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An Independent Patriots Blog

Patriots 2016 Preseason Opponents Announced

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The offseason continues to slowly drip by, with the Patriots 2016 preseason opponents being announced. The Pats will play:

  • Aug 11-15: vs NO
  • Aug 18-22: vs CHI
  • Aug 25-28: at CAR
  • Sept 1-2: at NYG

It’s a good bet the Pats will take advantage of the Belichick-Sean Payton connection once again and set up some joint practices early in training camp, and could possibly do the same with the Bears. Those are always a good chance to get some quality work in against another scheme and style.

What I like about this preseason schedule is that it gives the Pats a nice cross section of pretty good teams to prepare them for the regular season. They’ll get to see practice time and a drive or two of a great passer in Drew Brees, a half of an okay passer in Jay Cutler, and one of the best mobile quarterbacks in the game in Cam Newton in the all-important third preseason game.

And yes, the Pats scrubs and hanger-ons will get to see Eli and the Giants for the first time sans Tom Coughlin in the final preseason week.

The full schedule should be released in the next month and that should be fascinating to see how the 2016 campaign lays out. It’s not the cake walk the 2015 schedule was, and is far closer to the hard road 2014 was. Of course as we saw, playing some great teams prepared that 2014 team well for the playoffs, though remaining healthy was the bigger key.

Patriots 2016 Opponents

Best Patriots Game of 2015?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTbUrySDe5s

Looking back on the 2015 season now that we have some separation, I have to go with the thrilling last-second victory over the Giants as my best Patriots game of 2015. After this game there wasn’t much else to get excited about. Yes, the playoff win over the Chiefs was a solid victory, especially after the ass-pounding they handed us in 2014, but nothing tops finally beating Eli and the Giants for the first time since 2007’s 16-0 game.

The 4th-and-10 conversion to Danny Amendola on the final drive was a Tom Brady masterpiece. Such focus and poise in the pocket on a must-get play. Amendola also had a huge 82-yard punt return that sparked the comeback. It felt good to tear the Giants’ hearts out with a last second win for a change. This time around Eli just left too much time on the clock, as the Pats have done for him the last three matchups, including both Super Bowls.

Unfortunately the game was not without it’s significant injury hits, as Julian Edelman would miss the rest of the regular season after this one, seven games, in which the Pats went 3-4. So in many ways this win was the high water point of the season.

This was also the first game without Dion Lewis and the ground game struggles that would haunt the Pats the rest of the season started to show. They’d finish with 23 carries for 77 yards, a 3.3 yards-per-rush average.

Other 2015 contenders include the opening Thursday win over the Steelers, an tougher-than-expected battle with the Colts (who can forget their punt play?), and pounding an upstart Dolphins team. Not a lot of unforgettable games last year, but 2016 should change that with a beast of schedule.

Best Patriots Game of 2015

 

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Film Room: Martellus Bennett

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Source: FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Film Room: Martellus Bennett

A great X-and-O read that breaks down what I’ve been writing about since the Pats added Bennett. In short, his blocking ability is what sets him apart from the tight end combos of years past. Now, with Gronk on one end Bennett on the other, there’s nothing the Patriots can’t seamlessly do without changing any personnel. Power run game? Check. Spread offense? Check. Your move, defenses.

Which New England Patriots newcomer will have the biggest impact? | masslive.com

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Patriots free agent impact

The New England Patriots acquired Martellus Bennett, Chris Long, Shea McClellin, Jonathan Cooper, Chris Hogan and Donald Brown. Who makes the biggest impact?

Source: Which New England Patriots newcomer will have the biggest impact? | masslive.com

Fun read from Kevin Duffy weighing who will make the biggest impact this season of the newly-added free agents. For me, I think Chris Hogan and Martellus Bennett have the best chance to play the most of the group.

Chris Long should slide into the third defensive end role and should get plenty of action as well. An injury to Jabaal Sheard or Rob Ninkovich would elevate him into starter’s status and I’m betting he’d be ready for that challenge.

Shea McClellin should be the base middle linebacker, which is a one-to-two down role, but as we’ve seen Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins both miss significant time last year, he’s also on a paper-thin verge of an almost every-down role.

Finally Jonathan Cooper will be fascinating to watch this year. He might be the most talented guard on the roster, but that’s no guarantee he beats out the promising second-year guards. Still, if he is able to finally put it all together he could have a huge impact in transforming the Pats’ offensive line from the disaster we saw at various times last year. Pair him with Shaq Mason and the athleticism at the guard position will be through the roof.

I expect Hogan to step into the role Brandon LaFell had in 2014, playing nearly every snap as the primary X/outside receiver. Hard to predict if he’ll earn Brady’s trust the way LaFell did in 2014, if not he’ll look like LaFell in 2015. But he checks every box the Pats look for and if he can get the nickname 7-11 for always being open with shitty QBs, we can only imagine how much Brady should like him.

Bennett should pair with Gronk to form the most unstoppable tight end duo in the league. Again, there’s an element of unknown with any free agent, but on paper that duo can and should play almost every snap. The Pats have never had two tight ends quite like this, with the equal ability to block or catch passes.

If everything clicks there might not be a bigger free agent impact signing in the NFL.

Patriots Extend Patrick Chung Through 2018

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Patriots extend Patrick ChungI’m not sure there’s been a more interesting player path than Patrick Chung’s with the Patriots. His latest extension, the second since he returned to the Pats after a one-year stint in 2013 with the Eagles, is just another marker that Chung has lived up to his second-round draft status in 2009.

Chung was an early favorite of the blog. You can scan through all the archived posts about him here. What excited me most about him was his fiery play that would hopefully bring back the enforcer presence Rodney Harrison left behind the year before Chung arrived. Nick Caserio famously said it only took an interview at the combine to sell the Pats on Chung:

One story of note came when he recapped the team’s 15-minute interview with second-round draft choice Patrick Chung at the combine. “That made an impression,” Caserio told the crowd of about 50. “After 15 minutes, we were ready to run through a wall. It was like ‘sign me up.’ … This is one of these guys, the more you’re around him, you like what you see.”

Belichick Chews Out Chung After Blown Fake Punt 2010 AFCDG

Belichick Chews Out Chung After Blown Fake Punt 2010 AFCDG

But his first three years were marred with injuries and forgettable plays. There was the fake punt he called without BB’s approval in the 2010 AFC Divisional round that backfired. Instead of going into the locker room down just 7-3, the Jets put up another touchdown to go up 14-3.

Then there was the millimeter Chung was late for Mario Manningham’s game-winning-drive-sparking catch in Super Bowl 46.

Chung was a special teams player as a rookie, but stepped into a starter’s role in 2010, aka the Patriots worst year of pass defense of the Belichick era. In 2011 he’d play just eight games, and in 2012 he began to fall down the depth chart:

Of Patrick Chung’s 16 snaps, 14 come on the final three drives when the outcome was well in hand. He has really fallen out of favor when all players are healthy, as rookie Tavon Wilson is playing over him in the dime. Chung is essentially a special teamer and depth option at this point, which is a hard fall for the 2009 second-round draft choice who opened the year as a starter.

The defense was playing more Cover-2 in those days and Chung was moved around between two spots he didn’t excel in — free safety and slot corner. Part of that was due to injuries and Chung did his best filling in, but his game was physicality, not coverage.

Now the Patriots keep Chung mostly in the box or covering tight ends, and last year he took his game to a new level. The game is slowing down for the veteran now and he’s playing more under control which is keeping him healthy. Chung is still just 28 years old and in his prime and it seems clear the Patriots feel he’s now a player to build around. The biggest key for him will be to stay on the field and not let the injuries that plagued his early career.

 

Patriots Sign Terrance Knighton

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Multiple outlets are now reporting that the Patriots signed Terrance Knighton, a defensive tackle whom the Pats last saw blowing up their impotent offense in the 2013 AFC Championship game while he was with Denver.

This now gives the Patriots maybe the best defensive tackle group in Bill Belichick’s history with the team, a group that is so diverse they can play any front and any style of game. Knighton is a monster inside, weighing somewhere around 350 pounds. Pair him with the equally huge Alan Branch and the Pats have over 700 pounds at the heart of the defense.

Patriots sign Terrance KnightonThen there’s the first round picks from the last two drafts – Malcom Brown, who just kept getting better as rookie and was their most solid defensive tackle by the end of the season, and Dominique Easley, the explosive first rounder from 2014, who has flashed huge potential despite having his first two seasons end on IR.

Add in veteran Chris Jones, who missed all of last season, free agent signing Frank Kearse and the always-hanging-on Joe Vellano, and it’s hard to think of a better interior group in the Patriots recent history.

I’m a firm believer that games are won or lost in the trenches and additions like this are the ones that get me most excited. The Patriots now have the size to create incredible problems for offensive lines, especially in the middle. They must choose whether one or both of the 350 pounders need to be double teamed, and either way it’s going to open up matchups on the edges for Rob Ninkovich, Jabaal Sheard and Chris Long.

The Patriots’ defense took big strides last season, partly due to an easier schedule that wasn’t the murderer’s row 2014 was. But this year they’ll face every top offense from last season, including the Steelers, Seahawks, Bengals and Cardinals. They’ve added some significant pieces to the front seven and with the continued development of their young stars, this should be one of the most fun defenses in the NFL to watch.

Report: Patriots signed Clay Harbor

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Adam Caplan reported today that the Patriots signed Clay Harbor, their second free agent tight end signing of the offseason. Harbor now joins Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett atop the Patriots’ depth chart.

Patriots sign Clay HarborF-TE Still a Need

The combination of Gronk and Bennett should be deadly as the Pats have never had two top “Y” tight ends who can both block and catch. Harbor is more in the “F” tight end mold, and can be moved around the formation both as a fullback or H-back. With only second-year player AJ Derby as the other move tight end, this signing makes sense.

If there’s on joke that can stick on Bill Belichick’s tenure with the Patriots it’s his attention to tight ends, often to the point of what feels like overkill. When it works, like it did with Benjamin Watson and Dan Graham, and Gronk and Aaron Hernandez, it can be devastating. They’ve certainly built another group with the potential to be devastating this year.

Derby has good size at 6’5″, 256 pounds, but was out of commission for all of last season and has a lot to prove as a former quarterback who had only played a single season at tight end at Arkansas. He still did well enough for the Pats to take him in the sixth round, and he will now have both a mentor and competition in Harbor.

But realistically any “F” tight end, H-back, Fullback or slot receiver is going to have their snaps eaten into by the presence of two great Y tight ends.