Brady. As we take a look in this week of the Patriots notebook, we'll analyze both the good and the bad that can be taken from Thursday night's game.
