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Quick nugget of note that I just discovered while messing around here, through eight games the Patriots have given up 42 pass of 20 or more yards, the exact same amount as they gave up last year.
The big difference? Last year they only gave up 2 touchdowns on those 42 big plays, this year they’ve give up 10.
This is another illustration that the Pats have gotten away from “bend, don’t break”.
While the defense remains a work in progress, the Patriots can take solace in marked improvement in a number of statistical categories. The defense is yielding nearly two fewer points per game at this juncture in 2012 (21.3 as opposed to 23.0) and has cut down its yards allowed per game by nearly 50 (416.2 to 369.8).
Updating base vs. sub defense stats
That puts the seven-game total at 54.9 percent in sub packages (298 of 542, including penalties). These numbers are actually lower than anticipated at the halfway point. In 2011, the Patriots were in sub more than 60 percent of the time, but the last three games have trended toward the Patriots playing more base.
Given that the new 4-3 features more athleticism I’m not surprised the numbers are skewing more toward the base defense this year. That’s by design to help stop the pass over every down.
Bottom Line Apparel presents The Bottom Line Patriots Player of the Week
It’s pretty hard to choose from all the deserving Pats after such a dominant win, but Gronk was absolutely unstoppable so it has to go to him. He’s been dealing with a lot of injury issues this year, but he looked like his 2011 self yesterday.
Check out these stats via Chris Price at WEEI:
Gronkowski has scored 34 touchdowns in 40 games in his career, and he now is marching through end zones and into history books in a fashion befitting his robotic Sunday celebration.
Gronkowski now has 11 games with multiple touchdown catches in his career. He joins Jerry Rice as the only players in NFL history with that many multi-TD games in his first three seasons; but Gronkowski, of course, still has eight games left this year to set a new standard. No tight end has come remotely close to such a figure.
Overall, Gronkowski now has 34 touchdown catches in his first 40 career games, the most in that number of games since Randy Moss started his career with 40 touchdowns in as many games between 1998-2000. (John Jefferson had 34 in his first 40 career games; Bob Hayes scored 35 touchdowns in his first 40 games; and Rice had 32 in his first 40 career games.)
Think about it: Ben Coates had nine games with multiple touchdowns in his long, illustrious career. It’s taken Gronkowski 2½ seasons to bulldoze past that standard.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/bottom-line-apparel-presents-the-bottom-line/
YOU CAN JUST REFER TO @STEVANRIDLEY BY HIS NEW NICKNAME
Brady’s 98.4 Total QBR on Sunday – he was 23 of 35 for 304 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions – is tied for his highest in a single game over the last five seasons and is the second-highest for any player in 2012, trailing only Alex Smith’s Week 5 performance that netted him a 99.2 Total QBR.
Breaking Down Biggest Differences Between 2011 and 2012 New England Patriots | Bleacher Report
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be writing Patriots columns over at Bleacher Report now, it will give us a chance for some longer analysis and to interact with the great fan base that B/R has.
Once again the Patriots are pushing the envelope on both sides of the ball. On offense they’ve adopted a “blitzkreig” attack that can do whatever the defense is not prepared for. On defense they’re still young and they’ve had some growing pains, but they’ve smartly evolved their defense to handle the problems modern offenses present. As the defense gets more and more experience playing together they should only get better.