Offensive & Defensive snaps for 2010

[jmt57]

If anybody is interested, since we already have offensive and defensive stats, here are some special team stats too.

Slater leads way on special teams - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

WR Matthew Slater -- 21 tackles (15 solo, 6 assisted)
LB Tracy White -- 18 tackles (9 solo, 9 assisted)
CB Kyle Arrington -- 16 tackles (13 solo, 3 assisted)
CB Devin McCourty -- 12 tackles (11 solo, 1 assisted)
RB Sammy Morris -- 12 tackles (8 solo, 4 assisted)
OLB Rob Ninkovich -- 11 tackles (6 solo, 5 assisted)
LB Dane Fletcher -- 11 tackles (10 solo, 1 assisted)
RB Danny Woodhead -- 10 tackles (10 solo, 0 assisted)
S Patrick Chung -- 8 tackles (6 solo, 2 assisted)
S Jarrad Page -- 6 tackles (3 solo, 3 assisted)
S James Sanders -- 4 tackles (1 solo, 1 assisted)
S Sergio Brown -- 3 tackles (2 solo, 1 assisted)
RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis -- 3 tackles (2 solo, 1 assisted)
LB Gary Guyton -- 3 tackles (2 solo, 1 assisted)

 

[RayClay]

Re: Offensive snaps for 2010

Reiss now has the defensive snaps, and his analysis in the link below:

2010 Patriots defensive snap count - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

Based on who got the most snaps, I guess the Pats base defense is now a 1-5-5 rather than a 3-4. Of the six players on the field most often, they were all DBs with the exception of Jerod Mayo.

Thought Ninckovich and Warren played more.

Cunningham and Chung would have played more except for injuries IMO.

Meriweather brings a lot of athleticism, anyway. Interesting to see which way he goes attitude wise, I think he's at a crossroads. Almost glad he got that questionable pro bowl nod, he needs to learn to keep his head size under his hat size anyway.
---

Special teams...glad to see Slater producing there. I think a couple ST only players are enough. Page, Morris and others get little time, but can play when needed. I'll never forget our DB situation against Carolina (SB) when we lost Rodney and Wilson, it was damned scary.

Wish we had another CB, though.

 

[ATippett56]

Re: Offensive snaps for 2010

Wish we had another CB, though.

Two cornerbacks have been placed on injured reserve this year:

Bodden
Wilhite

Meanwhile, Wheatley was cut earlier this season.

 

[ATippett56]

Meriweather played the third most snaps, you say? Clearly he is a liability, and should be jettisoned with all deliberate speed.

Meriweather has been benched in two separate games this year. As for his playing time, the following summarizes the status of the Patriots safety position this year:

Josh Barrett - Injured Reserve
Bret Lockett - Injured Reserve
Brandon McGowan - Injured Reserve
Jarrod Page - missed 6 games
Patrick Chung - missed 2 games
James Sanders - missed 1 game

Personally, Patrick Chung should have been nominated to the Pro Bowl not Brandon Meriweather.

 

[JackBauer]

Meriweather has been benched in two separate games this year. As for his playing time, the following summarizes the status of the Patriots safety position this year:

Josh Barrett - Injured Reserve
Bret Lockett - Injured Reserve
Brandon McGowan - Injured Reserve
Jarrod Page - missed 6 games
Patrick Chung - missed 2 games
James Sanders - missed 1 game

Personally, Patrick Chung should have been nominated to the Pro Bowl not Brandon Meriweather.

1.) If you want to call Meriweather not getting the start a "benching," go right ahead. Unwittingly, though, you may have just underscored how that would make the number of snaps he played all the more impressive.

2.) So that would mean that, when all four of the top safeties were healthy, Meriweather wouldn't get the start. Right?

Look, I like Chung as much as anyone else, but for some reason he gets a free pass around here on his mistakes (e.g. allowing the same TD pass twice to Blair White) while Meriweather gets excoriated if his dreadlocks aren't conditioned thoroughly enough.

 

[ATippett56]

Look, I like Chung as much as anyone else, but for some reason he gets a free pass around here on his mistakes (e.g. allowing the same TD pass twice to Blair White) while Meriweather gets excoriated if his dreadlocks aren't conditioned thoroughly enough.

Patrick Chung was forced to play slot cornerback due to the Jonathan Wilhite injury and the Darius Butler benching. Meanwhile, Patrick Chung is only in his second season while Brandon Meriweather is in his fourth season. Brandon Meriweather was a first round draft pick while Patrick Chung was a second round draft pick. The expectations of a first round draft pick is higher than a second round draft pick.

 

[Sicilian]

Patrick Chung was forced to play slot cornerback due to the Jonathan Wilhite injury and the Darius Butler benching. Meanwhile, Patrick Chung is only in his second season while Brandon Meriweather is in his fourth season. Brandon Meriweather was a first round draft pick while Patrick Chung was a second round draft pick. The expectations of a first round draft pick is higher than a second round draft pick.

Chung was the 34th overall pick and Meriweather was what? 24th I think? The expectations are not THAT much greater just because he's technically a 1st round pick. If (fingers crossed) we win the Super Bowl this year, will you have greater expectations for our 32nd pick than for our 33rd pick? One's a 1st rounder after all.

 

[ATippett56]

Chung was the 34th overall pick and Meriweather was what? 24th I think? The expectations are not THAT much greater just because he's technically a 1st round pick. If (fingers crossed) we win the Super Bowl this year, will you have greater expectations for our 32nd pick than for our 33rd pick? One's a 1st rounder after all.

Second year player versus fourth year player. Doesn't two additional years in the Belichick system count for anything?

 

[JackBauer]

Patrick Chung was forced to play slot cornerback due to the Jonathan Wilhite injury and the Darius Butler benching. Meanwhile, Patrick Chung is only in his second season while Brandon Meriweather is in his fourth season. Brandon Meriweather was a first round draft pick while Patrick Chung was a second round draft pick. The expectations of a first round draft pick is higher than a second round draft pick.

Irrelevant. Even if Chung ends up the better player, as he very well may, that doesn't change my initial assertion that Meriweather is better than people around him give him credit for. Period.

 

[Sicilian]

Second year player versus fourth year player. Doesn't two additional years in the Belichick system count for anything?

Sure does. And I think Chung will be (and might already be) a better safety than Meriweather. But I fail to see how that makes Meriweather a bad player, simply because someone on his team might be better than him.

 

[JackBauer]

Sure does. And I think Chung will be (and might already be) a better safety than Meriweather. But I fail to see how that makes Meriweather a bad player, simply because someone on his team might be better than him.

Dunno about you, but it would be tremendously disappointing if Hernandez ends up being better than Gronkowski.

 

[Sicilian]

Dunno about you, but it would be tremendously disappointing if Hernandez ends up being better than Gronkowski.

Seriously. It would make Gronk obsolete... unless we could dream up some kind of crazy gimmick formation that involves two tight ends... nah, O'Brien could never be that creative.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Seriously. It would make Gronk obsolete... unless we could dream up some kind of crazy gimmick formation that involves two tight ends... nah, O'Brien could never be that creative.

And, I might add, as long as they're both Patriots, why the heck would it make a difference? FWIW, Hernandez's funky contract gives him the chance to earn what a third-rounder would make, so it seems clear that the Pats have pretty high hopes for him.

 

[jmt57]

Reiss has now tabulated the number of targets, percentage of passes caught, as well as his analysis on those numbers.

Targets: Woodhead leads way - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

Danny Woodhead -- 44 targets/34 catches (77.2 percent)
BenJarvus Green-Ellis -- 16 targets/12 catches (75.0 percent)
Taylor Price -- 4 targets/3 catches (75.0 percent)
Rob Gronkowski -- 59 targets/42 catches (71.1 percent)
Aaron Hernandez -- 64 targets/45 catches (70.3 percent)
Wes Welker -- 123 targets/86 catches (69.9 percent)
Fred Taylor -- 3 targets/2 catches (67.0 percent)
Deion Branch -- 74 targets/48 catches (64.8 percent)
Alge Crumpler -- 10 targets/6 catches (60.0 percent)
Kevin Faulk -- 10 targets/6 catches (60.0 percent)
Sammy Morris -- 12 targets/7 catches (58.3 percent)
Brandon Tate -- 46 targets/24 catches (54.3 percent)
Julian Edelman -- 14 targets/7 catches (50.0 percent)
Randy Moss -- 22 targets/9 catches (40.9 percent)
Matthew Slater -- 1 target/ 0 catches (0 percent)

 

[mgteich]

1) Hernandez is Brady's #3 target.
2) Brady used the tight ends and running backs a lot.
3) Welker is still Brady's favorite target, by far.
4) The #3, #4, #5 and #6 wide receivers are just not all that involved, being targets about four times a games (catching 2). That's fine with me. But we should understand that we have Tate, Edelman and Price all competing for their share of these 4 reps a game. Tate and Edelman earn their keep as returners. Price was essentially given a year to learn the system before anything is asked of him.
5) Everyone is signed for 2011 except for RFA Green-Ellis who will come back at pretty good RFA pay or a long-term contract. We have 100% stability. Our passing game will only get better as Price, Tate, Edelman, Gronkowski, and Hernandez develop.
6) The only question for the effectiveness of the 2011 passing game is whether Belichick will be able to bring back the blockers they have depended on: Light and Mankins.

Welker targeted 123 times 86 catches
tight ends targeted 133 times 93 catches
running backs targeted 85 times 61 catches
branch/moss targeted 96 times 57 catches
other wr's targeted 69 times 34 catches

Reiss has now tabulated the number of targets, percentage of passes caught, as well as his analysis on those numbers.

Targets: Woodhead leads way - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

 

[Ring 6]

1) Hernandez is Brady's #3 target.
2) Brady used the tight ends and running backs a lot.
3) Welker is still Brady's favorite target, by far.
4) The #3, #4, #5 and #6 wide receivers are just not all that involved, being targets about four times a games (catching 2). That's fine with me. But we should understand that we have Tate, Edelman and Price all competing for their share of these 4 reps a game. Tate and Edelman earn their keep as returners. Price was essentially given a year to learn the system before anything is asked of him.
5) Everyone is signed for 2011 except for RFA Green-Ellis who will come back at pretty good RFA pay or a long-term contract. We have 100% stability. Our passing game will only get better as Price, Tate, Edelman, Gronkowski, and Hernandez develop.
6) The only question for the effectiveness of the 2011 passing game is whether Belichick will be able to bring back the blockers they have depended on: Light and Mankins.

Welker targeted 123 times 86 catches
tight ends targeted 133 times 93 catches
running backs targeted 85 times 61 catches
branch/moss targeted 96 times 57 catches
other wr's targeted 69 times 34 catches

I think if you break it down between early season and late season you will find that Gronkowski has replaced Hernandez as the #3 option