dietrich wise

Five Most Intriguing 2018 Returning Patriots

February 14, 2018 by Mike Dussault

As we slowly start to turn the page to 2018, it’s hard not to get excited about the number of players the Patriots have already welcomed back to the roster off of IR. It was a banner year on the injury front which is always a terrible thing, but it can pay off down the line as young players get additional playing time and have a chance to develop at an accelerated pace.

With a number of significant free agent holes, that start at left tackle and running back, there are also quite a few positions where the Patriots suddenly have some impressive depth, and the number of intriguing players who will take the field this summer is already high before we’ve even touched a free agent or a rookie.

Here’s a quick list of the five guys I’m most interested to see re-integrated into the team this summer.

Three Plays That Defined Patriots Defense vs. Chargers

November 1, 2017 by Mike Dussault

After yesterday’s Garoppolo spookstravaganza on Patshow I’m moving back to some analysis of the players on the team who have actually played a down this season. I know the trade will continue to dominate the conversation for much of the next week and a half, but it’s time to refocus on the second half of the season.

The Patriots sit at 6-2, and while we can talk about their flaws, the reality is the sports betting odds are still very much in their favor to make a strong playoff run this post season.

I thought the defense did a solid job against the Chargers, although there were just a couple notable breakdowns with Melvin Gordon‘s 87-yard touchdown run leading the way. They continue to make strides and while they certainly have some weak links in certain situations, they’ve continually bounced back and made the key spots necessary to help the Patriots on their four-game win streak.

Here are three plays that defined the defensive effort against the Chargers.

Film Review: Pats vs. Falcons – Defense (Until it Got Too Foggy) Edition

October 25, 2017 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots defense turned in their best performance of the season against the Falcons, a total team effort where they were fundamentally sound from top to bottom. Things got a little too foggy to breakdown the entire game, but from a half-plus of review I got a pretty good sense of how well they played and how they were able to shutdown a Falcons offense that had shredded them for much of the Super Bowl.

Here’s what stood out…

— Van Noy continues to make really good progress and his development is a big reason why the defense is playing so much better, especially against the run. The 3rd-and-4 on the Falcons’ second possession was a perfect example as Van Noy splits a double team in space to make a solo tackle for a three yard loss on a toss sweep. It was an excellent play, a great example of the kind of things that weren’t happening earlier in the season.

— After converting the following fourth down via a Matt Ryan scramble the Falcons put together a nice little drive that ended with a Cassius Marsh blocked field goal. On the last third-and-10 the coverage was excellent. Ryan had nowhere to go and the pass rush flushed him out of the pocket. He thought about scrambling again, but McCourty peeled off his middle field help coverage to prevent it. Just an overall really solid team defense play in a key spot, the kind of stuff we haven’t really seen enough of.

— On Marsh’s block he again demonstrated a strength — getting skinny and getting through gaps to make plays. It’s shown up a few times on defensive plays and now it set up what might’ve been a season-changing special teams play. After this the Patriots just played with even more confidence.

Film Review: Pats vs. Jets Defense Edition

October 18, 2017 by Mike Dussault

One of my favorite parts of the week is when I get to sit down and watch the All-22 of the Patriots defense. It’s a soundless, emotionless journey into football land. I know the result, I know the post-mortem talking points and I can just sit back and take it all in for what it actually was.

After watching the Pats’ defensive performance against the Jets I feel actually better than I’ve felt all season long about the unit. Of course it was not perfect, but it was starting to look and feel like the usual Patriots defense. You know what that means… Bend Don’t Break.

Still cliches aside, the progress was really keyed by an excellent performance against the run, led by Malcom Brown and aided by a resurgent Alan Branch. When those two players are on, the Pats are dominating the line of scrimmage and that has a positive trickle down effect on the rest of the defense.

Yes, there were still plenty of mistakes, often by the rookies and new guys, but what we saw was that the defense could forget the last plays, the last drives and refocus on the current drive.

All in all I do think things are headed in the right direction. You need to look no further than the run defense jumping from 27th to 23rd in DVOA. There’s still a ways to go, but I do believe the defense should be primed to play well against the Falcons, who will surely have all their attention this week.

Here’s what else stood out from the film review.

Film Review: Three Terrible Third Downs From the First Drive

October 17, 2017 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots defense was supposed to have turned a corner after winning in Tampa Bay. Instead they came out ten days later and had one hell of an ugly drive to start the game against the Jets. Yes, they partially righted the ship and came through on the final drive so it wasn’t as bad as we’ve seen this season, but it’s hard to play much worse on third down than they did on that opening drive.

With any more drives like this one the Patriots betting odds for the next game will drop like a rock facing last year’s MVP Matt Ryan. Third down is where games are won or lost and in this contest, especially out of the gate, the Patriots were out of sync and overthinking.

Let’s take a look at three of the third down conversions on that opening drive and try to figure out what was going on out there.

Pats Posits: The Luxury of a Maddening Victory

October 16, 2017 by Mike Dussault

Doesn’t it feel like this is the year that NFL parity finally kicked in? Yes, the Patriots are 4-2 and we think we have plenty to complain about, but when you look around the league it’s hard to make any sense of it all. There were conference-altering injuries like Aaron Rodgers breaking his collarbone. There was the final undefeated team falling. And there was yet another week where some teams are up, some teams are down and no one knows who’s really good or bad.

Simply put, ironing out firm Super Bowl favorites at this point is near impossible. Every team has flaws and no one is safe from huge injuries. So before you jump off the bridge about the Patriots’ defense, just take a deep breath and realize that despite their flaws, there aren’t any flawless teams and well, we still have Tom Brady. You know, the winningest quarterback of all time in all regards now.

I still give the Pats a puncher’s chance against anyone, especially this year and that counts for a lot.

Here are the Posits on what was once again a maddening victory, which are quickly becoming the hallmark of the 2017 Pats.

Film Review: Patriots vs. Saints Defense Edition

September 20, 2017 by Mike Dussault

This morning I took a look at the overall defensive performance via the coaches film for the Patriots defense vs. the Saints after yesterday breaking down two specific plays that really allowed the offense to pull away at the end of the first half.

Overall I think this was a vastly improved performance by the Patriots defense. They mixed and matched coverages as well how many rushers they sent after the quarterback and the gameplan was pretty effective. If you can hold Drew Brees to 13 points through three quarters, you’re doing something right.

There were a few big plays again, but as I said in the gameplan, this isn’t the week to panic about those. Yes, the opener against the Chiefs was bad, but big plays via Drew Brees is something you just kind of have to live with. The biggest difference? Not giving up long scores. The big plays hurt, but they weren’t fatal. That’s the bend don’t break.

Here’s a bunch of rapid fire thoughts on the film review…

(photo via NFL Gamepass)