PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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Patriots Gameplan: AFC Divisional Game vs. Los Angeles Chargers

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At this stage of the Patriots dynasty, the regular season is prologue. After a week off to rest up, the real season starts now, against the Chargers in the Divisional Round.

The Patriots have mostly owned the Chargers for the past decade-plus. There were notable losses in 2005 and 2008 with Matt Cassel at the helm, but outside of those the Patriots have dominated Phillip Rivers’ team, including ending their season twice, in 2006 and 2007.

It’s been a long time since then and the Chargers have remade themselves and stayed healthy for the first time in a long time, making them a viable threat to the Patriots hopes of getting to their eighth-straight (!) AFC Championship game.

What do the Pats have to do to give Everything They’ve Got and Beat LA? Here’s the gameplan!

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A Quick Look Ahead Patriots 2019 Offseason

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There’s no better weekend than wild card weekend when you’re on the bye week. There’s wall-to-wall playoff football and no stress if you’re a Patriots fan.

It’s easy to overreact to how the season ends so now’s a good time to take a quick glance ahead at the storylines we’ll turn the page to as soon as we know the final fate of the 2018 Pats.

Here are the six areas to get a jump on:

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Trey Flowers or Bust in Free Agency 2019

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Maybe this is the wrong time to take a look at the expiring contracts on the Patriots considering we’re coming off such a poor performance, but it’s the bye week and in just a few short months the free agents will be at the forefront of everyone’s mind no matter how the season ends.

The list of pending free agents has one big name at the top — Trey Flowers — and after him, and maybe Josh Gordon, is there anyone we’d be all that upset to see leave? Anyone who would truly hurt the Patriots a couple years down the road if they went elsewhere?

Let’s rundown the pending free agents, roughly ranked in order of importance current impact.

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Patriots Gamplan: Week 3 at Detroit Lions

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It’s been a long week in Patriots Nation. The team got blasted on the field. Another book came out and drudged up more things from 2017, a recurring occurrence now. Even the low-risk Josh Gordon acquisition was met with controversy. Sometimes it can be exhausting being an even-keeled Patriots fan man blogger and this was one of those exhausting weeks. But with a win in Detroit over Matt Patricia the Pats can get everything back on track and shut up a lot of the noise once again.

Despite a first-game shitshow, the Lions are going to put up a good fight. Like the Patriots, they’ve shown some holes but they’ve also had their share of nice plays, especially against the 49ers in a tight three-point loss.

While I know we will see a far better Patriots squad I also don’t expect it to be perfect. There’s still too much to work through, especially dealing with potential absences of Trey Flowers and Patrick Chung. Under any circumstances, a Pats defense without those two would be severely affected and that could be even more exacerbated if everyone plays as sloppy as they did in Jacksonville.

What do they have to do to get the all-important win and return home to face the Dolphins? Here’s the gameplan.

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Film Review: Patriots Offense and Defense Sucksonville Edition

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Nothing like an emotionless deep dive into the All-22 to give you a nice football reminder how scary it can look when even good teams play bad. I left my film review with a near-exact feeling like I had after breaking down the Patriots loss to the Chiefs in 2014. This is what happens when everyone takes turns making bad mistakes until things are just totally unraveled. Add in a talented young team playing a near-perfect game, making miraculous plays in heavy heat and it’s recipe for disaster.

And that’s what this loss was. But it was still just one loss in week two under extreme conditions. What we see in Detroit will be far more toward the center of who this team is. There might still be issues but no defense can play this perfectly bad two weeks in a row, especially a Patriots defense.

Flip just a couple plays and this is a ball game in the fourth quarter. But that doesn’t mean the Patriots don’t have issues to fix. Getting Josh Gordon this week proved that. But is it time to dip into the rookies at cornerback? At least there are options, whereas we’re all just holding our breath hoping Dont’a Hightower gets through the season on his knee.

More on that and everything else in the film review.

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On Britt, Dez and the Remaining Patriots Receivers

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As you’ve heard by now the Pats released Kenny Britt on Wednesday, just as most of the attention was turning toward him as the x-factor in the receiver battle. I know I was focusing fully on him as recently as yesterday morning and now here we are, a third lost receiver this summer in addition to the departures of Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks in the offseason.

Early in camp I thought the hot takes about the receiver situation was overblown and to some extent I still do, but it’s still hard to fathom losing five receivers off the roster in seven months, even if the writing was on the wall with Amendola and Cooks was more a luxury than someone to lean upon. So what are the Pats left with? Julian Edelman, who is somehow being very much underappreciated because he’s coming off an injury and will miss the first four games. He’s not dead. He’s still the all-time leading post-season receiver and one of Tom Brady‘s most trusted targets, but for some reason that’s mostly getting swept under the rug these days.

Then there’s Chris Hogan, who led the league in yards-per-catch two seasons ago and still topped his catch total in 2017 despite missing multiple games to injury. Between Edelman and Hogan there’s a very solid base to start from, so if you’re throwing yourself off the bridge now I’m not sure how you lived through 2006 or 2013.

Remember 2013? Wes Welker and Deion Branch left, Aaron Hernandez was released after being arrested and Brady’s weaponz went back to ground zero. The talking points that offseason? Edelman hadn’t done anything since his rookie year four years earlier. Danny Amendola was too fragile. After them it was undrafted Kenbrell Thompkins and second-round pick Aaron Dobson. Josh Boyce and Austin Collie made guest appearances and that was it.

The result? The Pats offense fell from 1st overall in 2012 to… 4th overall. They were third in points and 10th in yards, en route to a 12-4 record. Edelman broke 100 catches/1,000 yards.

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Patriots Pending Free Agent Top 10 Power Rankings

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As the 2018 Patriots take shape, there are a number of players who will be entering the final years of their contracts. Not everyone can be re-signed, as Patriots fans are all too familiar, but who should take priority?

Let’s do a quick power ranking of those who either need new deals or will be on other teams in 2019.

  1. Trey Flowers — Flowers has been battling injuries for much of camp though it doesn’t appear to be anything that will keep him out of the regular season. Still, it’s not the best start for a defensive end looking to get paid as a premium position. The emergence of Derek Rivers would soften the blow if Flowers were to leave, but strong technical players like him are hard to find and defensive end depth is critical as we saw last year. It still appears very much a toss up if the Patriots will pay Flowers top dollar, or turn things over to the trio of Rivers, Dietrich Wise and Adrian Clayborn.
  2. Trent Brown — It’s hard to put Brown second overall when he hasn’t played a single regular season snap but so far he’s been exactly what the Patriots needed at left tackle, a critical position. Do they really want to have to find another left tackle next offseason? Especially considering that Isaiah Wynn’s future is still murky after being lost for the season. It might be smart for the Patriots to spring as soon as possible before every other team in the league sees that he can be a starting left tackle.
  3. Chris Hogan — There were reports that the Pats and Hogan were talking a new deal, which is a good sign considering he’s really the most reliable receiver on the team right now. Most useful is his versatility — he can play inside or out, and while he might not have the quickness of Edelman or the deep speed of Dorsett, Hogan is the most well-rounded and should have a great season if he can stay on the field. He led the league in yards-per-reception in 2016 and despite missing seven games in 2017 he had just four fewer catches and still topped his touchdown total, going fro four to five.
  4. Danny Shelton — So far Shelton has been the most immovable object on the Patriots’ defensive front and looks poised to live up to his first-round billing. Like Trent Brown, it might be premature to put him this high, but with Malcolm Brown’s apparent regression, defensive tackle could be a critical need next offseason. Players like Shelton are impossible to find and if he does play like his draft status I’d move him all the way up into the top three, that’s how critical a player like him is to the defense.
  5. Shaq Mason — Many might argue that Mason should be higher but the reality is that right guard is probably the easiest position on a football team to fill and as much as he’s an athletic specimen and I’d love to keep him, replacing him wouldn’t be nearly as tough as replacing those above him who are unique players at difficult positions to fill.
  6. Stephen Gostkowski — Gost is still one of the best kickers in the game but you just never know when his age and value will hit that crossroads where Belichick feels okay turning the page on him. He had his third-best FG percentage in 2017 and was perfect 4-4 beyond 50 yards. The Pats were lucky when they let Adam Vinatieri walk and turned things over to the rookie Gostkowski and it all went perfectly. Could they get that lucky again?
  7. Eric Rowe — I don’t think anyone is on the Rowe bandwagon even though he’s the most tenured Pats corner and was far better than anyone wants to admit in the Super Bowl. He gives the Pats a tall corner for matchups and is a valuable piece in the secondary. But with both him and Jason McCourty due to hit free agency the Pats might want to make a move to secure at least one of them and so far Rowe looks like the de facto number two corner behind Stephon Gilmore
  8. Malcom Brown — Don’t give up on Brown yet, but it’s not a good sign when the team declines your fifth year option. That likely means they don’t plan on paying you with a big contract. He’ll need his best season as a pro and even then he likely won’t be back.
  9. Phillip Dorsett — I haven’t been all that impressed with Dorsett yet and he’s got a long way to go to earn another contract with the team in my eyes. Still, with Edelman getting older, the cupboard is pretty bare aside from Hogan. I’m fascinated to see how his season unfolds.
  10. Jeremy Hill — An honorable mention here, because this is based on my speculation that Hill will be a featured back at least for the early part of this season and might even be a better piece that Rex Burkhead who just returned from a two-week injury.  Hill would be affordable and excited for a second contract with the team. That spells the Patriots’ favorite word — value.

Other Notable Free Agents

  • Ryan Allen – Could the team be looking to groom Corey Bojorquez behind the scenes this year to take over for Allen next year?
  • Jordan Richards – Imagine what will happen if he gets a new deal over those guys up top?
  • Cordarrelle Patterson – Could be a fun weapon for the offense this year but will he just use the Pats to get a bigger paycheck elsewhere next year? He’s a real wild card and will be somewhat of a luxury this year.
  • LaAdrian Waddle — Has been a life saver with so many recent tackle injuries.