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Patriots DVOA Chart (thru week 10)
The offense had a great week, but the defense was clearly hurt by the 4th quarter prevent defense. Special Teams continues a slow decline, could have a break out versus the Colts.
See the full rankings here.
(Mike D’s note: I flipped the defensive DVOA to positive to make it a little easier to read.)
https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-dvoa-chart-thru-week-10-the-offense/
Me no like Patriots! But me do like Bring It On. Kirsten Dunst is beauty full.
This sure beats sitting on our couches, huh?
https://www.patspropaganda.com/this-sure-beats-sitting-on-our-couches-huh/
God do I love humiliating the Pittsburgh Squeelers in their own back yard.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/nevercease-god-do-i-love-humiliating-the/
Football Outsiders: The 2nd Best Game of Brady’s Career
Gronk #3 Tight End:
What a difference a week makes; after fumbling in the red zone and causing a fumbled kickoff against the Browns, Gronkowski had three touchdowns on five targets in Pittsburgh. Before Sunday, the Steelers had allowed just one passing touchdown to opposing tight ends in 57 targets, a 12-yard catch by Benjamin Watson in Week 6.
Benny #4 Running Back
Green-Ellis had one carry for 17 yards and two for 13 yards. That doesn’t sound like the makings of a great day, but consider that those are three of the four longest carries against the Steelers so far this season, and it looks a little better. The 17-yarder was Green-Ellis’s opening carry, and it was one of the rare times this year that the Steelers have been defeated at the line of scrimmage, with the Patriots doing a great job of sealing the alley outside to create an easy lane for Green-Ellis.
ProFootballFocus.com: Patriots – Steelers ReFocused
Patriots: Performances of note
It was interesting to hear some praise thrown the way of RT Sebastian Vollmer (-4.4) as the game was coming to an end. He didn’t give up a sack, but he was the weakest link on a Patriots offensive line that for the most part held its own and then some. He gave up a quarterback hit and five quarterback pressures, while grading out the lowest of all NE linemen with his run blocking. After such an impressive rookie year, Vollmer has come back down to earth in 2010.
On defense, the Patriots got an exceptional performance from Mike Wright (+5.2). Playing exclusively in nickel formations, Wright was a menace to the Steelers’ interior and constantly prevented Ben Roethlisberger from stepping up where he wanted to go. He finished the day with five quarterback pressures to go along with his two sacks in what was possibly the best performance of his career.
(Mike D’s note – we’ve mentioned this quite a few times, the key to the Patriots getting better at pressuring the QB it had to come from the inside guys like Wright and Myron Pryor, not just our OLBs)
One guy who didn’t impress and really failed to take his opportunity was Shawn Crable (-3.0). Seeing extended time as a left end in nickel formations, Crable had 30 attempts to rush the passer and only managed two quarterback disruptions. Throw in some substandard work in run defense and it would be a surprise to see him continue to receive as much playing time with the other options the Pats have at that spot.
(Mike D’s note – WTF is this Crable baloney!! Can’t say my eyes didn’t agree with this though, when you’re one job is to rush the passer you need to rush the passer. Part of me thinks Crable’s height works against him as it’s easier for blockers to get leverage on him. Slowly starting to think Crable better start showing some more or he’s gonna be targeted for replacement)
Rookie report
The three-touchdown display of Rob Gronkowski (+2.3 pass rating) was a pleasant surprise after his troubles last week. Gronkowski was in for 90.41 percent of plays while by contrast Aaron Hernandez (-1.1) saw 15.07 percent of the snaps and managed to drop another pass. … Brandon Deaderick (-0.2) had a quiet game along with Brandon Spikes (-0.1) as the Patriots ran a lot of their nickel package. … Jermaine Cunningham (-0.1) ended the day with four quarterback pressures but was invisible in run support and gave away a penalty. … Devin McCourty hurt his day by giving up two penalties and a touchdown, despite adding two more pass breakups to his resume. … Sergio Brown (+0.2) saw a lot of action, and appears to have worked his way into the nickel defense lineup ahead ofJonathan Wilhite. … Punter Zoltan Mesko (+0.7) had a max hang time of 4.5 seconds on his five punts.
(Mike D’s note – need to rewatch the Sergio vs. Wilhite playing time)
