https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlRLVUrdouw
Step 1 of exorcising the demons that penetrated our collective eyes and hearts last Sunday night was this commercial. We all know TB can slice up a defense like a pizza pie, but this acting job had Leo DiCaprio taking notes. Just magnificent. Unfortunately, Tommy’s acting reviews were stronger than the team’s performance against Seattle. Is the sky falling? No, of course not. But is it okay to be upset with the gameplay and execution? Absolutely. And if you watched a series of Sunday’s bout, you know exactly where we have to start for this weeks’ links. Hint: it’s not on Brady’s side of the ball.
Let’s break the ice with one from boss man Mike D, who broke down the defensive effort here after an All-22 film review. It’s a very nice breakdown of some critical plays/drives, stats, and X’s and O’s. I’m not going to get deep in the weeds of how and why the Pats defense struggled like Mike did, but I want to specifically note his concluding paragraph on the Patriots’ defensive unit:
Over the bye I called for more simplification of the roles on defense to let the guys focus on winning their battles. That’s the opposite of what they did here, spinning the dial between zone and man and picking their spots with rushers. I wonder how they’d change things up in a re-match, because this wasn’t the 2014 Seahawks team. This was a spread team that did to us what we usually do, pick the right matchups and sling it.
[Read more…] about Best/Worst in Weekly Patriots Links – 11/19
