Josh McDaniels failure to make adjustments

convertedpatsfan · Jan 25, 2016

TeamFirst said:
Losing Dion Lewis and not having a replacement hurt this offense big time.

James White was a huge disappointment yesterday and was targeted something like 16 times.

They didn't replace the important pieces they lost to injury and thought they could get by.

The lack of replacing the key injuries cost this team the win yesterday and a few others during the season not JM.

We did have a replacement for Lewis. It was Blount. Then he got hurt too.

Out of curiosity, who exactly would you have filled those key injuries with? Was there a starting-level RB out there that we didn't talk to? A starting LT? What about an all-pro TE or #1 WR?

Who exactly can you fill these voids with that was readily available?

They started 13 different starting OL combinations, the most in 22 years. They pieced together 37 different OL combinations throughout the season, with 0 OL starters from 2014 playing the entire season, and 2 starters from 2014 on the IR. At times their entire interior OL was rookies, including an undrafted free agent. At times they were flanked by former PSer Fleming.

The Patriots were 4th in most players on injured reserve. They were 10th in terms of most amount of cap space spent on injured reserve players, 3rd-highest among playoff teams and the only team in the top 10 to make it to the CG.

You can fill some of those spots, but when you're a top-5 team in terms of IR players, you're going to struggle with depth. The surprise isn't that it happened, but rather how competitive we were despite it all.

BelizePats · Jan 25, 2016

Don't forget that they also lost Devlin for the year. Their best blocking fullback.
The entire backfield gone for the year and it caught up with us. How they got this far is beyond me given the injuries they sustained throughout the year.

To get to and win the Super Bowl, you have to be lucky with injuries. We were pretty fortunate last year.
This year not so much!

MrNathanDrake · Jan 25, 2016

ivanvamp said:
Guys, we need to keep in mind a few things.

1. The Broncos' defense played a game for the ages. Really. The most hits on a QB in 10 years? Incredible.

So did the Giant defense. and the Ravens. and the Jets.

Brady is labeled the GOAT. BB is labeled the GOAT coach. The Patriots are labeled a Dynasty. Teams always have and always will "get up" to play the Pats and give their best performance possible.

No one will underestimate the Pats. People should be used to that by now. The team just has to deal with it.

stcjones · Jan 26, 2016

ivanvamp said:
Guys, we need to keep in mind a few things.

1. The Broncos' defense played a game for the ages. Really. The most hits on a QB in 10 years? Incredible.

2. Peyton Manning played a very clean game. Not a great game, but at this stage of his career, he played as well as he could play.

3. Home field very much favored Denver here, as they teed off on the snap and Brady, due to the crowd noise, couldn't make snap call adjustments.

4. Denver got a few key calls from the refs (see: Did Broncos get away with pass interference on Gronkowski? - CBSSports.com).

5. The best kicker in the NFL - perhaps in the history of the sport - missed his first PAT since 2006.

6. Heck, even the stupid tablets went out on New England for about a quarter.

7. The Patriots were the most injured team in the NFL this season.

All that and the Patriots STILL only lost by two points. No other team with a similar number of injuries would have come close to the same success the Patriots had this year. No other team would have had their QB suffer the kind of beating Brady took yesterday and still would have been in the football game, never mind driving the team down the field for the tying touchdown in the waning moments.

We have a phenomenal team, with tremendous players and coaches. They don't get everything right. They're human. But they get a hell of a lot more right than wrong, and year in and year out they do one of the best jobs in the entire league.

#1 is why we primarily lost the game....wet paper bag OL is why Denver looked like the greatest defense in the history of the game and posted the MOST QB hits in the past 10 years.....think about that and rearrange it....WORST OL PLAY in the past 10 years in the NFL. They should be embarrassed. Terrible to watch the greatest of all time getting pounded play after play ....taking the WORST HITS of his career....you also mention coaching being excellent....couldn't disagree more. This was a piss poor year of coaching starting at the top....BB made some of the worst coaching decisions in his career this year....and it cost this team. Yes we had a lot of injuries and that is very hard.....but we had NO WR (besides eddy) and NO running game....to start the year. You tie up Edelman.....triple gronk and constantly get pressure/hits on Brady.....you beat the Patriots. Pretty predictable recipe if u follow it

Someone mentioned "well hey our elite OL player was on IR that hurt us". Hope you aren't referring to Solder .....because he's as average as the rest we have out there now

OL needs a COMPLETE overhaul.

PatsFanSince74 · Jan 26, 2016

McDaniels. Keep him. Dump him. I don't know. My only question is, can he put on a pair of cleats and protect the passer?...then we keep him.

RhodyPatriot · Jan 26, 2016

SVN said:
They won the SB last yr by calling a great game. They get a pass for the whole yr IMO .

How pathetic!! Why are you here?? There is nothing to talk about because they won last year.

RhodyPatriot · Jan 26, 2016

I.M. Fletcher said:
James white lead our team in targets. If white comes down with 1 or 2 more throws, we win the game.

Don't you mean if Brady made better throws we win the game?? White was open and Brady could not hit him.

Froob · Jan 26, 2016

It's hard to blame McDaniels too much, a bad offensive line just about ruins any chance there is for a good offense. It's like trying to drive a car with beat to **** tires.

Pats2000 · Jan 26, 2016

MrNathanDrake said:
There was very little help for the Offensive Tackles all game, even though they obviously needed it. This was pure stubbornness and arrogance from Josh McDaniels.

They were counting on Brady getting the ball out in 2 seconds every snap. They thought they could come in with the exact same game plan they had against the Chiefs and impose their will. It failed from the very first possession and the coaches never made adjustments.

Even after Ware and Miller abused our OT's, the Patriots failed to adjust and give the OT's any help in the 2nd half from TE's and RB's. Whats the point of having a 285lbs TE like Michael Williams if we never use him to help block? Why did we pick up Scott Chandler if we aren't going to use the 2 TE set?

Even after showing that we couldn't establish a run game, we still didnt get James White active in the passing game until the 4th qtr. That's when our offense finally started moving, but it was too late. Did we forget how big of a role Vereen played as a pass catcher against the Seahawks in SB 49? He was the x-factor that night and White could've provided a spark earlier on.

It seemed Brady was locked on Gronkowski from the first snap throughout the entire game. Why not get Keshawn Martin more involved? Why was LaFell even on the field (0 catches, 0 yards)? All LaFell did was take up a spot that could've been used to help block for Brady.

Far too predictable. Far too vanilla. No trick plays. No end arounds. Straight runs up the middle failing every time. No runs off tackle. No pitches. No screen plays. Nothing. The way I will remember that game is Brady getting killed and forcing it to Gronk every chance he got. Worst offensive game plan ever?

That's stupid, how many guys are you going to keep in to block exactly? Their secondary was all over us. What we really needed was someone to act like a blocker rather than a statue that the outside and inside pass rush could dance around like nimble elves before they decided to run straight at Brady and hit him on 80% of his drop backs.

Not much adjustment you can make there with less than 2 seconds of protection on many throws. Denver D played out of their minds this game, and took away the quick short crossing route. They completely nullified our offensive strengths and still barely won the game.

Screens only work if you are faster than the defense, and that defense was killing us on speed. So no, Denver played a great game, and I don't think there were too many adjustments to be made. The Pats will fix their Oline issue and be a contender again next year.

everlong · Jan 26, 2016

Isn't Bill's primary MO don't let their best player beat you? Therefore wouldn't it make sense that you look at it and say Von Miller vs Marcus Cannon is like Deltha O'Neal man up on Antonio Brown with no safety help over the top? They came out spread with no help and never adjusted even though Brady was getting killed.

I said it in another thread but Time + Space = Opportunity. A quarter second chip on Miller and Ware might get you a second of added time. Sure you lose space but you gain time. Charlie Weiss understood this. David Givens would have been chipping Sunday.

Josh gets it in his head that Space alone will grant you time and thus opportunity. He thinks eventually the defense will breakdown and more often than not he's right. Unfortunately SB 42 and this game he was DEAD WRONG. Josh has a bad case of the Mike Martz shakes where he screaming "Spread" in the scream voice from the old "Sega" commercials.

Sure the O-Line sucked and deserved it's share of the blame but the coaches knew going in they had their issues and couldn't be depended on. On every thread before the game myself and hundreds of others said the only way the Broncos win this game is if the O-Line is an epic fail and it came true. If all of us novices were this clairvoyant then the coaches and in particular the OC is open game for criticism.

Ring 6 · Jan 26, 2016

MrNathanDrake said:
There was very little help for the Offensive Tackles all game, even though they obviously needed it. This was pure stubbornness and arrogance from Josh McDaniels.

They were counting on Brady getting the ball out in 2 seconds every snap. They thought they could come in with the exact same game plan they had against the Chiefs and impose their will. It failed from the very first possession and the coaches never made adjustments.

Even after Ware and Miller abused our OT's, the Patriots failed to adjust and give the OT's any help in the 2nd half from TE's and RB's. Whats the point of having a 285lbs TE like Michael Williams if we never use him to help block? Why did we pick up Scott Chandler if we aren't going to use the 2 TE set?

Even after showing that we couldn't establish a run game, we still didnt get James White active in the passing game until the 4th qtr. That's when our offense finally started moving, but it was too late. Did we forget how big of a role Vereen played as a pass catcher against the Seahawks in SB 49? He was the x-factor that night and White could've provided a spark earlier on.

It seemed Brady was locked on Gronkowski from the first snap throughout the entire game. Why not get Keshawn Martin more involved? Why was LaFell even on the field (0 catches, 0 yards)? All LaFell did was take up a spot that could've been used to help block for Brady.

Far too predictable. Far too vanilla. No trick plays. No end arounds. Straight runs up the middle failing every time. No runs off tackle. No pitches. No screen plays. Nothing. The way I will remember that game is Brady getting killed and forcing it to Gronk every chance he got. Worst offensive game plan ever?

This post reads like a 3rd grader discussing college level physics.

I.M. Fletcher · Jan 26, 2016

RhodyPatriot said:
Don't you mean if Brady made better throws we win the game?? White was open and Brady could not hit him.

what i said and what you said are not mutually exclusive.

SVN · Jan 26, 2016

RhodyPatriot said:
How pathetic!! Why are you here?? There is nothing to talk about because they won last year.

Iam here to follow the team. Not to blame one guy for everything when the sky falls and extrapolate to 'X' sucks.
Ok.Lets fire McDaniels. Tell me a replacement then. Sometimes other teams/coaches also get you. **** happens. They all messed up including BB.

reflexblue · Jan 26, 2016

SVN said:
Iam here to follow the team. Not to blame one guy for everything when the sky falls and extrapolate to 'X' sucks.
Ok.Lets fire McDaniels. Tell me a replacement then. Sometimes other teams/coaches also get you. **** happens. They all messed up including BB.

i think he was being sarcastic.

SVN · Jan 26, 2016

reflexblue said:
i think he was being sarcastic.

I thought too but wasnt sure. My sarcasm meter is off. Sorry to the OP.

tasmlab · Jan 26, 2016

TeamFirst said:
Losing Dion Lewis and not having a replacement hurt this offense big time.

James White was a huge disappointment yesterday and was targeted something like 16 times.

They didn't replace the important pieces they lost to injury and thought they could get by.

The lack of replacing the key injuries cost this team the win yesterday and a few others during the season not JM.

IIRC, Brady was throwing the ball two yards in front of White several times.

DropKickFlutie · Jan 26, 2016

The entire right side of the O-Line was getting destroyed all game - Kline and Cannon were getting beat on majority of plays. Vollmer couldn't handle left tackle. Also zero push inside and no running game.

Outside of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkoswki, the offense resembled the 2011 Rams Offense that Josh McDaniels led in last place that year for offense, ranked 32 out of 32, which averaged 11.8 points per game. This includes not just the predictability but also the rash of injuries. Take away the fact Brady is almost indestructible and Gronkowski is a beast, and it's basically that 2011 offense (Sam Bradford took similar huge hits, and they also lost their RBs and O-line that year).

Josh McDaniels keeps getting beat the same way, whether it's the Giants Superbowl, or Broncos AFCCG, or even 2006 Colts AFCCG. He doesn't know what to do against a good outside pass rush. His solution, instead of say running screens or traps behind these sprinting defensive linemen, is to go spread 4-wide and let 38-year-old Brady take the MOST HITS in the PAST 10 YEARS in a game. He did the same thing in 2005 and 2006, hasn't learned. Brady is the toughest QB but he can't keep taking viscous hits all game as PART of the play-calls going on.

Attacking “Psycho” fronts and other blitz heavy defensive looks | Smart Football

One thing I will give him credit for is he finally learned, only after about 6 years, calling more plays with Brady under center and not going 4-wide every single play. He still never understood the 2TE system however - not surprised that this has basically disappeared a few years after O'Brien left the team now.

Kontradiction · Jan 26, 2016

Sciz said:
How the hell do you adjust to three individual offensive linemen consistently losing their matchups? Sticking a tight end on the field doesn't fix that.

It's easier to blame coaching than it is to admit there is a deficiency in talent. The coaching wasn't the best by any stretch of the imagination but it's hard as an offensive coordinator to adjust when the defense is reading your center's tells and blowing the OL off the ball.

PatsFan2 · Jan 26, 2016

MrNathanDrake said:
There was very little help for the Offensive Tackles all game, even though they obviously needed it. This was pure stubbornness and arrogance from Josh McDaniels.

They were counting on Brady getting the ball out in 2 seconds every snap. They thought they could come in with the exact same game plan they had against the Chiefs and impose their will. It failed from the very first possession and the coaches never made adjustments.

Even after Ware and Miller abused our OT's, the Patriots failed to adjust and give the OT's any help in the 2nd half from TE's and RB's. Whats the point of having a 285lbs TE like Michael Williams if we never use him to help block? Why did we pick up Scott Chandler if we aren't going to use the 2 TE set?

Even after showing that we couldn't establish a run game, we still didnt get James White active in the passing game until the 4th qtr. That's when our offense finally started moving, but it was too late. Did we forget how big of a role Vereen played as a pass catcher against the Seahawks in SB 49? He was the x-factor that night and White could've provided a spark earlier on.

It seemed Brady was locked on Gronkowski from the first snap throughout the entire game. Why not get Keshawn Martin more involved? Why was LaFell even on the field (0 catches, 0 yards)? All LaFell did was take up a spot that could've been used to help block for Brady.

Far too predictable. Far too vanilla. No trick plays. No end arounds. Straight runs up the middle failing every time. No runs off tackle. No pitches. No screen plays. Nothing. The way I will remember that game is Brady getting killed and forcing it to Gronk every chance he got. Worst offensive game plan ever?

The Game plan and Coaching adjustments or lack their of reminds me of that Giants Super Bowl Game...the near perfect season.

When DC's with stacked decks rivals MacDaniels he's pretty clueless. It's been proven time and time again that a Great Defense can destroy a Great Offense. Broncos had a excellent game plan on Defense and McStubborn had no answer for it. Watching Marcus Cannon who sucks to begin with on an Island reminds me of Max Lane getting repeatedly abused by Reggie White in that SB against Green Bay. I thought I was watching Bledsoe on Sunday no lie.

Nunchucks · Jan 26, 2016

PatsFan2 said:
The Game plan and Coaching adjustments or lack their of reminds me of that Giants Super Bowl Game...the near perfect season. When DC's with stacked decks rivals MacDaniels he's pretty clueless. It's been proven time and time again that a Great Defense can destroy a Great Offense. Broncos had a excellent game plan on Defense and McStubborn had no answer for it. Watching Marcus Cannon who sucks to begin with on an Island reminds me of Max Lane getting repeatedly abused by Reggie White in that SB against Green Bay. I thought I was watching Bledson on Sunday no lie.

How do you game plan for a unit of 5 that cannot block 3 guys?

Patriots need a running game.

Josh McDaniels failure to make adjustments

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