2014 Patriots Offense: Championship Caliber?

As long as Tom Brady is Tom F'n Brady, and his IOL gives him enough time to throw, this team will have a championship offense.

If this team wins a championship there's a good chance that it'll have one of the best championship offenses ever.

Of course it is. At full strength it is far superior to our SB winning offenses from '01-'04. Even w/o Gronk, it is comparable at the least. The key has always been getting the defense to be championship caliber which is what I'm hoping was accomplished (still have to see if our DE/LB depth is competent enough).

We've just gotten used to the high flying offenses of '07-'12 that racked up 30-40 pts with regularity (which anyways went flat in the biggest games of those seasons) to appreciate the offense we have currently. Also now we seem to have more red zone targets/options than we've ever had in one single season.

The offense will go by way of the defense just like it always has.

The broncos only scored 7 points in their play-off loss last year, anyone think their offense is good enough to win a Super Bowl?

Most seasons end when a really good offense is upstaged by a really good defense, it is probably the most common denominator there is.

NG Pats Fan said:

Question to Patriots fans. In each of our last 3 playoff losses dating back to 2011, our offense has managed to put up only 17, 13, and 16 points per game. That kind of production is not going to win you big games.

Do you think this 2014 Patriots Offense has what it takes to put enough points on the scorecard in a championship playoff game? What is different about this Patriots Offense than in years past?

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The lack of points scored was a big issue in those playoff losses no doubt.

Where I see this years offense as improved, in comparison, is when it comes to red zone weapons, in particular a height and size improvement over the squirts.

Once this offense gets into the RZ and trots out some combo of Gronk, Wright, LaFell, Dobson and Thompkins ... points will be scored.

PatCat said:

Best offensive weapon in the NFL? Who is that?

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That guy named Gronkowski.

Bobs My Uncle said:

The lack of points scored was a big issue in those playoff losses no doubt.

Where I see this years offense as improved, in comparison, is when it comes to red zone weapons, in particular a height and size improvement over the squirts.

Once this offense gets into the RZ and trots out some combo of Gronk, Wright, LaFell, Dobson and Thompkins ... points will be scored.

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Add in the inherent redundancy with these guys and the return of some TE concepts that Wright might provide and well..............

Ofcourse, if Revis pulls a Talib...............

Our last 3 playoff losses also came without one of the best young pass catchers in NFL history

Oswlek said:

I'm never a fan of these "championship caliber" conversations. Did the 2011 Patriots have a championship caliber defense? They were a Welker drop away from being one. How about the 2011 Giants, who allowed nearly as many yards and even more points than the Patriots did? What about the 2003 Patriots offense? Clearly it was championship caliber, even being the primary reason why they beat the Panthers, yet they were a terrible running team and only scored 21.6 ppg.

Did the 2007 Giants have a more championship caliber offense than the 2007 Patriots? If I could guarantee the 2014 Patriots would have as productive an offense as the 2013 Broncos, would anyone really object to that because of what they did in their final game? And if we look at those two examples as evidence that running is more important, why does the top 10 in 2013 ypc only have 4 playoff teams?

Obviously you can't be terrible on offense or defense if you want a shot. But good is good enough so long as the entire team is good enough. Most of this comes down to fans wanting to create after-the-fact story lines and causation when it really is more luck and chance.

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The reality is actually winning the Super Bowl is really a matter of chance (Tuck Rule?). You can go back to all recent winners and find examples of where something went their way.

The Giants fumbled like 5 times in the last SB and .........no turnovers?

The same Seahawks defense that dominated Denver also got run over by Tampa and barely escaped with a win at home. The luck of the draw gave Seattle their best matchup.....Did Denver ever look materially better in Foxboro last November?

Does Baltimore even sniff a SB but for inexplicable safety play or Talib being Talib?

Its championship caliber health not necessarily a championship caliber lineup.

Gronk is really the only "go up and get it" Option who can beat tight strong man to man coverage and he's been largely injured the last 3 postseasons. Everyone else has been more about scheme,timing and YAC.

The addition of Wright is going to be huge especially in the red zone. You have Gronk,Wright, Edleman and Dobson. How do you cover them all. Then when they go pass protect you bust Ridley or the fullback up the middle . Going to be very hard to deal with. GO PATS

This is the best our weapons have looked since 2007. Edelman may be a limited slot/short yardage WR but he could be the best at that. Amendola is very good in that role as well. Vereen if injury free I think has a breakout and an elite receiving back, as good as there is in the league and he won't even beat up his girlfriend. Kenbrell and Dobson both have 1000 yard talent,only thing that keeps them from 1000 yards is spreading the football to so many players. But both have height length athleticism and very good 4.4 speed. Both are very sudden in their routes to separate and you can see they have a great feel for the offense compared to last yr. Which also means more comfortable and natural leading to better hands. Gronk is the best TE in the league and Tim Wright is very underrated. He could be as good as Hernandez and is a very willing blocker. With established outside WRs to stretch the field This 2TE set could be better than before with plenty of red zone targets

Only thing that can stop the offense is Wendell and Conolly playing side by side at CENTER and Right guard. Like last season the receivers cant produce if they dont have time to run any routes. Conolly should play Center with Fleming starting at RG since he has the most upside at that position by far on the team. Not only that its where he personally has the most upside. I just think it makes soooooo much more sense for players to play the position they can be most successful at. Not just throw them where they can play or have played.

We had a championship caliber offense last year.

This year's offense is better.

I don't think last yes offense was championship caliber. Edelman was the top WR which was good for that offense because Brady had to release the ball as soon as he got set or the OLine would crumble. So there was only time for 5 yard route/dump off passes.

I don't buy into great defense rapes great offense. Not a complete great offense. Most prolific offenses have a great QB and usually great weapons. But most of those prolific offenses have mediocre to below average OLines that the great qbs and offenses can get by against most defenses with the OLine using technique and chemistry. Then they play a defense with monsters across the DLine and the mediocre OLine can't double them all. Along with good corners and LBs. The nearly 19-0 patriots are a shining example. But put a great OLine that can punch the defense right back in their mouth to go with that great qb and weapons and its a different football game. Like a very good great tackle tandem and big strong athletic guards and a center who can block man up. I think Cannon and Fleming can be a great tandem by playoff time. Solder has flashed at being a pro bowl caliber LT and Vollmer is a top 5 or so Right Tackle if injury free. And Conolly while a terrible guard is an OK Center. So I think this team has very good OLine talent if they use it

TBR said:

Our last 3 playoff losses also came without one of the best young pass catchers in NFL history

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Awesome! Now he needs to stay on the field. I don't care if he tears his acl and dislocates his shoulder, he stays in the starting lineup and toughens it out. Bellichick is going to make'em lol

rookBoston said:

Your offense cant score points if your defense cant get off the field on 3rd down. The best thing to happen to our offense is what looks like an athletic, shutdown secondary.

The talent we have on offense this year, centered around Ridley, Vereen, Gronk, Edelman, Thompkins and Amendola is light years ahead of what we had with Antowain Smith, Kevin Faulk, Jermaine Wiggins, Troy Brown, David Patten and David Givens.

More than enough horsepower. Question is just whether this team has that much heart... and we wont know until November or December.

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I grant you Gronk is light years ahead of Wiggy but the rest of the 2014 lineup you cite is not light years ahead and frankly a number aren't as good.
How quickly we forget.

but I haven't forgotten you, Seacoast Fan. Only one of the finest gentlemen to ever pound a keyboard here at Patsfans.

Provided that the interior of the offensive line works out, sure. They were one of the very best offenses in the league when Gronk was on the field last year.