PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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On a day in which the defense kept the Patriots in the game, one play the unit would obviously like to have back was the third-and-15 situation that came after the Kelly-Mayo half-sack, as the Bengals were at their 2-yard line. The Patriots, in their sub defense, didn’t appear settled at the snap and in retrospect, one wonders if they would have benefitted from calling a timeout (they would later need those timeouts, of course). The result of the play was a 28-yard reception by receiver Marvin Jones down the left sideline. Cornerback Kyle Arrington trailed Jones in coverage and safety Devin McCourty might have been a little late getting over to the sideline, although he probably couldn’t have done much anyway.

Arguably the turning point play of the game.

Picked-up pieces from 2nd-half review – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/on-a-day-in-which-the-defense-kept-the-patriots-in/

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Solid special-teams work by linebacker Dane Fletcher in punt coverage (two tackles in the first half). Random thought: While special-teams coverage doesn’t always translate to defense, perhaps Fletcher will be part of some sub packages in the coming weeks as the Patriots’ coaching staff works to figure out how to best utilize its personnel. Fletcher, who runs well, has played sparingly on defense this year but he is certainly showing up on special teams.

Picked-up pieces from 1st-half review of New England Patriots – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/solid-special-teams-work-by-linebacker-dane/

With Belichick’s reputation of stopping/ slowing down high powered offense in past days, (greatest show on turf, bills in Super Bowl, even manning a couple of times) what do you expect him to do when they face Denver

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We’ll see when we get there, but my general thinking this early on is to take away the short passes. Make him beat us long, and make every catch Welker gets count with a good hit, they’ll add up by the 4th quarter. It’s kind of like teams used to play the Pats. 

They’re going to score, but you have to try and limit their possessions (like the Pats have usually done). Belichick frequently has a new wrinkle just for Manning as well. I think that could involve Jamie Collins/Dane Fletcher/Duron Harmon in some capacity.

Of course there’s no easy answer and Manning is playing as well as anyone  ever has at this point. But we’ll see where they’re at in 7 weeks, and where we’re at.

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If they missed Vince Wilfork, it didn’t show. I guess you could quibble he might have stopped them on 4th & goal from the 1-centimeter line. But I thought they used the rotation Joe Vellano, Tommy Kelly and Chris Jones about as well as you could ask. And it didn’t appear they dumbed it down any for them. They mixed fronts. They put Vellano on the nose with Kelly as the weak side undertackle, then switched them on the next down. There was one play where Vellano was in 1-technique (on the center’s shoulder) and got snowplowed to the side by Kyle Cook for a gain. But on the next, 3rd & short, they spread both tackles out to 5-tech and brought Spikes and Mayo up into the interior gaps and they made the stops.

» Knee Jerk Reactions to Week 5: Pats vs Bengals Barstool Sports: Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/if-they-missed-vince-wilfork-it-didnt-show-i/

Is Brady maybe taking a step back? I know that with the new receivers and lack of chemistry it’s easy to say its just that as the problem, but maybe it’s just Brady not really being Brady anymore?

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It’s all connected, so it’s impossible to pin it all on the receivers or on Brady. There’s no question both had bad plays yesterday, as did the offensive line which is a big part of it as well.

Personally I don’t really see Brady slowing down. Whenever he’s had the time and his receivers have caught the ball he’s been pretty much as lights out as he’s always been.

The process of breaking in these new receivers was never going to be a perfect progression where they just keep getting better every game until they’re as good as any Patriots offense by the middle of the season.

Yesterday was the perfect storm of nothing really clicking on any level of the offense, but to make snap judgements off of that would be as foolish as it would’ve been to do it after last year’s Week 2 loss to the Cardinals. 

Let’s get Gronk back and see what kind of difference he can make before we get too worried. This will be a far-different offense a month from now.

I love josh mcdaniels, but yesterday felt like one of those games where his play calling was off, obliviously the execution of the plays is another thing, but it just seemed like he was off

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I’m not one to get overly critical of things like playcalling, but I do think they seemed out of rhythm yesterday. I did like some of the shots downfield they took, Dobson came pretty close on one. At least there weren’t a bunch of trickeration plays. I think their lack of success with play action showed how little time Brady was going to have to make his reads.

It’s really just too bad they didn’t have Ridley and/or Vereen. I think those guys would’ve enabled them to run it a bit more and to get more production out of their screen passes.

One thing I’ve noticed in recent games is Dennard playing inside of Arrington, in the slot. This caught my attention because Arrington has been previously regarded as the slot corner. I’m not too sure how much of a trend this is overall though, or whether it’s more matchup driven, for example.

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Yeah I noticed a bit of that too. Traditionally the Pats would just have their corners stick to a side, but now with Talib, they’ll match corners with receivers a little more. That’s why we’re seeing some of Dennard lining up like he’s at Star.