After Week 4 is when we start to get a realistic sense of what they’re good at and what they’re not good at. Then I’ll start to feel comfortable being critical of things like I was last year with the 20+ pass coverage, MOF pass coverage, offense lacking the wide and deep dimension, etc. I’ll continue to expect some up and downs with the offense and passing game until the bye, after that my expectations for them will rise.
Not a serious or scheme question but: it seems we now only judge the team based on offense performance or is that just me? Also, I don’t know about you but I’ve managed to go so far with the frustration at the pessimism in New England about the Patriots that I’m starting to enjoy it.
Yeah, personally I always skew a little more toward the defensive side of the ball, but maybe Pats fans have just forgotten what it’s like to have a dominant defense. But also, everyone loves offensive firepower – big passes, touchdowns, etc. are far more exciting to a standard fan than forcing a three-and-out.
And yes, New England fans are famous for their pessimism and there are plenty of media outlets that play on it. I try not to get too high or low here on the blog, keeping sight of the fact that the season is a process and taking everything that happens early in the season with a grain of salt. Am I a homer? Sure. But does that mean I won’t be critical of the team? No. I’m not a cheerleader, but I do try to remind people that we’re in the middle of what might be the best run of Patriots football ever. For those who are kicking and screaming the whole time, I feel bad.
I’ve just accepted that sports are how a lot of people unleash their negativity and really, that’s okay if it happens instead of on their family, friends, co-workers and random passer-bys.
I do get tired of talking people off the ledge or shooting down the “we need this WR who’s been out of the league for two years” ideas. Let’s try enjoying the process with the young wide receivers. We’ll reap the rewards down the road, just like we should be starting to reap the rewards from the defense that has been really young the last couple seasons.
The day I was in camp I just got the sense there that the last thing they were going is to do is something dumb and rush Gronkowski back. Because remember, in the past they rushed him back and it screwed things up,” King said. “So, you’re better off trying to win a fire-drill game against a team you should be able to beat — not easily, but you should be able to beat — in Tampa, and then have this guy for the last 13 weeks.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-day-i-was-in-camp-i-just-got-the-sense-there/
We just re-stocked on the Obbey’s! Pick one up at The Prop Shop for just $15!
As featured in the Shit Pats Fans Say video:
https://www.patspropaganda.com/we-just-re-stocked-on-the-obbeys-pick-one-up-at/
What did each defensive coordinator add to the defense during their tenure as defensive coordinator, even though belichick has a lot of say in it
Really hard to compare Romeo Crennel, Dean Pees and Matt Patricia, because defenses are so much more tied to what offenses are doing.
The biggest thing is just the overall talent level on the defense. Crennel had a veteran group in their prime. Pees got that group for end of their run, and squeezed every last bit of play out of them.
Now Patricia has basically had to re-build the defense, obviously with the help of Belichick. But I think that Crennel and Pees had it a little easier given the talent levels they had to work with.
While there has been plenty of evolutions schematically, as discussed yesterday, with the nickel defense essentially becoming the new base. Crennel could roll out his 34 for most of the game, rotating the linebackers a bit between Roman Phifer and Ted Johnson depending on what needed to be stopped. Otherwise, it was a veteran crew who could not only disguise their intentions, but execute with physicality and win one-on-one matchups.
Now Patricia has to stop modern NFL passing games and his secondary can’t put a hand on the receivers more than five yards past the line of scrimmage.
But the defensive rebuild is a huge area of focus on this blog, and when you look at the key additions over the last few years, you can see how things are taking shape.
Major moments of the defensive rebuild
2008 – Jerod Mayo drafted.
2009 – Rob Ninkovich, Kyle Arrington added via FA.
2010 – Brandon Spikes, Devin McCourty drafted.
2011 – Ras-I Dow.. nevermind…
2012 – Chandler Jones, Dont’a Hightower, Alfonzo Dennard drafted, Steve Gregory signed as FA, Aqib Talib traded for.
As you can see the core they’ve put together over the last few years should really be coming together this season. I have high expectations, it’s a similar time frame now as it was in 2001 for Bruschi, McGinest, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, etc.
With Dee, it wasn’t that we were unhappy with what we were seeing. It’s just that the situation for us called for, OK, they’re getting ready to take some shots at this kid. Rather than have him in a situation where he can get himself deflated, we decided to make the move and get a more experienced guy in there. And we did. We felt like it was the right thing to do. We’re not down on him at all. He’s got a chance to be a hell of a football player. And we don’t want a rookie to go out there and get shellshocked and not be able to come back. And we were concerned about that.
Nobody smells blood in the water like TFB.
Dennis Thurman explains reasoning behind benching Dee Milliner | NJ.com
https://www.patspropaganda.com/with-dee-it-wasnt-that-we-were-unhappy-with/
What did each offensive coordinator add to the offense during their tenure going back to Charlie weis up to now with josh mcdaniels second tenure
I think that all three of the offensive coordinators have added their own twists on the offense, but each was largely reflective of the personnel that they had.
Weis’ version of the offense was very much the traditional Erhardt-Perkins, which relied on power backs like Antowan Smith and Corey Dillon and consistent and safe quarterback play.
As the league evolved, with the rules making it harder to cover receivers, eand Josh McDaniels became the OC they went to more spread concepts and the Pats passing game took off in 2007 and 2008 (even with Matt Cassel). In 2009 the Pats ran out of options around Moss and Welker. As Belichick said “you take away Moss deep, get up on Welker, and we’re done.”
So in 2010 we got Bill O’Brien and a return to more of the power football we saw with Weis, using Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, and Wes Welker. Once it was clear Moss was no longer the threat he once was they brought back Deion Branch. Then you had four of the smartest weapons Brady has ever had, and the result was an MVP year for him.
They weren’t as explosive as 2007, but they were more surgical. Had their defense not been in year two of the rebuild they likely could’ve won a Super Bowl that year, or at least made it past the Jets.
They built on that in 2011, taking the precision to another level by amping up the no-huddle. And while Branch began to fade, Gronk and Hernandez began to shine, and they went back to the Super Bowl.
With McDaniels back in 2012 they tried to do even more of that, but they were unable to find another receiving threat to replace Branch and the injuries to Hernandez and Gronk added up.
Now the Pats are in a re-build on offense somewhat. They have these elements I’m sure they’d love to build on, like using Gronk’s versatility and the no-huddle, but for now they have to get the new WRs up to speed before they can really start to establish an identity.
For each offensive coordinator, the team has been as much influenced by the style of play in the NFL and their personnel. I think McDaniels especially is an innovator, but Weis and O’Brien both did a good job using what they had and putting together strong offenses.
It will be interesting to see what the 2013 team’s identity becomes, but it will take some time.
