PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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I do not feel the safety was slow getting over. It appeared to me, watching the replay and the tape of the game this morning, it looked like Steve Gregory was helping on the tight end. Before the play, Gregory communicates to Hightower, who was covering the tight end. That’s why I thought Gregory was helping Hightower over the top, and I say that because the easiest throw in the red area is to the tight end in the middle of the field. The lower percentage throws are deep to the outside. You notice something else before the play, Talib is attempting to communicate with Arrington (the inside corner). The Bills are in a bunch formation, which means three receivers within a close proximity of each other. This can cause traffic problems and stresses propoer communication. As the play develops, Stevie Johnson breaks to the flat. Both Arrington and Talib sit on it (attempting to defend it). That’s where the breakdown occurred. One of them was supposed to have the 7 route to Woods, and the other was supposed to play deep to short on the flat route. You never want to have two defenders focused on a flat route when you have a receiver going deep and outside (the 7 route). Especially in the red area.

Chat: Chat with Tedy Bruschi – SportsNation – ESPN Boston

Good breakdown from Tedy on what happened on the Woods touchdown.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/i-do-not-feel-the-safety-was-slow-getting-over-it/

this game showed that the stress of having the rookie wr’s falls on the shoulders of injury prone guys who aren’t really built to handle that pressure (amendola, edelman, and vereen). they responded well in this game, but I don’t think that’s something we can count on happening too often. how many more hits before those three get hurt again? this is where we need ridley and blount to step up. not at all dissatisfied with thompkins but boyce needs more than 15 snaps on thursday night

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And of course as I was getting ready to respond to this we find out Vereen is out a few weeks for wrist surgery. I’m not usually one to worry too much about guys who may or may not be “injury prone”, but Amendola’s groin certainly looked to get worse yesterday. Hopefully it doesn’t linger. And Edelman made it through one game healthy so we got that going for us. Hopefully he holds up.

There’s no question the learning curve with the rookies was apparent yesterday. Thompkins could almost do no wrong in preseason, and even when he did he bounced right back and made some tough catches. Yesterday he looked like a rookie, and an undrafted one at that. They’ll just have to continue working him and Boyce and Dobson in (once his hammy is okay).

There’s no other way around it. Every receiver on the roster is either a rookie or had injury issues in the past. Just have to keep putting them out there, letting them make their mistakes, and cross our fingers they can stay healthy. As always, we’re building for January/February, and every game they win early in the season is one they won’t have to make up at the end.

Vereen to have wrist surgery

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Get ready for a shot at redemption, Ridley. And I’m sure we’ll see plenty of Leon Washington Thursday against his former team. What I wouldn’t give for Brandon Bolden to make a comeback soon.

Notes on the Patriots-Bills re-watch

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Had a chance to take another look at the game last night and as those of you who’ve been long-time readers know, I tend to gravitate toward the defensive side of the ball. 

Here are the things that jumped out to me…

– The Pats played nickel nearly the whole game (we’ll get the snap counts later today) and it was Brandon Spikes getting the start with Mayo. Spikes left due to dehydration but returned and then had a rotation with Hightower similar to what we saw last year.

– They played a lot of man-to-man defense, something we thought they wanted to be able to do, and they rarely sent many blitzers. Most of the time if was just a four-man rush, though they did send Hightower once and he caused a rush throw that resulted in an incompletion.

– In the pass rush sub-package they shifted Chandler Jones inside for Tommy Kelly and brought on Michael Buchanan.

– Joe Vellano saw plenty of snaps but I didn’t see him make much impact. He got pushed out of the way and run over a couple of times. Hopefully Armond Armstead can upgrade him when he returns.

– I heard from some fans who thought Chandler Jones was invisible but I really thought he looked pretty good. Did he have a big impact sack? No, but he caused plenty of problems and looked a lot faster and more violent with his hands than he did last year. The sacks and stats will come for him, and I like what he brings as an inside rusher where he has better size than Jermaine Cunningham did last year.

– I thought Steve Gregory had a pretty good day as well considering most of us were writing him off this offseason. He’s a good combo with McCourty when he can play the “robber” role and come downhill to make tackles. He had some sure tackles yesterday. Makes me think he and McCourty could be the two for a while back there.

Picked-up pieces after first-half review – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

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Picked-up pieces after first-half review – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

Those who have read our picked-up pieces entries before may recall the term “rub concept” in which two receivers work off of each other, typically near the goal line. In its simplest form, the outside receiver runs in, the slot receiver runs out and a natural pick is formed. We expect the Patriots to use this concept extensively this season, but not just near the goal line. With two gifted slot targets in Amendola and Edelman, it’ll be a staple of their underneath passing game, as was the case on a third and 5. The two were the inside receivers as part of a three-man bunch to Tom Brady’s right side, with Edelman running roughly five yards before turning inside, while Amendola ran up the field for a couple of strides, stuttered and broke out, catching a pass just two yards beyond the line of scrimmage. The direction of Edelman’s route gave Amendola enough space to work with to grab the first down and move the chains. Those two will be a tough task for middle-of-the-field pass defenders.

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If you want to know who Tom Brady trusts, just pay attention to who is getting his passes when the game is on the line. In the team’s final 11-play, game-winning drive, Danny Amendola was targeted four times and Shane Vereen was targeted twice as Brady went 6 for 6 to help set up Gostkowski’s 35-yard field goal.

5 takeaways from the Patriots-Bills game – Extra Points – Boston.com

https://www.patspropaganda.com/if-you-want-to-know-who-tom-brady-trusts-just-pay/

Danny Amendola stirs visions of Wes Welker in New England Patriots debut – ESPN Boston

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Danny Amendola stirs visions of Wes Welker in New England Patriots debut – ESPN Boston

As I was saying…

No one is saying that there aren’t concerns for the Patriots with what unfolded. It was ugly, at times, for a team that prides itself on taking care of the football to be sloppy. Some of the team’s young players didn’t rise up. More on the Patriots Mike Reiss has the Patriots blanketed for ESPNBoston.com. Check in for all the latest coverage. Blog • Send a question for Mike’s mailbag But at the same time, if we haven’t learned by now that the opening game of the season isn’t always reflective of what is to come and that teams evolve over the course of a season, then we haven’t been watching closely enough. To be able to win with a clutch final drive, overcoming their mistake-filled ways, is something that Belichick, Brady and others believe has significance.