Belichick and McDaniels deserve a lot of the blame for today. Not double teaming Cameron Wake is a head scratcher. Even more so, they didn't make adjustments when it was clear the OT's couldn't handle the outside pass rush.
Dink n dunk passing game. Every year we embarrass some teams with it and look very impressive while doing so. But then it gets completely shut down against better defenses. Today it worked for the first half, and then the Dolphins made adjustments to shut it out in the 2nd half. It looked too easy for Miami to stop, and their 3 starting LB's weren't even playing in the 2nd half. This is very worrying. The passing game hasn't evolved in the past couple years, and if anything, it's devolved since the glory days of the 2-TE sets a couple years back.
Edelman, Amendola, Thompkins, LaFell, are all possession receivers. All short-to-intermediate route runners. Defenses can stack the box and not have to worry about the deep ball. None of them are burners. None of them can consistently beat their guy one on one. None of them command any respect from a defense. The latter 3 don't make much happen after the catch.
Brady's arm strength and deep ball at this point in his career are suspect. I hope we can write it off as week 1 jitters, but it showed a lot last year too. He missed an open deep ball to Edelman late in the game. At times he was throwing to nobody. Was it miscommunication, or fearing the pass rush?. Either way its not a good sign. I suspect BB and McDaniels know Brady's arm strength is declining and that's why they're forced to run a dink and dunk offense.
The OLine obviously deserves a lot of blame, but good QB's aren't supposed to be as scared under pressure as Brady was today. Brady used to be poised and resilient. I didn't see any of that today. Some of the latter throws in the game looked like he was just getting rid of the ball and not even trying.
Where was the run game in the 2nd half? OLine once again takes blame here, but Ridley isn't who we thought he was in 2012. He can't create anything on his own. and of course, McDaniels completely abandons the run when Brady starts getting killed.
Gronkowski is obviously not 100% yet. He might be physically, but he isn't mentally. He wasn't confident and wasn't on the same page as Brady. He looked scared of getting injured again. I think he'll be fine in a few weeks as he gets more comfortable out there. Gronk's health will absolutely be the key to this offense. Brady locking onto Gronk and forcing the ball to him was bad. He did that last year when Gronk first returned, but it worked itself out after a few weeks. Gronk is the only guy on offense who commands a double team. With out him making an impact, we're screwed.
Aaron Dobson can be another difference maker. His progression is vital. He's our only WR who has potential to be a true #1 option. Last year he wasn't ready for the spotlight. He'll have to improve and step up big time for this offense to get anywhere.
I'd also like to note how the commentators were saying the Pats should "take a shot down field", and the very next play Brady threw a deep pass to Edelman for 44 yards. It worked out this time, but it's alarming when McDaniels play calling has become so predictable that even the commentators are on the same wavelength as him. You have to think, if the commentators are predicting our plays then opposing coaches and players will too.
