An Independent Patriots Blog
NFLN Playbook: Patriots Better Without Moss
It’s interesting how they point out part of getting rid of Moss was a reflection of how they’re changing to beat the Jets. Never thought you could tell me we’d be without Moss for the rematch and I’d actually feel better about our chances.
Some Love for Stephen Neal
If there’s one guy who gets zero attention it’s Stephen Neal. Sure, you’ve heard how he used to be a wrestler and never played football before getting to the Patriots, but the guy is a beast.
One thing I noticed on Sunday was that as the Chargers were being announced, and running out to a display of cheers and pyrotechnics, it was Neal who was waiting for them as they ran out. Just standing there, staring each guy down as he ran onto the field, as if to let them know they were in for a battle.
When you’re 6’4 and 305 pounds it certainly sends a message.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/some-love-for-stephen-neal-if-theres-one-guy-who/
New England Patriots DVOA Trends
Above you’ll find the Football Outsiders rankings for the Patriots broken down by week. One important thing to note is that you want your defensive ranking to be negative, while you want you offense and special teams to go up.
So what can we tell from this graph? The defense is definitely improving on almost a week by week basis. However the offense has been slowly trending downward. Special Teams have been solid, and slowly trending upwards.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/new-england-patriots-dvoa-trends-above-youll/
Football Outsiders: Patriots #3 Overall DVOA
The Patriots are again ranked third this week in DVOA. They are 2nd in offense, 27th in defense and 5th in special teams. Their defensive DVOA is slowly starting to creep up the rankings which is a good sign. They’re actually a lot closer to the middle of the pack than they are to last place, so don’t let the 27th ranked defense fool you too much.
Reiss & Bruschi ESPN Podcast: Vikings Edition
Must listen alert! Must listen alert! Great stuff as always.
Patriots – Vikings Flashback Highlight
To kick off Vikings week we’d like to share what is probably Chad Jackson’s greatest highlight as a Patriot, which yes, I realize isn’t saying much. But still, this was a pretty sweet touchdown scramble and made us believe, for maybe just one play, that Jackson might turn out to be a player. He didn’t.
Sifting through some of these highlights from 2006 reminded me how it was one of the first times we really saw the Patriots go hard core spread offense. Of course it was surprising given that their receiver corps consisted of aging Troy Brown, soon-to-be bust Chad Jackson, Reche “One Season” Caldwell, and the infamous Doug Gabriel. At this point Jabar Gaffney was still on the periphery (if he was even on the team yet).
Anyway, this game was the first sign of what was to come in 2007, but clearly they needed Moss, Welker and Stallworth before going spread full time.
NFLN Playbook Review: Pats vs. Chargers
This is mostly a “wow the Chargers make stupid mistakes” edition of playbook, opposed to a “hey the Patriots are actually pretty good”. Of course the only Patriots-centric thing they brought up was the 4th and 1 stop. Glad that will be dead and buried by tomorrow.
Favorite part had to be Solomon Wilcots not even attempting to say “Leominster” instead choosing to identify “MA” as Maine on the viewer question. Great job, Solly.