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Pats Posits: It All Clicked vs. Titans

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After watching the Patriots-Titans game in the bar on Saturday night I had to go back and take another look at it to get the full scope of how it went down. I knew the broad strokes, but trying to analyze the minutiae is just about impossible in between ordering drinks, conversations and shooting Facebook Live videos.

I came away thinking that this was the total team win I had been hoping for. The returning pieces fit in fairly seamlessly and once again we saw more of the Pats team we remember from the middle part of the season, a dominant one that comes at you in a variety of ways. The 2017 aren’t the team that looked blah down the stretch. That team was holding back some key pieces. Now, with everyone back, we saw the real 2017 team, and they should be the overwhelming favorite to win Super Bowl 52 now.

The funny part was remembering how uneasy I felt at 7-0 after the Titans put together a perfect drive, capped off by a near-impossible catch. It almost seemed like it might be one of those games that are far closer than it should be, but alas, it was just a matter of time. Yes, the neutral zone infraction that saved the Pats from punting was where the Titans lost any control of the game, ending up in a 21-7 hole, but really, there was no stopping the Patriots in this one no matter how Tennessee played.

The Patriots look primed to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars, who I spent a good portion of last night getting a jump.

More on this AFC South playoff run in the Posits!

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Film Review: Patriots Third Down Offense

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The Patriots went a mind boggling 0-11 on third down against the Dolphins, a feat they hadn’t accomplished since the dark days of the early 90’s. Without Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman, the offense just couldn’t find anyone who could make a key play on the key down.

Let’s go through them one-by-one and see what went wrong and if there are any trends we can discern.

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Three Plays That Defined Patriots Offense vs. Chargers

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The Patriots offense has settled into a pretty good, balanced groove. Their top four receivers all have similar target numbers and their running backs can do a variety of things that keep defenses off balance. It’s a new evolution for Tom Brady‘s offense and while there are still growing pains, it was largely effective, especially in the middle of the field.

The problem, as has been well noted this week, is in the red zone. This season the Pats rank 18th overall in red zone offense, a significant departure from their ranking the past three years, 2014: 5th, 2015: 4th, 2016: 10th. Really, if you’re looking for one stat that could sum what the Pats need to improve, it’s in the red zone. This is a bit of a surprise because you’d think the problem without Julian Edelman would be on third down, however the Pats have seen little dip there.

Let’s take a look at a few plays from the Chargers game that show us what the 2017 edition of the offense is.

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Injuries Strike Pats Just After They Clicked

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We’re all sick of hearing it but here it is again “injuries are the only thing that stand between the Patriots and Super Bowls at this point in the Belichick/Brady dynasty.” You either get years where they stay almost entirely healthy — 2014/2016 (with a notable exception or two like Gronk last year), or 2013/2015 where key guys are lost and it’s just not enough to get past the AFC Championship.

Every year is a bit different. And this year, the injuries to Julian Edelman, such a critical player, and others cam early enough that they could still be overcome. But it’s a long season and we’re not even half way through it. And now, after a couple weeks of injury reprieve, the Pats once again had a frightening injury report on Wednesday with Dont’a Hightower, Malcom Brown and Danny Amendola leading the way.

These were three gut punch absences, especially after the Pats were coming off their first complete game performance of the season. A feel-good “Pats are back” type win that made the sloppy start a distant memory.

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5 Patriots Concerns

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It’s hard to know at the beginning of the year what problems are real and which can be chalked up to September being more of an extension of the preseason. The Patriots experiment a bit, sit guys for even a minor ailment and are just trying to figure out what they have more than anything.

Of course, that never stops the overreactions but that’s what happens when people have been waiting seven months for football and then a shitty Patriots team gets lit up by some random team who won’t make the playoffs. It’s the same thing almost every year and there’s difficulty knowing what the real weaknesses of the team are.

But here we are five games into the season and the 2017 edition, like all teams have flaws, even if the 2017 betting odds for the next Patriots game don’t quite reflect it.

Here’s a quick hit list of the things that concern me with these Pats and what the real issues they’ll have to overcome are.

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Super Clutch: A Danny Amendola Appreciation Post

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Danny Amendola has had one of the most interesting journeys of a Patriots wide receiver. Despite not easily fitting into a Wes Welker-replacement box early on, Amendola emerged with clutch catch after clutch catch, cementing his place amongst Patriot legends. But in 2017, with Julian Edelman going down in the preseason with a torn ACL, Amendola is on pace for a career year and is only adding to his already legendary status.

In 2013 the Patriots let Wes Welker walk to Denver and signed Amendola to a five-year, $30 million contract with $10 million guaranteed. Instantly fans wondered if Amendola would be able to replace Welker’s 100 catches per year. Welker was Tom Brady‘s most reliable target for the previous five seasons and the wide receiver turnover in 2013 was worrisome. Amendola had missed 20 games in the previous two seasons and when fans smell someone who might be “injury prone” it’s hard for them to contain their groans.

Amendola instantly showed his clutch gene in his first game, the season opener in Buffalo that saw the Patriots down down 21-20 as they got the ball back for one more drive. Amendola would have four catches on the drive, including an acrobatic 10-yard catch on third-and-eight just outside of field goal range. The Pats kicked the field goal and won the game. But Amendola was injured in the game and would miss the next four weeks, giving the injury-haters plenty of fodder.

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Pats Posits: No Style Points On TNF

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It wasn’t surprising to wake up to a lot of people pissing and moaning about the style points from last night’s Thursday Night Football win by the Patriots. On an uber-short week, against an unfamiliar opponent on the road you’ll take a victory any way you can take it, especially after how apocalyptic the Patriots defense looked on Sunday.

Really, it was only the fourth quarter that anyone should have any problem with. At that point the Patriots went to sleep on both sides of the ball after actually being quite good for most of the previous three quarters. The defense gave up 214 yards while the offense only picked up 42 in the 4th. So yes, that’s something for the entire team to focus on, but let’s not throw out the rest of the night based on the final frame.

When the narrative for three miserable days was how the defense couldn’t stop a nose bleed and the offense would have to be over-relied on, things were certainly turned on their head last night.

The defense forced six punts, including five three-and-outs and two four-and-outs. It’s hard to ask much more from any defense, even more so one that was busting coverages left and right only a few days earlier. Plus, they had to overcome two Tom Brady turnovers, something none of us would’ve thought them capable of.

The offense continues to move the ball well in between the 20s, but sputtered when the game was on the line. They remain a work in progress despite exciting flashes from Cooks, Gillislee and Hogan, and a 2015 Dion Lewis sighting.

It wasn’t pretty at the end but there was plenty on both sides to build off of and I think it’s safe to say that rumors of this Patriots teams’ demise were once again premature. Here are a bunch of Posits on the third win of the season…

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