Gameplan

Patriots Gameplan: Week 6 at New York Jets

October 13, 2017 by Mike Dussault

It felt like a lackluster Patriots off week, didn’t it? The Pats had an okay with last Thursday night, but it was so middle of the road that it sparked neither the “Pats are dead” nor the “Pats are Super Bowl favorites” crowds.

Sure there were plenty of complaints like there usually are. I think those were best summed up when I was listening to Dale and Holley for a minute and they were complaining about the offensive line. Then there was a pause and Holley mentioned that Pro Football Focus has the o-line ranked 11th in the league. Silence. What were we just talking about? They digressed. Yeah, it was one of those kinds of weeks, where everyone goes to default complaints but there just wasn’t the same kind of fire that existed after the Panthers’ loss.

The other big headline? That Tom Brady has a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. By this time we just brush off Brady injuries like they’re no big deal. Brady brushed it off. We brush it off. Do we take his toughness and durability for granted? Of course! But tying any injury, no matter how small, to the offensive line are just the dots that must be connected when you have 10 days off and hours upon hours of sports talk radio time to fill.

How do we feel about the Patriots right now? If we’re being honest with ourselves it does feel like it’s off to another injury apocalypse year like 2013 started out and 2015 became. But it’s still early so no one should be abandoning ship just yet, but keeping the remaining roster healthy, especially 12, 87, 80 and 54 is critical to any Super Bowl aspirations.

In some ways it feels like the Pats are under the radar. I like how Kurt Warner put it, the Pats aren’t the favorites in the AFC, they’re the favorites to upset the favorites. That sounds about right. Still, the real football season is just starting and that’s always when the Patriots start to roll.

This week has been a soft reset. The defense didn’t look lost against the Bucs and the offense showed more explosiveness. Both ran out of gas at the end to make the game interesting, but it’s hard to kill them for that on a Thursday night on the road.

So now we get back to business against a Jets team that could field 22 high school JV players and still play the best Patriots team close in mid-October in the Meadowlands. For whatever reason, that’s just always how it seems to go unless it’s the rare exception like the Buttfumble game.

What do the Pats have to do to get their first divisional win and get the Patriots hype train back on track? Here’s the gameplan.

Patriots Gameplan: Week 5 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

October 5, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Football is already back upon us as the Patriots, donning all-white uniforms, will take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football in a game that will reveal a lot about a team that was shredded on defense just four short days ago.

Simply put, by any metric, this is the worst defense Bill Belichick has put on the field since he arrived. And I say this as a Patriots uber-blogger who has focused extensively on the defense for the past 10 years. From advanced metrics like Football Outsiders’ DVOA (a personal fave) to simple things like yards- and points-per-game, the Patriots defense has been the worst in the NFL.

Now they get a stiff test on the road, facing a talented passing attack run by Jameis Winston with talented receivers Mike Evans and Desean Jackson, and a fresh-off-suspension Doug Martin, not to mention two dangerous tight ends. We’re not used to the Patriots having their backs against the wall and teetering on the edge of uncertainty, but here we are, in Week 5, wondering if this defense can be salvaged.

Tom Brady is off to one of the best starts of his career, and the fact that he’s doing it at age 40 is simply incredible. It’s unfortunate that the defense suddenly looks so lost, because if this continues they’re going to waste one of Tom Brady’s final years. While we can count on Brady to put up over 30 points almost every game, it no longer assures a win.

Still, the defense’s problems are so fundamental, I can’t help but believe they’ll steady the ship. Can they do it on a short week and on the road against a good offense? We’ll find out tonight.

Here’s the gameplan to get a win and move on to an extended 10-day break to help re-evaluate how the team can move forward.

Patriots Gameplan: Week 4 vs. Carolina Panthers

September 29, 2017 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots close out the first quarter of their season on Sunday as they welcome the 2-1 Carolina Panthers. Yes, this is about the time we start to know exactly who the 2017 Patriots are. The next few games will really show what this team’s strengths and weaknesses are, though everyone already has their opinions despite just a three-game sample size.

The good? A resurgent deep passing attack that leads the league with 20 passing plays of 20 or more yards. The bad? A regressed big play defense that has given up 17 plays of 20 or more yards (14 passing, three rushing), bad enough for third-worst in the league. Of course there are other issues to monitor, but at this point it’s time to find out which of those are just because of the randomness and strengths of the first three opponents and which are real problems.

October is just about here and we should be getting away from the sloppiness that comes with the relaxed contact in training camps and general rust. The Patriots see September as an extension of the preseason, but now, things should start getting real.

Here’s the gameplan to close out the first quarter of the season at 3-1 with a win over a Panthers team that is very much a mirror image of the Patriots — dominant on one side of the ball, dreadful on the other.

Patriots Gameplan: Week 3 vs. Houston Texans

September 22, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Here come the Texans and all their former Patriots once again! Including the preseason this will be the third time in a year the two teams have met, so yeah this feels like a game in the division against a familiar foe.

Somehow the Texans are always rolling out a different quarterback surrounded by the same excellent pieces at wideout and on defense. And usually that’s the difference between these two teams. No matchup more clearly illustrates how hard it is to win in this league without a good player at the most important position.

Still, there’s always some trepidation when you’re going against a talented front like the Texans’, led by JJ Watt and Jadeveon Clowney. If those guys play out of their mind and rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson plays a clean game, who knows, maybe the Texans can pull off the upset. But the Patriots are near-unbeatable at home and have already had a wake-up call stinker in their home opener. I expect the Pats to turn in one bad game in September, usually on the road. Two would be a big problem, especially if both of them were to come at home.

Here’s the gameplan for what the Pats have to do to get by some old friends once again and move above .500 for the first time this season ;)…

Patriots Gameplan: Week 2 at New Orleans Saints

September 15, 2017 by Mike Dussault

The 0-1 Patriots travel to New Orleans Sunday for an intriguing matchup against Drew Brees and the 0-1 New Orleans Saints. The Patriots haven’t started a season 0-2 since 2001 (aka Tom Brady‘s first year as a starter) and after the terrible showing in the season opener, New England’s backs are already against the wall. Kind of.

As we discussed on Patshow this week, this season already has some drama and that can be a good thing. We’ve lived a 16-0 season (and the ensuing 18-1 finale) and that thrill of will-they-or-won’t-they lose a game was special. But we don’t need to live again. 2017 is going to be a battle, that much is already clear. Losing Edelman, then Hightower AND Amendola going down in the first game? Kinda hard to top that outside of losing you know who.

Frankly injuries are usually the only thing that keeps Belichick and Brady from going to the Super Bowl every year, and it’s fair to wonder if this team has already lost too much. The difference this year is that they’ve all happened so early in the year. This isn’t 2009, 2011, 2013 or 2015. Those all featured late heavy-impact injury losses like Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski, Andre Carter and yes, Julian Edelman. Once again it will actually be any late-season injuries that define this team’s championship hopes.

I’m still holding my breath for the Patriots to make some significant in-season personnel moves. This team still feels like a work-in-progress at this point.

And now they return to the site of the worst regular season loss in BB/TB history.

Here’s my gameplan for pulling out a win by any means necessary in New Orleans.

Patriots Gameplan: Week 1 vs. Kansas City Chiefs

September 6, 2017 by Mike Dussault

And just like that another season is upon us! On Thursday night the Patriots will raise their fifth banner (and I’ll be there to see it) as the incredible run continues. I think we’re long past the “just happy to be here” phase and firmly in the “squeeze every last record out of TB and BB before it’s over” mode. It’s amazing how fast it’s all going by yet seems impossibly long ago when the duo won their first together.

Now we’re off on the 2017 season, which will have its own set of challenges, and the first opponent is one who has always scared me a bit. I know that might sound silly — being afraid of Alex Smith!? But in a conference where there really aren’t many contenders to the Pats’ dominance, the Kansas City Chiefs are just the kind of team who can steal a game from New England.

In an oft-fluky first game of the season, the low mistake Chiefs have the playing style and pieces to make this a close game. Let’s face it, no matter who the opponent, the Patriots’ September clashes always seem to be more interesting than expected. And that’s even when they’re playing shitty AFC East teams! Imagine what could happen when they’re playing a well-coached, well-prepared team that play clean football.

It should be a good, competitive game. Yes, the fifth banner will be revealed, but also to be revealed is the Patriots true plans for a dynamic new offense that is dripping with speed, even without Julian Edelman.

Here’s the gameplan for knocking off the Chiefs on opening night.

Patriots Gameplan: Super Bowl 51 vs. Atlanta Falcons

February 3, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Here we go again. The Patriots are headed to an NFL-record ninth Super Bowl, their seventh under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, and have a chance to firmly place themselves atop the history books in almost every regard.

Going to the Super Bowl never gets old. It’s wall-to-wall media coverage of your team as their season is dissected by all the best analysts. The nerves this week have been pretty tame. There’s not much to hate about the Falcons, but I’m still looking very forward to smashing them.

It’s a truly formidable test for the Patriots defense. This was supposed to be a culmination year, when all the great drafting on the defensive side of the ball since 2012 really paid off. And in a roundabout way, it still might be.

Plenty of Boston media jackasses who would love nothing more than to see the Patriots’ defense collapse so they can spend all offseason saying “toldya!”… I don’t believe the defense will let us down like that.

If they shut down this Falcons attack all that talk will be put to rest forever, along with countless other horrible takes and doubts. Unless Brady goes ham and then it doesn’t really matter how the defense plays. Because barring a couple weird turnovers, the Patriots offense should have their way with the Falcons’ defense.

I haven’t researched an opponent more in-depth than I have with the Falcons these last two weeks, and, as BB would say, the hay is in the barn. Let’s break it down in the final gameplan of the 2016 season!