SZ702

BY JIM DAWSON

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

PATRIOTS DEFENSE DROWNS DOLPHINS 43-0

The 87° game start temperature and 67% humidity (per Gamebook) did not slow down the Patriot defense on Sunday. They did something no other Patriot team had ever done to the Dolphins while playing in Miami – they shut them out. Rookie Head Coach Brian Flores (ex-Pats’ D coordinator) even called a time out with 1 second left in the Red Zone trying desperately for a touchdown. The ball was then deflected by Duron Harmon to Jamie Collins for his 2^nd INT of the game. Shutout!

The Pats D did something else unusual – they had 2 interceptions (Gilmore and Collins’ 1^st) returned for pick 6’s. A check of pro-football-reference.com shows that the Patriots had 18 interceptions in 2018, but only one was returned for a TD (Devin McCourty). This was done in one game!

Four interceptions (Collins -2, Gilmore and Devin McCourty). McCourty’s was courtesy of Gilmore who tipped the pass to him. Seven sacks (Butler – 2, Winovich 1.5, Shelton 1 Bennett 1, Simon 1, Collins .5). As you can see by who had the sacks – they mostly came on blitzes (love that Jerod Mayo).

The D also had 12 QB hits. Now I know that all this was against a very suspect Miami team. We’ll save some of the accolades for when they play somebody good. Still...

The offense was good enough to have a 13-0 lead at half but I was rankled by K Stephen Gostkowski missing a FG and extra point (Flores’ time out to ‘freeze’ Gostko worked). I could hear Gillette seatmate Bill ‘Gunner’ Flanagan yelling ‘Wide Right Gostkowski’. Gostko missed another extra point on the last Pats touchdown. Wide right.

Tom Brady quickly put Antonio Brown to work as the only passes on the opening touchdown drive were to Brown, who caught all 3, leading to Sony Michel’s rushing TD. Brown snagged his 4^th catch just before half and that was for a touchdown. Brown appeared to get away with a push-off vs ex-Pat Eric Rowe, who was lit up all day. Ironically Brown was targeted 4 more times in the 2^nd half with nary a catch.

The Patriots offense then scored 30 points in the 2^nd half to finish the job. Three Pats TDs came in the 4^th quarter. Belichick rarely takes out Brady even with a big lead. His attitude is that its the other team’s task to stop the Pats from scoring.

However another significant injury occurred to the Pats offensive line in this game. Already missing C David Andrews for the season (IL) and without RT Marcus Cannon for the game, LT Isaiah Wynn went out with a foot injury on the Pats 2^nd possession of the game. New acquisition Marshall Newhouse went in for Wynn who didn’t return. Newhouse, a free agent, was signed on 9/11. OL Korey Cunningham (obtained in a trade with Arizona on 8/28), was playing in place of Cannon at RT. The only other healthy active OL was recently re-signed James Ferentz.

Gamebook has Brady being sacked twice and hit one other time. My notes show that RG Shaq Mason and LT Newhouse gave up a sack. Newhouse also had two holding calls, both of which were declined. Cunningham had a bad false start penalty with the Pats on the Miami 1. No matter. Brady ended up scoring on a QB sneak which made it 23-0.

The Patriots’ Offensive Line is so important to Tom Brady’s health. Now they are missing their starting Center (rushes up the middle), LT (Brady’s blind side) and RT. Pats fans can only hope that Cannon and Wynn are back soon. Online research shows that Wynn has a toe injury and is having an MRI today. It’s not clear how long Cannon’s shoulder injury will keep him out. Expect more shoring up of the OL.

AROUND THE NFL

Why you need a very good Offensive Line – Ben Roethlisberger left the game against the Seahawks with an elbow injury. The Steelers lost. Roethlisberger just underwent surgery and is out for the year. Drew Brees suffered a hand injury and the Saints lost to the Rams. Brees will undergo surgery for a torn ligament in his throwing thumb. Brees is expected to be out at least 6 weeks.

Sunday, Oakland scored the first 10 game points in the 1^st quarter. KC, their opponent, scored 28 points (4 passing TDs) in the 2^nd quarter. Neither team scored otherwise.

The Colts beat the Titans in Nashville 19-17 despite Vinatieri missing two extra points.

Vikings QB Mark Cousins went 14 for 32 with 2 INTs in a loss to GB. That’s 44%. Boo!

Some teams can’t run the ball: Washington had 47 yards vs Dallas; KC had 31 vs Oakland; the Bengals had 25 vs. SF; NO (w/ Kamara) had 57 vs LA; the Eagles (49) vs. Atlanta (57) were equally deficient. The Cardinals had a chance against the Ravens (losing 23-17) despite running for 20 yards and having the ball 15+ fewer minutes. Sportzine is available at jimdawsonsports.com thanks to Buffalo Steve Lenz

THE HOT CLUB

Big John was asking me how the Red Sox could do well in so many offensive categories yet have a terrible year. Starting pitching I told him. Three Cy Young winners who didn’t pitch that way. John asked me if any other teams had 3 Cys starting. I paused and thought of Houston with Verlander and I thought Greinke had one (he does). They had another in Dallas Keuchel but he’s in Atlanta now. So just the Red Sox. Oh the pain!

Was telling Captain Jack, Dr. John and Special K about my daily walks to Slater Park and rediscovering it. I reminisced about Fanny the Elephant and her sale to a Texas Ranch (thankfully). I mentioned that Fanny had a male companion at that ranch called Conga and noted that Sean Larkin created Revival’s Fanny and Conga to honor them. Special K noted that Fanny was too old to mate at that point (she was 49, lived to 59).

So that made me think of the Park’s Zoo which had a polar bear (dumb idea), and a baboon named ‘Dirty’ Henry, who had to move on after throwing feces at onlookers. The Park also had ‘Monkey Island’, a cement island with a water moat and climbing bars on it. Some mean kids used to throw stones at the poor monkeys. A storm blew down a tree which landed on the island and all the monkeys escaped (thank you Mother Nature).

LAST ISSUE’S TRIVIA ANSWER

The question: this English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer had the good fortune to have Lowell George play on his first solo album and reportedly serve as its unofficial producer. Then Lowell George and Little Feat backed him on his second solo LP, and in fact toured with him. There are members of Little Feat (but not Lowell George) on his 3rd solo LP. This artist won two Grammy awards (Best Male Rock Vocal Performance) for his later work. Name?

Well, not only did no one get the answer, no one even ventured a guess. The answer is Robert Palmer. First album Sneakin’ Sally Thru the Alley (song written by Allen Toussaint) was followed by Pressure Drop (the great Toots and the Maytals reggae song) backed by Little Feat and James Jamerson on bass, and then Some People Can Do What They Like.

Later, Palmer won two Grammys (Best Male Rock Vocal) for #1 hit Addicted to Love and Simply Irresistible (#2 in the US)). The very memorable music videos for those two songs were done by British fashion photographer Terence Donovan.(Source- Wikipedia)

THIS ISSUE’S TRIVIA QUESTION

Now in Pawtucket, I have Verizon which has the AXS channel (great music docs). They showed a post-Woodstock concert that drew at least 300,000 rock fans over 3 days. Yet I had never ever heard of the event. Have you?