Patriots 3rd Down Defense – Week 2 :Ian’s New England Patriots Blog
Great breakdown of the third downs from Ian Logue at PatsFans.com.
An Independent Patriots Blog
Patriots 3rd Down Defense – Week 2 :Ian’s New England Patriots Blog
Great breakdown of the third downs from Ian Logue at PatsFans.com.
The Arizona game was just one game. If anything, it should serve as a valuable teaching moment for one of the league’s youngest teams. Quickly learning the utmost importance of being “the same guy every day” will go a long way toward determining what kind of team the Patriots will be come January.
Pats must achieve consistency – BostonHerald.com
Nice read from Matt Chatham.
Wes Welker’s reduced role part of evolving offense – ESPN Boston
Mike Reiss hops on the “What’s up with Wes” train and sums it up:
Welker simply is no longer the focal point of the attack, likely because of a combination of merit and an evolving offense.
New information regarding the injury to Aaron Hernandez reveals he suffered a low – not high – ankle sprain during the first quarter of Sunday’s 20-18 loss to the Cardinals. According to a source, the recovery is indeed expected at 4-6 weeks with optimism toward the earlier end of that timeline.
Source: Low ankle sprain for Hernandez
This is really good news. As recently as this morning I was still worried we might not see Hernando again this season. I mean a high ankle sprain that required surgery could’ve done just that. And we all saw how much pain Hernando looked like he was in. This is a very positive development. Thank Hoodie!
We have different combinations of personnel groups out there in every game. Pretty much every week, that’s pretty much he way we run our offense, and we have for quite a while. The players that we have out there are the ones that we feel are best for that particular play, situation, however you want to look at it. Thats the way we set up the plays of the offense and when they’re called, and we put that group out there. Whatever is out there is what we think is best for our team for that time, for that play, for that situation.
And that’s about all you’re going to get out of Bill Belichick as far as Wes Welker is concerned….
Highlights from Belichick Q&A – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston
Cardinals vs. Patriots: Stats That Mattered in New England’s Week 2 Loss | Bleacher Report/Frenz
Good breakdown from Frenz.
I’ve never understood fans with a penchant for criticizing offensive coordinators.
First of all, everything goes through BB. It’s not like McDaniels is off coming up with his own ideas for what works willy nilly and Belichick is just hoping he comes up with something good. The game plan is a methodical selection of plays designed to attack perceived weaknesses based on down and distance and what the defense is doing.
Secondly, what do any of us fans know about a game plan to begin with? We don’t know what tendencies or players the game plan is trying to exploit, nor do we know why the staff believes the play will be successful against certain defenses. We also have no sense of play concepts or what the offense might be trying to set the defense up for later in the game.
And thirdly, who’s to say it was even the actual play that was called, or that it wasn’t just a missed assignment or block that caused the play to fail? There is just so much we don’t know.
Fans see an ill-executed play, or a run when they think it should’ve been a pass and go crazy about the “play calling”, but it’s so much more complicated than that. Maybe that run seemed like a bad call because it got blown up, but what if they told you 85% of runs in that situation went for a first down?
You’re either on board with Belichick, McDaniels, Brady, Dante Scarnecchia and the entire Patriots offense as assembled, or you’re not on board with all of them.
Singling out McDaniels is way over-simplified criticism.
And for the record I think McDaniels is one of the most creative offensive minds in the game today. Check out Michael Holley’s book War Room to see how big of a hand he had in designing the 2007 Patriots offense as the pieces came together.
The offense had a bad day against the Cardinals, but I think people need to remind themselves how much turnover there was on offense this year, and realize that it takes time to find an identity.
But here’s what the world missed because of its fascination with the Tuck Rule: it missed the fact that Woodson committed a flagrant roughing the passer penalty that Coleman’s crew simply failed to call amid the swirling snow and the chaos. The blitzing cornerback viciously whacked Brady in the head – an infraction punishable by […]