PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

The Best/Worst of the Week in Patriots Posts – 9/17

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JIMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

What a week, still riding high. Doesn’t get any better than going into hostile territory against an extremely talented Arizona team, and punching them in the the mouth on national TV. I really don’t think I saw one “expert” take the Pats which makes it that much more special.

The only thing that could have made it any more enjoyable was being a fly on the wall of the Goodell household, and witnessing the man of the house hemorrhage as Catanzaro’s kick sailed wide left. Tough luck for the commish.

roger

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New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 2 vs Miami Dolphins

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It’s Week 2 already as the Patriots face their AFC East rival the Miami Dolphins in New England’s home opener of the 2016 season. The Patriot are still smarting over a Week 17 loss in Miami last season, with Bill Belichick coming right out and mentioning the “sickening” loss in his weekly press conference.

The Dolphins have a new coach in Adam Gase, and plenty of talent on both sides of the ball. Coming off an ugly loss to the Seahawks, a win in New England would get the Dolphins season immediately back on track. However Miami hasn’t won in Foxboro since 2008’s Wildcat game.

Do they have another innovative gameplan to pull off the upset? Here my Patriots gameplan to prevent it…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4xKSZaHyBA

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Patriots Offensive Line Review: Week 1

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The worst thing that could have happened prior to playing week one was an injury of any type to Nate Solder. The $6 million dollar left tackle was unavailable due to a suspected hamstring injury. This unforeseen situation would mean that several young offensive lineman would be called upon to perform well immediately against the Cardinals. Sebastian Vollmer is likely out of the season and it appears that Belichick will ride out the year with Waddle and Fleming as his depth tackles.

It certainly didn’t appear that the outlook was promising for the Patriots in pregame. News broke that Rob Gronkowski would not play Sunday. His skills as a blocker would be sorely missed, especially with a new quarterback under center. Shaq Mason had a broken hand but played with a club. This is certainly a testament to his toughness as a player.

Snaps

There would be a total of 71 offensive snaps in the unbelievable victory against Arizona. Four lineman stepped up and played every single down week one: Cam Fleming, Joe Thuney, David Andrews, and Marcus Cannon. Rookie Ted Karras and Shaq Mason saw less reps in the game. Karras totaled 57 plays and Mason 14.

The Patriots pulled it off with a solid performance from their offensive line. Fleming, Thuney, and Karras have never seen/had limited NFL reps. Shaq Mason and David Andrews are both second year players. The only veteran on the line was last season’s biggest disappointment in the trenches: Marcus Cannon.

The concern before this past game centered around giving the rookie quarterback an early boost of confidence. Belichick kept the pocket moving through play action and a variety of misdirection plays centered around Julian Edelman. This helped to keep the edge rushers honest and eliminated some of the pocket pressure. They also lined up in heavy sets and ran the ball consistently to keep Arizona honest. This opened up longer plays downfield like the 37 yard heave to Chris Hogan.

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How Will Adam Gase’s Dolphin Offense Attack New England?

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Week 2! It’s the home opener! Jimmy G (il Grappa, JFG, wherever you want to go on this one) didn’t drop the ball! Alright, technically he did fumble once, but it wasn’t his fault. Things went as well as any of us could have hoped for in week 1. So, now…

The Miami Dolphins come to town this week after losing in Seattle last week.

Their offense looked near anemic, and they were a pathetic 3-of-21 on third down (that’s 14%…FOURTEEN PERCENT…not fourteen conversions…fourteen percent). There was one look that seemed be be their bread and butter, though.

Three wide outs, one tight end, one runningback. Clear space for either a swing, circle, or flat route for the running back (usually, Arian Foster). If whoever option 1 was wasn’t open, check down to the running back. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Here’s a visual:

dolphins-1

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Patriots vs. Cardinals Film Review: Offense Edition

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The Patriots offense did just enough to win against the Cardinals. They excelled on the first two drives of the game and the first drive after the half. Outside of those three, things were fairly pedestrian with two fumbles and two punts on the next four drives. Then, in a mark of well-coached and well-prepared team, two field goal drives to end the game.

Those two drives went 13 and 11 plays respectively, both impressive numbers when I think most of us probably expected the Pats and Garoppolo to fade down the stretch. Garoppolo’s decision making was on point nearly the entire night and despite a couple missed opportunities, it’s hard to ask for more out of a quarterback in his first start on the road against a very good defense.

One of the advantages Garoppolo has always had is his quick release. Even if his reads are sometimes a little slow, he can consistently make up some time with the speed of his delivery, which continued to surprise defenders.

Here’s what stood out in the film review of the offense…

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Week 2 Scouting Report: Miami Dolphins

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WOWAWEA what a finish to that game. I wasn’t that invested in a season opener since the 2009 game against the Bills where Ben Watson made the game winning score. Alas, it is time to turn the page to the next opponent. Something tells me this one won’t be as much of a rip snorter…

Here’s everything you need to know about the Miami Dolphins, aka “The F*****g Phins”

Week 2: vs. Miami Dolphins (Tickets)

Sunday, September 18th,

1pm EST, CBS

Sunny, 70s

Opponent/Patriots Stats:
Dolphins:
Notable Games: In the season opener, The Phins put up a good fight against a vaunted Seahawks team, but Tannehill took a late sack that killed their final drive and an injured Russell Wilson drove for the game winning score.

Common Opponents: None yet.

Recent games vs. Pats: Patriots smoked the Dolphins in Week 8 of 2015, 36-7, but Miami triumphed in Week 17, 20-10.  The last time the Dolphins won this matchup before that was in Week 1 of the 2014 season, 33-20. This game was in Miami (a scorcher in September).

[table id=16Dolphins1 /]

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Patriots vs. Cardinals Film Review: Defense Edition

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It’s always exciting when the Patriots unveil their fully operational defense in the first game of the season, but there wasn’t much surprise this year. The Pats continued to stick to their Cover-1 Man coverage that they’ve played extensively the last two seasons. There were occasional zone coverages and blitzes mixed in, but otherwise it was about lining up and forcing their receivers to beat our cornerbacks.

The real fun of the defense is in the front seven, where you have a collection of athletic pieces who can all rush the passer or drop into pass coverage on any given down. They’ll show a front like the one below, and then let the offense figure out who’s going where. On this particular play, Flowers, Collins and Hightower all drop, leaving a three man rush. Chris Long got the one-on-one and not only got the sack but drew a facemask.

Cardinals Wk 1 Defensive Front

So there you have it. Five guys on the LOS and the offense has to figure out how to block who’s coming after the snap. This is where the magic of this Patriots defense lies and when Rob Ninkovich returns and if Barkevious Mingo finds a defensive role, they’ll have another two pieces to play with like this.

The other fun things they can do are fake a coverage drop, then come on a delayed blitz, or just the opposite, start to come, then stop and drop. This allows the defense to stick to their conservative roots of mostly four- and three-man rushes, but makes the front so fluid it creates more opportunities for free rushers.

Here are some more observations about the defense after reviewing the All-22 film…

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