Balanced Attack Will Not Work...We Need To Pass More.

[IcyPatriot]

In a way ... I think today's Miami loss will prove once and for all to Belichick that his stubborness with a balanced attack is futile. Time to go 3 and 4 wide...I mean why not, they're going to blitz Brady anyways...might as well let them pay.

I feel that by playing the 2 TE set to protect Brady all we are doing is making it harder for him to find an open WR. All those players stacked on the line is also hampering the run.

I'm not advocating 80% passing like the old dink and dunk days ... but 70/30 favoring the pass should be minimal. We have a HOF QB handing the ball off way too much for the players that we have. Give Dillon and Maroney a spread out or 3-man front to run on instead of the 5 and 6 wide DL they are staring at... time to let all hell break loose and we'll keep them honest with the run.

Shortage of WR's ... heck no ... we can line up Watson when healthy and Faulk if need be...tired of being beaten by chump teams to prove a point...let's let Brady do what Brady does best ... out of the shotgun if need be.

Rant over .... we have the playoffs ahead...Charlie Weiss never ran the ball this much ... and now is not the time to stick with a broken engine.

Anyone who thinks I'm wrong ... check out our running numbers against poor run defenses ... we sucked compared to other teams. Teams are producing 2X the yardage we did against those teams...we can fix our run attack in the spring and summer.

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

That would be great to pass more, but you have to protect the franchise and give him some weapons.. Right now we dont have any..

 

[A.C Vegas]

ok so let me get this stight earlier this year everyone one was complain that we have no good recievers and that we needed to run more than pass. now that we have a couple of tough running games we need to pass? please explain this too me did we magiclly gain all-pro recivers that get open every play?

 

[IcyPatriot]

ok so let me get this stight earlier this year everyone one was complain that we have no good recievers and that we needed to run more than pass. now that we have a couple of tough running games we need to pass? please explain this too me did we magiclly gain all-pro recivers that get open every play?

We have barely run 3-wide all year....I question whether teams even game plan for it. I think Belichick figured we would go conservative until the WR situation played out...we are running out of time.

Brady is the master at the quick passes...we won a few rings with it before.

Brady is getting killed with 1 and 2 wide ... why stick with it?????

 

[BelichickFan]

I'm the opposite, once Maroney is back we should run 40 times a game and let Brady throw off it.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Brady is the master at the quick passes...we won a few rings with it before.

To complete quick passes means you have to have WR's who are quick to get open. Not only are our WR's not quick to get open they are not even able to get open by going slow.

 

[IcyPatriot]

I'm the opposite, once Maroney is back we should run 40 times a game and let Brady throw off it.

fine...then let him run while we line up 3-wide...this 2-TE formation is going to get Brady killed...it's not working very well. Perhaps that falls on McDaniels for not using them right...but we're stuck with McDaniels so I say 3-wide...Maroney in the back...let Brady call his own plays.

 

[A.C Vegas]

I'll admit I haven't seen the last 2 games in full but i would guess that he didn't get hit that hard aganst Detriot. so that would leave games aganst the Bears and Dophins 2 of the top defenses in the NFL do you really think that spreadin out a few recievers was going to stop Jason Taylor for getting back there. Sure passsing will help but with maroney/dillon/faulk you need to play off of them

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

We have barely run 3-wide all year....I question whether teams even game plan for it. I think Belichick figured we would go conservative until the WR situation played out...we are running out of time.

Brady is the master at the quick passes...we won a few rings with it before.

Brady is getting killed with 1 and 2 wide ... why stick with it?????

It really does not matter what formation or amount of receivers we are attempting to run in a play,We simply don't have a good enough group of WR players to get open and I don't care if you have 3-4 mediocre receivers on the field at once,they are not gonna catch it if they can't get away from the D-man covering them,at least once in a while would be nice but I have yet to see it more than just occasionally and that was against poor pass defensive teams like Cincy,Minnesota ect:.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

fine...then let him run while we line up 3-wide...this 2-TE formation is going to get Brady killed...it's not working very well. Perhaps that falls on McDaniels for not using them right...but we're stuck with McDaniels so I say 3-wide...Maroney in the back...let Brady call his own plays.

I don't follow this logic at all.

We are as futile as it gets when running 2 WR's who shouldn't be starters in this league but are because they are the best we have and you want to add a 3rd WR who wasn't even playing football a month ago?

 

[IcyPatriot]

It really does not matter what formation or amount of receivers we are attempting to run in a play,We simply don't have a good enough group of WR players to get open and I don't care if you have 3-4 mediocre receivers on the field at once,they are not gonna catch it if they can't get away from the D-man covering them,at least once in a while would be nice but I have yet to see it more than just occasionally and that was against poor pass defensive teams like Cincy,Minnesota ect:.

In a way, it matters alot. We are in the 2 WR set too much ... it's like unless we run a gadget play ... they pretty much know what's coming.

The beauty of Charlie Weiss is he would call an entire game barley running the same play twice. The list of plays we run now is way too short and like I said...brady is getting pounded. We did pretty good running 3 wide the last 2 weeks...I mean when we ran it. Except for the end of the game...I'm not sure they even ran it once today in the 1st 3 quaters...Taylor knew he had time to get in there.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I'm starting to wonder how in the world we beat the Bears. Their defense is a lot better than Miami's and yet Miami makes the NE offense look like swiss cheese the other day. Something's very wrong. Have the defensive coordinators around the league finally figured out the perfect gameplan to beat the Pats? More importantly can the Pats win another game down the stretch? Adjustments really have to be made but I'm not sure what. Everything looks pretty grim right now. Well I guess we did have Maroney for the Bears game... and Seau.

 

[Tunescribe]

I'm not advocating 80% passing like the old dink and dunk days ...

Why not? I think it might be time to go back to the "dink and dunk" days. Our receivers can't get open down the field and we can't run the ball with consistent success. I say go back to the 1- to 5-yard pass patterns and matriculate that ball down the field, boys.

 

[BelichickFan]

I'm starting to wonder how in the world we beat the Bears. Their defense is a lot better than Miami's and yet Miami makes the NE offense look like swiss cheese the other day.

I think it was a matchup thing. Lovie comes from the Tampa 2 tree, they may be really good but we've played that a lot and know how to attack it. The other games, Saban, Mangini, Henderson (Detroit) are different. If we could just face all Tampa 2 teams in the playoffs

 

[BelichickFan]

fine...then let him run while we line up 3-wide...this 2-TE formation is going to get Brady killed...it's not working very well. Perhaps that falls on McDaniels for not using them right...but we're stuck with McDaniels so I say 3-wide...Maroney in the back...let Brady call his own plays.

We have more blocking options, if we choose to use them, with the TE. But your title premise of "we need to pass more", I just don't agree with. We need to play defense. Run the ball. Throw off it. And get a real Punter.

 

[Brownfan80]

Your post makes a lot of sense, and it should be tried, because one never knows if something will work, or wont work, if stubborness doesnt allow you to try it.


Hell, everyone here might LOVE LIVER, but they will never know because they refuse to try it.

Just because something isn't run on gameday does not indicate stubborness. If something is tried in practice without success, then it won't be run on gameday. It's that simple. And we have no idea what the coaching staff has tried in practice, so it's very hard for us fans to judge.

What three WRs would we field consistently, particularly now that Gabe is gone? Brown, Caldwell and Gaffney? I'm not sure that those three guys would be effective in a three wide set.

An offense runs with the people it has, this offense is not well equipped for a three or four wide set on a regular basis. Bad OL protection + Bad WR play = more spread passing? I don't see it.

 

[Brownfan80]

I believe we are about to see the return of Chad. BTW, I cant stand the name, "Chad."

Oh come on, don't get 'hung up' on 'chad'.

The problem with that philosophy is that practice sessions are run against your own teammates who, for the most part, know what the offense is doing, and it usually is not run at full speed with full contact.

Just because it might not work in practice is no true indication as to how it might work in game conditions against a team that may not know what particular play is coming, or what route is being run. I believe that different plays and different routes are worth attempting in game situations.

One example is that they need to try a post pattern instead of the deep sideliine go , or fly, route. We have never completed that route, so why the hell to we keep trying it. Its time to change the deep routes to see if something else is better than the sideline fly pattern.

I am not suggesting we do it all the time, but damn it, at least give it a shot now and then. You never know what you might have if you dont try it.

And, thats just one route that I think we are overlooking....but thats all I will answer for now.

I understand your frustration. I think it's normal for fans, especially ones used to success, to become frustrated when your team struggles in an area. But we really, as fans, just have to accept that we don't know anything about why things are being done. Look at the Gabriel situation. Something was going on behind the scenes. Something that the coaches know that we dont, which caused them to do something that we don't understand.

I think it's the same with the playcalls/gameplans/packages they're running. They're doing things based on information we don't know and can't understand because of that. We can't really judge their decisions based on that fact.

All we DO know is that our coach is one that puts winning first and foremost. If anything was being done that he didn't agree with as being in the best interest of trying to win, he'd change it. I think that's about all we can believe right now.

We've just gotta buck up, and hang on for the rest of this weird, weird season.

 

[big mike]

In a way ... I think today's Miami loss will prove once and for all to Belichick that his stubborness with a balanced attack is futile. Time to go 3 and 4 wide...I mean why not, they're going to blitz Brady anyways...might as well let them pay.

I feel that by playing the 2 TE set to protect Brady all we are doing is making it harder for him to find an open WR. All those players stacked on the line is also hampering the run.

Hampering the run? Huh? The Pats averaged 4.9 ypc - how is that hampered?
Against a defense like Miami's, that focuses so much on pressuring the QB while the CBs double cover the WRs man-to-man, with the safeties playing deep, they are very vulernable to the run and screen passes to the RBs. Focusing more on passing would be playing to their strength. Unfortunately that's what the Pats did Sunday, and IMO why they lost. The run was WORKING, even with Maroney out.

The Pats averaged 2.0 yards per pass, and 4.9 yards per carry - and you're saying they should have passed more? The TEs did go out for a lot of passes - unfortunately the rush was getting to Brady before they could get past the LBs.

Against D-Lines that focus so much on (and are so good at) pressuring the QB, you RUN THE BALL. Look at Indy - they have a light, fast D-Line that is great at rushing the passer - but they're very vulnerable against the run. Same as MIami.

Anyone who thinks I'm wrong ... check out our running numbers against poor run defenses ... we sucked compared to other teams. Teams are producing 2X the yardage we did against those teams...we can fix our run attack in the spring and summer.

Because WE DIDN'T RUN THE BALL. Look at our # of attempts against Indy and Miami- not many. THAT is why we aren't putting up as many rushing yards, because we're not running it nearly as much against those poor run defenses, not because we're not ABLE to run it. We still averaged 4.9 ypc against Miami and 4.5 ypc against Indy.

 

[BelichickFan]

I'm with big mike, we need to strongly emphasize the run. It'll be tough to do it to the extent that I want (40-45 carries a game) until Maroney gets back as 15-20 is about the limit for Dillon now.

 

[BelichickFan]

Assuming you are correct, who is to fault for that?

The Head Coach.