PatsFans.com: 2013 New England Patriots Stats
Some great Pats stats here from PatsFans. I just bookmarked this page. Check it out!
What books/articles/other stuff would you recommend reading or doing in order to better understand the theoretical concepts of football (the x’s and o’s level)?
For books Pat Kirwan’s Take Your Eye Off The Ball is a great place to start. You can also dig through the archives of SmartFootball.com. There’s a wealth of Pats-specific information in there. Chris Brown also wrote The Essential Smart Football, which is a collection of his best articles. Here’s one of his best Pats articles, Ode to the War Daddies.
Blood, Sweat and Chalk is another one I enjoyed that touches on the evolution of schemes in football. There are plenty of more specific books, but those are some good places to start.
How do you like Atlanta’s O-line vs. Jones, Ninkovich, Wilfork, Kelly, and company? If Atlanta’s unit is as dinged up as I’ve heard they are and the Pats can get pressure from 4 like they did in the first 3 games, do you think Atlanta still scores 27+ points (which most predictions have slated them for)? Will the matchup be easier or more difficult than the D-Line-O-Line matchups in Games 1-3?
This here is really the key to the game. Both starting tackles are out, Ryan is not a threat to run, that means the pass rush has to cause disruption. They have to get Ryan off the spot. If they don’t, it won’t matter how well the secondary plays.
This is the kind of game where Chandler Jones could make a name for himself on national television. He’ll get moved all over the line to give him an advantage, but now’s when we get a good barometer of where he’s at. Will he be a top defensive end in the NFL? Or is he still an inconsistent work-in-progress?
I expect Ninkovich to be his usual solid self, and I’d even expect a couple blitzes from the linebackers. Tommy Kelly is another big key.
I know I’m a defense-first guy, but I think this game is won or lost by the Patriots front seven.
Not a patriots related question but do you think that the broncos can sustain this high powered offense to a Super Bowl win, it reminds of me the 07 patriots where they started off really hot then started to cool down, what do you think
It’s certainly not going to get easier for them as they put more on tape, the opponents get better, and the weather gets worse, even at home. That was one thing about Peyton with the Colts, he always had that dome, but now even his home playoff games he’s going to have to deal with the elements.
I think part of the 2007 Pats running out of steam was that they were playing so angry the first few months of the season, fueled by the Spygate baloney. You can only run on that for so long.
But the interesting corollary is Wes Welker. You look at the Pats teams of 2007-2012 and even in the losses you’ll see Welker still picking up a bunch of catches. For that reason my idea right now, if I’m an opponent, is to focus on Thomas and Decker and force Peyton to throw 15 5-yard passes to Welker to move the ball.
That’s what always killed the Pats offense with Welker. Not only do you force continued execution, you add up hits on Welker and by the end of the game he won’t be as sharp as he was at the start.
I think if teams start to do this in the coming weeks, the wear and tear will start to build up on Welker. Still, Thomas and Decker are great players and Peyton will make some pinpoint throws to them.
The key is just to stay close and make the plays in the clutch, and hope they don’t. But yes, I expect they’ll slow down.
Bill Belichick Press Conference Transcript
Bill Belichick Press Conference Transcript
Friday BB pressers are always the best…
Q: Do you chart explosive plays? The term has become more prevalent recently. How do the explosive plays allowed by you defensively this year compare to the last couple years?
BB: We gave up a ton of them last year. I don’t know, I don’t really think it’s that big of a thing. Thirty yards, 40 yards, 45 yards, 35 yards, however you cut it up, it’s probably going to be about the same. A couple plays are going to fall short of being explosive plays but they’re really big pretty big plays. There are going to be other plays that aren’t. I don’t know. We obviously, any play that’s significant defensively, we’re aware of that as a potential repeat play for somebody else to look at it and even if they miss it, we still look at it at as a big play. Say he overthrew it or something but it’s open, we look at it and say, ‘Well, if the next team sees that, they might feel like that’s a good opportunity.’ We look at that as a big play as far as trying to correct it and do a better job with ourselves. The plays are what they are. That’s a matter of record, wherever you want to break it off, you can break it off. But there are a lot of plays that aren’t big plays and there are honestly sometimes a couple big plays where you’re kind of right there and you feel like you should make the play, like we had a couple last year where a ball went off our hands and went for a 40-yard catch and it really could have been an interception. So if you’re the other team looking at that, saying is that really the kind of play you really want to run, or did they just have a fortunate result to it? I think it’s a little more by the actual play.
Do you think Brady’s stats will start to improve greatly once Gronk, Vereen and Amendola return?
Certainly in the red zone and third down, where they’ve been most weakened the last two weeks. I mean, Gronk alone has been the most dominant red zone and third down weapon in the NFL the last three seasons, so talk about being exactly what the Hoodie ordered.
There’s no question things will be better once all three of them are back, but in my view, Gronk is the key.
