The situation of our Offense

For six weeks or so, we had the most unstopable machine in the nfl as our offense.

-Our O-line was the biggest surprise of the year, composed by 3 rookies who held their ground admirably. (Stork was bound to return too).

-Lewis came out nowhere in order to become one of the most explosive players in the game.

-Amendola was finally a fundamental part of our passing game (since last years play offs really).

-Edelman and Gronk were their usual, mismatch monters selves.

-And, of course, Tom Brady. Simply, the GOAT.

Things were looking up, until...

-Solder went down in week 4, out for the year.
-Lewis went down in week 9, out for the year.
-Edelman went down in week 10, out for the rest of the regular season(probably).
-Dobson went down in week 11, severity of the injury unknown, but not looking good.
-Amendola was hurt in week 11, severity is also known, but looks better than Dobson's
-And finally, Jackson, Mason, Vollmer, Cannon, all of which were banged down throughout the year and are coming back.

It's almost ironic that the only way to slow us down, was a twisted, beyond-our-comprehension plan (call it however your religion/ideology/mindset likes).

So my question is this:
How do you feel about our offense going forward?

Our next opponents are:
Broncos (1st yards per game; 2nd points per game)
Eagles(25th ypg; 16th ppg)
Texans(8th ypg; 14th ppg)
Titans(6th ypg ; 18th ppg)
Dolphins(26th ypg; 20th ppg)
Jets(5th ypg; 12th ppg)

As long we have Brady and Gronk, i believe we have the capacity to score 20 or more points in every game. If the O-line gets a little bit better, we can reliably get some points on drives. I don't exepect we score more than 30 "offensive" points against good defenses, specially if Dola is held out of these games against goood defenses. The Broncos game is awfully placed, though. I don't want to sound too pessimistic, but we have to be excelent on offense (In other words, much better than against Buffalo) to score 20+ points IMO.

Luckily, our defense is becoming a monster when we need it the most. They will have to carry this team and I trust them to do it. But still, i can't stop thinking of how awesome it would be to have this defense of today with the offense of the beginning of the season. I hope we see a glimpse of that in this year's play offs.

Playing division opponents accentuates the shortcomings. Look at last year vs the NYJ in NY...17-16.

Personally I think Rex is an overrated defensive mind but when you have talent and know your opponent inside and out, you will occasionally do well.

The Pats are still adjusting. The line. No 3rd down RB. No JE. DA and Dobson out. 4th and 5th options becoming 1st and 2nds.

It's a mess.

robertweathers said:

Playing division opponents accentuates the shortcomings. Look at last year vs the NYJ in NY...17-16.

Personally I think Rex is an overrated defensive mind but when you have talent and know your opponent inside and out, you will occasionally do well.

The Pats are still adjusting. The line. No 3rd down RB. No JE. DA and Dobson out. 4th and 5th options becoming 1st and 2nds.

It's a mess.

Click to expand...

Brady is the GOAT and Rex often gives him fits. He's a pretty damn good defensive coach. I agree with the rest of the post, though I thought James White showed more than I thought he was capable of.

robertweathers said:

It's a mess.

Click to expand...

Actually, at 10-0 and the #1 seed... it's more like...



...a hot mess.

robertweathers said:

Playing division opponents accentuates the shortcomings. Look at last year vs the NYJ in NY...17-16.

Personally I think Rex is an overrated defensive mind but when you have talent and know your opponent inside and out, you will occasionally do well.

The Pats are still adjusting. The line. No 3rd down RB. No JE. DA and Dobson out. 4th and 5th options becoming 1st and 2nds.

It's a mess.

Click to expand...

Agree w/all except your last line.

Spot on about division games...for that reason, always best to avoid division rivals in the playoffs--tough to beat any team 3 times in a season, particularly when they're so familiar. Would love to get the AFC South "champion" in here for the first playoff game, but I suspect the wild card team (KC or Pitt?) will knock them off.

But the key is the line. Time to get those guys healthy, and in some rhythm. Also need to find out just what the hell is it that Cannon does well.

eh not really concerned right now.

I mean they put up 27 points last week and the week before. Is putting up 27 points now a bad thing? There is only 4 teams that average more than 27 points a game. Pats, Cardinals, Panthers and Giants.

Then there is always 1 game a year where a Rex defense does this to the Pats. Did it last year and the year before with bad defenses.

I thought the passing game looked a bit "off" against Washington even before Squirty got hurt. The OL played as bad as a line can play last night. Ridiculously awful. They need to clean it up quick. Get Keshawn in the mix, run more White and less Blount, and hold the fort until Edelman returns. The offense slumped last year in the GB-SD-NYJ stretch only to come roaring back in January. Things should get better.

JayNM said:

For six weeks or so, we had the most unstopable machine in the nfl as our offense.

-Our O-line was the biggest surprise of the year, composed by 3 rookies who held their ground admirably. (Stork was bound to return too).

-Lewis came out nowhere in order to become one of the most explosive players in the game.

-Amendola was finally a fundamental part of our passing game (since last years play offs really).

-Edelman and Gronk were their usual, mismatch monters selves.

-And, of course, Tom Brady. Simply, the GOAT.

Things were looking up, until...

-Solder went down in week 4, out for the year.
-Lewis went down in week 9, out for the year.
-Edelman went down in week 10, out for the rest of the regular season(probably).
-Dobson went down in week 11, severity of the injury unknown, but not looking good.
-Amendola was hurt in week 11, severity is also known, but looks better than Dobson's
-And finally, Jackson, Mason, Vollmer, Cannon, all of which were banged down throughout the year and are coming back.

It's almost ironic that the only way to slow us down, was a twisted, beyond-our-comprehension plan (call it however your religion/ideology/mindset likes).

So my question is this:
How do you feel about our offense going forward?

Our next opponents are:
Broncos (1st yards per game; 2nd points per game)
Eagles(25th ypg; 16th ppg)
Texans(8th ypg; 14th ppg)
Titans(6th ypg ; 18th ppg)
Dolphins(26th ypg; 20th ppg)
Jets(5th ypg; 12th ppg)

As long we have Brady and Gronk, i believe we have the capacity to score 20 or more points in every game. If the O-line gets a little bit better, we can reliably get some points on drives. I don't exepect we score more than 30 "offensive" points against good defenses, specially if Dola is held out of these games against goood defenses. The Broncos game is awfully placed, though. I don't want to sound too pessimistic, but we have to be excelent on offense (In other words, much better than against Buffalo) to score 20+ points IMO.

Luckily, our defense is becoming a monster when we need it the most. They will have to carry this team and I trust them to do it. But still, i can't stop thinking of how awesome it would be to have this defense of today with the offense of the beginning of the season. I hope we see a glimpse of that in this year's play offs.

Click to expand...

With all the injuries, I think we wind up with a 14-2 or 13-3 record which should be enough for the #1 seed.
Even under these less than ideal circumstances, I still like our chances next week against a QB starting his 2nd NFL game.

aluminum seats said:

Agree w/all except your last line.

Spot on about division games...for that reason, always best to avoid division rivals in the playoffs--tough to beat any team 3 times in a season, particularly when they're so familiar. Would love to get the AFC South "champion" in here for the first playoff game, but I suspect the wild card team (KC or Pitt?) will knock them off.

But the key is the line. Time to get those guys healthy, and in some rhythm. Also need to find out just what the hell is it that Cannon does well.

Click to expand...

I think Cannon at RT was the best scenario but the played Vollmer there. I'm assuming that there was a good reason.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

With all the injuries, I think we wind up with a 14-2 or 13-3 record which should be enough for the #1 seed.
Even under these less than ideal circumstances, I still like our chances next week against a QB starting his 2nd NFL game.

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I am seeing 14-2 now, with all the injuries. One loss affected by injuries, and one loss for the last game of the season when we rest most of our starters.

Oline played like it played in the beginning of the year. We see the diff now because brady has to hold on to the ball longer and look for more vertical plays,because all horizontal route pass catchers are injured .

The need to give James White more touches.....may not be Dino Lewis, but he can be a decent contributor

The one thing i love about this team is that we are 10-0, but not complacent. We basically have to reinvent the offense and Brady and company is committed to that.

If DA is out, I expect us to play Harper in the slot with Gronk lining up on the outside in a more 2 WR set.

Man, we are spoiled rotten as a fan base. When we don't put 40 points up we're grumbling and if we don't put 30 points up its a full blown crisis.

I suppose I'm as guilty as anyone of it, but it's going to be a heck of a culture shock for our younger fans when the Tom and Bill show finally comes to an end.

3 straight sub par games in a row and 2 of the 3 were against terrible defenses. Even the 27 points against the Giants is misleading because one of those touchdowns came directly off an 80 yard Amendola return which put us in amazing field position. For the large parts of the game, the offense was held completely in check.


I'm extremely worried about this offense going forward. This idea that we were going to lose 40 percent of the receptions in Lewis and edleman and keep putting up 35 a game was laughable

I think the O Line panic I ave seen going around is a bit unnecessary. Even though they have under performed through the year they are a very talented bunch and on their day would give a fully healthy O Line a run for their money.

I don't see this team going undefeated. Had we got past the Broncos and had a fully healthy team it might have happened. But once the dust settles and the offense has another week or two of practice under their belts I think we will be okay.

A man named Brady said:

3 straight sub par games in a row and 2 of the 3 were against terrible defenses. Even the 27 points against the Giants is misleading because one of those touchdowns came directly off an 80 yard Amendola return which put us in amazing field position. For the large parts of the game, the offense was held completely in check.


I'm extremely worried about this offense going forward. This idea that we were going to lose 40 percent of the receptions in Lewis and edleman and keep putting up 35 a game was laughable

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It's a three phase game. How do you know we wouldn't have marched down the field and scored anyway? Do you analyse a blowout with what-ifs? What if we hadn't gotten three turnovers that led to scores? Things like that?

Like I said, it's a three phase game.

Well its a road bump but good news is guys like Edelman are coming back for the playoffs.

So if we can get through this rough stretch we should be at full strenghth for the playoffs

JayNM said:

As long we have Brady and Gronk, i believe we have the capacity to score 20 or more points in every game.

Click to expand...

I think this was a hidden issue last night -- Gronk looked sick as a dog. If the team were closer to full strength, I wonder whether he even would have played.

As TB said, Edleman is irreplaceable. He is a huge loss. Gronk will be double and triple teamed now. We need guys like Chandler, Gibson, LaFell and White to really step up. Hope Amendola comes back soon as well. Also, with a week under their belt, hopefully our O-line will be better next week. The first change I would make is moving Cannon to right tackle and Vollmer to LT.