Chandler Jones named AFC Defensive Player of the Month.
— Christopher Price (@cpriceNFL) November 27, 2013
https://www.patspropaganda.com/chandler-jones-named-afc-defensive-player-of-the/
Dont’a Hightower was brutal in the first half — he way overran the Broncos’ 21-yard screen pass on third and 20, and didn’t make much effort on Jacob Tamme’s touchdown — and was replaced by Dane Fletcher in the second half, who was much more disciplined and had a crucial forced fumble in the third quarter. Rookie Jamie Collins had by far his most active game as a pro, finishing with 10 tackles and saving the day by knocking the ball out of Wes Welker’s hands in overtime. And Brandon Spikes had another great tackling day in the run game, finishing with nine and a fumble recovery.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/donta-hightower-was-brutal-in-the-first-half-he/
Grading the Patriots vs. Broncos: New England goes nickel to stop Peyton Manning | masslive.com
Grading the Patriots vs. Broncos: New England goes nickel to stop Peyton Manning | masslive.com
Must-read as Nick Underhill grades the film…
All the stuff about Tom Brady struggling earlier in the year? Throw it out. The Pats QB has put together three consecutive solid performances now, and what he did against the Broncos may be his best showing of the year. With temperatures low enough to make you swear, which is likely what Manning did after several of his throws, Brady whipped the ball around the field like it was nothing. His performance in the third quarter was nothing short of stunning. After struggling to move the ball in the first half, he came out and completed 12-of-14 passes, throwing into the wind, for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Most of Brady’s damage was done over the short area over the middle of the field, though he did complete 12 passes outside the numbers. Brady was blitzed on nine attempts and completed eight of his passes.
Belichick Breakdown: Belichick dissects the comeback
Belichick Breakdown: Belichick dissects the comeback
Must-watch after every win, here’s almost seven minutes of BB showing us some of the biggest plays from the Broncos win.
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Week 12 DVOA Ratings
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Week 12 DVOA Ratings
Let’s kick of everybody’s favorite half-day Wednesday of the year with the updated DVOA rankings.
Overall: 5th
Offense: 9th
- Run 9th
- Pass 12th
Defense: 13th
- vs. Run 28th
- vs. Pass 8th
- vs #1 WR: 4th
- vs. #2 WR: 32nd
- vs. other WR: 14th
- vs. TE: 9th
- vs. RB: 9th
Special Teams: 2nd
It’s not hard to see that this is the best Patriots team we’ve seen on DVOA in a while. Or better yet, it’s the most complete team. Yes they have problems against the run, that’s kind of to be expected without Wilfork and Kelly in there.
And yes they seem to have problems with #2 wide receivers, although that is a bit subjective.
Otherwise they are in the top half, and very likely in the top 10, in every other ranking. And given how the NFL is, I’ll take those rankings every season, especially over the recent years of struggles against the pass while the run defense was stellar.
Simply put, these rankings matchup with the kind of team you need to win the Super Bowl.
Measuring Growth: Patriots Draft Picks Jamie Collins, Duron Harmon and Logan Ryan Take Next Step vs. Broncos | NEPatriotsDraft.com – 2014 NFL Draft
Great read from Oliver Thomas! Ironically I was pondering this same topic for my Friday B/R piece, but Oliver hit it out of the park so I’ll be focusing on Dane Fletcher for that one.
