When Brady practices, Patriots are perfect

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After speaking with Brady the night before the game, I sensed playtime was over. Brady explained to me how his assortment of injuries had not allowed him to fully participate in practice during the previous weeks, when the Patriots managed to win only two of their four games. Brady explained how their offensive system would only carry over 15 to 20 core plays into each game, but there would be 35 to 40 new plays to learn each week. He went on to explain how, for a quarterback, it’s vital to run new plays repeatedly in practice during the week. Instead, over the last four weeks, Brady had been running many of these new plays for the first time in games without the benefit of practice.

On Saturday night he assured me he had a great week of practice and that the Patriots’ offensive point production was close to improving without taking drastic measures.

“All we need to do to convert a few more third downs and points will come,” said Brady.

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excellent article, thanks for the heads up

When I watched the game earlier today (missed it Sunday) they were talking about this, found it to be quite interesting but you know what they say practice makes perfect

PatsChamp88 said:

When I watched the game earlier today (missed it Sunday) they were talking about this, found it to be quite interesting but you know what they say practice makes perfect

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Thats what she said.

That's a great article .

I especially like the last few sentences

PatsChamp88 said:

When I watched the game earlier today (missed it Sunday) they were talking about this, found it to be quite interesting but you know what they say practice makes perfect

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Interestingly they also said they did extra tackling practice this past week. If that's the case, I think they should consider doing that every week, because that's the best ball pursuit I've seen from them all year.

It's also worth noting that despite our seemingly mediocre season, we are second in the league in point differential.

Was practice curtailed for Super Bowl 42 because of Brady's high ankle sprain?

BelichickFan said:

It's also worth noting that despite our seemingly mediocre season, we are second in the league in point differential.

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And our strength of schedule has been what so far? .522? Pretty respectable if you ask me.

practice? we talking about practice!?

Seriously though, it's just another reason why the offense wasn't performing too great last month. And not because Moss was a quitting dog-faker, Brady lost his ways and refuses to do anything except lock onto Moss/Welker, or O'brien is the most incompetent play caller in the universe.

Hopefully we can get by this last game without any injuries, and then we look to have some pretty good health going into the playoffs. Which means more of these all important good complete practices. I am really excited for the playoffs!

I'd imagine that mockery against the Titans is the reason why you're second in point differential.

Mista Kool said:

I'd imagine that mockery against the Titans is the reason why you're second in point differential.

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every team with big point differential kicks but a few times a year.......the bucs game, the texans game, the 2nd jets games......there's a few big wins

This may also explain the predictability of the offensive game plan where they weren't making too many adjustments.

SoCal Pmen said:

This may also explain the predictability of the offensive game plan where they weren't making too many adjustments.

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Bingo!!!

Pats are good at pre-game planing (new plays, game plans)... but (seem to) have little success at in-game adjustments. This is why Pats are usually fast out of gate; but yet from time to time are shut down in 3rd/4th qtrs (or entire 2nd half, as in Jets, Broncos, Saints games). Better coached opponents can make adjustments that countered our game plan; but our weak in-game coaching left us toasted a few times.

Pre-game planning is usually decided by Head Coach, this is our strong suit. Good coordinators make good in-game adjustements (play calling variations, formation changes); this is where we lack.

Maybe we could take a page from Colts; basically they run the same plays; but it's the variation in play calling that makes it click. This way players don't have to learn the new plays every week. The learning curve and unfamilarity with new plays need to be factored in (I hope). I know that, on defense side after we simplified things, players start to perform much better. They should do the same on offense. Just improve play calling. Don't burden players with too much new information. The learning curve can be a real problem.

That been said, you need good coordinators to make in-game adjustments work on consistent bases. I don't think we have real coordinators. That's why Indy values its aging coordinators so much.

Mista Kool said:

I'd imagine that mockery against the Titans is the reason why you're second in point differential.

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Funny, because a lot of other teams (including the Colts twice) got to play that same Titans team. Can't discount the game simply because we beat them MORE than other teams beat them. And that's not even considering that the Titans ran off five straight wins after that.