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Patriots Film Review: Defense vs. Broncos Edition

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The Patriots’ defense has finally settled in and is back to playing their good old bend-don’t-break style of defense. This isn’t the ’85 Bears, but they’re doing what well-coached defenses do — playing within the system, limiting big plays and getting stops in the red zone. As maddening as it can be to watch, we should all know by now that it’s a winning formula.

Despite their improvements I still have my concerns about the defense. The last two games have pretty much unfolded perfectly for them so I can’t get too high on them at this point, but improvement is improvement and there’s no question the product on the field has looked far superior to what we were seeing early in the season.

The truth is against the Broncos the defense turned in one red zone stop and they were already up 14-3. That’s the context of this game, which is important.

So yes, it’s okay to feel better about the defense, but there’s still a ways to go and some good offenses to stop.

Here’s what stood out in reviewing the All-22 game film.

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Patriots Mid-Season Awards

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The Patriots play five of their next six games on the road before finishing the season with back-to-back home games. It will be a difficult stretch that defines the 2017 Patriots and either reinforces or changes everything we think we’ve come to know about this team.

There’s no question, the 2017 Pats were hit hard by injuries and departures and got off to one of their slowest starts in years. Of course, we’re all well aware by now that it’s not the start that matters but the finish.

But by now the half season has played out in a way slightly different than we’ve come to expect. All teams are unique, but the 2017 Pats version is in many ways a new variation. The deep passing game is suddenly a viable weapon. There are four running backs who can do it all. And then there’s the defense, with many new faces up front leading the way, while the expensive veteran secondary looked lost and uncoordinated through much of the first eight games.

Let’s break the first half of the season down in everyone’s favorite way — handing out awards!

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Pats Posits: 6-2 at the halfway break

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The Patriots had a strong team win over the Chargers on Sunday. It wasn’t perfect but it was enough to get them to 6-2 as they hit the halfway bye week. The glaring problems and untimely struggles are slowly being eliminated. There’s still work to be done, but the stage for a strong second half is set, if the Pats can just stop losing key players to injury.

The offense moved the ball but stumbled in the red zone, making the game closer than it seemed. The Pats held the ball for 37 minutes on seven drives that lasted seven or more plays but had just one touchdown in four trips inside the Chargers’ 20. They make it look easy sometimes, especially when Dion Lewis is twisting and surging through would-be tacklers, but they’ve needed to rely too much on Stephen Gostkowski who hit four of six field goal attempts. Yes, those misses hurt and it will be a long two weeks for Gost, but SIX FG attempts shouldn’t happen! The offense needs to find their finish.

Aside from a huge blown run defense that allowed an 87-yard touchdown run by Melvin Gordon and a three-play touchdown drive aided by a 30-yard Johnson Bademosi PI penalty, the overall defense was mostly solid.  They forced three punts and grabbed the game-sealing interception in the second half, preserving what was at one point just a five-point game. This is definitely a far cry from the worst defense in football. They’re solidified the last few weeks and should get a few players back who can help make them even better.

The quietest storyline will be how, aside from Gostkowski’s misses, the special teams units were a huge part of the victory. These kinds of hidden points and yardage really add up to a lot in a close game against a good opponent. Belichick is almost too obsessed with special teams players, but there are games like this one every year where they play a huge role in a needed win.

More on it all in the Posits.

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Patriots Pregame Meal: Surprise Absences Throw Late Twist

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After what felt like two weeks off the Patriots are back to take on the Jets today. I gotta admit it, I miss Rex Ryan still, he made the season so much more interesting and his defenses usually gave Brady and the offense some trouble. I guess I won’t miss those parts, we’ll see what the young Jets can do today. I expect they’ll play with their hair on fire with nothing to lose, which might make it interesting early, but I expect the Pats to pull away in the second half.

Certainly hurts that they’ll be without Bilal Powell, who was the one multi-threat weapon that I thought could really get the Pats on their heels. Josh McCown might play up to Bill Belichick’s lofty expectations but ultimately this is a traditional offense and those haven’t really seemed to be a problem for the Patriots defense.

Yesterday was a crazy day of Patriots news, with Harvey Langi getting into a car accident and Stephon Gilmore mysteriously turning up with a concussion. Obviously I hope Langi and his wife are okay, I drive by the area where his accident happened all the time and it’s scary to imagine getting plowed into like that. On a football level it would seem like Langi season could very well be over which isn’t exactly a devastating blow for the team but it’s just another injury that thins depth, hurts a promising player’s development and is yet another linebacker down.

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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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Film Review: Patriots vs. Panthers Defense Edition

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Alright, let’s just get this over with. I’ve seen enough breakdowns already all over the internet of just how terrible the Patriots defense was, but as always, taking a closer look at the All-22 film always reveals more than met the eye during the live broadcast watch.

As I pounded home on Patshow yesterday it’s really hard to know what the real problems on this defense are because blown coverages just make it so easy for the offense. People always look to the pass rush first and foremost but it’s hard to truly evaluate the front when receivers are running free through the secondary. Still, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the betting odds for the Patriots games are not looking good and deservedly so.

Here’s what stood out on the film review as we try to get this one in the rearview mirror as quickly as possible. Yay Thursday night football for once.

Via NFL Gamepass

 

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A Closer Look at Patriots’ Secondary Communication Breakdowns

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Despite the offseason speculation about the possibility of the elusive undefeated season, your 2017 New England Patriots currently sit at 2-2 after Graham Gano sent a 48-yard field goal through the uprights as time expired to give the Carolina Panthers the win last Sunday.

After the offseason addition of Stephon Gilmore, the Patriots defense was heralded by many as even better than the 2016 unit that led the NFL in points per game allowed. Despite this, the 2017 iteration of the Patriots defense is ranked dead last in the NFL in points per game, giving up 34 points on average, 18.4 more points allowed than their 2016 predecessors. They also rank last in the NFL in total yards allowed (1585) and passing yards allowed (1296), and have given up the most points through four games (128) in team history.

On Sunday, the Patriots allowed the Panthers offense, ranked 29th coming into Week 4, to put up 444 yards, which is worrisome enough, but the worst part of that stat is that it actually improved their season average, which now rests at 456.8 yards per game, also last in the league.

The silver lining to the Patriots defensive issues is that the majority of the breakdowns appear to rooted in communication issues in the secondary, with the primary culprit being the aforementioned Stephon Gilmore, who signed a five-year, 65 million dollar deal with the Patriots just months ago, 40 million of which was guaranteed.

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