Talking Trash; Showing Class
The blogosphere and the main stream media have been abuzz since Sunday night when Seattle Seahawks DB Richard Sherman (@rsherman_25) tweeted a pic of himself yelling at New England Patriots QB Tom Brady after the Seahawks came back to stun the Patriots.
Sherman’s photo had a caption of him saying, “Are you mad bro?” Seems that either prior to or at some point during the game Sherman and fellow DB Earl Thomas engaged Brady in some trash talking and Brady, who is known for some yapping, replied to come see him after the game when they (the Patriots) win.
Well Sherman did, hence the photo.
There’s always a lot of trash talking in the NFL between players and fanbases, we here at Sox & Dawgs have had some engaging conversations with Steelers, Chargers and Jets fans over the years.
And when your team wins, if you choose, you get to be the one to talk and the others should shut up and take it, especially if they had given it back at some point earlier. Brady did that Sherman was yelling at him, Brady put his down and kept walking. He knew he lost all he had to do was look at the scoreboard to remind him of that fact. New England lost in part because of some poor decisions by the two-time NFL MVP, hey it happens.
I have absolutely no problem with Sherman yapping, in fact, it was kind of funny. The Patriots have no one to blame for that loss except themselves. That game was there for the taking and several times all they needed was one more play and failed time and time again. Seattle won they deserved it, they took it when it was given to them.
What I have an issue with is the members of the Patriots fanbase who need to act like douchebags and tweet dumb, stupid, nasty comments to Sherman because he did exactly what Brady told him to do. Brady got called on it. It doesn’t happen often and fewer times when he is directly responsible for a good portion of the loss.
You as Patriots fans hate it when other teams fanbases talk bullshit after a loss so why stoop to that level and do it yourself?
Next time show some class, take the loss and keep your mouth shut and fingers off the keyboard.
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Patriots Secondary was Porous
Seattle rookie QB Russell Wilson had a decent day for the most part. On six plays though he looked like the Second Coming of Steve Young.
Overall Wilson was a solid 16 of 27 and his yardage total of 293 was something you see every week in nearly every game in the NFL nowadays. Where Wilson excelled was on 6 passing plays that totaled 222 passing yards (237 total yards when you add a personal foul penalty that occurred on one play), all of the passes were over 20 yards, with the largest being 51 yards (plus 15). Here are those six plays courtesy of the Gamebook.
Yards Qtr Play Start Play Description
- 66 4 1-10-SEA 17 (9:17) R.Wilson pass deep middle to G.Tate to NE 32 for 51 yards. PENALTY on NE-B.Spikes, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at NE 32.
- 50 1 3-9-SEA 16 (4:25) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep middle to D.Baldwin to NE 34 for 50 yards.
- 46 4 1-10-NE 46 (1:27) R.Wilson pass deep middle to S.Rice for 46 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
- 29 1 1-10-SEA 31 (10:53) R.Wilson pass deep right to S.Rice ran ob at NE 40 for 29 yards.
- 24 1 1-15-NE 24 (1:59) R.Wilson pass deep middle to D.Baldwin for 24 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
- 22 1 1-10-NE 40 (10:29) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep right to Z.Miller to NE 18 for 22 yards.
A lot of fans and media are really questioning the talent in the secondary as well as the coaching of cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer and safeties coach Brian Flores. I think the talent is there especially in rookies Alfonzo Dennard and Tavon Wilson. I also think Devin McCourty is better than people make him out to be but he maybe better suited for safety because at times his cover skills are suspect.
This is the third season in a row the secondary has been porous and something needs to drastically change.
Former Patriots CB Ty Law chimed in on the New England secondary “It’s screwed up across the board from a talent standpoint and a leadership standpoint.”
Face it Rodney Harrison and Law are not walking through that door so this group needs to get better and find a leader if this team is going to survive.
News and Notes
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels all had conference calls with the media on Monday. (patriots.com)
Offensive snaps by skill players vs. Seahawks (ESPN Boston)
Defensive snaps played vs. Seattle (ESPN Boston)
A look at the positional grouping on offense and why the running game couldn’t get going (ESPN Boston)
Best and Worst of Patriots at Seahawks (Boston Herald)
No end to Patriots secondary concerns (Boston Herald)
Aaron Hernandez a factor in his return (Boston Herald)
Where is the finish, Patriots? (Boston Herald)
Patriots refuse to capitalize on chances (Boston Herald)
Five takeaways from Patriots – Seahawks (Boston Globe)
Patriots suffer key injuries in loss to Seattle (Boston Globe)
Since 1999 the Patriots have the best record in the NFL at 150-64.
Since 2003 New England is 33-7 in October games.
The Patriots are 4-3 as the road team in the series, 3-2 at the Kingdome and 1-1 at CenturyLink Field.
That was the 7th game since 2009 that New England has given up a lead in the last five minutes and lost the game.
After scoring only 10 points in the first 50:39, Seattle scored 14 points in the final 9:21.
New England had the ball on their 41 yard line first and ten with 3:02 to play holding onto a 6 point lead. They went three and out using only :24 seconds of clock time.
The Patriots last three drives ended on two punts and a losing the ball on downs.
Bill Belichick’s 195 wins are good for 8th all-time. He is now 195-107 including playoffs in his career.
Belichick coached teams are 3-2 vs. Seattle, he is 2-1 against the Seahawks with New England.
Tom Brady is 1-1 vs. the Seahawks. Overall including playoffs he is 143-44.
Brady has 310 TD passes in his career he is now 5th all-time. Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 4th with 342.
Brady has thrown at least 1 TD pass in 38 consecutive games.
The Patriots are 83-16 when Brady throws at least 2 TD passes in a game. Sunday was one of those rare games when the Patriots lost.
Brady threw two INTs Sunday the first ones he has thrown since Week 2 when Arizona’s Patrick Peterson picked him. He went 179 attempts between INTs.
WR Wes Welker now has catches in 107 consecutive games including playoffs, 90 as a Patriot. The last time Welker did not have a catch in a game was 12/24/05 as a Dolphin.
Welker tied a team record with his fourth straight game with 100-yards receiving.
Welker returned 4 punts for 68 yards total (17 yards per return) with a long of 27 yards.
WR Matthew Slater hurt his ankle and left the game, Patrick Chung suffered a shoulder injury and RB Brandon Bolden suffered a knee injury and did not return.
DE Chandler Jones led the team on Sunday with 9 tackles (4 solo).
Jones also led the team with 2 sacks and 3 QB hits.
Jones and LB Jerod Mayo also each had a forced fumble.
LB Rob Ninkovich and Mayo each had a fumble recovery on Sunday.
The Patriots sacked Seattle QB Russell Wilson 2 times, while allowing Brady to be sacked 1 time.
Seattle head coach Pete Carroll overall is 53-54 including playoffs. He is 2-1 vs. New England, 1-1 with New York and 1-0 with Seattle.
QB Russell Wilson is 1-0 vs. the Patriots.
The Seahawks have the 7th best home record in the NFL since 2002 they are 59-30 including post season.
New England’s defense had 5 tackles for loss for 17 yards.
The Patriots offense had 26 first downs (5 rushing, 20 passing, 1 by penalty) compared to 17 (4 rushing, 11 passing 2 by penalty) for the Seahawks.
New England’s turnover differential is PLUS 10. The defense has recovered 10 fumble and has 6 INT. The offense has given away 3 fumbles and has 3 INT.
New England was 8 for 18 (44%) on third down conversions and 0 for 1 (0%) on 4th down attempts. The Seahawks were 4 for 12 (33%) on 3rd down conversions and 1 for 2 (50%) on 4th down attempts.
The Patriots were 1 for 6 in the red zone. They had 1 TD, 3 FGs, 1 turnover and 1 take over on downs. Seattle was 2 for 3 (67%) in the red zone. They had 2 TDs and 1 FG.
Next Week
The Patriots will host the New York Jets next Sunday at Gillette Stadium. Kick off is at 4:25 p.m. on CBS.
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
