Patriots v Steelers, and motivation.

Belichick's "tired and dinged" Patriots may finally be hitting a low point after the physical and emotional expenditure they've endured the past few weeks, orchestrating gritty come-from-behind victories against the Eagles and the Ravens. If the Patriots were 15-0 going into the last game of the season against the Giants with a chance to cap off a perfect season record, I know they would be motivated for that. If the Patriots were 14-0 hosting Miami with visions of Don "Put an asterisk next to the Patriots" Shula and the ghosts of perfect seasons past dancing in their heads, I know they would be motivated for that. If the Patriots were 13-0 hosting their hated rivals, the NY Jets and the spite-filled Eric Mangini, I know they would be motivated for that.

But against a quality team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, a well-coached and well-disciplined team that has earned the Patriots respect? Where can the Pats possibly find that tiny bit of extra motivation they need to sharpen their focus and ignore the aches and pains and bruises they must all be feeling by now? I mean, it's not like the Steelers are going to give the Patriots any bulletin board material, because no one on the Steelers could possibly be that stu--

Anthony Smith, 2nd year Steeler safety: "We're going to win," Smith told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Yeah, I can guarantee a win." As for the prospect of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady going after him on passing plays, Smith said, "I hope they do. I haven't been getting a lot of action." Smith's Wednesday comments included his saying the Bengals have better wide receivers than the Patriots.

Patriot Nation thanks you, Anthony Smith.

Originally posted by Doctor Rat
Belichick's "tired and dinged" Patriots may finally be hitting a low point after the physical and emotional expenditure they've endured the past few weeks, orchestrating gritty come-from-behind victories against the Eagles and the Ravens. If the Patriots were 15-0 going into the last game of the season against the Giants with a chance to cap off a perfect ...[text shortened]... de receivers than the Patriots.[/i]

Patriot Nation thanks you, Anthony Smith.

Whats the weather forecast? Hoping for a no wind day🙂

Can't believe that Smith said that, neither can his teammates. Today was really nice, no wind, don't know about tomorrow.

Originally posted by Bobla45
Whats the weather forecast? Hoping for a no wind day🙂

hah, yeaqh, whole natgion saw much pats really do rely on pass off. they have zero run whatsoever. Steelers would love a hurricane force gale to sweep through... wouldn't hurt them too much...

Originally posted by rubberjaw30
hah, yeaqh, whole natgion saw much pats really do rely on pass off. they have zero run whatsoever. Steelers would love a hurricane force gale to sweep through... wouldn't hurt them too much...

I don't understand where this myth that the Pats have zero running game whatsoever comes from.

They are currently 8th in the league in yards per game and tied with Pittsburgh at 4.1 yards per carry.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/statistics?stat=teamrush&sort=avg&pos=off&league=nfl&season=2&year=2007

Originally posted by Ullr
I don't understand where this myth that the Pats have zero running game whatsoever comes from.

They are currently 8th in the league in yards per game and tied with Pittsburgh at 4.1 yards per carry.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/statistics?stat=teamrush&sort=avg&pos=off&league=nfl&season=2&year=2007

I think the Patriots running game is something to be worried about as long as Maroney keeps coming to a stop and stands upright at the line of scrimmage while trying to decide which way to move laterally to free himself for some yardage. Sometimes you just have to bust it up in there and make physical contact and churn away, something Maroney has been hesitant to do. He too often tries to dance away from the way the play was designed. I can't help thinking that if he played for Mike Shanahan, he wouldn't be playing for Mike Shanahan, if you catch my drift.

Most of the Patriots effective yardage was gained early in the year with the slam-banging Sammy Morris who knew how to run north-south. Morris had some nice yardage and averages and new how to move the pile with these numbers from weeks 1 thru 5.

Sammy Morris
11-54, 4.9 vs Jets
10-51, 5.1 vs Chargers
12-46, 3.8 vs Bills
21-117, 5.6 vs Bengals
21-102, 4.9 vs Browns

Then Morris got injured and Maroney was back as the featured back, but he looked a lot smaller to me. They list Maroney at 220 and Faulk at 202, and Maroney looks smaller than Faulk to me, but I need some more side by side comparison to really tell. Anyway, after seeing nice numbers from Morris early in the year, let's compare to Maroney's numbers the last three weeks...

Laurence Maroney
6-19, 3.2 vs Bills
10-31, 3.1 vs Eagles
13-44, 3.4 vs Ravens

Yuck! Maroney hasn't cracked 100 yards in the last three weeks combined. I realize that the Ravens are always tough to run against, and that Eagles were playing out of their minds, but there's no excuse to be that low against the bills. I'm not saying the wheels have come off the Patriots running game, but I think pats fans should be a bit concerned... but maybe there is a solution?

Like, start giving the ball to the other running backs more often? If you look at the games over the last three weeks where the other running backs had significant carries, they are outperforming Maroney.

Kyle Eckel
10-40, 4.0 vs Buffalo

Heath Evans
10-56, 5.6 vs Buffalo

Kevin Faulk
7-33, 4.7 vs Baltimore

Maybe Maroney is still suffering a bit from his groin injury. Maybe he lost too much weight over the off-season and didn't work hard enough sustaining his muscle mass and he's running too light. I don't know. I don't think we're going to see very good running numbers against the Steelers this week no matter who the Patriots use, but I hope to see the supporting running backs get more carries per game in the coming weeks. Just some of my worried thoughts heading into the running-back months of December and January.

Such sweet irony that Anthony Smith that was burned for 3 touchdown passes. Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by bostonranger
Can't believe that Smith said that, neither can his teammates. Today was really nice, no wind, don't know about tomorrow.

Well I still dont know what kind of weather they had but I sure as hell like the result 😏...Go Pats!!!

Originally posted by Ullr
Such sweet irony that Anthony Smith that was burned for 3 touchdown passes. Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

Such sweet revenge. When will they ever learn?

Originally posted by Ullr
Such sweet irony that Anthony Smith that was burned for 3 touchdown passes. Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

People used to say, "Who's Anthony Smith".

Now they just point and laugh. Good luck with that, buddy!

P-

Originally posted by Bobla45
Well I still dont know what kind of weather they had but I sure as hell like the result 😏...Go Pats!!!

The weather was cold, but nothing bad. The Pats got off to a slow start, some dropped balls again early, and the Steelers were the first team this year to score on their first possession against the Pats, but the Pats kept getting warmer while the Steelers got colder. I love how the Pats baited the Steeler safeties to bite early, only to watch the ball sail over their heads into the endzone for scores. Yes!

Originally posted by Phlabibit
People used to say, "Who's Anthony Smith".

Now they just point and laugh. Good luck with that, buddy!

P-

Just a Polamalu-wanna-be. Ooh, I like how that rolls off the tongue.

Originally posted by Doctor Rat
Belichick's "tired and dinged" Patriots may finally be hitting a low point after the physical and emotional expenditure they've endured the past few weeks, orchestrating gritty come-from-behind victories against the Eagles and the Ravens. If the Patriots were 15-0 going into the last game of the season against the Giants with a chance to cap off a perfect ...[text shortened]... de receivers than the Patriots.[/i]

Patriot Nation thanks you, Anthony Smith.

The sad thing is that even if they have a "perfect" season there will still be the astrick by it. Sad but TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by whodey
The sad thing is that even if they have a "perfect" season there will still be the astrick by it. Sad but TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dont bet the farm on it. Some disgruntled New Yorkers, sure, but its generally known that to get an edge this stuff happens in sports all the time. If anything Belichick got burned for his arrogance, he had been told before not to do this, but when you are as good as he is a little arrogance goes along with ya.....nobody mentions in all this how big a rat-weasel the "genius" Mangini was to defect on his boss in the first place, then drop a dime on him after an ass whipping....I wonder if he gave his Super Bowl and playoff bonuses to charity on principle 😵

Originally posted by Bobla45
Dont bet the farm on it. Some disgruntled New Yorkers, sure, but its generally known that to get an edge this stuff happens in sports all the time. If anything Belichick got burned for his arrogance, he had been told before not to do this, but when you are as good as he is a little arrogance goes along with ya.....nobody mentions in all this how big a rat-we whipping....I wonder if he gave his Super Bowl and playoff bonuses to charity on principle 😵

is the 'tapegate' incident a BIG thing in the US media?

Are sports fans in the US talking about it as much as ppl in the RHP forums?

Is it realy such a BIG thing.....did the 'tapes'really 'HELP' the team win games in the past?