Vin+ 3,121 Posted October 11, 2013 http://hosted.stats.com/fb/preview.asp?g=20131013017&home=17&vis=18 (AP) -- New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's streak of 52 consecutive regular-season games with a touchdown pass ended last week. He'll gladly accept another streak coming to an end Sunday. Brady is 0-3 in his NFL career against Drew Brees, who will play at New England for the first time as a member of the New Orleans Saints. Brady's only win against Brees came just over 14 years ago when he was a senior at Michigan and Brees was in his junior year at Purdue. Brees has since topped Brady and the Patriots twice with San Diego and once in New Orleans. Brady, though, is focused more on executing the basics with his struggling offense, which could feature tight end Rob Gronkowski for the first time this season. Gronkowski has been recovering from offseason surgeries on his broken left forearm and back. He participated in practice on a limited basis Wednesday. "Our job is to go out there and score, so we're not doing a great job of that," Brady said. "Our execution has to be a lot better, and that's what we're working on. We're trying to improve in all areas. It's frustrating when we don't score, but we're going to try to do better this weekend." A year after leading the league in scoring and yards per game, the Patriots (4-1) are 24th in points (19.0) and 18th in yards (343.4) after last Sunday's 13-6 loss at Cincinnati. It was Brady's first regular-season game without a touchdown pass since Jan. 3, 2010, against Houston. Five games before that, he played Brees and the Saints in New Orleans and also failed to pass for a TD in a 38-17 loss Nov. 30, 2009. Brees threw five touchdown passes in that meeting, the last between the teams. While Brady has been without Gronkowski, Brees and tight end Jimmy Graham are more in tune than ever for the Saints (5-0). Graham leads the league with 593 receiving yards and is tied for second with 37 catches and six touchdowns. "I'm just blessed to be with such a great quarterback and a guy who has so much trust in me," Graham said. Brees' next two most frequent receiving options are also not wide receivers. Running backs Pierre Thomas (28) and Darren Sproles (26) are second and third on the team in receptions. It's something Patriots coach Bill Belichick sees as a part of an offense that makes teams defend the whole field. "I think they're definitely a hard team to prepare for," Belichick said. "... They attack the width of the field and they certainly attack the depth of the field. They run vertical routes. They run deep seem routes. They run check-downs and screens and those types of patterns, too. "So you've got to defend from sideline to sideline. You've got to defend from the line of scrimmage really pretty much to the back end line. That's a lot of space defensively to account for, but that's basically their attack." Defending is what the Patriots have done well this year with the second-best scoring defense in the league at 14.0 points per game. The Saints aren't far behind in fourth (14.6), which might have something to do with their offense holding onto the ball. Their average time of possession is a league-best 34 minutes, 37 seconds. "You want to score every time you have it, so we're not purposely trying to create long drives," coach Sean Payton said. "But be efficient with your plays, and if you're winning on third down, for instance, you're staying on the field. If you're turning the ball over, conversely, all of a sudden the drive ends. There's a lot of things that factor into it." They had the ball for 36:00 in last Sunday's 26-18 win in Chicago, where Brees went 29 of 35 for 288 yards and two touchdowns while not throwing an interception for the second straight game. The Saints have given the ball away an NFC-low five times and have a plus-6 turnover differential. The Patriots have given it away just six times with a plus-4 differential, but their drives are stalling. Brady's passer rating of 80.5 and completion percentage of 56.6 are his lowest since taking over the starting job in 2001. "I think we'll try to put together any drive at this point to score points," Brady said. "Long, short - it doesn't matter. We've got to score touchdowns." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KempBolt 498 Posted October 11, 2013 24 :patriots: 21 The Pats defense can hold NO to under 30, but that may not be enough the way the New England passing game is working- or not working. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cheese Head 11 Posted October 11, 2013 Stevan Ridley may be back for this one as well as Gronk and Danny Amendola. This will give Tom Brady his weapons he needs to have a good passing game against the Saints. Saints: 24 Patriots: 27 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AllYouNeedIsLovie 377 Posted October 12, 2013 Patriots will be getting a lot of weapons back in this game, most importantly, Gronk, and I think they give the Saints their first loss of the season. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch 874 Posted October 12, 2013 (edited) I'm taking the Saints. If the Saints make it past this game, I don't see them losing for quite a while. The Saints offense is playing great as always but the Patriots defense is playing well too. The Patriots offense has been shaky but the Saints defense has been playing great and that's what I think will make the difference; the Saints defense. 27 :Patriots: 21 Edited October 12, 2013 by dutchff7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BradyFan81 404 Posted October 12, 2013 Gronk's not playing guys. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theMileHighGuy 656 Posted October 13, 2013 Game of the week, Gronk or not. I think the Saints have enough defense this time around to win this. 41 :patriots: 35 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vin+ 3,121 Posted October 13, 2013 Saints declared RB Mark Ingram (toe) and WR Lance Moore (wrist) inactive for Sunday's Week 6 game at New England. 'There's no reason for the Saints to rush Ingram back with Pierre Thomas and Khiry Robinson running between the tackles well. Give Thomas a bump into flex range. The rest of the Saints inactives: OT Zach Strief, DT Tyrunn Walker, LB Martez Wilson, CB Rod Sweeting and S Roman Harper. Stevan Ridley (knee) and Danny Amendola (groin) are both active for Sunday's game against the Saints. Ridley is reportedly near 100 percent and figures to edge ahead of LeGarrette Blount in snaps on base downs. Brandon Bolden will remain the passing back. Meanwhile, Amendola is expected to play in more formations after only seeing work in three- and four-wide sets a week ago. Rob Gronkowski (forearm) is inactive, as previously reported. The rest of the Pats' inactives: WR Matthew Slater, G Chris Barker, WR Josh Boyce, S Tavon Wilson, DT Tommy Kelly and RB Leon Washington. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
funnygunny 521 Posted October 13, 2013 (edited) A few things: 1. Holy fucking Talib. I hope he's okay but he shut down Graham the entire game and I'm pretty sure he ended up with 0 catches. 2. Tom FUCKING. Brady. 3. That 4th and 6 call. They say it was because BB doesn't trust his defense, but I'm pretty sure its because he DOES trust his defense. They held the power house Saints to like 20 points while getting a bunch of 3 and outs. I thought it was a great decision because at most, BB believed they would get a FG (and they did) so why not go for it. 4. I actually hate the fanbase for New England. Last season as well, they were losing the game against SF and half the fans just get up and leave. Fucking spoilt little shit kunt brats, probably half of them are 07/11 Super Bowl run bandwagons. If Pats aren't winning by 50 or are on the brink of losing, they get up and leave. Fuck them. WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE, WHO IS YOUR QUARTERBACK?? Boohoo 1 interception with literally over 2 minutes to play. Drives me insane. If any of them are season ticket holders they should be ashamed and forfeit their tickets to myself. /emotionrant Edited October 13, 2013 by funnygunny 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch 874 Posted October 14, 2013 This game was epic. Talib is playing like an elite corner right now and is definitely in the top corner discussion. Tom Brady went into clutch mode and scored with less then 2 minutes left. 2 minute drives in the 4th quarter that require a TD to win are the best and most exciting football games. Awesome game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Piggly Wiggly 960 Posted October 14, 2013 Epic, epic finish. Unreal that the Saints couldn't close the deal. Pats were dead in the water after that late pick. I let out a huge roar after the Kenbrell GW TD at the pub I was at lol. And I love it, every time the Pats have a shitty game the previous week and face a good team the following week, everyone and their mom's mom picks against them, and they end up winning. It's like clockwork. Also: now 5-1 minus Gronk and Wilfork... and working with a bunch of rookie receivers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvXDk9uR5vg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD6AfcoG4o8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch 874 Posted October 14, 2013 Looks like Patriots got lucky on that last play. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eefluxx 113 Posted October 14, 2013 Looks like Patriots got lucky on that last play. You're right it does, but you know what? With 2 minutes left there is know way we should have given the ball back to the Patriots much less let them have the ball 3 fucking times in the final 3 minutes. We couldn't close the deal plain and simple and Talib shut down our biggest weapon. And when I say shut down I mean really fucking shut him down. Gratz to the Pats for winning a great game 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OSUViking 505 Posted October 14, 2013 Want shitty calls? How about calling a Saints' defender for helmet-to-helmet when it blatantly wasn't and then completely ignoring some of the most obvious helmet-to-helmet on that Amendola hit. It was just stupid. And Talib is fucking awesome. BTW, what's the status of Amendola? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SteVo+ 3,702 Posted October 14, 2013 Game of the year? Game of the year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dutch 874 Posted October 14, 2013 Game of the year? Game of the year. I had the Colts and Seahawks as the game of the year but this game definitely tops it. There's no better finish in football then 2 minute drive wins. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
