The Monday After: Week 5
Minutes after making his first career touchdown catch, and putting the final touches on a 20-10 Patriots win, Heath Evans jogged off the field with Junior Seau Sunday afternoon. Teammates with Miami in 2005, and league-wide observers over at least six seasons, they'd seen plenty of games like the one they'd just played. They'd seen the Pats give up more first downs than they gained, lose the yardage battle, let Miami author four long drives - and still seen New England emerge victorious.
"I said, ‘Aren't you glad we are finally a part of these things?'" the running back recounted. "For years you watch these games and you are puzzled at the end of games thinking, ‘How do they do this?' Being here I still don't know how we do it, but we just seem to get it done. It's fun doing things as a team and walking off the field with a lot of pride for your team instead of a quarterback, running back or a linebacker."
Aside from an outstanding defensive effort against the run, and an opportunistic Asante Samuel, the Patriots didn't do anything exemplary in defeating the Dolphins. In fact, in many ways it was a game much like the team's loss to Denver two weeks earlier.
But the big difference Sunday was the disparity in top-level talent. Plainly put, the Patriots are a much more polished team than are the Dolphins, whose tarnish was exposed when the opportunity came to execute in crunch time. Though Miami out-gained New England, 283-213, in terms of net yards, it amassed only 93 yards while being shut out in the second half - when the good teams step up, and the others display their still-developing deficiencies.
"We've had success here," said safety Rodney Harrison. "We have the makeup. We have the core guys who have been here and won a lot of championships, a great coaching staff, and every one seems to work well together. We don't panic."
RECEIVER GAFF
The Patriots brought receiver Jabar Gaffney into the fold this week, adding his name to the undistinguished class of Troy Brown, Reche Caldwell, Doug Gabriel, Chad Jackson and Jonathan Smith that's currently catching balls from Tom Brady.
But the addition doesn't appear to do much toward helping the team's most obvious offense problem. The Pats are in dire need of someone capable of stretching the field so defenses can't stack their safeties in the box, and Gaffney is yet another possession receiver.
In 64 games over four full seasons spent in Houston, Gaffney made only two catches that covered more than 30 yards. Neither of them came last year, either, when his career-best 55 grabs went for 8.9 yards on average, and only three went for more than 20 yards.
Brady has guys like that, and that's why only one of his 29 attempts Sunday was a legitimate attempt to land a bomb. What's lacking are the guys that can run on the edges, with the speed that safeties need to respect, and the skill that can get open on a decent cover corner. So far, the stats say the Pats don't appear to have either.
Consider: When Brady throws to the middle of the field, where the targets tend to be backs, tight ends or slot receivers lined up against linebackers or nickel backs, he has completed 17 of 24 throws (70.8 percent) for 215 yards (9.0 per throw), 4 touchdowns, 1 interception and owns a quarterback rating of 120.7.
But when Brady looks outside, where he's looking primarily for receivers against corners and safeties, he has connected on just 71 of 138 attempts (51.4 percent) for 816 yards (5.9 per throw), 4 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and owns a quarterback rating about 40 points lower than when he looks to the middle.
RUNNING IN QUICKSAND
It remains to be seen whether Laurence Maroney can carry a running game when Corey Dillon plays only a bit part - as he did against Denver and Miami - but perhaps Gillette Stadium's poor playing field deserves some of the blame for the rookie's lackluster running in recent home games.
In the two games Dillon has been reduced to 10 carries or fewer, Maroney has rushed 30 times for 56 yards, an average of 1.9 per haul. In the other three, the numbers are 48-276 - 5.8.
Maybe, though, the bigger factor is the field. Maroney is the type of runner who relies on making people miss between the tackles, and then bouncing the run to the daylight on the outside. It's a style that requires solid footing and the ability to dart and dash on a dime - neither of which can be done easily on turf that is made more of sand than grass.
As a result, Maroney's numbers have suffered so far at home. At Gillette, he has carried 47 times for 142 yards, barely good for 3 yards per haul. On the road, meanwhile, he's made 31 jaunts for 190 yards. That's 6.1 per carry.
LONG SHANKS' PRANK
Bill Belichick has since put a moratorium on such pranks, but if you haven't heard already, here's a look inside the oh-so-mature Pats locker room, as retold by Brady during Sunday's press conference:
Q: Hey, Tom, I have to ask you about Matt Cassel, your sidekick.
TB: Yes.
Q: Because what went on this week between the two of you guys? What happened?
TB: Yes. Matt and I fight like teenage girls.
Q: You do?
TB: Yes, we do.
Q: What happened?
TB: We are always slapping each other around and wrestling and slap boxing and [messing] around with each other in the weight room. And so I decided to take that to the next level. And we were messing around in the quarterback room one day and he walked in with a milkshake, and I kind of put my foot by the door, and I kicked the door and the milkshake splashed up and went all over him. So he sat down, and I was laughing. So I said give me the towel, because I wanted to clean up the wall. So I threw the towel at his face, and it had shake all over it. He had a little shake in his mouth and he spit it all over me.
Q: So Cassel spit on you?
TB: Yes. So we had all this shake all over us. I smelled terrible. So I just laughed. I said I don't get mad, I get even. So the next day, I had one of my friends remove all the tires from his car and leave them right at his locker as he walked in off the practice field. So it was pretty good. He had to walk home that day.
Q: So let me get this straight. You had his car up on cinderblocks?
TB: Yes. It was up on cinderblocks, sitting right out in the parking lot. It was pretty funny.
Q: What did you do with the tires?
TB: I had three of them, and I made him search for the fourth one. I didn't tell him where the fourth one was. But all three of them were stacked up. So he was getting undressed after practice undoing the tape on his ankles, sitting on his tires. It was pretty funny.
Q: Did Cassel do anything to your car?
TB: No. I think I scared him. I don't know if you guys have ever seen the movie "Braveheart," but at the end when Mel Gibson is lying there and the king is laying on his death bed and the guy who is torturing him says, ‘You just claim your allegiance to Long Shanks,' so I made him call me Long Shanks. And after that we called a truce. So he knows that now I am willing to go to any, any depths to make him pay. So I think Matt Light was involved and I'm still looking for a confirmation on that. He filled my car, the entire car with Styrofoam peanuts, which he did the following day. And it was a rainy day, he opened the sunroof, and filled the entire car with it.
PROOF THAT IT'S NEVER BAD TO BE 4-1
The ever-playful Coach, wearing Tony LaRussa's jersey, at his Tuesday press conference.
NO HUDDLE
After releasing both Johnathan Sullivan and Hank Poteat before signing Gaffney, the Patriots have an open roster spot. That should be an interesting side story to keep an eye on through the bye week, especially given next Tuesday's looming trade deadline and the team's persistent need at receiver ... Watch out for Charles Rogers, who the Pats reportedly worked out last week, as a candidate for the empty spot ... Since Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, the Pats own the best home record (32-7) and have allowed the fewest points per game (15.59) among NFL teams ... Sunday's win also tied New England with Pittsburgh for most wins overall since 1994 ... Maroney isn't the only one who benefits from Dillon; the Pats are 27-5 in the 32 games Dillon has played as a Patriot, 1-4 in games he has missed ... Troy Brown's touchdown grab was the 29th of his career, passing now-New Hampshire radio personality Russ Francis for sixth on the team's all-time list ... Looking around the league, the AFC playoff picture may not change much between now and season's end, considering there are only seven teams over .500, and none figure to fade. Right now, Jacksonville, at 3-2, would be out ... Ranking the top-five teams in the NFL: Chicago, Denver, San Diego, New England and Indianapolis ... And the five teams, currently over .500, most likely to finish below: Minnesota, St. Louis, Atlanta, New Orleans and Philadelphia.
That's it for now. Not sure when the updates will come this week - given the strange bye week schedule - but check back often for updates and I'll do my best to provide them. In the meantime, enjoy the baseball playoffs. My picks? Detroit in 7, and New York in 5. Sorry, Bill.
Adios,
Dave
