2015 Patriots.

eom · May 26, 2015

mgteich said:
I see little reason to believe that "our running game should be strong". Losing Vereen and Connolly should have an effect.

On defense, we had the youngest in the league last year, and we lost Wilfork, Revis, Browner and Arrington.

I think that a healthy Siliga and Mayo will help make up for Wilfork leaving, as well as the addition of Brown.

I don't think that we can underestimate the effect of losing our top/starting three corners. We might survive, or not. However, Fletcher, Butler and McClain just don't figure to be great. Our corners will be tested early and often. I suspect that some teams will simply start in shotgun.

2 years ago the pats were top 10 in rush yards, rush attempts, ypa, rush dvoa, and tied for 2nd in rush td.
I understand maybe their stats weren't quite as good last year, and we lost those guys you mentioned, but shane vereen didn't even log 100 attempts last year and over the last 2 drafts we've padded the roster with several guys on the offensive line.
last year they were transitioning to a new line coach, they had to deal with mankins' sudden departure, stork didn't start the first few games, and fleming was hurt part of the year.

add in these 2 guys we just drafted, and I think there are quite a few reasons to expect the running game to rebound.

PatsFanInVa · May 26, 2015

carmelo15 said:
If guys play to there potential imagine a lineup of
Jones/Easily/Brown/Sheard on passing downs in the playoffs. Espically vs weak olives like Pitt/ Indy

They be like

Brady_to_Moss · May 26, 2015

Only position on the team that scares me is the back end on D...just like it scares everyone on this forum

captain stone · May 28, 2015

The LG position sucks too. Stefan Wisniewski was there for the taking.
C'mon Bill, at least sign Justin Blalock (and Tarell Brown too).

patsfaninpa · May 28, 2015

captain stone said:
The LG position sucks too. Stefan Wisniewski was there for the taking.
C'mon Bill, at least sign Justin Blalock (and Tarell Brown too).

Wiz is coming off of a torn labrum. Good player. But, timing just wasn't right. I think Wendell steps in at LG and we won't notice it. RG will be a battle between Fleming and Jackson. With Kline and Mason longer shots to start this year.

captain stone · May 28, 2015

Yeah I'm afraid that likely how it plays out.

patsfaninpa · May 28, 2015

captain stone said:
Yeah I'm afraid that likely how it plays out.

We've won a lot of games with Wendell playing C or G. I don't see him as a problem. Fleming might be more physically talented than any guard we've had with the exception of Logan Mankins. I want to see him play before I write him off. He played pretty good in the two Indy games when he came in as the 3rd tackle in run formations.

Marinlik · May 28, 2015

mgteich said:
I see little reason to believe that "our running game should be strong". Losing Vereen and Connolly should have an effect.

On defense, we had the youngest in the league last year, and we lost Wilfork, Revis, Browner and Arrington.

I think that a healthy Siliga and Mayo will help make up for Wilfork leaving, as well as the addition of Brown.

I don't think that we can underestimate the effect of losing our top/starting three corners. We might survive, or not. However, Fletcher, Butler and McClain just don't figure to be great. Our corners will be tested early and often. I suspect that some teams will simply start in shotgun.

Connolly wasn't that good, and I really don't see a big deal in loosing Vereen in the running game. Sure, he was a good receving back. But he was nothing special as a runner. I could see our running game improve with Stork going into his season and one of Jackon, Mason, or Flemming playing RG.

SHOWTIME15 · May 28, 2015

Marinlik said:
Connolly wasn't that good, and I really don't see a big deal in loosing Vereen in the running game. Sure, he was a good receving back. But he was nothing special as a runner. I could see our running game improve with Stork going into his season and one of Jackon, Mason, or Flemming playing RG.

and shaq mason is an outstanding run blocker. i would love to see him at LG.

patsinthesnow · May 28, 2015

An underrated positive aspect of this Pats team is for the first time since 2011, the offense/weapons should not need time to gel in the regular season. Also, there no training camp battles of note for the main offense:

2012: Brady & Lloyd needed to get on the same page.
2013: Disaster. Hernandez in jail, Gronk not at TC, Jenkins/Dobson/Thompkins rotating in and out of WR spots, Edelman not a starter at TC if I recall. Wasting reps on Sudfeld.
2014: Disaster part II. Gronk not at TC. KT starting, Brady/Lafell needing to get on the same page.

2015 TC: Whether Brady or Jimmy G starting week 1, they can count on their top 4 weapons present and healthy at training camp, with no rotation/battles for starting spots:

WR1: Edelman
WR2: Lafell
WR3: Amendola
TE1: Gronk

I'm excited about continuity on offense for a change.

JMC00 · May 28, 2015

Brady_to_Moss said:
Only position on the team that scares me is the back end on D...just like it scares everyone on this forum

I'm not scared. I remember 2011 and that team had worse S, LB and DL. I mean Mark Anderson and "On his last leg" Andre Carter were the the DEs.

PATS16N0 · May 29, 2015

Can't talk football until we know if our starting QB will get hosed out of 4 games from the NFL*.

Our defense will be fine. It's a million times better than out 2011 defense and we went to the Superbowl with that.

PATS16N0 · May 29, 2015

JMC00 said:
I'm not scared. I remember 2011 and that team had worse S, LB and DL. I mean Mark Anderson and "On his last leg" Andre Carter were the the DEs.

lol Yes. This.

mgteich · May 29, 2015

eom said:
2 years ago the pats were top 10 in rush yards, rush attempts, ypa, rush dvoa, and tied for 2nd in rush td.
I understand maybe their stats weren't quite as good last year, and we lost those guys you mentioned, but shane vereen didn't even log 100 attempts last year and over the last 2 drafts we've padded the roster with several guys on the offensive line.
last year they were transitioning to a new line coach, they had to deal with mankins' sudden departure, stork didn't start the first few games, and fleming was hurt part of the year.

add in these 2 guys we just drafted, and I think there are quite a few reasons to expect the running game to rebound.

What you seem to be saying is that we don't need Ridley and Vereen because our OL is so good.

mgteich · May 29, 2015

JMC00 said:
I'm not scared. I remember 2011 and that team had worse S, LB and DL. I mean Mark Anderson and "On his last leg" Andre Carter were the the DEs.

If our offense is as dominant as it was in 2011, we'd have no problems. Our defense and that of the packers were the two worst defenses in the league. People were talking about us having one of the worst defenses of all time.

The packers went 15-1 and we went to Super Bowl. Go figure!

eom · May 30, 2015

mgteich said:
What you seem to be saying is that we don't need Ridley and Vereen because our OL is so good.

I think that's somewhat of an exaggeration of what I'm saying, but essentially true.
I was a pretty big ridley fan, but I don't think there's a drop off to blount, and if we're talking strictly about the run game rather than overall offense, vereen didn't even have 100 carries.
I think cadet could actually be pretty useful, and yes, I do think the o-line will be excellent.
and that's all completely discounting white and gaffney as being totally unproven.
running game is about the last thing I'm worried about, and I expect our offense to be better than 2011

Wax Frog · May 30, 2015

Interception said:
real football

Can you tell me where it's gone? I miss it.

1960Pats · May 30, 2015

Interception said:
I know it's still early on but...

I don't think our offense will have any problem. Blount will continue to rumble through defenders... it's not a great running game, but it's more than serviceable. With Edelman, Gronk, Chandler, and LaFell, we have a passing attack as potent as the 2010 days. That should be enough to get us through Brady's suspension no worse than 1-3 or 2-2, even with Jimmy G. at the helm. Considering we started 2-2 last year, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Now, the concern starts with the defense.
We have a decent front seven but there is still no pass rush. Chandler Jones is who he is and we can expect 10 sacks out of him. Ninko is about the same. Sheard is somewhat of an unknown on our defense. Hightower might step up and continue to improve at rushing the passer, but that is anything but a sure thing.
Our front seven is great, we have some playmakers... but as far as the pass rush alone is concerned, it's defintely not going to be one of the best in the league. Our interior DL has potential but they are just rookies (counting Easley as a rookie), and you can never be sure with rookies.

Our cornerbacks are barely better than they were in 2011. Past McCourty, we have no sure starters. Butler could step up and continue to improve. Logan Ryan could be serviceable as well. Neither one of those are safe bets.

There are a lot of "ifs" on this defense. What if the pass rush doesn't improve and remains about the same as it has? Our secondary will get shredded as it did in 2011. Sure, we made the superbowl in 2011 but I think we were lucky to have even made it that far. It was the result of playing in a weak conference.

So what do you think? How confident are you about a repeat performance?

I'm always confident about the Pats. How could I not be?

In 2011 the Pats made it to the SB and lost in a low scoring game. That loss wasn't on the defense.

I'd bet on Butler before I'd bet on Ryan.

I think the Pats may have a few more tricks up their sleeves for this year.

My biggest concern about next season though is with the so called neutral parties that will be able to stall our team, like the refs and things like this;
The NFL will now provide and mandate a medical spotter for each game. The spotter will be allowed to stop the game if they believe they have "clear visual evidence" that a player "displays obvious signs of disorientation" that may be a sign that the player suffered a concussion. The spotter will have the ability to stop the game via direct communication with officials and team medical staffs. The player in question then would be removed from the field to undergo a proper medical evaluation. Both teams can make substitutions during any of these game stoppages. Additionally coaches will not be allowed to enter the field of play of communicate via the player headsets during these stoppages.

That has a real chance of being abused by somebody in the NYFL.

PP2 · May 30, 2015

Never too early. After all, BB is already onto 2016.

RayClay · May 30, 2015

YOUGOTMOSSED said:
We lost our shutdown corner after a NY team commits the most egregious case of tampering in league history (which goes essentially unpunished). The superbowl MVP QB is suspended for 1/4 of the season due to trumped up charges of football deflation. We're losing a 1st round pick due to an arbitrary decision by a biased commissioner who, for inexplicable reasons, has our team owner by the balls. The league clearly has an agenda against us. The media has been relentlessly portraying the team and its fans as the greatest monsters in history since the Nazis.

Yeah, I'm sure we'll be fine for the foreseeable future . . .

Can we have one thread about football? There's twenty about the obvious topic.

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