Gameplan

Patriots Gameplan: Week 12 at New York Jets

November 25, 2016 by Mike Dussault

This year’s first Patriots-Jets game comes late in the season and with the Jets sitting at the bottom of the AFC East it’s certainly lacking some of the usual flash that this rivalry has. Despite the Jets down season, expect this one to be a battle down to the end. That’s pretty much how they always go, even when the Pats are en route to the top seed in the AFC and the Jets are busting out their golf clubs.

Three of the last eight matchups between these two have gone to overtime, including last year’s second-to-last game of the season which saw the Jets win 26-20. Overall the Patriots have won three of the last five games against the Jets by a total margin of 10 points.

No matter which Jets are on IR, or how bad Ryan Fitzpatrick has been or how much Revis has declined, the Patriots better be ready to go.

Here’s the gameplan to get it done.

Patriots Gameplan: Week 11 at San Francisco 49ers

November 18, 2016 by Mike Dussault

Brady returns home.

The Patriots take a much-needed trip to the west coast this weekend to face the 1-8 San Francisco 49ers, and your faithful Minister of PatsPropaganda will be there to cheer them on.

In many ways I think this is just what the team needs, and not just because they’ll get a full dose of Duss cheering. They’re coming off a disappointing loss to a great team, but coming off a bye week where everyone went their separate ways they looked like a team that could use a little time to bond. They’ll leave on Friday and get some extra time together, which will hopefully translate in a similar way to their 2014 trip to San Diego when they traveled straight from a loss to Green Bay.

The 49ers, despite their record, should give the Patriots plenty of problems. Well, with the way the defense has been playing just about any team would give them problems. Still, the Patriots defense is far better than they looked against the Seahawks, and here’s hoping a road trip will help them hit the reset button and start playing like they should. All the media attention that’s been focused on them should certainly help with motivation.

Offensively, the Pats will be more than fine. They likely won’t have Rob Gronkowski, but they’ve never been more prepared to handle a week without Gronk than they are now with Martellus Bennett. Throw in a potential debut of Dion Lewis and there’s plenty of reasons to be excited beyond Tom Brady and Julian Edelman’s first game in their hometown.

What the Pats need to do to get back on track with a win over the 49ers in the gameplan!

Patriots Gameplan: Week 10 vs. Seattle Seahawks

November 11, 2016 by Mike Dussault

After a bye week and an exhausting election, I think we’re all ready for Patriots football to be back and it would be hard to ask for a better game than a rematch of Super Bowl 49 against the Seattle Seahawks.

Let’s face it, the competition in the NFL stinks this year. Many teams have regressed and only a couple have risen to new heights. But the Patriots and Seahawks are two well-coached teams that play a physical brand of football. It should be a fantastic game and one of the last/only true tests for this New England team.

Here’s my gameplan, with some help from Bill Belichick’s Super Bowl 49 gameplan.

New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 8 at Buffalo Bills

October 28, 2016 by Mike Dussault

It’s been just four short weeks since the Patriots were shut out at home for the first time since the early 90’s by the Buffalo Bills. The game got off to annoying start when the Bills secondary took issue with Jacoby Brissett and Malcolm Mitchell running by their pregame drills and started a pushing contest with Mitchell as Brissett ignored them and continued toward the locker room. Some Patriots coaches got involved and all of it resulted in fines for three Bills’ players.

This wasn’t the Patriots trying to start shit. This was the Bills trying to get in the head of a rookie quarterback then acting like they were just defending their precious warm-up drill, as if two rookies just decided to cut straight through the Bills secondary to send a message.

The Patriots played coy about the pregame incident but Danny Amendola did comment afterwards, “It pissed me off to tell you the truth,” Amendola said. “I’m not going to forget about that. … I just heard they got into it and to be ready to go. I’m always ready to play this team.”

Well, here we go.

The Patriots’ performance in Week 4 was gross. The offense was, well, led by one-thumbed rookie Jacoby Brissett, and alleged provocateur, while Gronk was in his second game working back from a hamstring injury They also fumbled five times, even though they only lost one.

So we can throw most of that offensive performance out. However, the defense was flat and gave up 378 yards. It was one of those games where almost nothing they did worked and they were on their heels most of the game. They did give up just one touchdown in the first quarter and then three field goals, none in the fourth quarter.

Brady could win with that performance from his defense and they were pretty much terrible. So it has to be better this time, right?

Also uncharacteristic was that the Pats lost both the turnover (-1) and penalty battles (9-74 to 6-60).

Now the stage is set for a meaningful game in an awesome road football environment, with some bad blood already brewing. These are the regular season games you live for.

What the Patriots have to do to redeem themselves and put a stranglehold on the AFC East in the gameplan.

New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 7 at Pittsburgh Steelers

October 21, 2016 by Mike Dussault

The 5-1 Patriots travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers Sunday in what was supposed to be an AFC Championship game preview, but with Ben Roethlisberger out the game won’t quite live up to that hype. Still the Steelers have two of the most dynamic weapons in the game — Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, and both should provide plenty of problems for the Patriots on the road.

It seems after last week’s win over the Bengals that the Patriots are starting to find their stride in 2016. They got through Brady’s suspension and overcame some minor injuries and are now looking to establish the one thing they’ve been missing in the first six weeks of the season — consistency.

No one will be handing out any awards for beating Landry Jones, but this is an important game nonetheless, and one that could very well determine where a potential rematch is played. We all know how impossible the Patriots can be to beat at home in the playoffs so a victory here provides a key tie breaker that could be needed when the season ends.

It’s hard to believe the Patriots and Steelers have only met four times in the regular season since 2010, and haven’t met in the playoffs since 2004’s AFC Championship.

Here’s the gameplan for a rivalry renewed once again…

New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 6 vs. Cincinnati Bengals

October 14, 2016 by Mike Dussault

Once again, we’re on to Cincinnati! And yours truly is especially excited because it’s time for my annual pilgrimage home for a Pats game. I saw plenty of games as a kid when the Patriots stunk in the 80’s and 90’s, but in the summer of 2006 I still hadn’t seen a live Brady/Belichick and decided it was time that changed.

2006 AFCDG vs. SD Pregame

Since then I’ve been to 13 Patriots games, and the Pats are 10-3 overall. The only losses — ’08 at SD, ’11 vs NYG and ’12 at SEA. The best wins — ’06 AFCDG at SD and ’14 vs. DEN. Hopefully this game gets us to 11 wins! But really, the result of the game is always secondary to the good times with family and friends, and the excitement leading up to the game itself.

And if you’d like to join us, we’ve got a bus running out of Quincy Center to the game and will have a bunch of stuff to giveaway as well. So yes, it will be a wonderful day and we’ll have social media updates flying all over the place.

It seemed like the Pats and Bengals were on a collision course last season, but then Andy Dalton got hurt and Cinci later imploded against the Steelers in the playoffs and it never happened. Now, the 2-3 Bengals aren’t off to the same hot start they had last year, and let’s face it, usually the Pats have their way with Marvin Lewis‘ team, save that one rainy performance in 2013 on the road.

So maybe there’s a little less hype surrounding this one than we might’ve thought, but still, the Bengals have plenty of talent on both sides of the ball and this will be a good challenge for a Patriots team that is starting to round into form after the return of Tom Brady.

Here’s the gameplan to get a win and make my annual trip a success.

New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 5 at Cleveland Browns

October 7, 2016 by Mike Dussault

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65Dze6WLS4s

Yup, Tom Brady’s back and the 2016 season can officially start this Sunday in Cleveland. Seriously, for all the time we wasted debating Jimmy Garoppolo’s future and toughness or the gameplan for one-thumbed Jacoby Brissett, it all matters about as much as the preseason did now.

So yes Patriots fans are giddy, the rest of the NFL is worried and the Browns are preparing for worse damage than Florida right now.

But how easily the “Brady’s back” angle has made us all forget that the last two times the Patriots have faced the Browns it hasn’t quite gone as we all thought it would. There was the brutal 34-14 loss in Cleveland in 2010 and then the miraculous comeback by the Patriots in Foxboro in 2013, which also saw Rob Gronkowski’s knee blown out.

The Pats needed an onside kick recovery to escape Cleveland in that one.

The Browns have been anything but an easy out for the Patriots, no matter how the matchup looked on paper going in. But these Browns are far younger and even less talented than what the Patriots dealt with in 2010 and 2013.

Couple that with the Patriots coming off an embarrassing loss and we might just finally get the Browns blowout we’ve been waiting six years for.

Here’s the gameplan to get the season off to a new start under our favorite quarterback.