The late, legendary college football coach Darrell K. Royal once said this about trying to win a game with what you have, rather than what you don’t:
“Ol’ ugly is better than ol’ nothin’.”
At the time, he was referring to a question asked of him about not having one of his best players ready for the next big game. His explanation for the quote, and the subsequent story behind it, was about a boy who took an unattractive date to a local dance.
When he was derided for doing so, he simply replied “ol’ ugly is better than ol’ nothin’.”
Coach Royal never revealed who the boy was, but I’m not sure he had to. His point was made, and it was a simple one. Going to the dance was better than not going at all…just like winning a game is certainly better than not winning it at all.
And that’s pretty much the way the Patriots should be looking at what transpired in Houston over the weekend, as they survived what could have been a season-crushing blow from the Texans. Instead, led by Mac Jones‘ first-ever game-winning drive, New England prevailed 25-22.
It was far from perfect. It was almost wretched by comparison to the previous weeks’ loss at home to Tampa Bay, when the Patriots’ defense kept old friend Tom Brady from reaching the end zone. The defense was pushed around, shoved, outmuscled, and outplayed by an offense led by another rookie QB in Davis Mills; a Stanford product and 3rd round draft pick stepping into the breach for the talented-but-disgraced Deshaun Watson.
A defense that usually eats opposing rookie QB’s for lunch allowed Mills to complete 72% of his passes for 312 yards, with three touchdowns and no turnovers. If it hadn’t been for a couple of egregious coaching decisions and a lack of execution from the Texans’ special teams – it could have been Mills with bragging rights over the Patriots’ star-in-the-making.
But, at the very least, Jones’ teammates picked him up this time. It was a win. It wasn’t pretty. And in a season where it seems no one knows where the wins could come from, you take them and simply move along to the next team on your dance card.
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Ep 162: Joe Flacco, Dak Prescott and The MVP, Week 13 Discussion
by Full Press Coverage on December 3, 2023 at 3:58 pm
That would be Dallas in this instance. And be thankful that you have a nice-looking date for the dance.
Around FPC
NFL: Game Recap: Bengals Fall 22-25 (OT) to Packers
NFL: Browns Run Out Of Juice Late, Lose 47-42 To Chargers
Fantasy: Mac Jones Rallies Patriots Past Texans
NHL: Montreal Canadiens Carey Price Entering NHL/NHL Player Assistance Program
Wrestling: WWE Must Retire The WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
PODCAST: Full Press NFL Podcast Ep 14: Russell Wilson Injury, Chiefs/Bills, Week 5 Preview
Get off the field
Defensively, the Patriots’ defense was the yin to last week’s yang against the Buccaneers. In other words – an opposite. Against the Texans, the defense simply could not make a stop to get off the field during the first half, especially on a monster 18-play, 79-yard drive that took more than ten minutes off the game clock.
Followed by three plays, 75 yards. Followed by 15 plays and 65 yards. Nearly 19 minutes of clock time out of the 30 minutes in the first half. With Davis Mills leading the way.
If at first you don’t succeed
The Texans were a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth down conversions, and nearly 50% on 3rd down tries. They gained 6.4 yards per offensive snap for the game. How did they lose the game?
Ill-timed decisions in the kicking game; a punt kicked into the back of their own blocker, two missed extra points and a missed 56-yard field goal attempt. Self-inflicted, several of their wounds were.
Getting their kicks
NFL kickers were, for the most part, getting kicked around Sunday. 12 missed field goals and 12 missed extra points were a large part of the storylines around the league, with the missed PAT’s tying a league record for most misses in one week during the Super Bowl era.
Week 5 in this NFL season is the first week since 2015 (when the PAT was moved back) to have double-digit misses in BOTH PAT’s and FGA’s. In Cincinnati and Green Bay, Evan Crosby and Evan McPherson had five potential go-ahead field goal attempts combined in the last four minutes of regulation and overtime.
And they missed them all…before Crosby finally found the range for the Packers’ game-winner.
Kinda makes the three combined extra-point misses in Houston by Ka’imi Fairbairn and Nick Folk pale by comparison, doesn’t it?
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