Patriots All-22 Review vs. Bills
It’s All-22 Tuesday! Trying to make this a little easier to read and follow, so I’m shortening it a bit and doing both offense and defense in one post, just divided by halves to look for adjustments.
Lots of great stuff in this one but I still think the Pats have much better football ahead of them on both sides of the ball.
Let’s dive in, defense first of course…
Defense
1st Half
The Bills had a nice first drive, with the Pats playing Cover 1 Man on 6 of 9 snaps. The problems were primarily early-season sloppiness, not getting off blocks, not causing havoc. The coverage shift that occurred after that was switching to Cover 3, which matched up well with the long-developing routes the outside receivers were running. That led to five-straight three and outs.
After the first drive I had them in Cover 3 on 16 snaps, Cover 1 Man on 8 snaps. Again, it’s Tyrod Taylor, and there were some open receivers in the zone holes, but generally this coverage was perfect for forcing indecision and check downs.
The Patriots also started to use McCourty closer to the line of scrimmage whether as a zone defender or spying the quarterback.
Chandler is up and down in run defense and it seems teams do target him, but his athleticism as a pass rusher is excellent and he’s a very solid piece.
On the long PI call on Bradley Fletcher he was playing Cover 3 so he wasn’t trying to jam and it quickly became a foot race that he was losing. Expect teams to target him on deep shots frequently now.
2nd Half
As expected the defense stuck with mostly Cover 3 in the second half and it continued to be mostly effective. The Bills adjusted by hitting some sideline comeback routes to attack the coverage, but they really didn’t start doing damage and mounting a comeback until Taylor started getting out of the pocket and make throws on the run late in down when the coverage had broken down a bit.
How about that hole?
The 32-yard Woods TD was a prime example of this as Malcolm Butler was left essentially alone covering two guys in the end zone and the pass just snuck through his hands.
Would’ve liked to see a better game out of Siliga. He’s probably their best tackle right now but he’s not playing like it, getting easily blocked too often. Alan Branch bounced back and made some plays while Malcom Brown was just okay.
The 24-yard Watkins TD again just beat Bradley Fletcher with speed over the top. This is a major area of concern.
Offense
First Half
The Patriots always have a feeling out period at the start of a game, especially on offense. They spread the field on the first possession, then went to a jumbo package early on the second drive, but still threw it. Just seeing how the Bills would play them.
Rex’s favorite thing is to only send three in the red zone, but credit the protection and Edelman on his touchdown as he beat the double team and Brady found room to scramble and deliver the perfect ball. Edelman makes so many tough plays we’re almost starting to take them for granted.
Loved Dion Lewis’ hard touchdown run, the first time the Pats handed off in the game, on their third possession! He lowered his shoulder to get into the end zone, the kind of play the coaches surely love. I know I do.
Never a good sign when there’s visible confusion on the defense’s side on how to cover Gronk just before the snap. That’s what happened on Gronk’s touchdown not surprisingly.
Michael Williams is an interesting player who seems to skew more tackle than tight end but the Patriots are using him all over the place. His rise could mean the end of the Hooman.
On the failed fourth-down conversion in the second quarter they tried to sell the fly sweep that they had just run earlier with Edelman. Nobody bit and Brady just had to fling and pray.
On the second-quarter sack of Brady, that was nullified by a hold on Buffalo, it’s clear where Vollmer hurts his finger. Andrews and Mason missed the stunt and Brady had to hit the deck.
Dion Lewis’ 40-yard catch up the sideline was reminiscent of Vereen but he’s got even more wiggle to him. Excited to see how they start to scheme even more to get him open in space. Dead on balls throw from Brady.
Second Half
What a throw by Brady on third-and-1 to find Gronk for 28 yards on the first possession. This is just as he’s throwing the ball, most QBs would have a loaf in their pants long before this.
Seemed like an effort to get Chandler more involved in the second half, of course him not coming up with a touchdown those two times they targeted him in the end zone were no bueno.
Lewis has such side-to-side agility and is so hard to tackle in tight spaces. That part of his game is very Woodhead-y.
Didn’t even realize Vollmer returned to the game until now.
Edelman’s touchdown was so Edelman, just all out effort. Can’t say enough about the player he’s developed into.
Definitely a few miscues by the offensive line but all things considered this was an impressive performance by all of them. Yes, Brady got the ball out quick but we’ve seen even that gameplan get disrupted by immediate pass rush.
Dobson did have one kinda gross drop but otherwise it was just the kind of game he needed to build some confidence. His chances will continue, I just want to see him do something special.
Didn’t love the 4th-and-1 play call but Edelman was open, Brady just missed. I prefer aggressive play calling but I think a punt would’ve been the right call there instead of trying to over-finish, if that makes sense.
On Brady’s fumble that made all our butts pucker up it was on Solder a bit for missing the cut block but also for Brady thinking he could reload. Good pursuit by Hughes and good coverage on Gronk to force Brady to not throw.
Pats were up five with 4:04 when they got the ball back and what a drive they put together to seal the game. Big part of it was the unbelievable Amendola catch.
Pats offense looked really good in this one, with Gronk, Edelman and Lewis making most of the big plays but Amendola and Dobson chipping some key ones as well. Still, they left some plays on the field and are still learning what they do best. But right now I see no reason this offense won’t be better than last year’s outside of injuries.
Pretty sure I can place every AFCE loss up there.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/pretty-sure-i-can-place-every-afce-loss-up-there/
Specifically, the Patriots have gotten off to a hot start in the red zone. Brady’s offense has scored touchdowns on seven of its first nine trips inside the opposition 20-yard line, tying the Pats with the Steelers (7-for-8) and the Cardinals (7-for-7) for the most successful red zone possessions in football.
They’ve pulled this off by introducing yet another subtle wrinkle to their offense, a jumbo package that includes as many as four tight ends with the same telltale pre-snap motion. It’s designed to create matchup nightmares for the opposition, leaving Brady with easy throws against overwhelmed defenders. And each time the Patriots have shown it through two weeks, they’ve taken a markedly similar motion and followed it up with a different look. Run through those five plays and you see how tough it can be to stop the Patriots near the goal line.
NFL Week 2 Wrap: Undefeated Cowboys Feeling Anything But «
Nice job showing GIFs of the four times they used this in here. Did anyone not see this coming this offseason? Now if Chandler can just hold on to the ball.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/specifically-the-patriots-have-gotten-off-to-a/
Pats Posits: Tuesday Edition After Reflection
Nothing like a victory Monday, and the more I thought about what we’ve seen from the Patriots in the first two weeks, the more I felt I needed some additions to Monday’s Posits.
– I did touch upon it a little bit, but the versatility of the defense is finally coming to fruition. Everything we wrote about all offseason, about how the defense would be more mix-and-match than ever is coming true. The old days of conventional defense are over. Now Belichick’s defense is truly a player-by-player, matchup-by-matchup amoeba. Look at the athletes we have in the front seven and it’s hard to compare this group to any we’ve seen before.
– Jamie Collins had a slow start last Thursday night but he was all over the place against the Bills. Between him and Hightower, Sheard, Chander, and Ninkovich you can’t put anyone into a box or assume anything about how the defense will play. I know it’s early, but I haven’t felt this good about our front seven since 2007 (and we’re still waiting to see what Easley can do).
– I think it won’t be long before a lot of the x and o football writers at the national level start writing heavily about the style of defense and how Belichick has evolved to deal with the passing game.
– When the Pats let Revis and Browner go this offseason, the general consensus at the time seemed to be that the Patriots would be a lot more of a zone defense now (a critical error in my view then and now). It was really Browner leaving that bugged me most because he was relatively affordable (by my standards but not the Patriots’) and how can you not have a use for a corner that big when you MUST play man defense at times. Well this preseason and into the regular season it’s been clear that the Pats have not abandoned man coverage. They might be a little less physical at the line, but they are okay playing Cover-1 Robber, last year’s majority coverage. So again I’m a little bummed about not retaining Browner, especially considering games against the Jets.
– Fans have to readjust their feelings toward the run game on both sides of the ball. I’ve long been a proponent of “throw to score, run to win” and it’s even more true now. There was no use running into the brick wall with Blount. His time will come. It goes back to needing to win on first and second down against the Bills to avoid third-and-long. Instead of trying to force the run they went with short quick passes on the perimeter. They threw on 29 of 37 first downs.
– The sacks are nice but I think a bunch of them don’t happen with a good pocket quarterback. Only two jump to mind where Chandler and Collins won clean off the line. Otherwise coverage was a big part of taking away the first read. Granted, the rush was getting there before guys could uncover, but I still think there’s pass rush work to be done. Cough Easley…
Can’t wait to dive into the All-22 today and really get a sense of the schemes they used.
Exclusive: Inside the victorious Patriots locker room after win in Buffalo
Exclusive: Inside the victorious Patriots locker room after win in Buffalo
Imagine the Super Bowl-size celebration that would’ve been going on in Buffalo’s locker room had the outcome been the other way around.
Pats Posits: Things starting to click against Rex and the Bills
I didn’t quite enjoy this New England Patriots win one as much as I wanted to (highlights here). It looked like it was about to be a blowout until the Pats let the Bills back into the game, and their fans who had left early begging to get back into the stadium (only to see them lose finally). The fourth-down stop and then the strip that quickly gave the Bills some hope made us all clench after thinking it was already in the bag.
The offense was then forced to put a long drive together and then the defense sealed the game with an interception – a theme in four of the last five games going back to the AFCDG vs. the Ravens. The defense has certainly been clutch in that time.
Offensively the Pats put up over 500 yards and allowed minimum pressure on Tom Brady. They threw it almost 60 times and largely ignored the run, but that’s just smart football.
Defensively, they forced Tyrod Taylor to be a pocket quarterback and he couldn’t complete a non-checkdown pass when the game was in question. The Pats gave up some long runs, but showed some improvement from last week as they continue to get back into real football shape and used to tackling again.
It wasn’t all perfect and there are certainly things to work on, but generally the Patriots showed a lot of potential on both sides of the ball.
Here are the Posits:
Protection – First, a hand for the oft-rotating offensive line who allowed just two sacks and five QBs on 59 dropbacks. Most impressive were the interior rookies who really did a great job all things considered. There were some brain farts like Solder’s missed cut block that led to the strip of Brady, but compared to last year the protection has been good.
The potential loss of Sebastian Vollmer, who left the game with a hand/finger injury, is surmountable with Marcus Cannon whose best fit is at right tackle.
The offense is awesome because Gronk and Edelman consistently make big plays. Now with Dion Lewis making some big ones too it really rounds things out. Add in LaFell and this is a pick-your-poison type sitch.
Jamie Collins – Collins was kind of blah last week, but he was on fire against the BIlls with 2.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss and 3 QB hits. The way the Patriots are sending their front LB/DEs after the quarterback is a lot of fun and there’s no question Collins is now the best all-around linebacker on the team.
Pats defense allowed three TDs on three red zone trips, a number outside of the norm for them. They were 4-for-13 on third down, a stellar number, and again outside the norm, but this one in a good way.
Fouth down will be an area of focus going forward as they failed on both attempts and failed to steop the Bills’ only fourth-down attempt.
Dion Lewis – Yeah he fumbled for the second game in the row and Ridley would be in the doghouse if he had done that, but Lewis is so explosive and dynamic you can understand why the coaches are letting him work through the ball security issues, especially after two days off. Through two games he sure is making the decision to let Shane Vereen walk look like a good one. How was an electric playmaker like him out of the league last year?
Aaron Dobson had 7 catches on 8 targets for 87 yards for his first significant contribution since 2013 vs. the Steelers. This is just the kind of game Dobson needed to get something going and he should’ve earned some trust from Brady today. I still wish he could catch the ball on the run and pick up extra yards, but he made some tough catches in this one so I’ll take it.
Disciplined defense – Let’s not get too excited about shutting down a run-first offense after we grabbed the lead, but we saw the many options Belichick has on defense in terms of who he sends, drops or rotates in or out. Collins and Hightower are still the straws stirring the drink as Mayo gets eased back in. But there are a ton of good pieces up front that can play whatever style they need to.
In beating a dead horse news, Dominique Easley would really tie the defense together. I think they’ll give him through the bye to get healthy.
Chandler Jones gets some criticism for his run defense and that is something to focus on in the re-watch, but against the pass he had the perfect combination of pass rushing without overplaying Taylor. He had 3 sacks, 4 QB hits and 3 tackles-for-loss. Collins might be the team’s best blitzer but Chandler is their best pass rusher and he could be in line for a monster season (extend him asap).
What a catch by Danny Amendola! That guy isn’t a huge part of the offense but he finds ways to come through to help win games. They pay him more than they probably would like to but he’s hand a big hand in some clutch wins – Browns in 2013, Jets in 2014, Ravens/Seahawks in SB run. I’ll take him on my team any game.
Rufus Johnson got snaps as an interior rusher and though he didn’t make any splash plays it will be interesting to see how he did compared to Grissom, who played the role last week. Flowers will probably get his chance vs. the Jags.
Each week it’s becoming clearer that Malcolm Butler has the confidence and swagger of a starter and will not hesitate to get in opponent’s faces. After staying quiet as a rookie, Butler is showing some personality out there and it’s much needed for a secondary that had a lot of Pats fans worried heading into this season. Butler had one interception and almost had a second, one that just evaded his hands and went for a touchdown. Even when he’s beaten it’s not by much. Butler is for real
The one scary part of the defense has to be the target on Bradley Fletcher’s back for deep throws. Tarrell Brown has been good, but Fletcher scares me more than Arrington ever did.
While it made me cringe to see the Bills get back within five points, in the long term it’s a good thing that both the offense and defense had to make plays to win a game on the road. That’s great experience that will help down the road.
All-22 review coming up Tuesday afternoon.