Field Yates: Pats' Passing Offense Will Be One of the Best IF ...

ESPN Insider article by Field Yates, listing 3 factors that could determine if the Pats' passing offense will revert to top form:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11103711/nfl-why-new-england-patriots-passing-offense-better-2014?refresh=true

I obviously can't post the article, but Yates' 3 factors are:

1. Health. Getting Gronk back, obviously, but also a healthy Amendola and Dobson. Not mentioned is Tom Brady's hand, which I think may have played a significant role during a stretch of last season.
2. Development of the Young WRs. Whether Dobson, Thompkins and Boyce can make the 2nd year leap, and how Brandon LaFell fits in.
3. Fixing the OL. As Yates notes, "It wasn't catastrophic, but the Patriots offensive line regressed in overall performance in 2013 after a lights-out 2012. The interior was the bigger area of concern, with both Wendell and Connolly struggling, which was obvious in the AFC Championship Game."

Nothing earth shattering, but a decent read. Accomplishing all 3 of those things will be a major challenge. I personally think Yates leaves out one possible intriguing element of the 2014 Pats' passing offense, which is better integration of the running and passing games and utilization of 2-back sets in the passing attack, with Shane Vereen and James White both offering the flexibility to borrow a page from Chip Kelly's offense and get creative motioning guys into and out of the backfield.

What, no mention of the force that is Collins at TE in goal line situations?

Everyone knows this can be the best O...but health will be key. IF Gronk can play 16 games + playoffs...watch out league

I have blind homer faith that Dobson/KT are our WR duo of the future. IMO, a WR trio of Dobson, Edelman, KT offers us the highest ceiling for our WR core, with Amendola/Lafell as depth. One patsfans homer can hope.

patsinthesnow said:

I have blind homer faith that Dobson/KT are our WR duo of the future. IMO, a WR trio of Dobson, Edelman, KT offers us the highest ceiling for our WR core, with Amendola/Lafell as depth. One patsfans homer can hope.

Click to expand...

I, like you, believe they can be a duo/trio of the future (though, KT is a much bigger Q than Dobson IMO), however, just as easily as I believe they can be I wouldn't be shocked in the slightest of 1 or 2 of them fizz out.

I have the most faith in Edelman, his talent has never been the question, his health has been. He stays healthy he'll easily (imo) replace Welkers production from 07 til 12.

Pats' Passing Offense Will Be One of the Best IF....

Tom Brady is at quarterback. He took that steaming pile of an offense to the #3 spot, and the entire steaming pile of a roster (by the end of the season) to the AFCCG last year.

It wasn't quite a water-to-wine scenario, but it was not far from a miracle.

PatsWickedPissah said:

What, no mention of the force that is Collins at TE in goal line situations?

Click to expand...

Our secret weapon I say!

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...-secret-superstar.1110257/page-3#post-3836526

I like the idea of this passing offense –

QB – Brady
RB – Vereen
X-WR – Dobson
Z-WR – Boyce
Slot WR – Edelman
TE - Gronkowski
LT – Solder
LG – Mankins
OC – Connolly/Stork
RG – Cannon
RT – Vollmer

If Boyce makes the type of leap, I feel he is capable of making he will give this offense an element it has not had in a very long time.

I will gladly take Edelman as a poor man Welker, Dobson as a poor man AJ Green, and Boyce as a poor man TY Hilton.

Most of the discussion about wr's any more is about their size and catch radius. The new age qb likes to throw it up and the receivers stick those gloves out and make the catch. Boyce, has tremendous speed with the ball in his hands. I think he can be deadly on wr screens and short passes where he is one on one in space. Will be able to juke the db quite easily. I'm not comparing their skill-set. Boyce, isn't in the same class. But, he reminds me a tad of Stanley Morgan that way.

I think we'll be very good if healthy. it was painful to watch the rooks early last year, but they got a lot better, though injuries hit, unfortunately. Still, having had their baptism of fire, i think they will all be much further along having made it and improved during last season.

Learning to play with Tom is thge key IMO and he has a real bond with tis group. I've seen enough "can't miss" vets come through the pipe that i look forward to seeing the growth from the home grown trio.

Think back to how the offense performed once Gronk got back last year and had a couple games under his belt. It was really taking off until the Cleveland game, not the best in the league but one I would take any day. And now the OL is upgraded, Dobson has a year under his belt. Obviously we're not going to stay fully healthy, you can all but chalk up Amendola to missing a chunk of games, but if Gronk and obviously Brady are healthy it will be a top offense provided at least a few of the other key parts are still there.

What does it matter? Our QB is no longer elite, according to the paragons of metrics over at PFF. Maybe if we had an elite QB like Rivers or Big Ben, Yates' argument would seemingly hold water...

Yates also forgot to mention:…If there is a change at starting Center...

Speculating about how things are going to go down in this league is basically a crapshoot. Last year pretty much our entire starting defense was injured. Amusingly the only part of the team that was healthy were are much heralded 2012 oline returning intact and our young 1k yard rusher who was poised to make another breakout. Both units were basically terrible despite being healthy. Instead some of our backups performed admirably well on D against all odds and we got great production from our backup rb...

The point being, you just never know how things are going to turn out.

captain stone said:

Yates also forgot to mention:…If there is a change at starting Center...

Click to expand...

He did mention improved play from the O-Line, which could be taken to mean they need to play better, OR could mean they need better personnel in some spots. Center would be chief among that.

mayoclinic said:

I personally think Yates leaves out one possible intriguing element of the 2014 Pats' passing offense, which is better integration of the running and passing games and utilization of 2-back sets in the passing attack, with Shane Vereen and James White both offering the flexibility to borrow a page from Chip Kelly's offense and get creative motioning guys into and out of the backfield.

Click to expand...

From Reiss' chat session yesterday:

Jon (DC): Mike, do you see another offensive tactical revolution in the making with the offense this year like the Pats led with Gronk and Hernandez (still hurts)? The amount of small, fast but strong-for-their-size guys in our WR and backfield is crazy. I could see them just wrecking havoc on bigger defenses through screens, crosses and play action.

Mike: Jon, I think the RBs as pass-catchers is something to keep an eye on. When we think of the passing game, I'm not sure that area garners the attention it alwasy should. Put two good pass-catching backs in the game at the same time and that can create some problems.

Click to expand...

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/50797/patriots-with-mike-reiss

As far as I see it, the team needs two of Dobson, Boyce, LaFell, or Thompkins to step up (LaFell) and/or take the second year leap for this passing offense to be what Yates envisions (one of the best). I'm assuming we'll get some improved play out of the OL with either Connolly stepping in at C and Halapio/Cannon at guard. You could realisitically string a skeleton up at C and it would probably be an improvement over Wendell. But in the receiving corps, two of those guys have to step up. Unfortunately, Gronk can't be counted on to be there the entire season. With him, the team has a top TE and not much else. Without him, it's a crew that's probably among the worst in the NFL.

I think LaFell will get it with repetition and more time to absorb the offense. That leaves Dobson, Boyce, and Thompkins. If the team is funneling that much of the passing game through Edelman and Amendola (and Gronk, when he returns) again, that is not a good thing. Now, if all three of those receivers take the second year leap, this is an aerial attack that's absolutely deadly.

While the obvious factors are always in play (WR, Slot, TE and OL) when discussing keys to the passing offense, I think just as important is the RB. Although the hole without Gronk was huge last year, Vereen being out for several weeks was almost as huge. His first game back against Carolina saw him get 8 receptions and is clearly someone Brady trusts. I have no idea if we'll see both Vereen and White in the backfield together but I'll be looking forward to seeing how White performs in the preseason to better judge the quality of depth of the "pass catching RB"

If we get the health, the youth developes, and the secondary gels then combined with BB and Brady this should be the year to get number 4 and if all falls into place again I could see another run at undefeated.

SacPete1 said:

While the obvious factors are always in play (WR, Slot, TE and OL) when discussing keys to the passing offense, I think just as important is the RB. Although the hole without Gronk was huge last year, Vereen being out for several weeks was almost as huge. His first game back against Carolina saw him get 8 receptions and is clearly someone Brady trusts. I have no idea if we'll see both Vereen and White in the backfield together but I'll be looking forward to seeing how White performs in the preseason to better judge the quality of depth of the "pass catching RB"

Click to expand...

The two complaints I have with Vereen in the passing game is the sloppiness running the wheel route (which has still been reported since OTA's started) and his ability to track the ball on deep routes, such as the catch that he dropped in the regular season game against Denver last year deep on the sideline. If he can fix those two things, he'll be an excellent weapon on third down. Not sure where he lined up on that play in the Denver game. If he was in the slot, then I think he was running a 9-route.