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Three GIFs That Defined Patriots Win over Bears

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Sometimes, like last week’s game against the Jets, the key plays come right at the very end of the game. Often is the case in divisional games.

But this week the game was defined in the first couple possessions, with the Pats coming out on fire on both sides of the ball, dictating to the Bears what kind of game this was going to be.

This is exactly what New England needed to do. It was one of my points of emphasis before the game, and even Brandon Browner said it was something the team talked about this week.

Here are the three plays that immediately defined the game.

First, we have the Pats facing a third-and-18 on the Bears first possession. Granted, there were some solid plays prior to this one, but third down has been the big problem for the Pats this year so getting off the field in this spot was a huge win.

The key to it is Dominique Easley, starting in place of Chandler Jones. Instead of just blindly rushing up field, Easley has the awareness to see Matt Forte trying to slip out to catch a screen pass. Easley is having none of that and blows the whole play up. Great start for the rookie and the defense.

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Next up we have the first two plays from scrimmage that the Pats ran. First comes a play that essentially told the Bears what they were in for – a whole lot of Brandon LaFell racking up YAC. Then comes a 19-yard run by Jonas Grey that put the Pats inside the red zone. Starting a game off with a big gain in the passing game, then one in the running game is hard to top. Two plays into the game and Bears are already on their heels, exactly as we hoped.

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Finally comes a third down stop on the Bears second possession. These are the stops the Pats have not been getting early in the year. They’d be in position to make this play, but would miss the tackle and allow the drive to keep going. Brandon Browner made a handful of plays that made a difference yesterday. If he can continue to make them on third down, we’ll finally see the kind of elite defense we expect.

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Previous Three GIFs:

New York Jets

@ Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals

Kansas City Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

@ Minnesota Vikings

@ Miami Dolphins

Pats Posits: A divisional win is a divisional win

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Going into last night’s game I didn’t really care much about style points, and there were certainly none to give out, at least on the defensive side of the ball.

Given the events of the past week –  two divisional games in five days, losing defensive and offensive leaders for the season, and missing two of the interior offensive lineman who had stabilized the protection –  add it all up and it was one of those games where all you really care about it getting a win and that’s what the Pats got.

Here are my Posits…

So much of the defensive problems were reminiscent of the Chiefs game, except instead of Chandler Jones losing contain every play it was Rob Ninkovich. So many of the runs seemed stopped in the backfield by the “wall” that Wilfork and Chris Jones had created, and as Ninkovich tried to crash down to finish the ball carrier it opened up the edge and allowed him to bounce outside for a big gain. 

These kind of things are fixable and really, it’s way out of character for Ninkovich to be playing like that. He will be better.

Overall the defense looks like they really need the 10 days to get healthy and regroup. But there are some things that will remain concerns, primarily Jamie Collins playing middle linebacker. It’s been clear this year, Collins is awesome on passing downs and in space. When asked to take on offensive linemen he doesn’t have the physicality to defeat them, instead needing to use his athleticism to slip around blocks. This is somewhat of flashback to Gary Guyton playing mike, a bad situation that culminated with the 2009 playoff loss. I don’t know what the answer is, there might not be one, but Collins is going to get run at a lot the rest of this year.

Chandler Jones came through with some big plays this game, including his sacks, as did Dont’a Hightower despite playing with a bulky knee brace. The long break is needed for Hightower to get back to form. He’ll really have to be the all-everything of the linebacking corps going forward this year. This is his defense now.

Interesting that Kyle Arrington only played one snap as Dennard move the slot. I’m not sure if Dennard is best there, but I really like his play of late despite some penalties and catches allowed. How the Pats use those two going forward will be something to watch.

As I tweeted last night, I wonder if the Pats still would’ve pursued Browner if they knew holding and illegal contact would be called like this now.

Patrick Chung continues to show up as the Robber safety and will be needed even more to help stop the run without Mayo. He was PFF’s top graded Patriot defender.

Third down defense was atrocious until the red zone. I don’t get it. The players change but the results since 2010 remain the same – the Pats are simply one of the worst teams in the NFL in getting off the field on third down. For going on five years in a row now.

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As for the offense, I thought it was a decent step forward for the offense. The protection was decent and Brady seemed to have a good sense of when Rex was bringing the house and when he was dropping the house.

Can’t get enough of these deep shots that Brady is taking now.

What a difference Brandon LaFell is making to this offense. This is the guy we’ve been missing in recent years. Not a deep threat, a big receiver who presents a different matchup problem that the Welker/Branch/Edelman/Amendola guy.

Not sure if Vereen will have the same workload as he did last night for the rest of the season, but he stepped up to the challenge of being the go-to guy last night. The Pats seemed to take extra steps to put him in good position. Vereen has a great chance to earn another contract from the Pats. If he plays like he did last night consistently, he’ll be a lock.

Jonas Grey showed enough hard-running to sell me on getting him more involved. The fact that he had more carries that Brandon Bolden shows you the Pats probably feel about Bolden the way that I do. He’s a fill-in back, not a feature guy.

Edelman has earned enough good will that he gets a pass for his drops last night. Let’s just hope it doesn’t become a habit. Without those drops, the Pats end it a lot earlier than they did.

Like just about everyone else, I’m not sure why the Pats keep rotating Marcus Cannon in. My best guess is that they’re trying to preserve everyone, but he’s a liability even when he gets in there for one snap. Solder has had a rough year, but I’d still much rather leave him in there all game.

Really, really worried they’re running Wifork into the ground again. Luckily Siliga and Walker look like capable interior replacements if anything happens to Big Vince. As a threesome they are formidable.

Really happy for Danny Amendola. He really provided a spark with his kickoff returns and then that carried over into two huge game-cliching/saving plays. Let’s hope he can keep it up. A fourth tough receiving target would take this offense to unstoppable territory.

Pats Posits: Offense’s start is carbon copy of 2013

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I was about to write some snap reactions last night, but maybe because I was sick or maybe because I just didn’t feel like writing about such an annoying game, I put it off until this morning.

So now everyone has an opinion and a lot of them are valid, while some are not – looking at you ‘the 3-4 doesn’t work’ guy. I really try to reserve judgement until after the first quarter of the season, so while we’re certainly close to that, I don’t want to be a chicken little just yet.

Let’s start with the positive – the defense. Was it perfect yesterday? Nope. Did Revis look like a guy we should back up the money truck for this offseason? Nope. Was there enough pass rush? Not even close. But is this still the most promising defense since the mid-2000s? Absolutely.

Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower are playing off the charts right now. Vince Wilfork hasn’t missed a beat. The run defense has solidified after looking non-existent in week one. They’re not giving up big plays. They’re tackling much better.

Things are trending upward and I think once we get Revis against the top wide receivers he’ll face in the coming weeks, we’ll have a better sense of his worth.

The Siliga injury hurts and puts more pressure on Wilfork, which we certainly don’t need. I thought Chris Jones looked pretty good playing just under half the defensive snaps. Easley is still coming along, but it’s clear the Pats drafted a designated pass rusher in the first round and I’m glad. It’s just a matter of time before he starts making impact plays, I really believe it.

Get Dennard and Browner back and then let’s see what this defense looks like, but again, I think they’re headed in the right direction.

Okay, let’s turn the page to everyone’s favorite topic today – the offense.

First, a little perspective – things are really not that different than what we saw last year. Check out the stats from 2013 vs. 2014. The area that stands out to me is the difference in yards-per-play, 4.54 in 2013, down to 4.27 this year. 

I think all the problems we’re seeing on offense start (but don’t necessarily end) with the offensive line. Do I still think they can pull it together? Yes. Do I think they had a good enough plan in place this offseason there? No.

One of the major themes of last offseason for me was improving the interior of the offensive line. I thought we were headed in the right direction with the selection of Bryan Stork and Jon Halapio. Then Halapio didn’t even make the practice squad and Mankins was sent packing.

What we’ve been left with is a line with four tackles and a swing interior guy playing center. And the guys who are actually playing the right positions -Solder and Vollmer – haven’t been the stalwart leaders we’ve needed.

By PFF’s count the Pats starting offensive line has given up 8 sacks, 10 QB hits and 20 QB hurries in three games. Yikes.

As the cliche goes, it all starts up front and the Pats have very little getting started up front. Their running game is pedestrian and that just sets up long yardage on second and third. 

Their drives are plodding, fighting for every inch and nothing has been easy. Still they keep fighting like they always do, and that is a testament to the kind of guys this team is loaded with.

The potential is there, but as Tom Brady himself pointed out this morning, Julian Edelman is the only guy on offense playing well.

Now it has looked dreadful to this point but can this group of OL get them back to at least where they were last year? I think so. But the question that is bugging serious Patriots fans right now is can this OL get to and win a Super Bowl? Because let’s face it, that’s what a team that has been to three-straight AFC championships has to do. I’m not so sure right now, but I’m not ready to issue a final verdict just yet.

I think there really should be a trickle-down effect on all the other issues once the offensive line starts building trust with Brady and the rest of the offense. The running game will ease the pass rush and lessen the number of third and longs, which by the way, there were 14 third-and-10-plus in 2013, and there have been 16 this year.

When under duress, it’s hard to fault Brady and the offensive system for sticking with Edelman and Gronk, though I found receptions by LaFell, Wright and Thompkins to be a bit encouraging.

The other problem, and as those who have read this blog for very long know, I’m not one to get on the “play calling” but I think it’s time for the Patriots to adjust to the fact that this isn’t 2011 anymore. 

I can’t say it enough – the hurry-up to a quick run no longer works. They need to focus on execution not speed. And starting the game with three-straight passes, all of which looked mistimed, was ugly.

The 2013 Patriots looked very similar on offense to what we’ve seen through three weeks this season and really, it was injuries that derailed that team just as they were starting to show what an explosive offense they were capable of being. I still have high expectations for this group, but the offensive line must be better.

Maybe that starts with shifting to Solder-Cannon-Stork-Conolly-Vollmer.

Once they fall into place, the rest of the offense will as well.

Patriots lose opener in Miami, fall to 0-1 for first time since 2003

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The Patriots dropped their season opener in Miami to the Dolphins, in a game that saw them take nine penalties for 100 yards and give up 200 yards on the ground.

The Pats looked good in the first half, with two sustained touchdown-scoring drives. But they never came out of the locker room in the second half. This drive chart shows how dead they were offensively.

It was fitting that there was a problem with a long snap that started the Pats’ problems. After cutting Danny Aiken last weekend, only to re-sign him Friday wasn’t the best thing for the player and it came back to cost them.

As expected there were a bunch of penalties and missed tackles, those can be cleaned up, but it was still disappointing to see the Patriots play so undisciplined. Miami figured it out and overcame the turnover problems they had in the first half. New England fell apart.

If Miami doesn’t have three giveaways in the first quarter is this game even close?

The run defense up the middle scared me coming into this one, and it looks like I was right to worry. Without Spikes and limited size/depth at defensive tackle, the Pats were gashed over and over in the second half. 

The concerns about the offensive line’s protection were valid and the whole offensive line looked overwhelmed in the second half. Rotating players didn’t seem to help.

Still, it’s just the first game of the season and things are never quite as bad as they may seem. The Pats have a tall task with Adrian Peterson next week though and they’ll have to fix their problems.

But take out the penalties and the missed tackles and there are the makings for a good defense, if only they can stop the run.

Offensively they were off their rhythm in this one for sure, but they’ll find it. They always do.

Exciting PatsPropaganda – NRG Energy Partnership Announcement!

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As some of you might’ve noticed, I will be focusing fully here on the blog this season and I’m excited to announce that PatsPropaganda has been lucky enough to be selected as an NRG-Patriots ambassador this season!

The good news for you my readers is that I’ll have a lot of great giveaways, including tickets to Patriots games and Patriots swag.

I am thrilled to have this chance to be able to give back to all my loyal readers!

This should make for a fantastic season and I’m excited to be partnering with a forward-thinking energy company like NRG. Danny Amendola will be the player rep involved in the partnership and after tearing it up in camp, it looks like he’s primed for a huge season. Hopefully we’ll be able to provide some content with Danny.

So spread the word and stay tuned in the coming weeks, and keep your eyes out for our first giveaway!