Starting off with the offense this week because I never got a chance to go All-22 on them after the Lions game. Tedy Bruschi mentioned the gameplan called for more downfield passing in this one, so that’s the area I’ll keep an eye on because it sounds kind of crazy to decide the game against Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers is the time to put pressure on your OL.
First Half
Pats open in a 2-RB set with Bolden and Vereen, an instant surprise considering Bolden hasn’t had a carry in what seems like months. Always curious why the Pats pull stuff like this. Is it to instantly give the Packers something to think about? Or perhaps it’s as simple as Bolden has been practicing well.
Then on the next play they shift gears to a 6 OL with Gronk on a wing and Blount in the backfield power formation. This is such a Pats offense thing to do – testing out matchups, seeing what the Packers counter their groupings with. Tough run by Blount too, burrowing through the pile to get an extra 3 yards.
Pats sub in Vereen/Wright on the next play and the Packers counter with their nickel. That has run written all over it, yet Vereen only gets 2 yards. Results like this are partially why the Pats “got away from the run”.
Then comes the dreaded hurry-up run on third-and-2 to Blount that gets stuffed. Simply put the Packers were ready and their defensive line was too much for the Pats’ offensive line here. And we’re punting.
Next possession and the Pats open in the Vereen/Wright package again. Play action works on the LBs, and LaFell has separation but the CB closes quickly and breaks the pass up. Good recovery.
They stick with this grouping, but spread the field on the next play, sending Gronk out wide after keeping him in to block last play. He picks up five yards with the catch, but no YAC. Vereen might’ve been an interesting target here with Clay Matthews in space covering him.
On third down, same package, Brady finds Edelman but he’s tackled just short. Packers made more of these kind of plays. Nice job by Stork picking up Matthews one-on-one as he blitzes. Punting again…
Back to power for the third possession, as Cannon declares eligible with Blount in the game. Packers go back to their base. Cannon gets olayed by Peppers, who closes down and makes the tackle, but Solder got no push either.
Pats pull Cannon for Hooman and the Packers stay in base as Brady finds Gronk for 29 yards, their first big play of the day. Great protection here.
Vereen comes in, as Pats go to a Double Y with Gronk/Hooman to one side, Edelman/LaFell to the other. Packers go to nickel. Brady climbs the ladder to avoid the edge rushers and finds Hooman for his annual catch. Gronk took all the attention from him.
Pats bring in Bolden/Wright on the next play and Bolden picks up 12 yards on Just a ton of space and some actual YAC from Bolden.
Pats run the exact play again and Bolden takes it in for the score. Love when the Pats do that. Great pulling block by Wendell to make it happen.
Pats get the ball back with 5:54 remaining in the half, down 16-7.
They wanted to take a shot here, rolling with third tackle Cannon and Blount and then using play action. However Brady’s arm/ball is hit as he throws. Edelman wasn’t really open anyway.
After a nice gain of 12 yards to Tim Wright and an incompletion to Edelman, the Pats go to the WR screen to Edelman and pick up 17. I like those plays when used like this – occasionally. They haven’t gotten to overreliant on the screens this year, but I’d like to see more of them to Vereen.
After another play to Edelman that picked up 5, Brady finds Vereen with Matthews in coverage on him and it goes for 26. Was waiting for that matchup to get exploited.
Now comes the Power I with Develin leading the way for Blount, but it only picks up 5. Packers closed well at the second level, but the blocking up front for NE was good at the point of attack. Just couldn’t get that extra block to spring Blount on the second level.
Third-and-3 from the 13 at Brady finds Gronk on a square in from the outside. Gronk had been quiet on this drive until now but that’s his second catch running the square in route from the outside. So hard to stop him on that route for a cornerback.
Hate the 2nd-and-goal from the 7 call – a draw to Vereen. Not his game at all. By the 3 yard line there were 3 Packers waiting for him.
Comes down to a third-and-goal and Brady finds LaFell for the TD. Just a great route by LaFell and perfect throw by Brady, who looked to Gronk in the middle first, but he was triple covered.
Should’ve been just a two point game going into the half, but we’ll see why it wasn’t tomorrow in the defensive film breakdown…
Second Half
Is there a worse way to start off a second half than with a holding penalty and then burning a timeout two plays later? Slow starts have haunted this team in the past and though they’ve been better this year, it really puts the offense in a hole.
It seemed like the Pats WANTED to go max protect and take a shot to Edelman, but yeah, HOLDING!
The next play they switched to the Wright/Vereen package but Connolly was beaten soundly once again and Brady was nearly intercepted.
Oh and now they complete a pass but Edelman injures his ankle. I forgot how horrible this first possession was. Hard to be much worse in any regard.
Brady had Amendola on third down, but was on the move and couldn’t put the ball where it needed to be. Mostly on Wendell here as he gets beat. If Brady doesn’t have to scramble that’s probably a first down. Ugh…
Pats get the ball back after the missed GB field goal, down 23-14.
It’s back to the Double Y power game with Blount now, but just no seams opened up by Hooman and Solder and the backside pursuit swallows up Blount. The run has not been abandoned yet, but plays like this make you want to abandon it.
Gronk goes into the backfield for the first time I can remember and Brady finds him for a 10-yard gain as he beats Hawk in coverage. Interesting twist I didn’t notice before.
Another power grouping shot, this time to Gronk but it’s not even close.
After a failed draw to Vereen, it’s third-and-9. Packers rush three off the snap, with a fourth coming, but Peppers up the middle is too much for Connolly without help. Falls incomplete. Brady had Gronk, but felt more pressure than there was.
2:21 in the third left, Pats down 23-14 as they get the ball back after a punt *gasp* by the Packers.
Pats go spread and Brady finds LaFell but good tackling holds it to a 4 yard gain. If LaFell breaks that tackle he has 20 yards.
Spread again and here’s the shot to Dobson, who injures his hamstring as the ball falls incomplete. It’s the right throw for Brady, but Dobson got no separation.
Spread for a third-straight down as Edelman draws an illegal contact.
More good tackling from the Packers as LeFell gets just 5 yards on a WR screen on an island.
Blount powers for 13 out of the jumbo package, then for another 14 off the same play, but only because he can break tackles at the second level. His addition to the team was really needed. Why does he run so hard for us? Does he not do it for anyone else? And I don’t think these two plays constitute abandoning the run…
Touchdown to LaFell and what a throw and catch it was. Perfect back shoulder throw without putting it up like a fade. Pats within two and would get one more drive to take the lead…
After a field goal, the Pats get the ball back with 8:35 left, down five. This is prime Brady time.
Spread with Hooman/Bolden is an interesting package to start with, as the Packers counter with their base defense (probably by design from the Patriots). This means Gronk gets a DB covering him out wide. Brady finds him off the curl for 14 and the Pats are in business near their own 40.
Draw to Bolden against the Packers nickel loses yardage. Why is Bolden getting the ball in this situation? That run should’ve been abandoned, or at least gone to Vereen. Gotta keep the clock running though…
After a drop by Vereen, Edelman finds a hole in the zone and picks up 8 yards on third down, setting up a 4th-and-3 attempt at the 50.
Pats go spread, motioning Edelman from outside into the slot, where he gets a stack release with LaFell. Brady needed an extra moment and got it, with Edelman making a fantastic quick-adjustment catch. Packers sent 6 here, credit to the OL and Vereen for picking them up. The drive continues…
Back to the power run game with Blount, but no OL gets to the second level once again.
Another perfect throw picks up a first down to Gronk. Just so hard to stop. Pats at the 33 and closing in…
Blount peels off 12 yards and at this point I’m already wondering what the two-point conversion call will be for the three-point lead.
This where the drive stalls as Blount gets just one yard on the next play. On 2nd-and-9 Brady takes a shot to Gronk in the end zone, and he almost comes up with it. In retrospect, a more conservative play might’ve been better, as this went for everything and left them with a third-and-long.
Brady gets sacked for the first time on third down and that was it for the Patriots. It was just a four-man rush, but Solder was beaten cleanly. Brady seemed to think he had plenty of time as he waited for LaFell’s downfield route to develop. The safe play was to Gronk and he would’ve barreled to a first down.
It seems like there was definitely more of focus on trying to hit the deep balls in this one, but the problem was that they weren’t hitting them. How much was that by design and how much was it that the defense wasn’t showing a lot of multiple deep safety looks, I’m not sure.
The Packers are a sound and tough defense who made the Pats earn just about every yard. Not all defenses have the talent and discipline to play New England like that.
I don’t think the “getting away from the run” storyline holds water at all. They had two of their best runs of the day in the fourth quarter.
The only criticism in hindsight was trying to target the deep passes too much. It’s not what the Pats do best and on most of the plays where they looked deep, they had underneath guys open.
