PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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On the season, the Patriots have run 19 of their 211 plays out of no-huddle (9 percent) and 67 snaps in shotgun (32 percent). By way of comparison, over the course of the 2013 regular season, the Patriots were in shotgun for 42 percent of their offensive snaps and they ran no-huddle on 11 percent of their snaps.

It Is What It Is » In Focus: Charting offensive opportunities for Patriots skill position players

Makes sense, move Brady into shotgun to help the protection and let everyone get on the same page before pushing the no huddle. And I still think 9 percent is almost too high when you look at those failed ‘run to the line, run the ball for a loss’ plays.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/on-the-season-the-patriots-have-run-19-of-their/

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pottsisstarksheart:

I have nothing but pure confidence in our team – not just our offense, but our team, that we’re going to continue to fix our mistakes. Defensively, we weren’t perfect today either. We’ve got to make sure that we continue to get better defensively. And being able to play – offense, special teams and defense – play as a team, that’s the main goal. If we can do that, then we’ll be successful in this league.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/pottsisstarksheart-i-have-nothing-but-pure/

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pottsisstarksheart:

It’s only three games in, so we have a long season ahead of us. There’s a lot of football to play. We haven’t done a lot of good things offensively, period. If you want to settle on the red area, I’d settle on everything – certainly the pass game, run game, penalties. But you know what? We’re 2-1. I think we can make the improvements and understand that we’re trying to build something. But we have to improve everything. That’s the stage we’re at.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/pottsisstarksheart-its-only-three-games-in-so/

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https://www.patspropaganda.com/4965/

What have you seen in how the safety spot next to Mccourty has been handled

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Pretty straight forward – Patrick Chung is the primary strong safety and Tavon Wilson spells him. Chung usually is in the box and has been a far more significant piece of the defense than a lot of people expected him to be. It hasn’t been mentioned much but he had a strong day in coverage yesterday – something that was usually his weakness.

I like the physicality and experience Chung brings to the position. I think the Pats were okay with the tradeoff of him and Gregory. Though I’m still not sure how much he plays later in the season when Browner’s back, against the top passing teams.

Duron Harmon is more of a free safety and comes on when they want someone on the back end so McCourty can move down or they can play two-deep zones. Ebner has been the real surprise, carving out a role for himself in the dime defense in the Money role. Need to take a closer look to see exactly how they are using him.

You say that Revis doesn’t look like someone we should back the money truck up for, and I think that is at worst: wrong, and at best: premature. I thought he played well week 1, great week 2, and albeit he allowed a couple of receptions and one of them was long I felt he played well week 3 too. Even the catches he has allowed, he has been in position with his head turned attempting to make a deflection, but he just misses the ball ad the catch is made. From what I can see he’s better than Talib.

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It is premature. I’m not advocating anything on anyone just yet. Revis will prove his worth against AJ Green, Brandon Marshall, Demaryius Thomas, Megatron, Jordy Nelson and any other top receiver the Pats face, but I certainly don’t think it’s set in stone that the Pats pay whatever Revis wants this offseason. At this point I don’t think Revis has transformed our defense just yet. Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower have been better at their positions, but it’s a long season and we’ll let it all play out.

Pats Posits: Offense’s start is carbon copy of 2013

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I was about to write some snap reactions last night, but maybe because I was sick or maybe because I just didn’t feel like writing about such an annoying game, I put it off until this morning.

So now everyone has an opinion and a lot of them are valid, while some are not – looking at you ‘the 3-4 doesn’t work’ guy. I really try to reserve judgement until after the first quarter of the season, so while we’re certainly close to that, I don’t want to be a chicken little just yet.

Let’s start with the positive – the defense. Was it perfect yesterday? Nope. Did Revis look like a guy we should back up the money truck for this offseason? Nope. Was there enough pass rush? Not even close. But is this still the most promising defense since the mid-2000s? Absolutely.

Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower are playing off the charts right now. Vince Wilfork hasn’t missed a beat. The run defense has solidified after looking non-existent in week one. They’re not giving up big plays. They’re tackling much better.

Things are trending upward and I think once we get Revis against the top wide receivers he’ll face in the coming weeks, we’ll have a better sense of his worth.

The Siliga injury hurts and puts more pressure on Wilfork, which we certainly don’t need. I thought Chris Jones looked pretty good playing just under half the defensive snaps. Easley is still coming along, but it’s clear the Pats drafted a designated pass rusher in the first round and I’m glad. It’s just a matter of time before he starts making impact plays, I really believe it.

Get Dennard and Browner back and then let’s see what this defense looks like, but again, I think they’re headed in the right direction.

Okay, let’s turn the page to everyone’s favorite topic today – the offense.

First, a little perspective – things are really not that different than what we saw last year. Check out the stats from 2013 vs. 2014. The area that stands out to me is the difference in yards-per-play, 4.54 in 2013, down to 4.27 this year. 

I think all the problems we’re seeing on offense start (but don’t necessarily end) with the offensive line. Do I still think they can pull it together? Yes. Do I think they had a good enough plan in place this offseason there? No.

One of the major themes of last offseason for me was improving the interior of the offensive line. I thought we were headed in the right direction with the selection of Bryan Stork and Jon Halapio. Then Halapio didn’t even make the practice squad and Mankins was sent packing.

What we’ve been left with is a line with four tackles and a swing interior guy playing center. And the guys who are actually playing the right positions -Solder and Vollmer – haven’t been the stalwart leaders we’ve needed.

By PFF’s count the Pats starting offensive line has given up 8 sacks, 10 QB hits and 20 QB hurries in three games. Yikes.

As the cliche goes, it all starts up front and the Pats have very little getting started up front. Their running game is pedestrian and that just sets up long yardage on second and third. 

Their drives are plodding, fighting for every inch and nothing has been easy. Still they keep fighting like they always do, and that is a testament to the kind of guys this team is loaded with.

The potential is there, but as Tom Brady himself pointed out this morning, Julian Edelman is the only guy on offense playing well.

Now it has looked dreadful to this point but can this group of OL get them back to at least where they were last year? I think so. But the question that is bugging serious Patriots fans right now is can this OL get to and win a Super Bowl? Because let’s face it, that’s what a team that has been to three-straight AFC championships has to do. I’m not so sure right now, but I’m not ready to issue a final verdict just yet.

I think there really should be a trickle-down effect on all the other issues once the offensive line starts building trust with Brady and the rest of the offense. The running game will ease the pass rush and lessen the number of third and longs, which by the way, there were 14 third-and-10-plus in 2013, and there have been 16 this year.

When under duress, it’s hard to fault Brady and the offensive system for sticking with Edelman and Gronk, though I found receptions by LaFell, Wright and Thompkins to be a bit encouraging.

The other problem, and as those who have read this blog for very long know, I’m not one to get on the “play calling” but I think it’s time for the Patriots to adjust to the fact that this isn’t 2011 anymore. 

I can’t say it enough – the hurry-up to a quick run no longer works. They need to focus on execution not speed. And starting the game with three-straight passes, all of which looked mistimed, was ugly.

The 2013 Patriots looked very similar on offense to what we’ve seen through three weeks this season and really, it was injuries that derailed that team just as they were starting to show what an explosive offense they were capable of being. I still have high expectations for this group, but the offensive line must be better.

Maybe that starts with shifting to Solder-Cannon-Stork-Conolly-Vollmer.

Once they fall into place, the rest of the offense will as well.