PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Football Outsiders: Patriots #3 Overall DVOA

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Will have the DVOA graph coming shortly but for now check out this little nugget from this weeks rankings about the Pats offense.

One thing that’s interesting about this year’s parity is that it only exists in terms of total team performance. There are extremes at the top and bottom of the ratings for offense, defense, and special teams. (Well, the bottom of the ratings for defense, anyway. Not the top.) Let’s go back to the Patriots for a moment. Do you wonder how the Patriots have gotten to 8-2 despite a young, undisciplined and outright poor defense? Well, no matter how good you think the Patriots offense has been, they’ve been better. Based on our numbers, this is the second-most efficient offense the Patriots have put on the field, trailing only the record-breaking 2007 team. In fact, this could be the best offense we’ve ever measured other than that team. Yes, the Patriots are only seventh in the league with 5.6 net yards per play, but they’ve been outstanding at extending drives and extremely good at avoiding turnovers. The Patriots are first in DVOA on third and fourth downs, and their 78.8% rating is far ahead of any other team. (Atlanta is second at 50.6%.) Meanwhile, only Kansas City (seven) has fewer turnovers than New England’s nine, and one of those Patriots turnovers was a Hail Mary pass at the end of regulation before their overtime victory over Baltimore. The Patriots aren’t keeping the turnovers down through fumble recovery luck – they have only one fumble that they themselves have recovered to go with the three that their opponent have recovered. As a result, the Patriots are tied with the 2004 Colts as the second-best offense we’ve ever tracked through Week 11.

Tom E. Curran: Patriots have cut cord to past

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Tom E. Curran: Patriots have cut cord to past

Nice read from Tom E. and he’s totally right. This team is overachieving right now. Anytime you’re 8-2 with (statistically) one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL you’re getting a combination of timely plays, great coaching, and luck. 

As to how long this can continue we’ll see. But this is not a dominant Patriots team. They don’t beat themselves and they make plays when they have to. Continuing to do that when the games matter most at the end of the season and into the playoffs is a whole different challenge.

Luckily there’s still time to improve the areas that desperately need improving. 

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When you do the drills in training camp, you have your linebackers blitz against your tight ends and running backs. Then somewhere along the line, you usually have your defensive backs blitz against your backs because their involved in pickup and you have different secondary blitzers. You kind of get a feel for who’s got a natural feel for the blitz and who doesn’t, as far as timing and technique and that kind of thing. Guys that pressure well, you have a tendency to bring then more frequently than guys where that’s not as good of a strength in their game. I’m not saying you don’t bring them, too, but there’s guys you want to bring, [then] there’s other guys that you bring because it’s good for the scheme, but maybe they’re not necessarily your best blitzers.

BB on realizing that Arrington might be skilled at rushing

https://www.patspropaganda.com/when-you-do-the-drills-in-training-camp-you-have/

Football Outsiders: What Happened on Brady’s Last Three Pass Attempts?

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It was troubling to see that the Patriots offense went cold in the clutch again versus the Colts. All they needed was one more drive to ice the game, something they were able to do against the Vikings, but this time they failed on two possessions, only gaining one first down. This of course put the game in the hands of the defense.

Here’s what Football Outsiders saw when they broke down Brady’s final three pass attempts during those failed drives…

Brady had exactly three incompletions on his first 24 attempts before finishing his game out with four consecutive incompletions, including a would-be interception that Tyjuan Hagler was nice enough to show to the turf. Aaron Schatz and Bill Simmons wondered about what happened to Brady on those final attempts during the former’s appearance on the B.S. Report, so I decided to take a look at the final three.

On the first play, the Colts lined up with linebackers in both A-gaps, leaving six guys in the box against an empty backfield for the Patriots. The Colts lined up with man coverage across the field and no safeties deep. The blitzers came, which forced Logan Mankins to take one of the blitzing linebackers and Matt Light to grab the right defensive tackle. That left Dwight Freeney with a free rush at Brady, which forced an early throw to Brady’s hot read, Wes Welker, who hadn’t turned around yet.

Two plays later, Brady lined up with one linebacker in the A-gap and Danny Woodhead in the backfield. The Colts brought five and Brady wasn’t significantly pressured; he got off a clean throw, but it was thrown slightly behind Deion Branch, which allowed Cornelius Brown to knock the ball away. Branch suggested that there was pass interference committed on the play, but there was no such call.

Brady’s final throw came with 2:38 left; on third-and-7, the Colts lined up with three down linemen and two linebackers in a “mug” look, while the Patriots went with a Trips Bunch left alignment that had Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, and Aaron Hernandez in a group and Woodhead in the backfield. The Colts only brought four and Brady had a perfect pocket; he just missed his window to Welker. The throw itself seemed like something was off; even if Hagler hadn’t been there, it would have been well behind both Welker and the defender that was trailing him.

A new Patriots pump up song? Not quite.

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Thanks to George Brew of the What’s Brewin podcast for passing this along. I think. There are some things you can’t unsee or unhear after you’ve seen or heard them and this video is one you might not be able to get out of your head.

Let’s just ignore how grammatically incorrect “The Patriots and We” is and focus on how horrible the song is. Have you been looking for an awkward Mike Lynch high five? This video has you covered at the 2:30 mark. No wonder the Pats lost the Super Bowl to the Bears and now we know who’s the blame. The producers of this horrid video.

I actually remember owning a VHS that was a tribute to the ‘86 Pats season (post Super Bowl loss) set to That’s What Friends Are For. It was similarly cheesy and horrid. Who comes up with this crap?

Mike the Singing Plummer, your “The Pats Are Coming” is still safe as the anthem of Patriots nation.

I’ll leave the full review to Napoleon…

A Closer Look at Kyle Arrington the Pass Rusher

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In the video below you’ll see Kyle Arrington (#27) putting his hand down and rushing Peyton Manning from the defensive end position. It’s pretty rare to see a cornerback, much less a cornerback on the small side, engaging with linemen in the trenches.

In this play Arrington begins to lineup as if he is going to be covering the slot receiver, but given that he had blitzed on previous plays, Manning points him out as a rusher. Once called out Arrington concedes his intentions and puts his hand down to help him get a quicker burst. 

In the previous pass rushes he made he tried to beat the tackle wide, dipping his shoulder and trying to get underneath the block, but this time he fakes outside and cuts inside. The combination of this good move and Tully Banta-Cain’s impressive Freney-esque spin move on the other side forced Manning out of the pocket and to make a poor throw on the move.

This was one of the few third downs that the Pats were able to get off the field. This was an interesting wrinkle that Bill Belichick threw at Peyton Manning this time around, and this is one crucial play where it helped the Patriots get off the field.