Goal Line Issues: Brady Perfect w/TE's but RB's struggling

Wrote this earlier this morning regarding some issues they've had when they've got down to the opponent's one-yard line this season:

http://www.patsfans.com/ian/blog/2014/11/11/spotlight-goal-line-brady-tes-shine-rbs-struggle/

They had similar issues last season and I've included some numbers that show how much they also improved down the stretch, which will also hopefully be the case this year.

Combination of losing Ridley and the OL struggles early on. They certainly weren't opening up a lot of running lanes. Ridley scored on 75% of his attempts. Sadly, Vereen is not a good option as a short yardage back in goal line situations. Hopefully Gray can become that.

Brady is 3-3 with 3 TDs throwing to TEs from the 1 yard line. 100%.

Running the ball from the 1:
2 TDs out of 7 tries. 28%.

Hmmm... it seems these numbers are trying to tell us something.

I wanted Carlos Hyde badly in the draft, we would have to use the #29 pick on him, I don't remember but I don't think he was there at #62.

It would be interesting to know how many drives those plays covered.
In other words, if we scored 5 times on 10 plays from the 1, if that was on 5 trips, I'm fine, but if it was on 10, and we kick 5 FGs thats not.

AndyJohnson said:

It would be interesting to know how many drives those plays covered.
In other words, if we scored 5 times on 10 plays from the 1, if that was on 5 trips, I'm fine, but if it was on 10, and we kick 5 FGs thats not.

Click to expand...

Excellent point. Hang on and I'll dig that up for you

AndyJohnson said:

It would be interesting to know how many drives those plays covered.
In other words, if we scored 5 times on 10 plays from the 1, if that was on 5 trips, I'm fine, but if it was on 10, and we kick 5 FGs thats not.

Click to expand...

Vikings Game:
1st QTR - Second Offensive Possession:
Ridley on 1st & 1 - 1 carry, 0yds
Ridley on 2nd & 1- 1 carry, TD

Bengals Game:
1st QTR - First Offensive Possession:
Brady on 1st & 1 - 1 carry, 0yds
Ridley on 2nd & 1 - 1 carry, TD

Bills Game:
2nd QTR - Third Offensive Possession:
Wright on 1st & 1 - 1yd TD reception

Bears Game:
1st QTR & Start of the 2nd - Second Offensive Possession:
Brady on 2nd & 1 - 1 carry, 0yds
Gray on 3rd & 1 - 1 carry, 0yds
4th & 1 - False start on Stork

2nd Quarter: - Third Offensive Possession:
Vereen on 1st & 1: 1 carry, 0yds
Wright on the next play - 1yd TD reception

Broncos Game:
4th Quarter - 10th Possession
Gronkowski on 1st & 1 - 1yd TD reception

So to your point, they did score on five of six of those drives

Let me pull up the data on 2013 - I'll have that in a bit.

Ian said:

Vikings Game:
1st QTR - Second Offensive Possession:
Ridley on 1st & 1 - 1 carry, 0yds
Ridley on 2nd & 1- 1 carry, TD

Bengals Game:
1st QTR - First Offensive Possession:
Brady on 1st & 1 - 1 carry, 0yds
Ridley on 2nd & 1 - 1 carry, TD

Bills Game:
2nd QTR - Third Offensive Possession:
Wright on 1st & 1 - 1yd TD reception

Bears Game:
1st QTR & Start of the 2nd - Second Offensive Possession:
Brady on 2nd & 1 - 1 carry, 0yds
Gray on 3rd & 1 - 1 carry, 0yds
4th & 1 - False start on Stork

2nd Quarter: - Third Offensive Possession:
Vereen on 1st & 1: 1 carry, 0yds
Wright on the next play - 1yd TD reception

Broncos Game:
4th Quarter - 10th Possession
Gronkowski on 1st & 1 - 1yd TD reception

So to your point, they did score on five of six of those drives

Let me pull up the data on 2013 - I'll have that in a bit.

Click to expand...

So within those stats is really only 1 failure.

2013 Plays:

Bills Game:
3rd QTR - 11th Possession of the game:
2nd & 1 - Kenbrell Thompkins - Incomplete Pass
3rd & 1 - Shane Vereen - 1 carry, 0yds
4th & 1 - Tom Brady - 1 carry, lost fumble

Falcons Game:
2nd Quarter - 2nd Drive of the Game
2nd & 1 - Ridley - 1 carry, 0yds
3rd & 1 - Matthew Mulligan - 1yd TD Reception

Bengals Game:
4th Quarter - 10th Possession of the Game:
1st & 1 - LeGarrette Blount - 1 carry, 0 yds
2nd & 1 - Nate Solder - Incomplete
3rd & 1 - Julian Edelman - Incomplete

Saints Game:
2nd Quarter - 3rd Possession of the Game:
1st & 1 - Aaron Dobson - 1 reception, but no gain
2nd & 1 - Stevan Ridley - 1 carry, 1 TD

Jets Game:
1st Quarter - First Possession
1st & 1 Brandon Bolden: 1 carry, 0yds
2nd & 1 Brandon Bolden: 1 carry, TD

Dolphins:
4th Quarter - 11th Possession
1st & 1 LeGarrette Blount: 1 carry, -2yds
2nd & 3 after the loss of yardage, Ridley took it in from 3yds out - TD

Steelers:
1st Quarter - 2nd Possession
4th & 1 - Stevan Ridley: 1 carry, 0yds - turnover on downs

2nd Quarter - 6th Possession:
1st & 1 - Rob Gronkowski: Incomplete Pass
2nd & 1 - Stevan Ridley: 1 carry, TD

Panthers:
4th Quarter - 5th Possession:
1st & 1 - Stevan Ridley: 1 carry, TD

Broncos:
3rd Quarter - 10th Possession:
1st & 1 - Shane Vereen: 1 carry,
2nd & 1 - Brandon Bolden: 1 carry, TD

Texans:
3rd Quarter - 6th Possession:
1st & 1 - James Develin: 1 carry, TD

Browns:
4th Quarter - 13th possession:
1st & 1 - Danny Amendola, TD reception

Ravens:
1st Quarter: - 2nd Possession:
1st & 1 - LeGarrette Blount: 1 carry, TD

That outlines all of 2013.

I think the point I was trying to make was the fact that by the end of last season, it became much more automatic compared to requiring additional attempts to score in the early going, which has been the case this season.

I was also surprised at the fact Brady's a perfect 3-of-3, which compared to last year was an improvement to this point as well.

Losing Ridley will do that to you

AndyJohnson said:

So within those stats is really only 1 failure.

Click to expand...

And that one struck me as a preseason-esque drive. It seemed they were more interested in seeing if the runs would work than they were concerned about coming away with no points.