Mike Dussault

Pats Posits: We’re On to Jacoby Brissett

September 18, 2016 by Mike Dussault

The 2016 Patriots season took a drastic turn on Sunday against the Dolphins.

The Pats exploded out of the gate, with Jimmy Garoppolo throwing three touchdowns and looking Brady-esque with his pocket movement. He delivered multiple strikes, converting the first four third-downs he faced.

It was like it was 2007 again. The defense forced four punts and two turnovers in the first half. The Dolphin’s headsets were going out. Garoppolo was about mak

Then Garoppolo took this hit…

Jimmy G hurt pic.twitter.com/XUH0jbpAZw

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 18, 2016

And the entire season changed course. The Pats held on 31-24, needing a game-sealing interception to seal what was a 24-3 lead. It was far more stressful than it should’ve been.

Meanwhile, Garoppolo has an AC sprain and is already out for the Texans on Thursday night.

And just like that, all the talk of Brady vs. Garoppolo comes to a screeching halt. Garoppolo will be back this season, but he shouldn’t see the field again (we hope).

A powder keg of hot taeks was just dropped overboard to the bottom of the ocean with this injury. But it will be back. They always come back.

For now, the Pats must survive the Texans and Bills with rookie Jacoby Brissett at quarterback and protect their 2-0 record. This is one of the most fascinating coaching challenges Bill Belichick has faced. Luckily it should only last two games.

More on Brissett, Garoppolo and a defense that gave up three consecutive touchdowns and needed an interception to seal what should’ve been a blowout in the Posits…

New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 2 vs Miami Dolphins

September 16, 2016 by Mike Dussault

It’s Week 2 already as the Patriots face their AFC East rival the Miami Dolphins in New England’s home opener of the 2016 season. The Patriot are still smarting over a Week 17 loss in Miami last season, with Bill Belichick coming right out and mentioning the “sickening” loss in his weekly press conference.

The Dolphins have a new coach in Adam Gase, and plenty of talent on both sides of the ball. Coming off an ugly loss to the Seahawks, a win in New England would get the Dolphins season immediately back on track. However Miami hasn’t won in Foxboro since 2008’s Wildcat game.

Do they have another innovative gameplan to pull off the upset? Here my Patriots gameplan to prevent it…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4xKSZaHyBA

Patriots vs. Cardinals Film Review: Offense Edition

September 14, 2016 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots offense did just enough to win against the Cardinals. They excelled on the first two drives of the game and the first drive after the half. Outside of those three, things were fairly pedestrian with two fumbles and two punts on the next four drives. Then, in a mark of well-coached and well-prepared team, two field goal drives to end the game.

Those two drives went 13 and 11 plays respectively, both impressive numbers when I think most of us probably expected the Pats and Garoppolo to fade down the stretch. Garoppolo’s decision making was on point nearly the entire night and despite a couple missed opportunities, it’s hard to ask for more out of a quarterback in his first start on the road against a very good defense.

One of the advantages Garoppolo has always had is his quick release. Even if his reads are sometimes a little slow, he can consistently make up some time with the speed of his delivery, which continued to surprise defenders.

Here’s what stood out in the film review of the offense…

Patriots vs. Cardinals Film Review: Defense Edition

September 13, 2016 by Mike Dussault

It’s always exciting when the Patriots unveil their fully operational defense in the first game of the season, but there wasn’t much surprise this year. The Pats continued to stick to their Cover-1 Man coverage that they’ve played extensively the last two seasons. There were occasional zone coverages and blitzes mixed in, but otherwise it was about lining up and forcing their receivers to beat our cornerbacks.

The real fun of the defense is in the front seven, where you have a collection of athletic pieces who can all rush the passer or drop into pass coverage on any given down. They’ll show a front like the one below, and then let the offense figure out who’s going where. On this particular play, Flowers, Collins and Hightower all drop, leaving a three man rush. Chris Long got the one-on-one and not only got the sack but drew a facemask.

Cardinals Wk 1 Defensive Front

So there you have it. Five guys on the LOS and the offense has to figure out how to block who’s coming after the snap. This is where the magic of this Patriots defense lies and when Rob Ninkovich returns and if Barkevious Mingo finds a defensive role, they’ll have another two pieces to play with like this.

The other fun things they can do are fake a coverage drop, then come on a delayed blitz, or just the opposite, start to come, then stop and drop. This allows the defense to stick to their conservative roots of mostly four- and three-man rushes, but makes the front so fluid it creates more opportunities for free rushers.

Here are some more observations about the defense after reviewing the All-22 film…

Notes (and GIFs) on the Pats-Cardinals Re-Watch

September 12, 2016 by Mike Dussault

Took another look at some of the key moments of last night’s game. Overall it was a very good start but there are certainly some areas to focus on. Here are just a few leftover thoughts and a few of the big plays that stood out to me. For my full thoughts make sure to check out the Posits.

white

Pats Posits: Pats Steal Another One in the Desert

September 11, 2016 by Mike Dussault

Oh ye of little faith. Never doubt the Patriots under Bill Belichick in a football game.

For all the turnover and injury attrition, the Patriots still very much looked like the Patriots Sunday night, getting a game-ending missed field goal from Arizona kicker Chandler Catanzaro to prevail over the Cardinals, 23-21.

The defense held on for dear life as Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald started to put on a clinic, but made the last critical play (a drawn hold by Chris Long) and preserved the lead that Jimmy Garoppolo got back.

The offense had to put together a game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. Jimmy Garoppolo, despite one fumble lost, looked every bit a competent professional quarterback. He threw for a touchdown and 264 yards.

He was sacked just twice behind a makeshift offensive line that featured two backup tackles and two rookie guards.

The Pats are 1-0 while the rest of the division is 0-1. Things are looking rosey in Patriots Nation once again as we begin our voyage toward Super Bowl 51. The Bill Belichick magic is very much alive and well.

Here are the Posits on the 1-0 2016 Pats…

Patriots Pregame Meal: Kickoff Sunday

September 11, 2016 by Mike Dussault

Yes, the day is finally here! Football is back and we can spend all day watching the appetizer games until the Pats kickoff against the Cardinals tonight.

Some notes and thoughts to pass along as we start pregaming for our pregame.

— Had been wondering about whatever uniforms the Patriots will be wearing for their Thursday night “color rush” game against the Texans next week. The Patriots were one of the only teams to resist the “fly collar” when the league switched to Nike uniforms in 2012, and I expect they’re probably resistant to anything too silly or fancy for this latest NFL marketing ploy. But still, as someone who loves uniforms/helmets/facemasks I can’t help but be a little excited to see a new Pats jersey. They haven’t worn their Pat Patriot red throwbacks since 2012 due to some stupid helmet issue. Apparently they can’t afford a second set of helmets? But hopefully these expected red uniforms that Mike Reiss wrote will be announced on Tuesday will satiate our need for some throwback Patriots.

— Lotta miserable Pats fans already chalking up a loss tonight. I’m not convinced simply because of the Patriots’ defense. The Cardinals aren’t unbeatable at home and if you happened to see the Amazon special All or Nothingabout their season, they were extremely hot and cold at times last year. They lost to the Rams at home early last season. The Patriots have the pass rushers to get after Carson Palmer. That is the key. If Hightower, Sheard, Long, Johnson and maybe Mingo are unleashed tonight, things are going to be interesting no matter how Garoppolo moves the offense.

— This is Belichick with a defense in its prime, with a ton of moveable parts, going against a quarterback who’s been known to struggle against good teams, and could perhaps be fast approaching the end of the line. The Cardinals offense did NOTHING this preseason.

— The Patriots are almost never blown out, but that’s been with Brady and often Gronk. So I get that we’re in new territory here, but the fact remains that New England is one of the best-coached and most disciplined teams in NFL history. The coaches will have a gameplan working around the guys who are out and one that should give the team a chance to win.

— Season openers are always fluky games. Both teams have surprises waiting. Tackling and ball security is often sloppy. That means the better team doesn’t always win early in the season. And let’s not forget the total meltdown the Cardinals had in Carolina in last year’s NFC Championship. Not saying they turn in a stinker like that again, but this Cardinals team has to prove that their aging stars haven’t fully fallen off the cliff.

— Pats continue to make small contract moves, locking up Ninkovich for another season. Good signing. Crazy how many deals Ninkovich has made with the Pats.

Source: #Patriots have signed DE Rob Ninkovich to a 1-year extension thru 2017. Now playing on a 2-yr, $4.27m deal

— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 11, 2016

— But if we don’t re-sign Hightower and Collins I’m going to be sick.

— What will give me real concern is if LeGarrette Blount is picking up little-to-negative yardage on first down carries. That is a recipe for disaster. Keep Jimmy out of third-and-longs at all costs.

— This was a different defense without Tyrann Mathieu last season. Yes he’s back, but we’ve seen how guys coming off ACLs aren’t the same player immediately. His job is easier without Gronk in the mix, but let’s see how effective he is right out of the gate.

— Games that I’ll be keeping an eye on today: Bengals at Jets, Bills @ Ravens, Packers @ Jaguars.

— The Broncos magical run has apparently spilled over into 2016. Who needs a quarterback? Not the Broncos apparently. They certainly have a talented defense but I don’t get how games just always seem to spin into their favor in the fourth quarter in close games. Every call, every bounce, everything seems to suddenly go their way almost like it used to for the Patriots during their 21-game win streak from 2003-2004. I am trying to embrace them in the role of my NFL villain, but I just don’t understand how they continue to have a horseshoe up their ass.

— Even without Gronk I’d expect plenty of heavy offensive sets tonight. All three tackles, Bennett and Harbor/Derby and a large dose of James Develin as well. There’s certainly a path to victory with the ground and pound if we can get it going (which we couldn’t last year).

— This game feels a lot like 2008 Week 2, when the Pats had to march into New York to face Brett Favre and the Jets with Matt Cassel in his first start. It seemed like now or never for the Jets then, but the Pats still came up with a 19-10 win. They key that day was of course, no turnovers by the offense.

— No matter what happens tonight, it’s one game and the season opener at that. You can never judge a season outlook from this one game. The Pats have had plenty of close battles in the season-opener with teams that went on to be terrible. The Pats have also looked nearly-terrible in many of those games themselves. So take all the hot taeks that are surely coming this week with a grain of salt. Good or bad. It’s a long road and that’s what makes it interesting.