Football Outsiders: Run Rankings Of Remaining Patriots Opponents
Shame on me for simply looking at the NFL.com rushing rankings when stating my claim that the Patriots would face lowly rushing offenses in their final four games and wouldn’t miss Spikes that much.
Here’s what the run of the mill stats say:
- Bills 17th
- Dolphins 18th
- Bears 22nd
- Packers 23rd
But when we look over at the far more insightful Football Outsiders rankings things look a little more difficult.
- Packers: 10th
- Dolphins 15th
- Bills 19th
- Bears 26th
If you’re not familiar with how Football Outsiders do their rankings it’s based off this simple theory.
If it’s 1st and 10 and you get 2 yards it’s a bad play.
But if it’s 3rd and 1 and you get 2 yards it’s a good play.
So really, yards per carry isn’t really a telling stat. So Football Outsiders looks at the situation, the down/distance and then the result and assigns a grade. So basically their rankings are better and tell you more.
So from these rankings it looks like the Pats run defense will definitely be tested in these final games without Spikes.
Brandon Spikes versus the Baltimore Ravens. This video doesn’t really make me feel better about losing Spikes for four games. He’s making some plays here, his impact in the run game will be missed for sure. At least he’ll have some time to overcome the rookie wall. Making lemonade, y’all…
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
https://www.patspropaganda.com/brandon-spikes-versus-the-baltimore-ravens-this/
I’ve been contacted by the NFL and informed that I will be suspended four games for the detection of an illegal substance in a drug test. The substance was a medication that I should have gotten clarification on before taking. It was not a performance enhancer or an illegal drug. The integrity of the game is very important to me. I understand the league’s ruling and apologize to my teammates, the fans and the Patriots organization for this mistake.
Brandon Spikes
https://www.patspropaganda.com/ive-been-contacted-by-the-nfl-and-informed-that/
As you can see above the games where Spikes was used most was against heavy running teams (or teams that were attempting to be run heavy against us as was the case in Cleveland).
Though he showed some great signs of improvement and is currently number two behind Jerod Mayo in tackles he’s seen less playtime as of the last four games. Against the Jets he only played 23 snaps yet recorded 7 tackles. That’s impressive. What it shows is that Spikes comes in when teams are going to run, and almost 33% of the time against the Jets he was in on the tackle.
The good news? The Patriots four remaining opponents are ranked 22nd, 23rd, 17th and 18th respectively in rushing offense. Of course stopping the run is always one of the first and most important things for a defense, but with this upcoming slate of opponents it looks like the effect of losing Spikes can be minimized to an extent.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/as-you-can-see-above-the-games-where-spikes-was/
Brandon Spikes Suspended Four Games
Brandon Spikes (seen below making the biggest play of his young career against the Jets) was suspended today per Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald. It’s a four game suspension for violation of the NFL’s substance abuse policy. We’re not sure what the substance was… Steroids? Weed? Sex Tape Juice?
This is a significant loss for the Patriots. Spikes has been an excellent run defender and just seemed to be hitting his stride when he made pretty much the play of the game by picking off Mark Sanchez. Ouch…
A Real Live Super Bears Fan With Some Patriots Hate
If you’re like me you might having a hard time really getting fired up for the Bears this weekend. It’s understandable after we’ve just recently played the Jets, Colts and Steelers, the unholy trinity of Patriots rivals.
Most of us still don’t harbor a lot of hate from the Super Bowl in 1986 (though some of us definitely do) so there just isn’t a whole lot of “I want to whup the Bears’ ass” fire burning in our bellies. Especially coming off a thrashing of the Jets.
Well today I came across this Bears fan vidcast and it got me fired up, if for nothing else than wanting to see this overconfident living stereotype eat some crow.
I have to warn you, he starts off with a nice dose of spygate nonsense, before tearing into the lack of Patriots fans on Youtube. Youtube? I didn’t realize the true sign of a passionate fan base was having a lot of people who make prediction videos.
You can talk about spygate all you want buddy, but that’s really not going to help your boys on Sunday. These Patriots are 10-2, and have beaten an array of quality teams the likes of which the Bears haven’t beaten since the 80s.
The thing I don’t get is how is this guy so confident about the Bears? Does Jay Cutler hand out smug douchebag pills to the fanbase of whatever team he plays for?
‘The Bears have played better offenses and already beaten them’? Um, sorry dude, they haven’t.
And why does everyone keep talking about this shitty field in Chicago like it’s going to be the ultimate deciding factor? You know who else has a shitty field? Pittsburgh. And that did little to slow down the Patriots offense.
But it’s going to be cold! I think we already mentioned in a previous post that Tom Brady is the best quarterback of all time in cold weather.
So I know the Bears and their fans are all cocky because they beat the Eagles. Hooray! But they’re actually just 2-1 against quality teams, and are even being outscored on average against those quality teams.
Look, the Bears are pretty good and had a nice little run after their bye week. But it’s all going to come crashing down on Sunday, and when they’re watching Green Bay take the division title we’ll be able to point to this loss against the Pats as when it all fell apart for them.
So here’s the video, watch it if you want to get upset…
Also check out NEgoBrach28’s channel on Youtube, she got called out by the guy but made a nice response.
I cannot confirm or deny that this guy was the original inspiration for the video below…