PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Archives for February 8, 2011

Patriots History Tuesday: The hit that changed the course of a franchise

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Today we bring you the infamous Mo Lewis on Drew Bledsoe hit that opened the door for Tom Brady. When people like Brady talk about this hit they make it sound like no one has ever been hit as hard as Lewis hit Bledsoe. But to be honest it really doesn’t look that bad does it. I don’t know what Stew was trying to do by not just turning his shoulder and stepping out of bounds, but yeah, this hit just about killed him. 

Makes me think I should break down the Top 5 defining plays of the Patriots dynasty… 

Big picture draft thoughts from a Patriots perspective

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We’ve obviously been using the last few weeks to slowly get up to speed on the 2011 draft. That’s the great thing for someone like me who doesn’t follow college football, as soon as the Patriots season ends there’s a whole world of knowledge to be uncovered. So it definitely helps getting over the end of football.

Our goal this year is to end up with a list of about fifty prospects that fit the Patriots scheme and personnel requirements and then find out how many of their actual picks were on that list. So as we’ve started there have been some really encouraging things that we’ve uncovered.

First, if you had to list the Patriots draft needs (not that they necessarily draft for need) they’d probably look something like:

  • OLB – tall, heavy, run stopping/pass rushing type
  • DE – big, hold your ground, shift inside and rush the passer type
  • RB – big, physical type to compliment Woody/Benny
  • WR – big, physical type to compliment smaller receivers
  • G/C – big, physical, Logan Mankins-type
  • FS – intelligent, ball-hawking type

So the good news, there are a lot of these players that fit what the Pats need, except for maybe the FS which is probably the least pressing of these needs.

There are at least 3 first round graded defensive ends that look like 3-4 types. There are 7 of the top 11 WRs that are 6’ 1" or bigger, and there are quite a few large running backs as well. There are at least two tough, versatile interior OL that are projected to go mid-late first round.

The OLBs remain the toughest to project, but on paper there appear to be at least a couple that could have some Pats potential.

It is pretty much guaranteed that an elite player right in the wheelhouse of Pats’ needs is going to fall to 17. It might not be the sexy pass rusher most are hoping for, but it’s clear the Pats are in prime position to draft impact players at positions of need.

As always, they have the ammunition to move up the board if they want to. It looks like this draft could make as much of an impact as the 2010 class did and that is downright scary.

Check out our draft page to see where we’re at with our research. Questions and comments are welcome!

Offseason Media Fun at PatsPropaganda

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As we begin a long and tedious offseason we’ve got a couple projects in the works to help get us all through it.

The first is our new and improved YouTube page. We’re looking to add the best Patriots videos, and we’ve established our Top 6 Favorites, Patriots Comedy, and Highlights playlists. So if you make or see a Patriots video that is great please make sure to pass it along to us.

The second is that we’ve partnered up with Erik Frenz, featured columnist on Bleacher Report and Myspace Football Curator, to do a Patriots podcast. Our first show will run tonight at 11:30pm EST/8:30pm PST, but you’ll be able to also listen to it in our archives which will eventually all be posted here on the site.

For tonight’s show you can use this link and we’ll also post a player here on the site just before we go on. It will just be a half hour of nothing but in-depth Pats analysis, discussion and hopefully debate.

Hopefully these two items will help us all get through the offseason.

Offseason Education: Patriots Schemes

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Offseason Education: Patriots Schemes

In an effort to help some of my fellow Patriots brethren gain a little more football knowledge this offseason I’ll be bringing occasional links and articles that can help clarify some of the finer points of the game.

Today we have this link about the Patriots strategy from Wikipedia. This is about as basic as you can get, but it’s a good place to start. One of the biggest points I’d like to stress, especially as we get closer to draft time, is that there are different types of 3-4 defenses in the NFL.

The Patriots are looking for defensive lineman who can hold their ground against two monster offensive lineman, whereas the Steelers are looking for defensive lineman who can get upfield, and also drop occasionally into coverage. Both are 3-4 defenses, but the philosophies are much different.