Will the offense be better in 2014?

varjao said:

ok keep reading the numbers only, I'll keep looking context.

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Ok I'll add some context, the Patriots lost their top 5 receiving weapons before the season, had all rookie wide receivers and still finished top 3 in points.

Triumph said:

21 points came via the defense

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Pretty sure most to all teams have at least three non offensive touchdowns last year so this is irrelevant.

and approximately 100 points were scored on 2 sorry teams in Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

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Examples of sorry defenses would be the Bears, Vikings,Raiders, Falcons etc.
Both the Ravens and Steelers are way better than those teams. Try again.

The Elite NE offense was 2 - 2 vs 2013 post season teams narrowly beating Denver and New Orleans, but losing to Cincinnati and Carolina.

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We're talking about offense here, so records are irrelevant to the conversation considering those are team accomplishments.

PatsWickedPissah said:

Here's my problem with this offense. Yes, the opening cast look to be improved, mostly via experience and health (before contact begins). But we are still fragile at the all important game changing TE spot. I don't expect a Gronk near-equivalent but the drop off to Hooperson is vast, too vast for the rest of the offense to compensate enough to be deep playoff winning calibre w/o His Gronkness. When we had The Prisoner we had some threat from that position. Now we have none except for maybe one surprise play per game.

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I disagree. Certainly I would like the Gronk AHern tandem we had in 2011. But it won't happen.

Yet it is not too difficult to better the 2012 situation at TE. La Fell is smaller than Ahern, but he is used to running the 'F' TE plays with Carolina, that Ahern did here. Keller may yet be signed, post June 1. Gronk might actually play a majority of the games. He did 3 years out of 4.

Unlike Ahern, LaFell also ran many 'X' Split End plays, so he could be used in a disguise than Ahern couldn't.

Keller was perhaps a better 'F' TE than APerp. If he signed, he could be again.

Oline will be better, receivers will be better, tight ends may or may not be better. I vote yes.

I say...yes it will. Top 5 again

glm said:

Ok I'll add some context, the Patriots lost their top 5 receiving weapons before the season, had all rookie wide receivers and still finished top 3 in points.

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That's what I'm talking about. I'm not looking points or any other stat.

If not for Brady we would have had a hard time.

Brady is elite, the whole offense no, the stats don't give the full picture.

glm said:

Pretty sure most to all teams have at least three non offensive touchdowns last year so this is irrelevant.

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This thread is about offense.

So FAIL.

glm said:

Examples of sorry defenses would be the Bears, Vikings,Raiders, Falcons etc.
Both the Ravens and Steelers are way better than those teams. Try again.

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Both Pitt and Balt went 8 - 8 and missed the post season.

glm said:

We're talking about offense here, so records are irrelevant to the conversation considering those are team accomplishments.

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The Pats offense struggles to move the ball vs Cincy and Carolina. Then, in Denver.

Get a clue and get back to me.

glm said:

We're talking about offense here, so records are irrelevant to the conversation considering those are team accomplishments.

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In those losses they couldn't move the ball...at all

One reason I expect the offense to be better is not mentioned is the playbook. McDaniels spent all offseason preparing a two tight end playbook and then the Hernandez situation happened and he essentially pieced together a game plan. Add to that all the injuries and inexperience it really limited the game plan. This offseason McDaniels has been able to redesign the playbook and develop ways to incorporate Edelman and Amendola effectively on the field at the same time, incorporate more three and four wide receiver sets, etc.

If Gronk is healthy, the offense is near unstoppable at times.

PatsWickedPissah said:

Here's my problem with this offense. Yes, the opening cast look to be improved, mostly via experience and health (before contact begins). But we are still fragile at the all important game changing TE spot. I don't expect a Gronk near-equivalent but the drop off to Hooperson is vast, too vast for the rest of the offense to compensate enough to be deep playoff winning calibre w/o His Gronkness. When we had The Prisoner we had some threat from that position. Now we have none except for maybe one surprise play per game.

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I agree with this and think a high powered two TE offense is optimal and gives them the most flexibility as an offense, however they apparently didn't see the player's they wanted where they could get them or at a price they could get them in free agency and went another route. While better than last year's offense imo they still aren't at the level they were at a couple of seasons ago but if MacDaniel's gets creative with them and the young players produce more than last year then this could be a really good offense, and i would point to their production when Gronkowski and Vereen were available as proof of that. I think their OL is going to be better with the addition of the young players and I believe they will get better production out of their RB corps this season despite losing Blount. And while i agree TE is the weakness and want Keller here ASAP I think the real upgrade is going to be at WR. I like the LaFell signing and think there is a real chance they use him as the move TE as well as WR both inside and out, but the biggest improvement should come from Amendola and then Dobson and Boyce. I expect the real Amendola back this season and believe he will have a big year and will predict 80+ REC, 1000 YDS+ and a top 5 spot in first downs for him, and I think that MacDaniel's is going to construct an offense that is centered around their ability to get open quickly with Amendola, Edelman, Boyce and Gronkowski and pound with their run game when they need to. Dobson will help spread defense both vertically and horizontally but I believe the focus isn't going to be on being an explosive offense but more of a complementary offense that controls the game on their side and helps the defense hold opposing offenses down by chewing up time of possession and winning field position battles. So while they won't set records they will be really good and will complement their defense perfectly. Hopefully the result is top 5 offensively and top 5 defensively next season, and if the season started tomorrow I would bet on that. *By top 5 I mean scoring offense and defense, yards don't mean a thing to me.

I saw an interesting article about a hypothetical situation for a Josh Gordon trade.

Would you trade a late round pick to Cleveland (6th or 7th) to wait out his suspension and hope he gets everything together?

I would say no, plus rather trade for Andre

mgteich said:

I agree that the offense will be significantly improved. We just need a bit of health. It would hard to believe that we would repeat the long list of injuries from last year, especially among the receivers. I have a couple of comments.

1) We are likely to add a RB, and perhaps a FB. Blount left a hole, and a roster position. Develin might be upgraded, or their will be a switch in roles, with Hooman being a blocker in the backfield.

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Didn't we already add White? Who else do you see us adding to the backfield?

2) I agree that we are likely to sign Dustin Keller.

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That would be nice. Are there any sources linking Keller to the Pats or is this just conjecture for now? Also, why has Keller gone unsigned for so long. Coming off injury?

3) I see no reason to suggest that neither Wendell or Connolly will be among the 7 offensive linemen to play a role. The list you gave has only Stork at center. With all the rookies, I expect us to carry 9 OL's. Even with 8, I would expect Connolly or Wendell in addition to your list.

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Our OL depth should be greatly improved over last year if 2/3 drafted OL can make the final 53. I'm hoping that Stork can contend for playing time right away. He would be an upgrade over Wendell's lackluster play last season.

As for our offense - we did not see the fireworks to which we have become accustomed last season. But we were still a top 5 unit in the NFL. We managed to retain Edelman, and Gronk will be back, and Dobson will improve. Ridley and Vereen are back and we added White. So I still see us being a top 5 unit in 2014.

Can we contend offensively with Denver? Maybe, if losing Decker and Moreno causes them to take a step back.

Ivan said:

So while they won't set records they will be really good and will complement their defense perfectly. Hopefully the result is top 5 offensively and top 5 defensively next season, and if the season started tomorrow I would bet on that. *By top 5 I mean scoring offense and defense, yards don't mean a thing to me.

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We were #3 and #10 points last year.

We all talk about the improved offense. Even if the offense is about the same, it is not the offense that is the problem, although we really do need to have more options in the red zone.

Top 5 and top 5 seems well within reach.

Dustin Keller tried out with the patriots and left without a contract. We are waiting until the first week of June to see whether we sign him. Signing him after June 1 avoids an effect on comp picks.

Yes, Keller is coming off a moajor injury. That clearly doesn't stop the patriots in drafting or acquiring players. After all, we are talking about players competing for the roster, not giving players final roster spots.

VJCPatriot said:

That would be nice. Are there any sources linking Keller to the Pats or is this just conjecture for now? Also, why has Keller gone unsigned for so long. Coming off injury?

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Yes, we added White. Hopefully, he is the backup to Vereen and a fine receiver, replacing Bolden in that role.

As of now, we have little camp competition for roster spots, other than from UDFA's. Many think that the UDFA's have a chance to make the roster. If so, we would have added more than White.

In addition, several running backs have been brought in for tryouts (Bush, Leanard and another). So, between the UDFA's and the free agent tryouts, it is clear that Belichick wants some competition for Bolden and Develin. At very least, he wants competition of someone is injured.

VJCPatriot said:

Didn't we already add White? Who else do you see us adding to the backfield?

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mgteich said:

Yes, we added White. Hopefully, he is the backup to Vereen and a fine receiver, replacing Bolden in that role.

As of now, we have little camp competition for roster spots, other than from UDFA's. Many think that the UDFA's have a chance to make the roster. If so, we would have added more than White.

In addition, several running backs have been brought in for tryouts (Bush, Leanard and another). So, between the UDFA's and the free agent tryouts, it is clear that Belichick wants some competition for Bolden and Develin. At very least, he wants competition of someone is injured.

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I don't know why you think there is little competition for spots. Easly, Stork Fleming, White, Halapio, and maybe Moore are in competition. I think less so for outside chances Jamea and Gallon. Garapollo would have to really stink, not to be awarded a third QB position.

AzPatsFan said:

I don't know why you think there is little competition for spots. Easly, Stork Fleming, White, Halapio, and maybe Moore are in competition. I think less so for outside chances Jamea and Gallon. Garapollo would have to really stink, not to be awarded a third QB position.

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Belichick really seems to favor young teams since the debacle of 2009 so I would not be surprised to see every rookie drafted and 1-2 UDFAs make the roster.

AzPatsFan said:

I don't know why you think there is little competition for spots. Easly, Stork Fleming, White, Halapio, and maybe Moore are in competition. I think less so for outside chances Jamea and Gallon. Garapollo would have to really stink, not to be awarded a third QB position.

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I responded to a discussion about running backs. None of the players you listed are competing with Bolden and Develin for roster spots.

As far as general competition for spots, I started a thread last week looking at that competition, by position. Brady6 started another in the last couple days.

Brady6 said:

Belichick really seems to favor young teams since the debacle of 2009 so I would not be surprised to see every rookie drafted and 1-2 UDFAs make the roster.

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Are we talking about the loss to the Ravens yet again. The game was a disaster. Brady had 3 quick turnovers after the RIce run. The debacle was not due to the age of the team. BTW, can tyou name the #2 or #3 TE that year?