Well, not really. But I wasn't the only one who wanted him chained to the very end of the bench after dancing out of bounds instead of lowering his shoulder to get the extra yard on the first drive of the second half. Stop freaking dancing around the holes the line opens up for you and run through them, for bleep's sake! Hip Shakin Santa is cool for about 39 seconds at Christmas time, Hip Shakin, Dancing or whatever Maroney is not cool at all. Dude, use the gifts you have or I will start calling for Kyle Eckel to be activated. At least he'll run hard all the time, I'm not sure that you do.
But I'm not going to complain anymore, since the Pats won their first game ever in San Francisco today, 30-21. A solid all-around effort with some issues, but a solid win against an occasionally decent team on the road, I'll take it. After a shaky start, the Pats controlled the ball for nearly 40 minutes and were never in any real danger of losing. 3-1! 1/2 game out of first place!
What I liked: Matt Casell. Bounced back big time from a couple early picks and a fumbled snap. The very next play after he recovered that fumbled snap, he stayed calm, didn't let the rush get to him, boom! 66 yard bomb to Moss, who had totally burned the 2 DBs that tried to cover him. That may go down as a landmark play this season that really got Cassell in gear with the offense. The INT on the first series, he was hit as he threw the ball, causing the trajectory to go to SF's Takeo Spikes instead of the Pats target down field. But coming right back with the long play to Moss was a huge bounce back in so many ways. And the jumping up in the air to mimic a high snap on the direct snap to Kevin Faulk (2 rushing TDs for the first time in his career) was pure football brilliance.
Also liked Faulk's 2 record touchdowns, Moss was a real part of the offense again, Brandon Meriweather was solid through. Adalius Thomas was big time in the second half too. But today may have been Matt Cassel's coming out party, sort of speak. He was sacked five times, but I don't recall him making a reckless throw to avoid a sack. He seemed to know when to just take the sack and move one. Stephen Gostkowski is establishing himself as a Pro Bowl caliber kicker too. Clutch field goals and great kickoffs again. Props to the Pats braintrust for drafting him when they did.
Needs Improvement: O-Line. I don't know if they miss Stephen Neal more than anyone realizes, but the Niners were able to put far more pressure on Cassel than they should have been able to. I would have liked to have seen the pass rush finish the job more often when pressuring SF, but you can't have everything. After all, they did force a lot of throwaways. And with Maroney's performance he should be left in San Francisco for a week on the bench.
But the important part is the win. Go Pats!
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