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Patriots Book Review: Gridiron Genius by Michael Lombardi

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I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of Michael Lombardi’s new book coming in September, Gridiron Genius. If you’re a fan of the kind of stuff I write… i.e. pretend Pats football GM, coach, team builder… this is the book for you!

Around 2014 I found a group of concrete articles I wanted to write every week. Mondays are Posits, just general thoughts about the team. Tuesdays are film review, Wednesdays are scouting reports and then Fridays are the big one, my favorite, the gameplan. Well, Lombardi pretty much gives you the real version of all these things and I couldn’t put it down.

First, I will obviously focus much on Bill Belichick in this review and he is a huge part of the book, but there are tons of great stories about Bill Walsh and Al Davis as well in here. As a fan of the game, anything about Bill Walsh instantly perks my attention and Lombardi spent plenty of times getting to know him. And of course, there’s Davis, who became somewhat of a cartoon by the end, but we forget what a passionate football mind he was and one-of-a-kind. He had his preferences and it’s interesting to see how the game changed on him.

That aside, the Patriots stuff, oh the Patriots stuff.

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Patriots Training Camp Battle Preview: Wide Receiver

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After left tackle, there’s no more interesting position on the Patriots roster than wide receiver. After a major turnover in 2013, the Pats are once again looking at another evolution in 2018. Tom Brady hasn’t ever blinked before, managing to win even when those catching his throws had unimpressive names like Reche Caldwell, Kenbrell Thompkins and Brandon Lloyd.

Now, at 40, Brady will once again have to find a new set of go-to targets after the departures of Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks, the pending suspension of 32-year-old Julian Edelman and the recurring absences of promising 2016 rookie Malcolm Mitchell. The Patriots have done well to prepare for this transition, going back into last season, but who clicks with Brady and can stay healthy is a near-impossible thing to predict.

Here’s a rundown of the wide receiver camp battle and who the favorites are to become the next clutch receivers.

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Pats Posits: BB & His Pancakes Take Us Early Into the Void

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After a flurry of real news to write about last week during minicamp, this week has seen a return to the dead of the offseason. This has been highlighted by Belichick canceling the last two days of OTAs while everyone was talking about some $60 pancakes he ordered at a hotel.

This is the offseason. The real offseason, the worst part. There shouldn’t be much football action as teams take the final month before training camp to get some well-needed rest and relaxation before it’s pedal to the metal from August-January.

Here’s a bunch of random Pats Posits as we regroup and begin to prepare for summer, and with it, another training camp.

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Tom vs. Time Finale Review

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Tom Brady dropped the final episode of Tom vs. Time on Monday, the fascinating six-part documentary that gave a rare look behind the curtain of all things TB12. The finale dealt with the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss, with a special focus on Brady’s thumb injury that had us all holding our breath leading up to the AFC Championship game.

If there was one takeaway from this series for me it was how cool it was to see Brady reacting to wins and losses just like we the fans do. Certainly, there was a humanizing element to the series like seeing Brady at home with his kids, how impossibly dedicated he is to training and even a supermodel like Gisele just at home cooking a meal in her kitchen or supporting her husband’s unquenchable desire to win football games was also a highlight.

But most all we just get so used to seeing the even-keeled reaction of the players after games, toeing the line to the press, not showing their excitement or heartbreak. Here we got a glimpse of how they really are just like us. From telling Gronk how lucky they were to win the AFC Championship without him, to Gronk being amazed at how good Danny Amendola is in the playoffs, to the crushing disappointment of losing a Super Bowl. Many of those conversations feel ripped right from my own discussions with fellow fans.

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Scouting Report: Pittsburgh Steelers

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Fresh off being completely dominated in Miami against the Dolphins (what a weird sentence that is), the New England Patriots now turn their sights to their biggest test of the year: the Pittsburgh Steelers. The winner of Sunday’s game will almost assuredly have home field for the inevitable title game between these two teams (knock on wood). While the Steelers do boast the best record in the AFC, four out of their last five games have been decided by game-winning field goals in the final minute, coming against the 3-10 Colts, the 7-6 Rodgers-less Packers, the 5-8 Bengals, and the 7-6 Ravens. This team is good, for sure, but I don’t think they are nearly as good as their record and their stats suggests.

The Steelers offense has put up the 4th most yards in football and 2nd most pass yards in the NFL, just behind the Patriots in both stats. They possess the NFL’s rushing yards leader in Leveon Bell, but strangely rank just 23rd in the league in total rushing yards (Bell has accounted for 85% of their rushing yards). Bell leads the league in rushing because of volume, not efficiency; he is first in the NFL in attempts with 283 (shoutout Atlanta), but is just 21st in yards per carry (of rushers with at least 100 attempts). The Patriots locked down the Steelers daunting running game in the AFC Championship Game, but, as Steeler fans are ever so quick to mention, Bell played just 11 snaps in that game, and the now-retired DeAngelo Williams was tasked with leading the Steelers rushing attack, which only gained 54 yards on 20 carries, good for just 2.7 yards per carry.

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Start Planning Your Super Bowl Trip Now!

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It’s never too soon for Patriots fans to be thinking about Super Bowl tickets, and with today’s onsale of the first-ever “The Night Before” concert, there’s a lot more to do around Super Bowl weekend, whether or not you’re planning to attend the game.  The show, which is co-produced by On Location Experiences and CBS Radio, will give 20,000 fans an opportunity to soak in the Super Bowl atmosphere at Xcel center, which is home to the Wild and every major concert that goes through the Twin Cities.

While parties have always been a staple of Super Bowl weekend, they’ve always been ultra exclusive, invite-only events.  For fans that didn’t have a connection to get a ticket one of the big parties, whether it’s Playboy, Maxim, ESPN, you were basically on your own to come up with a plan for the weekend, which required navigating through a ton of options. For average fans looking to get into one of the big parties, the secondary market was often the only option, with prices usually ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.

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Pats Posits: 6-2 at the halfway break

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The Patriots had a strong team win over the Chargers on Sunday. It wasn’t perfect but it was enough to get them to 6-2 as they hit the halfway bye week. The glaring problems and untimely struggles are slowly being eliminated. There’s still work to be done, but the stage for a strong second half is set, if the Pats can just stop losing key players to injury.

The offense moved the ball but stumbled in the red zone, making the game closer than it seemed. The Pats held the ball for 37 minutes on seven drives that lasted seven or more plays but had just one touchdown in four trips inside the Chargers’ 20. They make it look easy sometimes, especially when Dion Lewis is twisting and surging through would-be tacklers, but they’ve needed to rely too much on Stephen Gostkowski who hit four of six field goal attempts. Yes, those misses hurt and it will be a long two weeks for Gost, but SIX FG attempts shouldn’t happen! The offense needs to find their finish.

Aside from a huge blown run defense that allowed an 87-yard touchdown run by Melvin Gordon and a three-play touchdown drive aided by a 30-yard Johnson Bademosi PI penalty, the overall defense was mostly solid.  They forced three punts and grabbed the game-sealing interception in the second half, preserving what was at one point just a five-point game. This is definitely a far cry from the worst defense in football. They’re solidified the last few weeks and should get a few players back who can help make them even better.

The quietest storyline will be how, aside from Gostkowski’s misses, the special teams units were a huge part of the victory. These kinds of hidden points and yardage really add up to a lot in a close game against a good opponent. Belichick is almost too obsessed with special teams players, but there are games like this one every year where they play a huge role in a needed win.

More on it all in the Posits.

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