PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Decisive moments of Week 7 in the NFL | The MMQB with Peter King

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Decisive moments of Week 7 in the NFL | The MMQB with Peter King

[T]he Patriots are normally so disciplined up front against an athletic passer like Smith that they can contain the run by staying in their pass-rush lanes to prevent a big hole from opening up. On this play, because of depth issues, the Patriots wound up with two rookies—tackle Chris Jones (94, playing for the injured Vince Wilfork) and end Michael Buchanan (99)—playing on the same side. In this situation players are normally coached not to rush past the quarterback on the outside, and not to get out of your lane on the inside. Here, Jones got shoved inside by left guard Brian Winters (67), and Buchanan was ridden outside by left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson (60). That left a huge hole for Smith to run through. Then in the secondary, cornerback Marquice Cole (23) and rookie safety Duron Harmon (30) were slow to react to prevent Smith from gaining the first down. Smith ended up breaking a Cole tackle and surging forward for a first down. Two plays later he scored a touchdown on a nearly identical breakdown when three second-level defenders failed to make the tackle.

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Did you have these questions after last week’s game vs. the Saints? Did anyone think Brady was declining after last week’s win over the Saints? This is the way it goes week to week. I understand you have such passion that when you follow these teams, you want immediate answers. But the answer for Brady’s performance is this: He didn’t play well against the Jets on Oct. 20, 2013. But one week ago, on Oct. 13, 2013, Brady led a magical comeback that had everyone saying ‘This guy has a lot left in the tank.’ This is the NFL. This is how it goes. And this is why you say it over and over again, but sometimes it’s not believed – FOOTBALL IS A TEAM SPORT. When the offense doesn’t play well, you hope the defense does. Or vice versa. Or special teams forces a turnover. Logan Ryan made a great play on that INT return for a TD. Gronkowski’s return, I felt, was extremely positive. I was nervous after that first play when he got a helmet right to that forearm. For him to come back and play like he did, you have to feel good about where he is going to be when the seaosn progresses. Tom Brady didn’t play well yesterday. He can play better. What you need to ask yourself is this: Do you think he will play better? I do.

Chat: Chat with Tedy Bruschi – SportsNation – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/did-you-have-these-questions-after-last-weeks/

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https://www.patspropaganda.com/9485/

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The Patriots inserted rookie Jamie Collins into the game at Mayo’s weakside linebacker spot in the 4-3 base defense, but the Patriots trended toward a 5-2 base for a bigger front seven instead of the 4-3. Most notable was when the Jets often had fullback Tommy Bohanon on the field in a specific grouping, the Patriots played with linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Brandon Spikes, and instead of bringing on Collins elected for extra bulk up front with Marcus Forston as a third defensive tackle in the 5-2. Otherwise, the Patriots were mostly in their 4-2-5 nickel or 4-1-6 dime with Hightower/Spikes the primary linebacker combination in nickel and Hightower staying on in the dime. Hightower and Spikes are bigger linebackers and they looked a step behind in the passing game at times.

Snaps: How New England Patriots filled Jerod Mayo void – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patriots-inserted-rookie-jamie-collins-into/

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Free safety Devin McCourty has quietly graded as our top safety this season, and he continued his strong play on Sunday. He made plays in all phases of the game, perhaps none better than his touchdown-saving pass breakup in the end zone with 5:57 to go in the third quarter. TE Jeff Cumberland beat linebacker Dont’a Hightower down the seam, but as he looked to secure the well-thrown pass from QB Geno Smith, McCourty swooped in and pulled the ball from his grasp. McCourty made another key play later in the quarter as he blitzed off the edge and batted Smith’s pass to force the punt on 3rd-and -8. He got involved against the run as well, as he cleaned up for the tackle for loss at the 7:59 mark of overtime. The only throw completed into McCourty’s coverage was a swing pass to running back Chris Ivory that also resulted in lost yardage.

ReFo: Patriots @ Jets, Week 7 | ProFootballFocus.com

https://www.patspropaganda.com/free-safety-devin-mccourty-has-quietly-graded-as/

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https://www.patspropaganda.com/9492/

The Morning After: Thoughts on a Pats loss to the Jets

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Took a bit of a break from the internets after the loss yesterday. Not because I found it all that distressing, but because I knew the Chris Jones penalty would be argued and lamented non-stop. It happened. I’m not going to get into what was or wasn’t called or what the rule book did or didn’t say. We’ve had plenty of good calls and bad calls go our way over the years. 

The Jets were the better team yesterday. Barely. So hats off to them, in my eyes they won the game by being better on both sides of the ball on third down and totally overmatching the Patriots offense for their first three possessions of the second half. That was frighteningly similar to the 2009 and 2010 losses.

Did the Pats find enough in the tank at the end to make it interesting? Sure. They always seem to, and even when they’re as shorthanded as we’ve ever seen them and not playing their best game in a hostile environment, it still took until overtime to put them away by a (controversial) field goal.

Let’s keep some perspective. The AFC is wide open this year. Look at all the devastating injuries around the league that happened yesterday. Reggie Wayne. Brian Cushing. Doug Martin. Every team is dealing with that and it’s going to level the playing field even more.

So the Pats aren’t going to waltz off with another division title by late October. Does anyone really think the Pats have been good enough that they should be 2-3 games up in the division? I don’t. And they’re still in pretty good position.

So what did we learn yesterday? Gronk is back, but isn’t an instant fix. The Pats need Amendola and Vereen back because they’re still struggling to find any consistency moving the ball.

But there were glimmers of hope yesterday, and let’s remember that’s a Jets defense that is playing very well right now. It’s not often you can point to one area to fix coming out of a loss, but third down is that one area as I see it.

The middle of the offensive line needs to be better. Brady can’t get too locked into Gronk. And the defense need to re-establish a new identity without Mayo and Wilfork. Getting Tommy Kelly back and adding Armond Armstead could be just the boost they need. Vellano and Smith have been better than I thought they might be.

Otherwise, it was a hard-fought game and I look forward to pouring back over it to see exactly what the Pats were doing on defense and just what went wrong on all the third downs.

The 2013 season very well could be a dogfight down to the end, and those can be enjoyable. This great “re-healthening” has begun. Let’s hold on for two more weeks, get to the bye and see where we’re at then.