Don Wassall said:
Pats with 8 White starters on offense tonight. A healthy Gronk would have made it 9.
I didn't catch the defensive starters. If Ninkovich, Gregory and Scott are all starting, the Patriots may break one of the league's ultimate taboos and have a majority White starting team when Gronkowski comes back.
For whatever reason, New England’s defensive starters weren’t displayed until well into the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] quarter. Gregory and Ninkovich were listed as defensive starters (as they have been all season when healthy), but Chandler Jones was listed ahead of Trevor Scott despite the fact that Scott was on the field for the first defensive snap. This gave the Patriots 10 “official” white starters on MNF.
Overall, offensively speaking, I found the “Anti-Caste Matchup” between the Patriots and Texans to be an extremely dull game from our perspective. Sure, there were plenty of white players starting and playing, but few delivered or were permitted to shine properly. Woodhead barely played (5 touches for 38 yards) again, and unfortunately fumbled at the tail end of a dynamic catch-and-run. Gronkowski can’t return soon enough to save this offense from being overrun by the likes of Hernandez, Lloyd, Stallworth, and Ridley.
Dwid said:
wtf is up with Welker, like 3 or 4 drops right now, is he focusing too hard on getting to 100 catches or something?
Aside from one 31-yard punt return and a handful of early catches, Welker had a putrid outing. The 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] quarter of last night’s game might have been the single worst quarter of his career, dropping at least 4 catchable passes. Yes, Brady was a little off, but the fact remains that Welker is 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] in the NFL in drops (after Brandon Marshall) over the last 5 seasons. Of course, with so many targets each game (coupled with endless “bracket coverage” with defenders swinging at the ball), he’s bound to drop a few passes. Hopefully he can regroup against Johnny-Wig Harbaugh’s 49ers next week on SNF.
As for the Texans…Daniels, Walter, and Casey did nothing, while Graham was injured. It didn’t help that Schaub was so inaccurate against New England’s much-improved defense, despite not receiving much pressure. Ninkovich, Scott, and Gregory all played well, as did many of New England’s black defenders (Mayo, Dennard, Hightower, and Wilfork, in particular). It isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Pats to (finally) have some black defensive stars, as it could allow New England to advance farther into the playoffs. Did any catch this hit by Steve Gregory?
CAPTION: Gregory Smashes Jean