Did the offense in 2014 overachieve?

Same idea as the defense but from a different angle.

Looking at the O frankly it is not all that good.

Sure they have Brady... who was 37 so he is no longer in his prime.

Their OL was suspect for parts of the season and at other parts played well but the talent is not really there. Solder and Vollmer are both legit talents on the OL. Connolly and Wendell are low level starters to high end back ups. Stork is a rookie so expecting him to be good and impact in his first year would be a lot to ask.

Gronk is Gronk. No question he can make things happen. Edelman is a pretty good starter but no one would confuse him with a true top tier WR and if he did not have an elite QB throwing him the ball would he be a 1000 yard WR and viewed the same way?

Lafell had a good year but didn't really do much in Carolina. Amendola has never really lived up to his talent besides a few games and this years playoffs.

Vereen is being paid but he has had issues in the past and is very much a 1 dimensional player and I think a bit overrated. Blount seems to not impact too much when his QB is not named Brady.

Overall

QB - great
OL - average
WR - average/below average
TE - great
RB -below average.

Seems to me to have the makings of a good but not top end O. However they were one of the top 5 Os IMO in the regular season and in the playoffs were down right scary.

So did they overachieve?

No. And I'd disagree with most of your descriptions.

best QB ever to play the game and already one of the best TE's to ever play with two play makers at WR. yes below average run blocking and RB's and no dept at WR until the playoffs but as long as Gronk and Brady are on the field they will have a offense that scores close to 30.

if they can add a G and RB in the Draft and if DA can give them a #3 WR and one of the camp guys they signed or Dobson can stick as a #4 they will have a top 3 offense in points and yards

Perhaps too much focus on the individual parts, and not enough focus on the offense as a whole, the synergy, the philosophy or the scheme?

Health wise yes. Overall no.

jmt57 said:

Perhaps too much focus on the individual parts, and not enough focus on the offense as a whole, the synergy, the philosophy or the scheme?

Click to expand...

That is kind of where I was going to go with my next post on the subject but I wanted to throw the opening out there. While I think last years D was less the sum of its parts in some cases I think last years O was more the sum of its parts. Synergy is a good term to describe it. I think that going by the overall talent level it is probably an over achievement though but talent as we know is not everything.

Overachieving suggests that they were not good to begin with. I'd venture to say that's a false premise. For instance, the 2013 Patriots still averaged 27.8 ppg (3rd in the league), and the 2014 team was significantly better than them for multiple reasons. Namely, Gronkowski being healthy and dominant for an entire season, offensive continuity and more adaptability in their attack.

So no, they did not overachieve, they more or less reached their full potential based upon scheme, health and so forth.

I thought the offense underacheived this year all thing considered. 4th in total points was our lowest ranking since 2009. If anything last year was the year we overacheived.

I must admit that there are times when the lineman seem overpowered which throws off everything.