Film Review

Patriots Film Review: 3rd & 12 with White & Lewis

September 13, 2017 by Mike Dussault

One of the packages that I thought could help offset the loss of Julian Edelman was the use of both James White and Dion Lewis coming out of the backfield. While the Patriots did employ this package against the Chiefs it wasn’t all that effective, but it really should’ve been.

In today’s film study I pulled a third quarter play to take a bit of a closer look at why the offense seemed to get off track without Amendola. At this point the Patriots are up 17-14 with just under 10 minutes left in the third. This is a third-and-12, the kind of tough down Edelman lived to convert. In this situation the Patriots didn’t have much to work with, but the direction of the offense should be obvious going forward.

Film Breakdown: Kareem Hunt 78-yard Touchdown

September 12, 2017 by Mike Dussault

I broke down this play today on Patshow because I think it encapsulates a lot of what went wrong for the defense against the Chiefs.

At this point, it’s early in the fourth quarter and, gasp, the Patriots are WINNING! I know this fact has taken a back seat to the “Pats got blown out” hot takes, but fix the problems on first down and take away the fourth-quarter big plays and this is a game the Patriots likely win.

Let’s take a look how it broke down as we get Up Close and Personnel.

Patriots vs. Chiefs Film Review: Offense Edition

September 11, 2017 by Mike Dussault

As is usually the case, I felt a lot better about the Patriots offense after reviewing the All-22 game film. They certainly didn’t play great, but 27 points against a good defense is nothing to dismiss. The Chiefs had an effective gameplan and often blanketed the Patriots’ receivers in man-to-man coverage with a single high safety.

It was as if defensive coordinator Bob Sutton dialed up the same old scheme that we saw the Patriots struggle with during times of turnover. When there isn’t a receiver Brady trusted implicitly defenses had success crowding the line of scrimmage and forcing Brady to decipher the coverage. While Brady usually figures these things out, he wasn’t quite on the same page with his weapons for most of the game.

So yeah, put up 27 on a bad night? I’ll take it. Things will certainly get better, this just wasn’t the sharpest game for Brady and offense.

Let’s take a closer look at what stood out on the review.

Patriots-Chiefs Film Review: Defense Edition

September 10, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Plowed my way through the first defensive review of the All 22 film and as always it put things into perspective when watching without the emotion of the broadcast. Of course there were bad plays and busted coverages, but there was also plenty to feel positive about.

In a lot of ways it did remind me of the 2014 Chiefs loss in that players just weren’t getting off blocks and making plays. That kind of performance is often common the first few weeks of the season, with one ugly game almost always popping up — remember losing to the Cardinals at home in 2012?

But the poor performance would’ve been so much different if not for a few blown coverages and I fully expect there to be fewer blown coverages the rest of this season than there were in Week One.

Here are my observations on the big defensive picture.

Patriots Super Bowl Film Review: Defense Edition

February 10, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Five days later I’m starting to know this game like the back of my hand. Early on it was still a blur, which shouldn’t be surprising considering my first re-watch came in the early morning hours on Monday. The touchdowns and two-pointers, coming so rapidly on top of each other slowly melded together, leaving me unsure of what came when.

So I was excited to take an emotionless look at the All 22. Well, emotionless is the wrong word. I’m still riding the high that came with Super Bowl 51’s triumphant ending and each successive highlight film has only made it better.

Still, there’s nothing better than getting the bird’s eye view of everything to truly grasp how the two teams attacked each other.

Let’s take a look!

Patriots-Steelers AFCCG Film Review: Defense Edition

January 24, 2017 by Mike Dussault

The All-22 came out early this week, quickly squashing my dilemma of reviewing the AFC Championship or moving on to start getting familiar with the Falcons. Overall, this was everything we’ve come to expect this season out of the Patriots defense. They bent at times, but it was near impossible to break them.

The two goal-line stands were key moments in the game and really two sequences where the Patriots defense can hang their hat. They were consistently physical at the point of attack and even when they made mistakes, those mistakes were quickly tackled and the defense was refocused entirely on the next play.

Here’s some thoughts on what else stood out from the defense in the AFC Championship…

Patriots vs. Broncos Film Review: Defense Edition

December 20, 2016 by Mike Dussault

It was one of the most dominant defensive performances of the last decade and one that I couldn’t wait to jump into. The Patriots defense had a slow start to 2016, but with each passing week they’ve gotten better and better. In the last three games they have the second-best third down defense in the NFL, and have risen all the way from 28th early in the season to 7th overall on third down.

The emergence of Trey Flowers as veterans Rob Ninkovich, Jabaal Sheard and Chris Long got their games going now has the entire defensive front clicking. And don’t just take my word for it, here’s what Belichick had to say on Tuesday:

“I think in our case what I’ve seen from this team, especially defensively but really in all three phases of the game, is a commitment to work hard and get better. You take small steps every day. Those pile up after days, weeks and months together. I think that’s really what’s happening with our team is they’ve worked hard. They’ve improved, improved a little bit each day. They maybe improve a little bit each week in certain areas. I think we do things better now than we did a few weeks ago. We did them better a few weeks ago than we did them a couple of months ago, which is the way it should be.”

Let’s take a closer look at the All-22.