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#Patriots RB Shane Vereen (IR w/ designation to return) & DT Tommy Kelly returned to practice today.
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 30, 2013
Good news from practice this morning, though Mark Harrison and Armond Armstead still haven’t come off of PUP. Pats are getting healthy, and they’ll be a different team after the bye week. If they can squeak out a win this weekend they’ll be in amazing position.
Nice work from Frenz as always…
The Patriots blitzed a decent amount in the first half — bringing at least one extra pass rusher seven times on 19 dropbacks. The result, though, was a 17-3 deficit and zero sacks as Ryan Tannehill got into a rhythm with short passes and the Dolphins ran the ball 22 times for 103 yards. So Belichick went blitz crazy in the second half. He called for extra pressure on 22 of 31 dropbacks, and the result was six sacks, no points, 126 total yards and one frustrated Tannehill in the second half. For the game, the Patriots blitzed on 29 of 50 dropbacks (58 percent).
https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patriots-blitzed-a-decent-amount-in-the-first/
The play didn’t count due to a holding call, but Brady threw an absolute dart on a 30-yard pass to Gronkowski in the end zone during the third quarter with Miami safety Chris Clemons coverage. It was perhaps the best pass he’s thrown all season.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-play-didnt-count-due-to-a-holding-call-but/
It’s hard to determine how to divy up the blame pie for Tom Brady’s massive decline this year. Is his lack of accuracy related to the fact that he doesn’t trust his new receivers? Is it related to age? An injury to his hand? How much do we blame the new receivers and how much do we blame Brady himself? What we do know is that Brady’s year-to-year decline is one of the biggest for any quarterback in history.
For now, let’s just look at quarterbacks since 1989 using DVOA ratings. After Week 8, Brady’s DVOA rating stands at -16.6%. That’s actually lower than replacement level, which is astonishing for a player who has led the league in passing DVOA three times and passing DYAR four times. As of right now, Brady’s drop of over 50 percentage points in DVOA trails only Brett Favre’s final season in Minnesota as the biggest year-to-year drop in DVOA for a quarterback with at least 300 passes in two straight seasons.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Week 8 DVOA Ratings
Sorry if this made you throw up in your mouth a little. Here’s the thing, I’m still not really that worried about Brady. Look at what he’s had to work with in the first half. His protection has been spotty at bad times. His best receiving back played one game (and dominated). He essentially had NO tight end. The best free agent has missed five games.
Essentially Brady has had to get by without much help from anyone. But things have already started to change. Gronk and Amendola are back and getting up to speed. The protection will be better as it always is. Vereen should be back after the bye.
Let’s just say it wouldn’t be crazy to see a huge turnaround in Brady’s stats this year and a lot of these “Has Brady Lost It” articles will look pretty silly.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/its-hard-to-determine-how-to-divy-up-the-blame/
I think it’s pretty clear that BB gives a little more attention to the defense and that he trusts TB and JM with the offense. That said, he oversees it all and all the major game-planning certainly has BB’s blessing and handprints all over it.
I usually refrain from specifically criticizing offensive coordinators. There’s just too much that we as fans don’t know. But at the same time I think there needs to be some serious evaluation of some of the Pats’ method of attack this season.
I think they’re getting caught thinking they’re still the 2010-2012 Pats and trying stuff like the quick snap runs, which, haven’t been too successful.
Tweeted this late last night: Brady is 28 of 44 (64 pct) for 292 yards out of no huddle. Running backs are averaging 2.92 yards per carry.
— Nick Underhill (@Nick_Underhill) October 29, 2013
I think the Pats are still looking for their identity on both sides of the ball. What can they hang their hat on? What are their best personnel packages? Now that they’re getting healthy, it’s time to figure it out.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Week 8 DVOA Ratings
Lots of Pats stuff in here, we’ll get into the ratings in another post. Interesting breakdown of Tom Brady’s down season as well.
The idea of the Patriots as the most consistent team in the league seems ridiculous, because they seem so inconsistent from drive to drive. Nonetheless, the Patriots may not be the enigma that everyone thinks they are. The Patriots are not suddenly a bad team. They seem to be a slightly above-average team that plays most games slightly above-average. Maybe the reason the Patriots are so hard for people to judge is that their performance this year is so different from what we’ve come to expect from the Patriots in recent years. Their defense ranks sixth in DVOA and has been the most consistent in the league (variance of only 2.0%) despite all the injuries in recent weeks. The offense, on the other hand is just 20th in offensive DVOA (12th in variance). Even stranger, the offense is being carried in part by the running game. The Patriots rank 12th in rushing DVOA but 24th in passing DVOA.