Film Review

Patriots vs. Bengals Film Review: Defense Edition

October 19, 2016 by Mike Dussault

There was a lot to like about the Patriots defensive performance in their 35-17 win over the Bengals. It wasn’t all perfect, there were three drives where the Bengals moves the ball with ease, but as the game progressed the Patriots defense settled in and showed improvement in some of the areas they struggled in early in the season.

For the game, the Patriots held the Bengals to 5-10 on third down, and 2-4 in the red zone, including a fourth-down, goal-line stop that should fuel the defense’s confidence. The Pats are now second in the league in points allowed. That’s the ultimate bottom line stat and shows that despite some struggles on third down and in the red zone, this is still a very good defense that is one of the hardest in the league to score on. That has to count for a lot.

And even you’re not sold on points against, the bad areas are now improving statistically every week. Third down, red zone, yardage… each week they get a little better. If that continues this will be a playoff-ready defense by any metric.

Here’s what else stood out from film review, including a few more Elandon Roberts “fire in the hole” hit GIFs…

Patriots-Browns Film Review: Third Down Defense Edition

October 11, 2016 by Mike Dussault

In this week’s film review I’m going to take a little more micro look at the third downs that the Patriots failed to get stops on against the Browns. Right now the Patriots are 27th in the NFL in third down defense (44.6 percent, worst since 2010) and 30th in red zone defense (80 percent).

Combine the two and the Patriots are by far the worst third down defense in the red zone in the NFL, giving up a first down 83.3 percent of the time. The second-worst team in the league, Baltimore, is at 70 percent, while the third-worst, Houston, is at 57.1 percent. That shows just how far below the rest of the league the Patriots have been in the critical area of their beloved bend-don’t-break, which depends immensely on third down stops in the red zone.

Now I’m not here to go all doom and gloom on the defense. These stats are certainly concerning, but there’s a long way to go and with Tom Brady back in the mix, we’re just getting our first taste of the real 2016 Patriots. So we can reserve some judgement at this point.

Here’s a look at five third downs against the Browns with what went wrong and how the Pats might fix it.

Patriots-Bills Film Review: Defense Edition

October 4, 2016 by Mike Dussault

Yes, it’s time to take a look back at the car crash that happened on Sunday, when the Bills beat the Patriots pretty much across the board. And where else would I start than with the defense?

Now the common refrain I’ve heard over the past couple days is THEY ONLY GAVE UP 16 POINTS!

Well, this is true. And overall the Patriots defense is fourth in the league in points-per-game. That can’t be overlooked and as maddening as the Bend-Don’t-Break can be, it’s a proven game winner.

But from there just about every other defensive stat is bad. Real bad. They’re 29th in 3rd down defense and 28th in red zone defense. We’ll see how far they’ve fallen in DVOA on Tuesday.

So yes, the number of points allowed is certainly an important stat, and when you combine that with how the bad tackling, lack of edge setting, and overall sloppiness should all be corrected and there’s certainly a valid argument to be made that the Patriots defense will be okay.

But don’t ask me to feel good about how they’ve regressed in some of the most important aspects of the game since last year. Hopefully this game was just a stinker they needed to get out of the way.

Let’s take a closer look at the All 22 to get an emotionless look at what went wrong.

Patriots vs. Texans Film Review: Defense Edition

September 27, 2016 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots defense pitched their first shutout since 2012 in Week 17. Before that you have to go all the way back to the snow blowout of the Titans in 2009. So there was plenty to like from this performance, especially against a revamped Houston offense that is not without their fair share of threats.

The biggest schematic adjustment this week came in the form of a shift toward more Cover-2, which put Devin McCourty and Duron Harmon over the top on both sides of the field. This took away the deep passing game that was so vital to the Texans in their first two games.

The Pats primarily played out of a three-safety set because of this, putting more pressure on the front six to stop the run, but they did just that.

The result was pretty much a start-to-finish domination that laid to rest some of the uneasiness we felt after the Pats were torched in the second halves of their first two games.

Here’s what else stood out from the defensive film review… [Read more…] about Patriots vs. Texans Film Review: Defense Edition

Patriots vs. Cardinals Film Review: Offense Edition

September 14, 2016 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots offense did just enough to win against the Cardinals. They excelled on the first two drives of the game and the first drive after the half. Outside of those three, things were fairly pedestrian with two fumbles and two punts on the next four drives. Then, in a mark of well-coached and well-prepared team, two field goal drives to end the game.

Those two drives went 13 and 11 plays respectively, both impressive numbers when I think most of us probably expected the Pats and Garoppolo to fade down the stretch. Garoppolo’s decision making was on point nearly the entire night and despite a couple missed opportunities, it’s hard to ask for more out of a quarterback in his first start on the road against a very good defense.

One of the advantages Garoppolo has always had is his quick release. Even if his reads are sometimes a little slow, he can consistently make up some time with the speed of his delivery, which continued to surprise defenders.

Here’s what stood out in the film review of the offense…

Patriots vs. Cardinals Film Review: Defense Edition

September 13, 2016 by Mike Dussault

It’s always exciting when the Patriots unveil their fully operational defense in the first game of the season, but there wasn’t much surprise this year. The Pats continued to stick to their Cover-1 Man coverage that they’ve played extensively the last two seasons. There were occasional zone coverages and blitzes mixed in, but otherwise it was about lining up and forcing their receivers to beat our cornerbacks.

The real fun of the defense is in the front seven, where you have a collection of athletic pieces who can all rush the passer or drop into pass coverage on any given down. They’ll show a front like the one below, and then let the offense figure out who’s going where. On this particular play, Flowers, Collins and Hightower all drop, leaving a three man rush. Chris Long got the one-on-one and not only got the sack but drew a facemask.

Cardinals Wk 1 Defensive Front

So there you have it. Five guys on the LOS and the offense has to figure out how to block who’s coming after the snap. This is where the magic of this Patriots defense lies and when Rob Ninkovich returns and if Barkevious Mingo finds a defensive role, they’ll have another two pieces to play with like this.

The other fun things they can do are fake a coverage drop, then come on a delayed blitz, or just the opposite, start to come, then stop and drop. This allows the defense to stick to their conservative roots of mostly four- and three-man rushes, but makes the front so fluid it creates more opportunities for free rushers.

Here are some more observations about the defense after reviewing the All-22 film…

Breaking Down What Eric Rowe Brings to Patriots

September 7, 2016 by Pete Smith

Matt Patricia and the Patriots defense have a shiny new toy to play with in second year corner Eric Rowe. Mike already gave a great breakdown on Rowe’s acquisition, but I’m addicted to making GIFs and wanted to take a closer look at New England’s newest player.

When watching tape on Rowe, one thing that immediately stands out is his size. Listed at six-foot-one, Rowe has at least two inches on every corner currently on the roster. As Mike noted, Rowe should provide the Patriots an option in match-ups with larger receivers and maybe even tight ends. Additionally, I think Rowe’s size makes him a better option in run support than any of the current corners on the roster.

Against the Lions, Rowe was forced into action in the second quarter after an injury, and was given the tough assignment of matching-up with Calvin Johnson on the outside. A tall task for any NFL corner, let alone a rookie. Yet, if I dare say so, Rowe looked pretty damn good against Megatron. Take a look for yourself.