An Independent Patriots Blog
Rick Gosselin: 2010 Re-Draft Has Three Patriots Rookies in First Round
Gosselin is one of the best draft writers around, and in this re-draft he has McCourty going 4th overall, Hernando going 19th and Gronk going 30th. That’s a low first rounder, a second rounder, and a fourth rounder all going in the first 30 picks. Impressive, most impressive.
Twitter has been abuzz with word that Lions CB Alphonso Smith, he of the most embarrassing Thanksgiving performance outside of my “Zin-faced” uncle, was put on IR today. In looking back through my old blog archives I found this blurb that I wrote about Alphonso just before the scouting combine in 2009
Alphonso Smith – Cornerback (Wake Forest) : Smith has the quintessential physical make-up of a Patriots corner. You need to look no further than Ellis Hobbs, Terrence Wheatley or Jonathan Wilhite to see what kind of cornerback the Patriots like for their system. Smith is a ballhawk, he was all over the field at Senior Bowl practice and my personal favorite draft guru Mike Mayock called him one of the most instinctual corners he’s ever seen in college. His performance at the combine will likely determine if the Patriots have a shot at him.
Great job, Mike. Of course, at least I didn’t trade a First Round pick for him like Josh McDaniels did.
Here’s a little video I found that will tell you how Detroit fans feel about Alphonso..
I don’t think enough is being made of this interception by Brandon Spikes. If you’ve seen any highlights from Spikes career at Florida (grainy sex videos not withstanding) you know he made plays like this routinely. It speaks volumes to his growth as a player, especially since this play was specifically designed to get him to bite on play action, which had been a huge weakness for him earlier in the year.
The Jets were driving and a touchdown would’ve cut the score to a manageable 24-10. Instead all momentum was instantly killed as Spikes pulled this interception down. Then Brady and pals marched down the field and delivered the knockout punch making it 31-3. Game over.
Usually I’m a sucker for advanced NFL stats, but I found myself disappointed by this collection of numbers. In it the writer determines that if teams simply keep the ball on the ground and pound the Pats they should win.
One of the biggest mistakes when applying statistics to games like professional football is confusing cause and effect. Just because the Browns and Jets were able to run the ball and ended up winning doesn’t mean that any team can just follow their lead.
You can’t just retroactively look at numbers, see what the trends are and say those are the cause for the outcome. In reality those numbers are the effect of two teams performances. If a team has a bad day on run defense and the opponent has a good day on run offense of course the numbers would seem to point to one big key thing.
This is even further ridiculous when you realize the sample size they’re using is just TWO games!
I could just as easily interpret these numbers and say when the Patriots run defense isn’t stopping the run, teams will continue to run more on them and they’ll be less likely to win the game.
The Patriots run defense has actually been pretty stout this year but they were uncharacteristically bad in those two losses. Beating the Patriots is not caused by continuing to run the ball on them. If their 3-4 run defense is playing well like they usually do that would be an easy way to get steamrolled.
So really this article and the numbers it provides don’t tell you much other than “if the Patriots can’t stop the run they’re probably gonna lose”. Shocking, I know.
Or maybe better yet, the key to beating the Patriots is having their run defense suck.
I can’t really recommend this video enough, it’s NFLN’s breakdown of the Pats – Jets and it gives so much insight into what the Jets do on defense and what the Patriots did to counter it, while at the same time showing why Randy Moss wasn’t the right fit offensively for this method of attack.
I’m of the firm belief that many football fans, and even some of the media members who cover football, think they’re watching checkers when there’s really a chess match going on. If you think you’re one of them go buy Pat Kirwan’s Take Your Eye Off The Ball, it’s a great place to start.
In this video clip we get a full on X and O’s session with guru Mike Mayock. I could listen to Mayock break down film all day, but the big points of what he shows are the minute details that go into an offensive attack.
The Jets have excellent cornerbacks and love to play man coverage with them. The idea is to confuse the quarterback with which blitzers may or may not be coming, then take away the short routes with tight coverage.
So in the video you see what BB and BO’B did to counter that. Quick passes that took into account Jet players who would be dropping into short zones to take the quick passes away. Only these quick passes went where the Jets weren’t covering.
There’s a lot of picking going on by the Patriots receivers, a skill that Deion Branch and Wes Welker are masters of, not only because they’re good blockers but also really quick in and out of their cuts.
When Welker and Branch weren’t open, there were mismatches galore with Gronk, Hernando, and Woody. The result was the beatdown we all witnessed.
When you see what the Patriots did it becomes really clear how you have to creatively beat the Jets blitzing man defense. It was executed to perfection on Monday night.
Randy Moss isn’t a good fit for this style of game… short routes with catch and run, or having to set a block for another receiver. His game was getting deep, but that takes time to develop and defenses like the Jets don’t give quarterbacks much time.
That’s why you might remember Brady lobbing up passes to Moss in week two. If Moss could get a step on the corner, and the protection picked up all the rushers the result would be a long touchdown. But those instances were rare, and ultimately the Pats were not going to clobber the Jets like they did on Monday night still trying to run a vertical spread offense.
With most defenses trying to copy the Jets style to beat the Pats (basically the same style that the Giants used in Super Bowl 42) the evolution to this new horizontal attacking offense keeps the Pats one step ahead yet again.
If you’re a Patriots fan it is time to reap the reward for pounding the Jets on Monday night. Below I present a furious Jets fan in what looks like some sort of terrorist ransom video. He’s disgusted with his team and in a way that is thoroughly enjoyable to watch. If you can’t make it through the whole thing I suggest you go to the 4:30 mark, it gets pretty good there. The word “apoplectic” comes to mind.
I don’t know if the lack of Jets schwag is a choice or he’s just so passionate he doesn’t feel the need for any. But don’t worry, the rage forces him to pull his sunglasses off about halfway through. I could watch this all day…
Great Brady to Welker shot via @RealPatriots