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Patriots vs. Colts All-22 Thoughts: Defense Edition

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The Patriots had a lackluster start on defense in this one, but once the second half came around they tightened up before allowing a late drive that allowed the Colts to make it close at the end. Still, there was plenty of good and bad to digest in this one, including the use of safeties in more traditional cornerback roles.

The first drive certainly wasn’t very pretty but with the Pats defense it often seems the case that the opposition puts together a good first drive. Then BB locks in on what they’re doing and adjustments come.

The first drive was Branch/Siliga inside and a mix of coverages including Cover-1 and Cover-2. Looked to me like Freeny was often the target, and deservedly so. He’s just a step late in coverage and doesn’t see things as quickly as Hightower might’ve. Ryan and Butler were competitive in coverage, but still gave up some well-executed passes. Mayo continues to look ineffective, for lack of a better term. 

Second drive they went to Easley and Brown inside, Sheard in for Ninkovich, and seemed to get a bead on what they wanted in coverage: Butler-Moncrief, Ryan-Johnson, Chung-Hilton. Easley got great pressure on 2nd down, forcing a bad throw. Interesting look on third down with four safeties, Mayo on the RB. I’d posit the Pats thing Hilton is soft and just want to put physicality on him. Moncrief seems their biggest concern, which is somewhat unconventional.

Third drive Chandler comes off and Nink is back in with Hicks and Branch inside. Solid work by Hicks on first down to stack and shed to make the tackle, but gets turned two plays later for a decent run gain. One of these DTs might get cut loose when Chris Jones comes back. Pats send 5 on 3rd-and-5 and it’s Easley showing good patience to finish the play. That’s a good development for him showing some rush awareness.

Now, the 12-play touchdown drive that would be their final points until the end of the game. This time we’ve got Brown and Siliga inside, with Sheard and Chandler. Frank Gore’s 18-yard run really got this drive going and another tough play for Mayo who couldn’t get off a block to make the play. Seeing a bit more of Jordan Richards here and I have to say I really like how he looks. Plays with a great base, flips hips well. We seem to be seeing more of him each week and it’s not an accident. Colts made the easy plays and this is always what scares me because it works so well. Taking the checkdowns, scrambling for first downs, keeping it simple. Touchy PI call on McCourty set up the touchdown as it was 1st-and-18 before that. Not a great red zone day. Should’ve held them to a field goal as Siliga missed a clear shot at Luck. See below.

Second Half

Hicks and Brown inside to start the second half. Brown is showing some decent development, he gets really low and wins the leverage battle. Good pressure by Nink on second down forces a bad throw incomplete by Luck. Third down Butler has great pursuit of a free running Moncrief to tackle him short of the 1st down.

Next drive it’s Hicks and Branch inside and Branch draws an early holding call to set the Colts back. Chandler Jones just misses an interception, does he think he’s Malcolm Butler? Seems like more of a concerted effort to press the receivers off the line and I think it made a big difference. Good closing burst by Logan Ryan on a deep corner route to Andre Johnson. Ryan’s not making that play on 5-years-ago Andre, but still a nice job to force a third down. Critical third down with the game on the line and Easley gets the sack. This is the kind of play I’ve been dreaming about for two years. Luck had no chance to step up and that’s not something we’re used to seeing.

Next possession Brown is back in and puts together a great series, looking strong holding his ground. Pats mixing Cover-1 Man and Cover-2 Zone. Once again on third down Easley gets in Luck’s face and forces an incomplete. This is making me very happy.

Colts getting more and more holding calls called against them as the game wore on. I’d like to think this is a result of the Pats front seven depth and their ability to rotate and keep guys fresh.

The final drive got off to a good start for the Colts with a 17-yard pass to Moncrief with Butler playing off coverage. Pats shifted to Cover-2 Man which was effective until Hilton caught a pinpoint 27-yard pass. That’s a tip the hat play.

Last two Colts plays were to Whalen with McCourty in coverage. The problem was the three-man rush wasn’t getting any heat on Luck. Something to consider going forward when protecting a lead.

Pats Posits: Was it not blow out-y enough for you?

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The New England Patriots are 5-0 coming off another win over the Indianapolis Colts, but I’m sure if I were to tune into the Boston media this morning there’d be much complaining that the Pats didn’t score 100 points like everyone thought they would because REVENGE!

I never really bought into this being an easy Pats blow out because the Colts needed this game and were at home and their talent level is a lot higher than they’ve been playing. Seemed to me like a perfect time for the Colts to turn in their first solid performance against the Pats during the Andrew Luck era and guess what? They did.

The Colts did pretty much everything you need to do to beat the Patriots, at least in the first quarter. They didn’t turn the ball over. They had long sustained drives. They tried some trick plays. But it still was not enough. The Patriots were still just a little more prepared and made just a few more plays that ended up being the difference.

The win comes as more injuries continue to hit New England hard. It’s crazy to think just a couple weeks ago the Pats had near-perfect health and everyone was considering 16-0. Now I think we can put that talk on the backburner, even if it is still technically possible. 

Maybe yesterday’s win wasn’t as satisfying as we hoped it might, but a win is a win, and the Colts embarrassing themselves with that fake punt will certainly provide enough comical attention at their expense that a 50-points blowout would’ve.

What matters now are the two divisional games in the next 10 days, where really the season will be cemented or put into some uncertainty. The Jets will provide plenty of challenges, but first here are my Posits from the win over the Colts.

Sometimes I feel like the sign of a good opposing gameplan is when Danny Amendola has a bunch of catches like he did yesterday. Amendola is the kind of guy who doesn’t get much credit but just keeps coming through when his number is called. He’s probably gone next season and I think losing him will be harder to overcome than many realize at this point. 

Can’t tell for sure until I take a look at the All-22 but it seems like in the first half there was a lot of mixing coverage going on, and it seemed to skew a little more heavily toward zone. Might’ve been why they gave up a couple long drives. But in the second they seemed to switch to more man and that made a lot of difference. Man defense continues to be a necessity and this week against the Jets will really put that to the test.

But great adjustments all around at halftime for the defense. They forced 4 punts and 2 turnover-on-downs in the second half before the 8-play, 85-yard touchdown drive that made things interesting at the end. Only four drives the entire game lasted longer than 6 plays. All things considered, that’s impressive.

Gostkowski is so reliable – he’s now hit  21 straight field goals. With the new kicking rules throwing a lot of kickers in the league off, it’s nice to know we have one who is the model of consistency.

Dion Lewis fell back to earth a little bit, at least on the stat sheet. Probably should’ve expected that at some point. I’m curious to look what kind of attention the Colts game him, but there was not much space out there for him to work his magic.

Jeff Howe mentioned this morning that Edelman’s finger that NBC kept harping on, has been a thing for a while now. But it was a convenient talking point after Edelman had a couple drops and the bobble that led to an interception. Edelman remains one of those bulletproof guys though. Yeah, he’s had some strange brainfart moments this season, but he still keeps coming through with tough catches in big spots – including that huge 4th down run with the game still in question.

Really thought the defense missed Hightower because he and Collins work so well together. When the Colts saw the Pats in man coverage and Collins on the RB, they’d run him out to the boundary, taking Collins out of the box and minimizing his effect, especially taking away his threat of blitzing. They can’t do that when Hightower is in there because they’re both so good attacking downhill.

The developments on Mayo continue to show that he’s not ready for a major role and I wonder why he didn’t start the year on PUP. Might be one of those rare instances it’s mostly a leadership thing? Because he doesn’t seem to be progressing or making any plays. Freeny is a stopgap at best, making me think Dane Fletcher could be a valuable addition if Hightower has to miss extended time.

Vollmer flipping to LT and Fleming coming in at RT when Cannon went down shows why it’s so important to have experienced depth at the tackle spots.

Speaking of injuries, Ian Rapoport reports neither Cannon nor Sheard’s dings are serious. That’s critically good news, especially for Sheard who also seemed to have a quiet game before going out.

However the early signs are not good for Matthew Slater who had to be helped off. That would be a big blow to the special teams and in the leadership department.

Speaking of special teams, that Colts fake punt thing was obviously a highlight. But it just shows how well-prepared New England was. The fact that the Patriots didn’t panic, didn’t call a timeout, just adjusted and waiting for the Colts to do something, that’s what played a big part in forcing them to snap the ball. Can’t believe they snapped it.

Two onsides kicks and the Pats recovered both. These kind of plays don’t get headlines but if they had gone the other way so could’ve the game.

Why is it that Scott Chandler can’t see to make the plays for us that he always seemed to make against us. He had his moments last night, good and bad, but I’m still waiting for him to really round into the potent threat we all thought he could be in the red zone when paired with Gronk.

The thing about the Patriots’ offense is that it’s just a matter of time. You get that inevitable feeling that even when they have to punt, they’ll be right back the next drive with a strong effort. The only problem was they went to sleep in the second half when they should’ve put one more scoring drive together to ice things. That’s a bit concerning and surprising considering I didn’t think they’d hesitate to step on the Colts’ throat at the end.

Logan Ryan deserves some credit now that he’s everyone’s favorite cornerback to complain about. In the grand history of Belichick’s Patriots corners Ryan is one of the better ones and seems to be really be taking some positive strides now that he’s been elevated on the depth chart. He’s going to get all he can handle this weekend against the Jets.

Dominique Easley had maybe his best pass rushing game of his career in this one. PFF had him for eight pressures in 21 pass rush snaps. Easley’s emergence had a big part to do with the second half turnaround for the defense and it shows why they needed a player like him so badly.

I do think it’s clear that the offense needs LaFell. Keshawn Martin isn’t a threat and when teams key on Edelman and Gronk, they need more than just Amendola to counter. All signs are pointing toward LaFell hopping right into things (no pun intended about his foot injury), and his downfield blocking and physical presence will instantly give the Pats a new dimension.

Chandler Jones is another guy who really stepped up in second half, getting consistent pressure. That was huge without Sheard to spell him and Nink. It was strange to see the ‘13/’14 throwback of Chandler/Nink playing near every snap. 

Finally Jamie Collins’ blocked PAT was just the latest freak play we’ve seen him make and let’s remember how big that could’ve ended up being if the Colts had gotten the onsides kick back. Instead of going for a touchdown to win, they would’ve needed to go for two to win after Collins’ big play. 

New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 6 at Indianapolis Colts

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Welp, this is it, the game we’ve all had circled is finally here and it’s not surprising that Tom Brady
 and the Pats have taken a “Deflategate? What was that?” approach this week. We won’t hear them say anything this week about what this game really means to them, but we’ll certainly see it more and more in their eyes and on their faces as Sunday’s game goes on, especially if they’re up a few scores like many are expecting.

As much as I’d love to jump on the “it’s going to be a bloodbath!!” bandwagon, it’s hard for me to look at a game against the Colts in Indy and write it off. Despite how bad the Colts have looked. Despite Andrew Luck’s injury. Despite the revenge angle. This is still a talented team and I’d be worried if the Pats were more focused on “revenge” than beating a football team that badly needs a win in their own house.

Is this the boring take? Probably. But I’ve seen close games with far less talented teams and while I really love what the Pats are doing on both sides of the ball, I can’t help but think this will be their toughest test yet. I hope I’m wrong. I hope it’s a bloodbath. But I still have to write a gameplan and sweat it out because the game will start out 0-0 as we all known.

Here’s what I think the Pats need to do to roll over the Deflategate cry babies…

Offensive Gameplan

It might be easy to look at the rushing numbers the Patriots have put up on the Colts the last three games and think they’ll just line up and run it down their throats once again, but I don’t think the Pats should stray from what has been unstoppable so far – the quick passing game with Dion Lewis
 at running back.

The Colts are 25th in pass defense DVOA. They’re 28th in passing yards allowed-per-game. Brian Hoyer put 312 yards on them. So yeah, I think that’s the place to attack first, and is there really anything wrong with letting Tom Brady go to work on them? I think he’ll be pretty locked in on this one.

The time for Blount will come, but he’s never at his best right at the start of the game. The defense needs to be on their heels a bit, even a little tired, and that’s when Blount is a beast to deal with.

So it’s really not that complicated on offense. The Pats do what they do and everyone knows what they do. They even know somewhat how to stop it. But knowing and doing it for 60 minutes are two different things.

Nothing would shock me more than to see a flat Patriots offense out of the gate in this one. Defensively they might give up some early yards, but I expect the offense to come out on fire. Not even the loss of Nate Solder changes that.

Spread the Colts out and then go to work with the scalpel, slowly carving them up flay by flay. Then when the time is right, pound it for the win with Blount.

Defensive Gameplan

Things could be a little interesting for the defense this week as I’m fascinated to see how they match Hilton-Johnson-Moncrief-Fleener in the passing game. Last year they matched them up with their corners and it was incredibly effective. Now the depth at corner is thin (Tarrell Brown missed Thursday’s practice and could be questionable) and they don’t have the same flexibility they had with Browner-Revis-Arrington.

Now I know the Colts WR’s havent’ exactly set the world on fire like many expected, but there is plenty of talent there and it’s likely just a matter of time before they start clicking, especially at home. 

Andrew Luck’s injury certainly makes it more of an uphill battle at this point than it might be if he were healthy. I can’t imagine getting blasted by Jamie Collins is going to help his shoulder much.

Assuming Luck plays, I think this is another “dare them to run it” game. Maybe that plays into the Colts wanting to keep Luck clean, and maybe Frank Gore can handle 25-30 carries and have a good game, but it feels like the best way to win. 

I expect Brady and the Pats offense to put up points. The only chance the Colts really have is to make it an aerial shootout to keep up. So I’d expect a similar gameplan to the Steelers one, lots of defensive backs, Harmon on the back end, McCourty coming down on Fleener on third down.

But whether or not they match receivers with corners is a big question for me. The size on Moncrief is a concern as is the speed of Hilton, but there’s no clear matchups. So perhaps just playing sides is the best call, employing a jam and over-the-top help on Hilton once again.

There’s no question if Luck plays they must attack him. The sooner Collins/Sheard/etc. lay some big hits on him the sooner the Colts passing game could fall apart.

Five Points of Emphasis

1. Hit Luck: Not rocket science here on a quarterback coming off a shoulder injury needs to be hit early and often. Finally the Pats have the kind of pass rushers that should be respected. Collins/Hightower/Sheard/Chander/Ninkovich are huge keys to this and should all see plenty of time on the field (assuming Hightower’s rib ain’t no thang). If Luck is okay to go we have to find out just how “okay” he is.

2. Manage Emotions: They won’t admit it but the Patriots will be fired up for this one. Luckily they’re used to big games and shouldn’t let their emotions get the better of them. Their focus on the game this week is all part of that. They’re on the road in a hostile environment so it’s important to get off to a quietly efficient start. Stick to the gameplan and DO YOUR JOB. As things fall into place then the emotions can seep out a bit.

3. Throw to Score, Run To Win: We’re not re-inventing the wheel this week offensively. Dion Lewis should have as much to prove as anybody to a team that let him go after just a week in their facility. He’s been huge this year and seemingly getting better every week. Make the Colts deal with him and the passing game first, then bring in the Blount Force Trauma to finish them.

4. Don’t Allow Explosive Plays: As I mentioned, the Colts only real chance in this one is to put up a bunch of yards and points quickly through the air. Their receivers are talented and should test our secondary like they haven’t been tested. But if the Pats’ defense keeps everything in front of them, tackles well and forces long drives they should be okay. Andrew Luck has yet to prove he can sustain drives without turnovers, even when healthy. Allowing big plays is what will get New England out of their comfort area and into trouble.

5. Win: Aside from the Deflategate revenge angle what this game really means to the 2015 Patriots is the chance to beat one of the better teams in the AFC in their own house and give themselves a solid tie-breaker for the playoff seeding. Moving to 5-0 before they have two good divisional tests back-to-back at home with in five days of each other will put the Pats in good position. Yes it will feel great to put another nail in the Colts season, but it’s not going to come easy, at least in the first half.

Thursday Pats Stat Pack

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Now that we’re a quarter of the way into the season I feel comfortable diving into some of Football Outsiders’ DVOA stats and the early numbers for the Pats are pretty outstanding. 

Remember, these numbers are adjusted for the matchup and situation, so go easy on the “Pats haven’t played anyone good” outrage.

First we have our overall DVOA on both sides of the ball, where the offense is hitting a level that puts it on par with Brady’s MVP seasons of 2007 and 2010. Defensively, they’re better overall but a little worse against the run, though I’d say that’s party by design.

Here’s a closer look at how they’re matching up with various receiving threats:

The improvement against tight ends is what stands out most, while there a bit of drop replacing Revis with Butler, the rest is pretty much the same. And again, they’ve been better overall.

Finally comes what I call the “bend-don’t-break chart” where they’re looking far less bendy after last week’s performance against the Cowboys. We’ll see how that holds up.

Patriots vs. Cowboys All-22 Review: Defense Edition

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Lots to like in this game even though the Cowboys were without Tony Romo, Dez Bryant and others.

The headline has to be the heavy dose of press man coverage. Everyone thought this would be a zone defense after Revis and Browner walked but that has not been the case and personally I’m thrilled. You just can’t play zone defense and expect to stop a good QB.

But especially nice was to see the defense being aggressive against a lesser quarterback, when they’d often just sit back in zone and wait for mistakes against these kind of guys in the past.

Here are some general observations on a small sample size:

Logan Ryan
 was the regular CB with Butler, but in sub packages he came off for Brown in the slot and Coleman in the outside. I think this might be because Ryan is probably the best against the run of that group, but is more limited in coverage perhaps. Coleman continues to get chances and looks like he belongs. He’s feisty and was one of my favorite Patriots fits coming out in this draft.

Dominique Easley
 continues to impress me more against the run than the pass, which isn’t really what we expected. He’s just so fast off the ball that he has an instant leverage advantage on an offensive lineman looking to pull. He’s just so disruptive in those situations (see below), but when he’s straight-up pass rushing he wasn’t really winning, at least not like Sheard did a couple times.

Malcom Brown
 had his best game as a pro, holding strong at the point of attack but also being active on the move. It’s a good sign that he’s starting to show positive signs. He tied with Branch for leading defensive tackle snaps with 23.

Jamie Collins was everywhere in this one. Hard to pick out just one play illustrating how he dominates in every facet, but look at the screen shot below and know Collins makes that tackle for a 3-yard gain. Could’ve gone for 30 if he wasn’t so athletic in beating blockers.

McCourty was used on Witten and they doubled him with Jordan Richards quite a few times as well. Not really as outside the norm for McCourty as I might’ve thought. We saw him manning up tight ends last year, with Antonio Gates one example that comes to mind.

I don’t want to keep hammering a guy coming back from injury but didn’t see much out of Mayo in his 29 snaps. If Hightower is out for a while I have real concerns about who’s going to be next to Collins. Mayo still has okay speed, but is generally pretty easily blocked and doesn’t really make much of an impact. Maybe it’s just being next to Collins anyone would look average. But there’s just a lack of strong direct force from Mayo, if that makes sense. Not so much tentative, just a step behind where he was and unable to navigate the wash.

Jabaal Sheard is such a beast I’m not sure how much longer he’s playing less than Ninkovich. He’s the perfect weapon for this defense and if you want to talk about offsetting the loss of Revis, he’s your guy.

It was nice to see the defense go down to the end of the game playing man coverage and not sitting back in prevent zone like they often have in the past. They weren’t quite as aggressive and mixed in some Cover 2, but still had a majority of man coverage concepts.

I keep coming back to one thing – why haven’t the Patriots committed like this to pass rush about five years ago? Now we’re seeing more and more defensive personnel with one or even no defensive tackles. Just the LBs and LB/DE hybrids lining up all over the place and causing havoc getting to the QB. This is why the defense is better now, I don’t care who the corners are. 

Pats Posits Tuesday Edition: Around the League and Is the Pressure off TB/BB After SB49?

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Getting ready to jump into the All-22 as soon as it’s posted and looking forward to focusing on Dallas’ defensive effort to stop the Patriots as well as the Pats’ usage of Devin McCourty
 on defense as it seems his role is evolving a bit.

– One thing that’s been on my mind is how winning Super Bowl 49 seems to have taken some of the pressure of TB and BB and now they’re just able to relax and do what they do. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, or maybe it’s just my own personal feelings, but even with the Deflategate stuff there’s a renewed sense of calm around this Patriots team. Or perhaps it’s just renewed faith that what they’re doing works. Hopefully it continues to translate into the winter months.

– Great win by the Bengals this past weekend, coming back on Seattle to move to 5-0. I know they’ll never be Super Bowl favorites until they win a playoff game but in a league where there’s not as much parity as some might have you believe, I think the Bengals are going about it the right way. 

Too many teams are in a constant cycle of hiring coaches, drafting quarterbacks, throwing those quarterbacks immediately into the flames and then as soon as they fail everyone is out and the process starts over. But the Bengals have stuck with their coach and quarterback despite whatever flaws the national media wants to point out. 

There are only so many truly elite quarterbacks out there. It’s impossible to try to model a franchise after the Patriots. Instead the Bengals are smartly sticking more to a Giants model. No, they don’t have Brady or Manning but they’ve had enough continuity that they’ve settled in as a very good football team. 

They’ve also drafted well and in all the right spots in a similar way that I would do it. Only take a non-linemen in the first round if they’re a can’t miss (AJ Green). Don’t reach for a quarterback. Focus on winning the trenches and you’ll be okay. The Bengals might just have an Eli-Giants Super Bowl run in them one of these years if they just stay the course. They have all the right talent at the right spots, just comes down to their quarterback putting together three or four mistake-free games. 

Too many teams don’t try to build this kind of team, instead blowing things up over and over because they don’t turn into a 12-win team season after season. 

– The next three games will tell us a lot about the Patriots. We really need to see them handle adversity and I’d bet some is coming with the Colts, Jets and Dolphins coming up. At the quarter point of the season we’re just starting to understand what the Patriots have – and if they stay healthy I think they could be a better overall team than last year’s edition. But there will be a team to poke some holes in the Patriots unbeatable facade and how they respond is what will define this edition of the Pats.

– Are the Broncos the worst 5-0 team in league history? Look, their defense is great but I don’t think anyone is scared of Peyton Manning as the weather gets worse. Do the Broncos even want homefield in the playoffs? Seems their best bet would be to hope they have to go to Indy’s dome. Still, I can’t wait to see the chess battle between Brady and the Broncos D next month.

– I don’t even really dislike any of the Colts players, no, I want a win this weekend specifically for their management, ownership and group of outspoken self-righteous fans and media members who were so vocal during the offseason. I will try to refrain from overconfidently thinking this will be an easy beatdown. The Colts are bound to put together a good game against us sooner or later, but I’d be shocked if New England doesn’t bring their A-plus angry game this Sunday.

Pats Posits: Lil’ Bit of Adversity in Dallas

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It had pretty much been smooth sailing for the New England Patriots
through the first three games of their season. But in Dallas things weren’t quite as easy as they had been and the offense struggled for extended periods to protect Tom Brady
.

The quick throws weren’t there early on but the Patriots offense remained patient and eventually found spots to exploit Dallas’ defense. 

The Patriots’ defense looked every bit as dominant as you’d hope they’d look going against this depleted Cowboy offense. But you can never dismiss a great defensive performance in the NFL and that was what this was.

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There were plenty of times no-name QBs threw for lots of yards on the Patriots defenses of 2010-2012. This is a different defense, and one that is possibly better than last year’s because of their array of pass rush options. 

There were questions about the run defense coming into this one, but it’s clear the Pats can stop the run when they want to. All the edge players were strong and the inside tackles didn’t give up a lot of ground. 

Most exciting of all was seeing the Pats play some press man like they did last year. They’ve played plenty of man defense this year, but haven’t tried to be physical at the line of scrimmage. That changed against the Cowboys and never allowed Weeden to find a rhythm through the air.

Now the stage is set for a visit to the Colts on prime time next Sunday night (followed by my yearly Pats excursion to the Jets game). It will be a fun two weeks of football. But first, the Posits…

Dont’a Hightower and Nate Solder.
That’s all I really care about coming out of this one. Yes, we saw Brady take a beating and bounce back strong, but there hasn’t really been a significant injury in a while. Hightower looked in clear pain, and I can’t imagine something like a broken rub doesn’t take at least a couple weeks. Solder spoke to the media afterwards, so that’s a good sign. And really, Cannon wouldn’t be that bad.

No season is without adversity and this team has yet to really face any. On one hand you’re just waiting for something bad to happen, but sigh relief when no one gets carted off. Hopefully Hightower is back sooner than later and the health train can keep chugging.

A lot to like from the defense, who have really been sparked by Jabaal Sheard. He’s the finisher they’ve really needed to rotate in with Ninkovich and Chandler Jones. Sheard gets used all over the place. All were strong on the edges and with their rushes.

Jamie Collins is on everyone’s next superstar list and he keeps living up to those expectations. He’s simply all over the place on defense, making plays at every level with raw athleticism, speed and length.

Hard not to love the Pats showing some aggressive press man coverage and actually doing okay with it. That will need further evaluation this week. Seemed like there might’ve been more McCourty closer to the LOS, and Jordan Richards got more playing time this week after a strong debut against the Jags.

Malcolm Butler seemed like he made Terrance Williams invisible. Now it’s Terrance Williams, but still.

Jerod Mayo is likely about to be thrown into the fire and I’m not sure he’s ready for it. As soon as Bostic is ready to go, it should make for an interesting situation. Healthy Mayo is still better than Jonathan Freeny, but not by much.

Need to dive into the numbers this week, but I have some concerns about the short yardage game on both sides of the ball. 

Wasn’t a big Easley game but I saw him blow up a run pretty well. Curious the snaps on him and the rest.

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Dion Lewis
, I’m running out of things to say. What an electric, exciting player and he just keeps blowing minds and breaking ankles! Brady targeted him 11 times, more than Gronk and Edelman combined. Every time you think he’s about to go down he gets three more yards.

I’m okay with continuing the OL rotation going a bit longer, it’s why they’ll be fine has to miss time. Cannon catches a lot of crap but when he’s had to step in and start he’s been fine. It’s the experimenting at guard and the quick rotation in at tackle when he plays poorly. 

That’s a good Cowboys front and they had a good gameplan. All the tackles were beat, but it’s the inside I’m more curious to focus on. The OL will be fine.

Edelman had a couple brain farts and a couple clutch plays. Bit of a trend this season, but he’ll clean it up. Brandon LaFell will come back at a good time as neither Keshawn Martin nor Aaron Dobson can replicate his presence.

Yes, I turned the page to the Colts pretty quick. The North East Remembers.