Best week ever / Worst week ever: Week 3

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I think my heart is still beating from that game. We had it wrapped up, then not so much, then it seemed like all was lost, and then Tom was Tom. My god. It was enough to give a lesser man, or in my case a psycho fan who ate too many wings and drank too many bud delights, a massive heart attack. And we’re only in week 3.

There was a LOT to take away from that game. Ups and downs. There’s plenty of both. Let’s get to the stand outs.

BEST WEEK EVER

The Chef. Brandin Cooks is here ladies and gentleman!! Get your shields up because Cookie is finally shooting them arrows!

Wow-we did it feel good watching that young man come alive. There were plenty of great Patriots on Sunday. Gronk was a beast, and we should all take a moment to thank the old gods and the new that he is in fact healthy and dominating. Hogan did his usual Houdini act, getting nude behind the coverage with no one around him, and cashing in for a couple scores. But this week belongs to Cooks.

It started early. The catch on the first drive with a defender inside his shirt was something to behold. He may have gotten off to a slow start this year, but that’s the type of catch that shows everyone he's an elite player. After that catch he was quiet for a while again, and I won’t lie I started to worry. I need Cookie to be at least a 5 catch a game sort of guy, and so far that hasn’t been the case. Little did I know he was just biding his time…

The deep crossing route touchdown was perfection. He created his separation for the catch, and before you could blink, it was over. Just like old Johnny O in the bedroom. For the first time this season, we saw the wheels. Cooks left every defender in the dust for his first touchdown of the season. Simultaneously that play put some nerves in the defense, and got Pats Nation frothing at the mouth.

The 4th quarter came and Cooks was born. Like our own child. He had the beautiful come back route to move the chains on the final drive. As sexy as that was, nothing could compare to the last minute tuddy. Everything about the play was perfect. The route he ran to get open. The body positioning to make the grab and avoid the hit from the incoming defender that would have pushed him out of bounds. Finally, the feet. My god the feet. Rex Ryan must have been searching for the nearest cold shower. Before we could calm ourselves down and have our post-sex cigarette, Cooks topped it off with the Edelman-esque 2pt conversion.

It was all worth the wait. Cooks is alive, and I don’t think he’s going to sleep anytime soon.



WORST WEEK EVER

I want to start this off by saying I don’t feel good about this decision. But worst week ever is going to team captain, Devin McCourty. I want it on the record that I’m a Dev guy. He’s one of the top safeties in the league, and I for one celebrated when he got his big contact. He’s been a true iron man for this team, and he’s clearly a massive leader. Aside from the fact that he shares an Instagram account with his twin brother like an absolute lunatic, there’s nothing this guy does that I don’t love. Unfortunately, his start to the 2017 season has been down right poopy. I already said that I’m in the camp that thinks the blown coverage play in the KC game was his fault, and yesterday wasn’t much better.

A staple of last year’s defense was “no big plays.” As hard as the “bend don’t break” defense is to watch, at the end of the day it can win games. So far this season we’ve seen WAY too many big plays. A lot of that comes down to Dev. All game we saw Watson with too many open men down field after avoiding a sack. At times Dev seemed lost, allowing his men to get free. On the Bruce Ellington touchdown, Dev got totally fooled by a weak look off from Watson and allowed a touchdown pass to get past him. Ellington’s route was coming right at Dev’s safety help, Anne Frankly that was a ball that should have been picked off.

Things got worse for Dev on the next offensive tuddy for the Texans when Ryan Griffin absolutely beasted Dev for a back shoulder grab. It looked like he had no idea where the ball was until after Griffin did his best impression of a Gronk spike.

The good news is I don’t think Dev is the type of player we need to worry about. It’s early and he’ll shake off the rust. That said, we’re already thin at DB and we don’t need to start panicking about our strongest guys. So it’d be great if Dev ya know……… Didn’t suck.