PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Uncategorized

Best of the Week in PatsPropaganda

by

Just one more day until the Patriots kickoff the 2014 season! Hard to believe that we’re about to put another offseason behind us. In retrospect, I think the Pats addressed a lot of their weaknesses this offseason in ways they didn’t in years past. Is there depth ideal in some spots? Nope, but that’s the case with almost every NFL team. Still, I’ll put their front line against anyone. How this year plays out will depend on injuries and luck, both of which are unpredictable. But you know they’ll go after it with everything they’ve got.

Here’s the best of the week:

PatsPropaganda: Week 1 Gameplan

Erik Frenz/Bleacher Report: 10 Predictions for the Patriots season

Jeff Howe/Boston Herald: Persistent Bill Belichick grows into Champion

PatsPropaganda: 10 Patriots Who Will Breakout in 2014

Deadspin: Why Your Team Sucks: New England Patriots

Erik Frenz/Boston.com: What makes the Patriots offense so difficult for Wide Receivers?

I also announced a partnership with NRG this season which will mean lots of giveaways here on the site! Yay!

by

We’re playing Green Bay on a Sunday night, and we were in no-huddle, and we’re going fast, and I called a bad play – I called a run play into a blitz,” O’Brien said. “And in that moment, [Brady] changed the play, he changed the protection, he moved two receivers, he made the correct ‘Mike’ call for the protection, he signaled the receiver out to the left with what route to run, and he threw a touchdown pass to that guy. So he did about six things with about 10 seconds on the play clock to create a touchdown.

The Next Great Quarterback | NFL.com

Really good read with some good stuff from Bill O’Brien.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/were-playing-green-bay-on-a-sunday-night-and-we/

Do you think this years offense with be a mix of the last couple of seasons, in ’11 they used two tightends, ’12 they used more one tightend sets due to injuries with gronk and hernandez, then last year they did more wide receiver sets. I feel like they will do all of these plus the new wrinkle of vereen/white out of backfield. What do you think they will do on offense this year?

by

I think that the offense is as much as a product of what they have and what they think they do well as it is the overall philosophy.

LaFell, Wright and White are the new pieces and I think each will have their own impact. LaFell is a big receiver who is somewhat Dobson insurance, but also provides another big body outside. He could be valuable in the red zone.

The Pats never had a chance to replace Hernandez last year and that’s just what role Wright will play in the offense. How quickly will he pick the offense up? He seems like a perfect fit and has everything the Pats want for that position, but developing trust with Tom Brady isn’t always that easy. Still, I think Wright has the goods.

The Vereen/White backfield is interesting and yet another way to stress the defense.

Will the Pats’ offense ever settle into a primary set of five weapons this season? I don’t know the answer at this point, but if everyone stays healthy I think there’s going to be more variety than we’ve ever seen from them.

It will just depend on the matchups and who gets hot because there is some redundancy as well between Edelman/Amendola, LaFell/Dobson, Vereen/White.

Given the talent on the Patriots DL this year, could you educate your readers a bit as to how different this will make the defense this year? And could you make some comparison of how the defense can look with this talent and Bill’s coaching? Could we do the NYG Nascar? StLouis DL? Or Vikings of the past?

by

I think there are two big differences. First is the promise of Siliga. He can be paired with Wilfork inside for better run-stopping, or he can be used to rotate with Wilfork as the main space eater inside. I really think he fits this defense well and should eventually replace Wilfork’s role.

The second is Dominique Easley, a player I was drooling over the second I watched some film of him exploding off the ball. The lack of interior rush has been a recurring theme here on the blog since it’s inception and Easley finally looks like the legit answer to those problems.

In the past the Pats relied on more nose tackle/ 3-4 defensive end types inside. Big bodies, but not guys who could get off the ball with great quickness and attack. I think this had a direct effect on the overall pass rush problems, especially the defense’s struggles on third down.

I mean no offense to Wilfork. He was arguably the best defensive interior linemen in the NFL from 2010-2012. But they overused him and as a result he was less effective as a pass rusher, especially at the end of games.

So now you’ve got an interior DL rotation that is versatile, including Chris Jones, who can bring some pass rush as well, and Joe Vellano, who gives you everything he has.

So really, Belichick can do whatever he wants on the interior of the DL, double space eaters or double pass rushers. Depending on the opponent and situation, all options are on the table.

So I still expect a 34/43 hybrid, where half the defense could be playing the 34, two-gap front, while the other half is playing a penetrating 43. 

Chandler Jones and Ninkovich are really key, because there isn’t much depth behind them and they’ll be asked to do a lot — including setting the edge and rushing the edge.

Whether or no Buchanan or Moore can become a reliable rotational player behind them is a huge question. An injury to Ninkovich or Jones could be a real problem.