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Week 11: Solid Defensive Effort Against Brady Wasted
Offensive and Special Teams struggle in loss.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Tyrod Taylor struggled with his accuracy all game long completing just 20 of his 36 passes for 233 yards and misfired several times. He was sacked twice and struggled trying to run gaining just 1 yard on four scrambles. His QB rating was just 75.3.
Grade D: Worst game of his young career.
Running Backs:
LeSean McCoy had a 27 yard touchdown run and 123 yards from scrimmage including 82 yards on the ground. He could have had more but couldn't pull in a pass in the end zone late in the first half.
Karlos Williams was in the backfield with McCoy several times but only had 11 yards on six carries and had his TD streak end at 6.
Grade B-: Not the reason for the loss.
Receivers:
Sammy Watkins struggled and didn't see a pass in his direction most of the game but ended up with six targets but just three catches for 39 yards. He had a great one handed catch to keep a scoring drive alive.
Robert Woods had four catches and nine targets but just 44 yards and one drop.
Chris Hogan was the man who was open most and caught six of his seven targets for a team high 95 yards.
Charles Clay was quiet with just one 14 yard grab.
Grade D: Didn't help their QB at all.
Offensive Line:
Seantrel Henderson was called for not lining up on the line of scrimmage which negated a Taylor scramble for a first down.
Cordy Glenn had a nice pancake block.
John Miller left the game in the first half and did not return.
Kraig Urbik replaced Miller and played well.
Grade C: Gave up two sacks but there were some holes for the running game.
Defensive Line:
Mario Williams was very quiet and had no stats as he left the game early with a foot injury.
Jerry Hughes was all over the field although it wasn't too evident on the stat sheet. Had one QB hit and drew a holding penalty.
Marcell Dareus had a tackle for loss.
Corbin Bryant had a QB hit and two assists.
Alex Carrington had two QB hits.
Grade A: Dominated the line of scrimmage led the charge of intense pressure on Brady.
Linebackers:
Manny Lawson was able to get to Brady for a sack and had two QB hits in all to go along with three tackles.
Nigel Bradham had five tackles and a QB hit.
Preston Brown led the way with 10 tackles.
Grade B+: Did their share of bringing the pressure.
Secondary:
Stephon Gilmore was called for a pass interference penalty that gave the Patriots a first down setting up a field goal instead of a punt in the first quarter. He totally whiffed on an open field tackle. He had the only two passes defensed in the game including one deep pass which he reached out and knocked down with one hand. He picked off a pass on a deflection in the fourth quarter.
Ronald Darby was quiet with three tackles.
Bacarri Rambo was active and had eight early tackles and a QB hit before leaving with a shoulder injury.
Duke Williams was burned on a catch and run by Danny Amendola when he completely whiffed on a tackle.
Corey Graham was called for a holding penalty that negated a Rambo interception. He missed a tackle on the Patriots first touchdown.
Grade A-: Thanks to great pressure they helped hold Brady at bay.
Special Teams:
Colton Schmidt had another good day with a 40.7 net on seven punts and a 45.6 yard gross average with 20 punts downed inside the 20.
Dan Carpenter hit a 52 yard field goal but had a 48 yarder clink off the right upright. He would later hit a 33 yard field goal.
Denarius Moore took one kickoff out of the end zone and was tackled at the 12.
Leodis McKelvin had eight yards on four punt returns and that included two fumbles including one that was recovered by the Pats and setup a field goal.
Coverage Units were solid besides a 21 yard punt return by Amendola. He had 13 yards total on his other two punt returns. They had one 10 yard kickoff return.
Grade D: Missed FG and fumble were a killer.
Coaching:
Rex Ryan had a great gameplan for staying in this game but his decision to punt on 4th and 2 from their 47 with just over 10 minutes to go down by 10. How do you beat New England by doing that? They wasted two timeouts in the second half one after they punted before the Patriots ran a play! They also took too much time getting their field goal late in the game.
Greg Roman had some interesting alignments including using both McCoy and Karlos in the backfield a lot. Still had little success.
Dennis Thurman used the blitz to make Brady uncomfortable but it wasn't enough.
Grade C: Too many mistakes for a good gameplan to overcome against Patriots.
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NFL.com Gamebook
Patriots Game Preview
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