When Gronkowski returned from the initial break of his forearm last season, he played 25 snaps in the season finale against the Miami Dolphins. It seems likely that New England will take a similar approach this time. That means the Patriots will pick their spots and break the glass whenever Gronkowski is needed. In those moments, he should provide an immediate boost. He’ll be a friend in a sea that is currently stocked with Brady acquaintances, which should help iron out of the weird things happening on offense, and provide New England with one of the better red-zone targets in the NFL.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/when-gronkowski-returned-from-the-initial-break-of/
Early season loss leaves Patriots at familiar crossroads – WEEI | Christopher Price
Early season loss leaves Patriots at familiar crossroads – WEEI | Christopher Price
Fun historical context read from Chris Price. Love stuff like this!!
Now it appears the 2013 Patriots are at a similar intersection, one that will determine whether or not they are tough enough – both physically and mentally – to be a success. Can they use an early season setback to pave the way for a run through the second half of the regular season? Or is the letdown part of a larger problem that could dog this team throughout the rest of the year? One thing that certainly distinguishes the current edition from previous years is that you can argue – as Brady did on Monday – that New England’s No. 1 offense has yet to be on the field. The fact that the Patriots will get their two best running backs in Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen on the field sooner rather than later, while tight end Rob Gronkowski continues to make progress from an offseason that was filled with surgeries. That alone should provide a boost to an offense that’s been sluggish for much of the first five games of the season. But it’s one thing to get a much-needed infusion of talent on the offensive side of the ball – it’s another thing to have those players be able to execute the game plan on a consistent basis.
Tough day for what has typically been a solid unit. The Bengals blitzed 14 times, but the Patriots offensive line appeared to be overwhelmed from the start. … Solder, who has been solid all year, gave up two sacks on the first series, three hurries and was responsible for one bad run. It looks like he missed his assignment on the first sack, as Geno Atkins was given a free pass to Brady.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/tough-day-for-what-has-typically-been-a-solid/
Bill Belichick Conference Call Transcript
Bill Belichick Conference Call Transcript
Q: So you have to get lined up, you can’t be playing games and trying to disguise?
BB: I’d say that’s pretty accurate. You have to be careful about trying to do too much with him. You better be able to get to what you have, which does mean that a lot of times you have to show what you’re in, in order to match up against their different looks because they create a lot of different formationing and like I said, detaching the tight end, detaching the backs, they use a lot of different personnel groups with the multiple tight ends – all their backs play, all their tight ends play, all their receivers play. They run them in and out of there in a hurry. Then get lined up and get to go, you have to be ready to play when the ball is snapped because he does a very good job of, when the defense, when they miss somebody, he finds them. They get a bunch of plays every week on I would say, defensive mistakes or alignment errors that he recognizes and just gets the ball to whoever it is and then you’re chasing him. That’s a big challenge.