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Patriots-Jets Frenemy FanEnergy Ticket Giveaway Finalists!!

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Thank you to the numerous Patriots/Jets fans who have entered our “Frenemy” Ticket Giveaway, courtesy of NRG. There were some hard choices but below please find my favorite three that have been selected as finalists. Pick your favorite and vote below to send a lucky winner to the game this weekend! Voting will close Wednesday at 8pm EST, at which time the winner will be notified.

Who has the best Patriots-Jets Frenemy FanEnergy??

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.

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In case you missed it, I’m giving away tickets to this weekend’s Pats-Jets game to two fan Frenemies!! Details are here, deadline for entry is 8pm EST tonight!!

https://www.patspropaganda.com/in-case-you-missed-it-im-giving-away-tickets-to/

Patriots-Jets Frenemy Ticket Giveaway!!

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Very excited to have a couple tickets to give away to this weekend’s game between the Patriots and Jets, courtesy of NRG! Now we’ve done plenty of ticket giveaways before but this one is a little different because it’s for a Patriots fan AND a Jets fan! 

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Yes, what we’re looking for are a fan from each team who are friends and want to go together, aka Pats-Jets Frenemies! So what we need is a picture of you and your friend in Pats and Jets swag showing your #FanEnergy!

Rules:

1. Tweet a picture of you and your friend in your respective Patriots/Jets gear! The more the fun the better!! You love football, you just root for different teams!!

2. Make sure to tag me, @PatsPropaganda and use the hashtags #FanEnergy & #Patriots.

3. Finalists will be picked Tuesday at 8pm EST, at which time voting will open on PatsPropaganda.com to pick the winners.

4. Winners will be announced Wednesday at 8pm EST.

And this is just phase one of our Frenemy FanEnergy giveaway as two lucky Pats-Jets Frenemies at this weekend’s game are going to win tickets to the rematch in New York in December!! Details to come on that one.

Good luck to all the Pats-Jets fans out there!!

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.