Monthly Archives: November 2008

The first half of the Pittsburgh/New England game can be best summarized in one word: drops. Both the Steelers and the Pats have had numerous drops, none more damaging and disheartening than THREE straight drops in the red zone by Randy Moss at the end of teh first half. Those drops were magnified by the fact that Stephen Gostkowski missed the field goal to close out the half, so the Pats ended up with zero points to cap what was an excellent 2-minute drive. Moss has had at least 5 drops so far in the first half on what are usually easy passes for him or any other wide receiver to catch. The defense’s Achilles’ heel so far this year has been its secondary, and those problems persist. The Steelers have done virtually nothing on the ground, their strong suit, but have connected through the air to score its points. Deltha O’Neal, as usual, has been the glaring negative in this backfield full of suspect players. Aside from the secondary, the defense’s front seven has played extremely well, highlighted by Mike Vrabel’s interception to open the game, which led to New England’s lone touchdown on a Sammy Morris run.

The Pats are visiting the Miami Dolphins and lead at halftime 17-14. They haven’t played the prettiest game, and could be up comfortably if not for drive-killing penalties and two turnovers. The offense has moved up and down the field, but a fumble and an INT along with costly false starts, unnecessary roughness, and holding penalties have completely killed drives. Miami has scored its 14 points off of the two turnovers. The defense, overall, has played OK but was unable to stop the Dolphins when they got the ball off of a turnover.They have been stout against the run and have made the Wild Cat offense a non-factor, but again, the secondary is playing awful. They have given up several third-and-long conversions to the team that is (was?) dead last in 3rd & long conversions. Here is the defensive score so far:

The NY Jets’ offense is taking it to the Patriots’ defense so far, having to punt only once in the first half. They are winning the battles on first down against the defense, setting up manageable 3rd down situations. The Pats are 2-6 in 3rd-down stops, and one of those stops led to a field goal. The defense’s problem early on was quite evident: no pressure. Brett Favre had all day to throw. The Pats only rushed 3 guys, which made no sense at all. Once they dialed in the pressure on the Jets’ last offensive series of the half, the J-E-T-S went 3-and-out. Keeping with the defensive theme, here’s the breakdown so far as to winning the battle down-for-down: