Felger & Mazz On: Pats' Impressive Win
Felger & Mazz promised to get to the inevitable Randy Moss talk, but could not ignore the performance of the Patriots in their 38-24 week 1 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. The guys praise the Pats' dominant effort on both sides of the ball, how well-prepared they were, and the promising signs for the Patriots' young defense.
Felger "I didn't think they'd look that good. I think our doubts on that were well-founded...The preseason wasn't pretty. Yesterday encapsulates what I think we got from this team this year, which is wonderful! ...Unpredictability. The scheming on offense was awesome. How many completions did [Tom Brady] need to to put into a tight little window? Weren't most of the big plays a scheme, a design? Most of the big plays were designed. It was a well-designed game on offense...Cinncinati did not show up to play that game. They were not ready to start the season. But the Patriots were...There was a lot of uncertainty about what that team was going to look like yesterday- and it's part of what made it so great! They're going to surprise us on the upside, and it's been a long time since we've been surprised that they look so good."
Mazz: "When there were two football teams trying to beat one another, they dominated the game. I loved the balance and play-calling and versatility of the offense. They spread the ball around; they threw it deep, they threw it short, they threw to the backs, to the tight ends, they ran, they play-actioned...And defensively, on the whole, the coverage was pretty good...I thought McCourty played well. Chung was all over the field; he was a missile...The kick off coverage? Great. Their special teams play last year sucked eggs, it was awful! Huge improvement yesterday. And honestly, I thought the tackling was really good, and they sucked at that last year. So for one game, what was not to like?"
