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Patriots Offense Struggling on First Down
You can click on the link above to see the breakdown for everything the Pats have done this year on first down so far. Not good.
They’ve averaging 3.69 yards/attempt on the ground, and Brady is just 22-of-45 (48.9%) throwing the ball on first down.
Stevan Ridley especially is stinking, with just 2.78 yards per attempt on first down.
This is one area that needs to be better against the Falcons.
Not “so much”. Slightly.
At this point he just seems like the more polished player, as his quickness and agility, especially getting off the line are better. Also like how slippery he seems.
Dobson seems more in the Braylon Edwards mold, and once he learns to use his size and length better he’ll rapidly improve. He also needs to attack the ball better, seems like he’s not used to how close DBs will be on him in the NFL.
Still think both players will be good, but at this point Thompkins seems like the better of the two, three weeks into their rookie seasons, which is admittedly way too early to judge anything.
Are Tom Brady and Aaron Dobson Starting to Develop Chemistry?
Nice read from James Christensen showing how Brady and Dobson are coming along. To be honest I still like Thompkins a little better.
Gronk’s progress includes going from ‘skinny’ to ‘jacked’ – Extra Points – Boston.com
Gronkowski looked lean during training camp, particularly in his upper body, which made sense given where his surgeries were. Asked how much weight he lost, Gronkowski drew more laughs. “Nothing really. I don’t lose weight,” he said. “I can look skinny and still be the same amount of weight. It goes by ‘skinny’ or ‘looking jacked.’ So I was skinny back for a few months.” Is he now back in the “jacked” range? “You’ve got to tell me. I’m getting there. Day by day getting bigger.”
Undrafted rookie tight end Zach Sudfeld looked like he was going to be a big contributor based on preseason performance. But he’s averaging just 18 snaps over his two regular-season games played and doesn’t have a catch. Initially, the thought was that Sudfeld might be the “move” tight end a la Aaron Hernandez, but Michael Hoomanawanui (more valuable than anticipated) has been tapped for some of those duties as well. Wouldn’t be surprised to see even less of Sudfeld going forward.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/undrafted-rookie-tight-end-zach-sudfeld-looked/
The Patriots have to confuse Matt Ryan with different looks, and – this is key – make him hold the ball. He gets very nervous feet when his first read is gone, and that’s when he makes most of his mistakes, like bad balls. You need to get a push up the middle, because he likes to step up. He has more errant throws when sliding to left or right than stepping up in pocket.
For those who have heard be banging the interior pass rush drum for three years now, it looks like this week will be a true test of it. And it’s not something we’ve seen the Pats do particularly well yet this season.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patriots-have-to-confuse-matt-ryan-with/
