Skins come up short against the Pats

Fun game to watch. Good effort by most and we came up just short falling 34-27 to the Pats. Despite the close game, I agree with Fletcher and Orakpo in saying that there are no moral victories. Here are a few thoughts:

1. Rexy played well. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get that he probably held on to the ball too long on the sack for a TD and that hurt. However, outside of that, I thought he played very well and if not for him, we don't have much of a shot. Again, would have been interesting to see how good this team could have been if he had just remained the starter.

2. Helu is a solid RB. The guy is an every down back. He has decent elusiveness and is a good combination of size and speed. He also has solid hands and is improving his blocking skills. I like the kid as he seems like a humble guy that works hard. Will be interesting to see if he becomes the starter next season or if it goes back to Hightower. As a side note, local boy Evan Royster had a couple of nice runs.

3. Good O line play. Have to feel really good about this group as they protected Rexy and got the run game going. It was a patch work O line that was missing three starters. It was comprised of from left to right, undrafted rookie Willie Smith (I think that is the guy), Mo Hurt, Montgomery, Chester, Polumbus (I think that is the guy). Jamal Brown hurt himself in warmups forcing Polumbus in there. Smith got the nod over Locklear which is interesting. Apparently, coaches and teammates are high on Smith and he didn't disappoint. Thought he had a very good game.

4. Tired of Moss dropping passes. I like the guy and think he is a great team guy but his dropped balls are something that has plagued him for a few years now. He does a number of good things but that's two weeks in a row that he has dropped critical passes. In yesterday's game he dropped one early on and then flipped the ball on our last offensive play allowing NE to intercept the ball. We need better from him.

5. STUPID call for NE down near our end zone. Don't know if the O coordinator called it or Brady called it but that was just dumb. There is less than 5 minutes to play and they are up by 7. A FG makes it a two possession game. Instead of running and taking time off of the clock, the worst imaginable situation occurs with Wilson making a great INT in the end zone. It allowed us the opportunity to tie it there at the end. It was also interesting to see Brady go at it with the coordinator. I think Brady was blaming the young WR for not going after the ball but the pass was a little behind and Wilson made a tremendous play. Either way, it was a DUMB call and it was silly for Brady to get angry.

6. Guano sucks! After our FG to make the score 7-3, Guano kicks the ball out of bounds giving the ball to Brady and the Pats at their 40 yard line. That is a killer. We cannot be doing that knowing they have such a potent offense. Inexcusable. Two plays later, the Pats scored another TD. That's three weeks in a row I can remember that Guano has done something stupid on the kickoffs (kicked out of bounds against Seattle, short kick against the Jets, kicked out of bounds against NE). I'm tired of his monkey arse!

7. D was okay. We got pressure and should have sacked Brady a couple of more times but he weaseled his way out. Still, we shut him down pretty much in the first half. I thought D. Hall has been good the last couple of weeks but was disappointed with him yesterday. Picking up the flag and throwing it was dumb and as a captain he has to know better. I love his passion but it is what gets him in trouble at times. However, I was more disappointed with him on the short pass to Gronkowski where he dove and got it and then got up to run and looked like he would be tackled by Gomes and Doughty but escaped and got like another 15-20 yards. While Gomes and Doughty are holding him, Hall is standing there assuming he is going down and does nothing. Pursue and hit him and not only make sure he gets down but make sure he knows he is in for a long day. That was very disappointing for me.

8. Wasn't thrilled with the officiating. The personal foul on Fletcher was bothersome. Yeah, I know it is Tom Brady but he was still very high when Fletcher hit him. I know he is going into his slide but at full speed it is hard to tell what he is going to do and you have to give the defender some leeway to make a play. Brady is no small guy and if he decides to be tough and fight for extra yardage, a defender has to make a play. The defender doesn't know what the QB is going to do and at full speed it's hard to hold up in a fraction of a second. To me, a very bad call. Also, the push off called on Moss was suspect. The defender got in his way and Moss is just trying to run his route. There was contact but didn't see much of a push off.

In the end, I don't care too much that we lost. I was more proud of the effort. Again, this team has not shown it is quitting. In fact, in a way, it was the best possible scenario as we fought hard against a team most people thought would blow us out and by losing we can hope for a better draft pick.

With many draft picks and cap room to spare and a defense that has vastly improved, we have an opportunity to improve the offense (and the entire team) this offseason. Next year will be very telling of the Shanny era as we have to expect great improvement.

HAIL SKINS!!!