Thoughts and prayers with those who lost their lives 13 years ago.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/thoughts-and-prayers-with-those-who-lost-their/
Patriots vs. Dolphins All-22 Thoughts: Offense Edition
I’m going to break this down by the first and second half because after re-watching the first half I found myself reminded of how good I felt about things.
Were there protection issues? Sure, especially whenever Sebastian Vollmer had to block Cameron Wake without help. I’m not sure what’s up with Vollmer. Is he rusty? Or is he breaking down? He looked a lot stiffer than I remember, but still credit to Wake. He’s a beast and had his way with Vollmer.
Otherwise Brady had time and the offense moved the ball. The protection was sloppy but effective. They found an early rhythm with the three-step passing game.
I can recall three incomplete deep passes from Brady, a statistical point of contention this week, but one was really a throw away and two others were shots to the end zone where the coverage was solid. Can’t blame him for taking those.
In the first half I didn’t notice a discernible difference between the offensive line rotation. Even Devey didn’t look that bad. Was it the smooth operation we’re used to seeing? Not yet, but like I said, it was effective and Brady had time to make throws.
Drives of 13-plays, 80 yards and 11-plays, 94 yards made this certainly look like the Patriots offense we’re used to seeing. But apparently that team never came out of the locker room.
Second Half
Okay, now there was the ugliness I remember. The turning point was clearly on Brady’s fumble during their first possession of the second half. From there everything just seemed to fall apart.
All the OL had their issues, with Devey and Cannon both getting smoked in one-on-ones that caused Brady to get sacked. Another sack was due to coverage.
There were also some misreads it seems by Brady where he and the intended receiver didn’t seem on the same page. Agree with Greg Bedard’s observation that the deep ball to Edelman that went incomplete was on Edelman. He should’ve gone upfield.
Credit to the Miami linebacker who stuck with Shane Vereen on his patented wheel route and forced an incompletion.
I used to like Brandon Bolden but I think he’s uber average now. He gets what’s there for him and not a yard more.
It looked to me like LaFell tried to dip his shoulder to avoid contact on his penalty but that ended up with his shoulder in the defender’s head. Right call, but not intentional.
Losing their rhythm at the start of the 3rd quarter set the tone and they could never get it back for more than a play or two. They couldn’t string anything together.
I finished the game feeling like it was there for the taking but the Pats were just too on their heels to take it. It was as if each guy took turns making a costly mistake and the sum of those small parts added up.
Do you think that they might switch up the linebackers positions like moving Hightower in and mayo out?
That’s something I’ve been thinking about. No question Hightower is the most physical of the linebackers, that’s why we all just assumed he’d move to middle linebacker this offseason. But I do think Hightower is best used on the outside, on the line of scrimmage, where he can not only use his strength but also contribute as a pass rusher.
Mayo is not an outside linebacker in the 3-4 where he’d be on the LOS and effectively eliminated from making plays on the other side of the field. When they shifted to more of a hybrid defense in 2010/2011, I felt the primary beneficiary was Mayo because it moved him out of the middle of the defense but still off the line of scrimmage where he could use his speed.
Now it feels like the schematic/personnel tweaks are aimed at making Hightower the primary beneficiary.
Collins at strongside ILB complicates matters as well because while it’s nice to have him in the middle of the field for his pass coverage, he struggled making the plays in the running game that a 34 Mike HAS to make.
For more on this go look at Ray Rice’s 2009 playoff opening TD scamper where Gary Guyton was at Mike and Mayo was at Will. The 34 is designed for the linebackers to make the plays, and when they don’t make the plays you get gashed.
The easiest answer is probably to put Ninkovich back down at defensive end and shift Collins to 43 OLB where he can still be a factor in coverage but doesn’t have such a critical run-stopping role inside the defense where he needs to use strength to beat oncoming guards.
Using more even fronts would give Mayo more cushion at MLB as well.
Patriots vs. Dolphins All-22 Thoughts – Defense Edition
Finally got to take a look at the All-22 after it posted a day late on Game Rewind and I started with the defense. Not a whole lot was revealed but some things were certainly reinforced.
First, a lot of the focus on the “new” 34 defense has focused on Chandler Jones but other than keeping him from pass drops I didn’t see a ton different than what he was doing last year schematically. He certainly did not have a great game, but I disagree with those who think he was being asked to play the Richard Seymour two-gap role.
34 or 43 or 25 doesn’t really tell you much anyway, it’s more important to see which guys are covering which gaps and I didn’t see Chandler two-gapping much at all, now he’s just being asked to face the tackle consistently like he would be in a run of the mill 43. I went back and looked at last year’s game in Miami to compare and the schematic changes as far as he was concerned were not monumental. It seems they wanted to avoid dropping him into coverage, at least in this one.
I think there hasn’t been enough commentary on WHY the Pats went with the front that they did, and where the real changes happened were with Ninkovich, Hightower, Mayo and Collins.
Collins playing strongside inside linebacker is a tough fit. He’s great in space, but coming downhill to make tackles does not seem to be his specialty and it’s one of the big risks of letting Spikes go. Essentially Collins is the anti-Spikes on the field in both the positive and negative ways. He needs to be better getting off blocks as well. Mayo isn’t much better coming downhill through traffic.
What we’re not seeing from this odd front is “building the wall” as they used to put it, to let the LBs run free. The nose is two-gapping, but the linebackers and defensive ends are keeping single gap responsibility with the help of the strong safety.
Might be too early to say this for sure, but it would seem there’s an effort to get Hightower out there more than Ninkovich. And I really thought Hightower had a good game outside of a few bad plays. As much as we’ve all come to love Ninkovich it’s not that hard to believe that Hightower has the higher ceiling. But who knows, things could change up and have Ninkovich not coming off the field. Certainly could happen with Adrian Peterson on tap.
Vellano is overmatched and the sooner he’s replaced by any of the other DL the better. I think a four-man rotation of Wilfork-Siliga-Jones-Easley is fine for inside.
Again I liked what I saw out of Easley. Good explosion and had some drive even when double teamed. There weren’t many third-and-longs in this one, but once the defense starts tackling on first and second down, then I think we’ll really see some special stuff from Easley.
Wilfork had some really solid plays and I continue to be amazed by how quickly he’s still getting off the ball. With some experience and a better rotation this season, he should be effective for a full 60 minutes.
As I’ve said a few times in the last few days, the mistakes of missed tackles just added up. Multiple times they had plays sniffed out in the backfield only to let the running back slip away and gain at least four yards. Wrap up, make those tackles, and it’s a totally different game. This kind of performance is not entirely shocking given all the elements in this one – weather, conditioning, lack of tackling/full pads in practice now, first game of the year against a divisional opponent.
My biggest concerns are Collins and Mayo on the inside and getting Vellano out of there. Otherwise it’s just about making the plays that they’re already in position to make.
Balancing act: Recent losses have seen Patriots run away from successful second-half formula – WEEI | Christopher Price
Interesting read from Chris Price and it’s been hard not to notice how the Pats often abandon the run when in a tight game late. I guess part of it is leaning on your best player to make plays through the air, but when defenses can tee off on the pass rush and the OL isn’t playing well, it’s a recipe for not a lot of offense.
Patriots Week 2 Kickoff: Minnesota Vikings
Last Meeting: It’s been four long years since the Pats last saw the Vikings on Halloween 2010. The Patriots won 28-18, knocking Brett Favre from the game in the process. Adrian Peterson had just 92 yards on 25 carries, something the Patriots will hope to repeat this weekend.
Early Outlook: The Vikings won on the road in St. Louis last weekend and with two explosive playmakers in Adrian Peterson and Cordarrelle Patterson, but with old friend Matt Cassel at the helm they have their limitations.
Notes: It’s hard to get the stink of the Miami game off and the challenges that the Vikings present are the perfect opportunity to bounce back, but their tackling will be critical.
The Vikings had major success handing the ball off to Patterson, where his speed is on display. It will be on edge players Hightower and Ninkovich to keep him contained.
Mike Zimmer had success against the Pats as the defensive coordinator of the Bengals last year. Doesn’t look like they do anything too exotic which helps in preparation for playing them. I expect him to try to bring pressure up the middle at Brady, something that was a little easier when he had Geno Atkins though the Vikings front seven is still pretty good.
Everson Griffen should be a good challenge at defensive end, but Brian Robison might be the bigger problem.
Sharrif Floyd was one of my favorite players coming out a couple years ago, he was the pre-Easley Easley and he also went to Florida.
Cassel’s arm doesn’t scare me, but his ability to run does. This game should be won in the trenches, not downfield. Though Norv Turner’s offense relies on downfield shots, the back end will have to be ready.
Siliga and Wilfork look like the best combo at DT in this one. Try to prevent the Vikings from running it up the gut every play, which I’m sure they’ll be tempted to do after the Miami tape.
With fairer conditions I think the Pats can pull back on the heavy rotations on both sides of the ball. Would prefer to see them build some continuity with one group.
How about Solder-Cannon-Wendell-Connolly-Vollmer for the whole game and see how it goes?
It was reinforced for me last week that BB will only have Revis follow a receiver if he thinks shutting that one guy down is key. He’ll certainly pick his spots, but a good defense balances man and zone, and with the Vikings’ threats on the ground I think the CBs stay on their respective sides this week as they did in Miami.
This game seems out of the Pats’ comfort zone defensively as they’ve evolved to be more of a pass-stopping defense. Thus it’s a good test and good experience to balance their game.
It sounds simple but if they just tackle they should be fine. They are the more talented team.