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matthew slater

Patriots Film Review: Four Bad Plays

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As I wrote in my Posits, 28 of Kansas City’s second-half points came directly as a result of four bad Patriots plays. Overall, the Patriots did a pretty solid job for most of the night containing what is one of the best offenses in the NFL. An offense that on paper looked like it should have its way with a defense that has had second-level athleticism problems for a couple seasons now.

But overall the Patriots overcame those shortcomings with great downfield coverage and consistent disruption that muddied Patrick Mahomes‘ reads and threw his timing off. Having done these film reviews for going on five years now, I’ve had a close eye on the defense and this week’s film review only reinforced for me that I just like this defense a lot better than any of the recent editions.

I don’t want to put all the blame on Matt Patricia but things just simply look more coordinated between the front and bad. The pressure is better without heavy blitzing and the secondary seems almost always in sync. Maybe they’re just thinking less and executing faster? It looks that way to me, especially in these last three games despite some problem plays.

That said, and I hate to focus on the negative, but here’s a look at those four plays — two defensive, one offensive and one special teams that marred the Patriots victory and ultimately made it a last possession game when it didn’t even really have to be. Not to say the Pats were that much clearly better than the Chiefs, but these were the anomalies to near-perfect gameplan execution.

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Matthew Slater Signs Two-Year Deal with Pats

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Patriots fans can breathe a sigh of relief as Matthew Slater has re-signed with the team after a brief flirtation with the Steelers. The core special teamer and team leader has become the heart and soul of the Patriots locker room, most often leading the Patriots post-game cheer that was started by Tedy Bruschi over a decade ago.

Many of us wondered if the signing of Cordarrelle Patterson, a core special teamer and gunner himself, signaled an end to the Slater era, but alas the Patriots will now have two lightning fast players on the punt team who can get downfield and snuff out any potential punt returns.

The return of Slater also bodes well for a Patriots team looking for somewhat of a locker room reset after a season filled with more off-field drama than usual.

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5 Most Interesting Pending Patriots Free Agents

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I like to blog like Bill Belichick would, by focusing only on the immediate obstacle in front of the Patriots, but since we’re coming off a bye week I’m going to break with Bill a bit here and take a look at some pending free agents.

The offseason is always a fascinating slow burn, and like most years, the Patriots have a number of key players who are scheduled to hit free agency. Their departures could open significant holes on the roster. Or re-signing them could signal the direction the team plans to take in 2018 and beyond.

It’s also worth pointing out these players now because a strong second half of the season would significantly upgrade the contracts they can receive this spring.

Here are the five more interesting players/positions to me…

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Gosselin: How Bill Belichick gives the Patriots an edge over every other NFL team at draft time | SportsDay

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If you’re grading drafts, there are lots of As and Bs to hand out after the first three rounds. But it’s what teams do in Rounds 4-7 that can make a good draft great.And no one knows the draft board — the entire draft board — like Patriots coach Bill Belichick. There are no throwaway picks when the Patriots are on the clock. New England has become the NFL’s dominant team because the Patriots own the back end of the draft.

Source: Dallas Cowboys: How Bill Belichick gives the Patriots an edge over every other NFL team at draft time | SportsDay

Gosselin is one of the most respected football writers out there, so obviously, as you can see above, he gets it. As much as the draft and all the amateur draftniks out there annoy me, there’s a special place in my heart for those who still try to tell me “Belichick can’t draft” or “Belichick the GM doesn’t help Belichick the coach”.

This assumes that somewhere out there there’s someone who CAN draft. Someone who hits on every pick. Someone who would never draft Ras-I Dowling 33rd overall. Okay, maybe that one has a point.

But the draft is really just an elaborate lottery. Even the guys making the picks don’t know for sure how any selection will truly work out. You see their body of  work in college, their timed measurables, you’ve talked to them, maybe even brought them into the facility and shown them around, but when training camp rolls around no one knows for sure how the player will respond.

How will he handle not being the most talented player on the field anymore? How will he handle having a fat bank account? How will he handle not getting the playing time he wants? How will he pick up the playbook? Will his career just be injury after injury?

NOBODY KNOWS. It’s impossible to know. So for every seven-round mock draft out there by some random dude in the proverbial Mom’s basement, there’s guys like Mel Kiper who might be just as wrong.

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M…V… P…

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I’m happy to help the young guys if they have questions for me. We’re all in this together,” Slater said. “We all have the same goal. Like I said, I still feel like a kid who’s out there in recess, playing football and having a blast. I still have a lot of joy. I’m just so happy to represent this team and play with the teammates I have.

Good read from Mark Daniels. As I’ve said before, as long as Matthew Slater never returns another kick, and I’d prefer to never see him lining up at wide receiver as well, he’s one of the key cogs of the current Patriots. The 2000s featured special team aces like Larry Izzo and Matt Chatham. Now Slater carries that torch. Not bad for a guy who didn’t have a position in college and who Belichick got roasted for drafting.

Through grit, Patriots team captain Slater became a special player | Sports – Pro, College & High School coverage | Providence Journal

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4. New England Patriots
Stephen Gostkowski booted 65.7 percent of his kickoffs for touchbacks last year, the fourth-highest percentage in the league. Those that got returned were taken just 20.8 yards, tied for the sixth-lowest figure in the league. Gostkowski also went 5-of-6 from 50-plus yards, but the Patriots don’t want to ask him to kick as many 50-yard field goals. They want him kicking off deep, after extra points.

Coverage is the name of the game for the Patriots special teams. Opponents averaged just 7.6 yards per punt return, with a long return of just 23 yards. Longtime gunner Mathew Slater (29 solo tackles in the last three years) stays on the roster despite wide receiver emergencies specifically to keep the coverage teams strong. Nate Ebner and Chris White have joined him as professionals on the kick units.

Julian Edelman is a reliable punt returner with some big-play ability. He had a quick trigger on the fair-catch button last year, but that will happen when you are also the leading receiver. The Patriots were docked a few slots for not having a kickoff returner at the moment. Slater is listed atop the depth chart, but he has not practiced much in the offseason. Reggie Dunn fielded kicks during minicamps but was recently waived. There are lots of other candidates (rookie James White returned some kicks at Wisconsin and looks the part, Devin McCourty handled the chores in the past, Josh Boyce returned a few last year, there are scads of undrafted skill-position rookies) but until the Patriots sort things out, they must settle for fourth place.

Ranking the NFL’s best and worst special teams. | SportsonEarth.com : Mike Tanier Article

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