Do you guys know who the two longest tenured head coaches are in the National Football League? One, Bill Belichick. Two…drum roll please…
This guy. Marvin freakin’ Lewis. Owner of an 0-7 playoff record. Yikes. Speaking of records, I’m going to sound like a broken one when I say this, but it has to be “put up or shut up” time for Marv this year, right? Doesn’t it? Cincy has been loaded for years now, and has very little to show for it, getting outclassed in January season after season. Now at 2-3, coming off a thorough beatdown at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys, Cincy comes into Foxborough in a certifiable panic. Making matters worse for the Bengals, they’re coming right in time for the football version of Dexter’s home opener.
The resemblance is actually uncanny…but I digress. Let’s get some links going.
Mike Petraglia (WEEI) wrote a somewhat scathing scouting report of the Bengals in his “5 Things to Know” piece this week. Petraglia writes:
“The swagger of the Bengals, something they enjoyed over their current five-year playoff run, is gone. It disappeared with their epic playoff meltdown against the Steelers and the team’s decision to bring back Pacman and Vontaze Burfict, the two principals at the center of Cincinnati’s choke job in the final 60 seconds. The Bengals reacted like they normally do – they did nothing.”
I couldn’t agree more. Not only did they drop another high pressure game, that team self destructed on national television in a home playoff matchup. If that wasn’t the boiling point to make sweeping organizational and personnel changes, I really don’t know what will be.
Now that we adequately summed up the Bengals, let’s move on to some Pats’ pieces. Doug Kyed (NESN) opined on the Patriots’ revamped double tight end attack here, and explained how it was only a snippet of things to come:
“Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett combined for 11 receptions, 176 yards and three touchdowns Sunday in the Patriots’ 33-13 win over the Cleveland Browns, but both tight ends ran routes on just six of those completions. Gronkowski was on the field for 81 percent of snaps, while Bennett played on 69 percent.”
In other words, this combination is just getting started. Is it bold to say the present duo is more difficult to defend than the Gronk/Hernandez pairing of a few years back? Bennett’s blocking has to be accounted for, Hernandez’s never did. The defense is left completely unbalanced, as the offense can run, pass, and play action out of the two tight end set with equal effectiveness. That’s simply not fair.
A couple player focus pieces from PatsPropaganda’s own Rick Starke on running back James White, and Rich Hill of Pats Pulpit on rookie linebacker Elandon Roberts. Both guys do a great job of bringing proof to the table, with excellent film clips throughout each respective piece. Watching White pick up a blitz off the edge to allow Brady to get a throw off, and Roberts blowing up CLE All-Pro left tackle Joe Thomas and, in turn, running back Isaiah Crowell are worth the price of admission. Starke stresses the importance of White’s blocking, “White showed the awareness to protect Tom Brady from an unabated shot to the chin from the blitzing corner” which has largely been good this season. On that note, don’t just expect Dion Lewis to come right in and take all White’s reps away, I’m expecting something closer to a 3-headed monster (Blount, Lewis, White). McDaniels has an opportunity to get very creative, especially with the two smaller backs on the field at the same time. Hill had some high praise for Roberts, not only regarding his physicality in the run game (“Roberts makes the tackle through Thomas’ block as the Patriots force a major stop. This was a Brandon Spikes-level run stuff”, but his pass coverage as well:
“Roberts’ coverage wasn’t perfect, but he absolutely took away the play from Pryor and dropped well into coverage. This is awareness above and beyond some other linebackers on the roster.”
Before we start calling this kid Tedy Bruschi, let’s have him string together a couple of weeks first. Extremely encouraging nonetheless. Plus, this hopefully means Jonathan Freeny can stay far away from the defense and stick to his bread and butter on special teams.
To wrap up this week, Jeff Howe (Boston Herald) argues that Brady’s suspension helped the Pats in the short and long term. He writes:
“In the first four weeks, Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett combined to absorb eight sacks and 16 hits, including one that wrapped up Garoppolo’s starting cameo and another that essentially ended Brissett’s season. There’s nothing wrong with keeping Brady away from that level of abuse.”
Do we want those four games back? Of course. Does Tom want those four games back? Of course. Did he get railroaded? Of course. But would you take 3-1, a division lead, and a fresh Brady for October on? Of. Course.
At the end of the day, we’re onto Cincinnati, Brady’s home, and I can’t wait.
