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An analysis of Markus Wheaton of Oregon State at the Senior Bowl:
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Markus Wheaton: Wheaton had initial trouble getting on top of the defender with his first two reps in the cone drill. He also was a little rough through his breaks on an out-and-up, but earned separation with his speed up the boundary. Unlike several of the receivers on either squad, Wheaton has a knack for getting position on a defender after his break. He made a nice catch on a slant, got strong position on a hook after his break, and for the second time in two days, displayed good technique on a deep fade where he caught the ball over his shoulder at the boundary. On five-on-sevens, Wheaton engaged in some trash talking with Washington corner Desmond Trufant, who asked the coaches to allow him to cut in line and take on the receiver. Wheaton promptly spanked Trufant on a deep streak up the right sideline with a nice move early in the route to slide outside and then buy position. Mike Glennon made the deep throw, hitting Wheaton in stride.
We've apparently shown previous interest in him, he's a team captain, looks good value as a 2nd round pick, beat Deanthony Thomas in a 100m sprint, had over 1,000 yards and 90 catches last season and when you watch him interviewed, he's both articulate and humble. Would have no problem buying in to the Patriot-way.
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If you read Bedard's column today, his conclusion was that the offense suffered not from a lack of a deep threat, but a lack of a Gronk. Both the passing game AND the running game suffered from the lack of Gronk.
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On offense, we heard all season about how the Patriots were going to be better because they were more committed to the run, and would be able to run when it was needed late in the season. Against the weaker, less physical teams in the regular season? Sure.
When it counted, the Patriots failed big-time. For the first time all season, the Patriots didn’t record a single explosive run of more than 10 yards. They had averaged 3.4 in the previous 17 games.
What made it even worse is that Baltimore absolutely dared the Patriots to run, and they couldn’t and wouldn’t. The Ravens played just three snaps of base defense, and their nickel (five defensive backs) the rest of the time. This is when the Patriots were supposed to punish the opponent for doing that. They ran 22 times against the Ravens’ nickel and averaged 3.6 yards per carry. That’s fairly pathetic.
So that means the Ravens could take care of the run while in their preferred pass defense. Tom Brady might as well have had one hand tied behind his back.
A team has to make an opponent respect the run. The Patriots never did. The big reason? The subpar run blocking from their three tight ends: Aaron Hernandez, Michael Hoomanawanui, and, to a lesser extent, Daniel Fells (who held his own). Hernandez and Hoomanawanui took turns getting rag-dolled up front.
Boy, did the Patriots miss their ultimate physical offensive weapon, tight end Rob Gronkowski, in the most physical game of the season. In the games before Gronkowski got hurt, the Patriots averaged 4.1 explosive runs per game. After: 2.1.
Gronk is just as effective as most deep threats to stop the better defenses in the league from shutting down this offense (probably more so because he is a complete TE and a huge force in the running game). What the Pats need is a difference maker on offense, not specifically a deep threat. They have that in Gronk. They just need to keep him healthy.
If you read Bedard's column today, his conclusion was that the offense suffered not from a lack of a deep threat, but a lack of a Gronk. Both the passing game AND the running game suffered from the lack of Gronk.
Gronk is just as effective as most deep threats to stop the better defenses in the league from shutting down this offense (probably more so because he is a complete TE and a huge force in the running game). What the Pats need is a difference maker on offense, not specifically a deep threat. They have that in Gronk. They just need to keep him healthy.
Hopefully Ballard is a superior blocker. Looks like we were all delusionally high on Hooman.
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The Patriots have been overachievers the past two years. It doesn't have the talent to compensate for injuries, and it wins so much because it puts in 99% effort in the regular season and plays with terrific schemes to mask its deficiencies.
But in the playoffs a good team at 99% will not beat emotional, talented teams that play at 100%. It's what happened against the Giants in 2011 and the Ravens in 2012.
Probably already been said (I can't read 16 pages of posts - read a few though), but losing Gronk hurts big time in a game like this. We never had a fully-healthy Gronk this season. Hopefully, that changes next season. We need him healthy as badly as we need Brady healthy. We missed his blocking big time, maybe even more than I thought we would. I still think we need another piece. Lloyd works for what he does. Welker needs to play a supporting role - not a leading one (if he re-signs for a decent deal - I would not break the bank the bank on the guy). I read somewhere on this board about Bowe coming here. That would be cool - but he will be expensive - and no way get him and keep WW.
The offense and personnel was built around the two TE package. So yes without Gronk, they become limited. And the reality is, without the TE that the whole offense is built around, NE must deploy your traditional NFL offense with WRs that can layer the secondary. Unfortunately, BB failed at fielding a descent Plan B of WR options. Welker as deep threat? Lloyds lack of play making skills with the ball. AHerns lack of speed. Then factor in the teams refusal to use the remaining TEs in the passing game. Just the wrong package of players for the traditional 3 WR,1 TE, 1 RB package.
Problem can be solved this off season with 1 signing/draft pick....get a down field threat which would give NE two properly constructed offensive packages, not the one they have now (with Gronk)
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Re: Where Is The Pats Deep Threat At????
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Originally Posted by Rob0729
If you read Bedard's column today, his conclusion was that the offense suffered not from a lack of a deep threat, but a lack of a Gronk. Both the passing game AND the running game suffered from the lack of Gronk.
Gronk is just as effective as most deep threats to stop the better defenses in the league from shutting down this offense (probably more so because he is a complete TE and a huge force in the running game). What the Pats need is a difference maker on offense, not specifically a deep threat. They have that in Gronk. They just need to keep him healthy.
All the more need for a deep threat then, no? :coffee:
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All the more need for a deep threat then, no? :coffee:
Not really. All the need for Gronk to stay healthy. When this team was built around Moss, the same issues would have occurred if Moss went down.
This team could use another receiving weapon or two, but necessarily a deep threat. As Bedard pointed out, Branch was on the field too much and the Ravens didn't care about him allowing them to tee off on Welker, Hernandez, and/or Lloyd. A blocking TE could have helped too.
You don't think the passing game requires too many things to go right in order to succeed? The offense looks harder than any other offense in the league. It's strange to see brady with no pressure on him unable to find anyone open.
Or maybe teams have caught up to the patriots short passing game.
No they haven't. Brady, only completing one true "deep" ball (on that long pass play to Welker where he caught it about 25 yards downfield), still threw for 320 yards against a quality defense that did everything they possibly could to deny the Pats the short-mid range pass game.
It is normal for the Pats to perform a little bit worse against good defenses than they do against lesser defenses. It's normal for *every* team to perform a little bit worse against good defenses. That's, um, why they're good defenses.
No they haven't. Brady, only completing one true "deep" ball (on that long pass play to Welker where he caught it about 25 yards downfield), still threw for 320 yards against a quality defense that did everything they possibly could to deny the Pats the short-mid range pass game.
It is normal for the Pats to perform a little bit worse against good defenses than they do against lesser defenses. It's normal for *every* team to perform a little bit worse against good defenses. That's, um, why they're good defenses.
They scored 13 points relying on the pass. Is that good enough?
They tried ZERO play actions on 15 3rd downs attempts.
They went to the shot gun on 14 of 15 3rd down attempts.
Zero catches by a traditional TE. And lets be honest, without Gronk, AHern is a traditional WR
Welker is the NE deep threat
Lloyd has zero play making skills after the catch
The 320 passing yards accumulated was between the 20s and then the Baltimore defense squeezed them effectively.
NE conceded they lost the LOS battle forcing them to shot gun a disproprtionate number of plays eliminating play action and any ability to fool the LBs. NE had no over the top potential, the sideline completions resulted in self tackling. The NE offense tried to live in the middle of the field yet didn't deploy TEs into patterns, RBs into the flats.
Yes, execution was poor, but lets not understate the fact that Baltimore owned the LOS forcing NE to become one dimensional on third down. Lousy coaching, failure to understand their own tendencies (hot gun shot gun shot gun), and inadequate personnel for the offense they had to run. Listen, I love the Welkers and Hernandez's and what they bring to the offense, but asking welker to be the only NE deep threat or Hernandez to be a traditional WR is asking them to be more than they are. Lloyd......he's a third down move the chains guy but doesn't deserve to be a 3 down WR, not with his lack of play making skills with the ball.
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Re: Where Is The Pats Deep Threat At????
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