Game Thoughts - Brady is looking for a retirement home with a moat edition

[supafly]

and Sudfeld never turned around on the INT

I am very frustrated with the play of the TE's, much more than the WR's.

It's possible that I am being too hard on them due to obviously having some hand in the 2/3 game success of the running game, but Hooman, Mulligan, and Sudfeld have disappointed the hell out of me.

With the WR's it seems that there is plenty of reason for optimism, but with the TE's I feel that the talent is just not there at all. Hopefully I am wrong, and the return of Gronk will somehow mask the poor play of the other 3.

Seeing Hooman fail to even put a hat on any of the defenders that took down the direct snap RB today was frustrating to say the least. He was directly involved in the play as it was ran to his side, and as we all saw the play failed to pick up the several yds needed for the first down. To me that is inexcusable. He simply stood there at a half jog and didn't even attempt to block anyone at all.

 

[DarrylS]

I am very frustrated with the play of the TE's, much more than the WR's.

It's possible that I am being too hard on them due to obviously having some hand in the 2/3 game success of the running game, but Hooman, Mulligan, and Sudfeld have disappointed the hell out of me.

With the WR's it seems that there is plenty of reason for optimism, but with the TE's I feel that the talent is just not there at all. Hopefully I am wrong, and the return of Gronk will somehow mask the poor play of the other 3.

Seeing Hooman fail to even put a hat on any of the defenders that took down the direct snap RB today was frustrating to say the least. He was directly involved in the play as it was ran to his side, and as we all saw the play failed to pick up the several yds needed for the first down. To me that is inexcusable. He simply stood there at a half jog and didn't even attempt to block anyone at all.

I agree completely, it seems as though in the past we have about 4 reliable offensive "type" of plays in the pass game; slot receivers, TE's, backs and WR's in almost that order. As we have moved 4 to #1, and #2 to almost nothing it has to have an impact on this offense...

The reversal of roles has a negative effect on the Offense...

There are not enough screens utilized to help open up the run game... it will come together though.

 

[Rob0729]

I am very frustrated with the play of the TE's, much more than the WR's.

It's possible that I am being too hard on them due to obviously having some hand in the 2/3 game success of the running game, but Hooman, Mulligan, and Sudfeld have disappointed the hell out of me.

With the WR's it seems that there is plenty of reason for optimism, but with the TE's I feel that the talent is just not there at all. Hopefully I am wrong, and the return of Gronk will somehow mask the poor play of the other 3.

Seeing Hooman fail to even put a hat on any of the defenders that took down the direct snap RB today was frustrating to say the least. He was directly involved in the play as it was ran to his side, and as we all saw the play failed to pick up the several yds needed for the first down. To me that is inexcusable. He simply stood there at a half jog and didn't even attempt to block anyone at all.

I agree that TEs are a bigger problem with the offense, but I think with Gronk back that will be less of a problem. I think Sudfeld will benefit most from going to TE #1 on certain plays to being the complimentary TE to Gronk. Let Gronk draw primary coverage and let Sudfeld take more of a Hernandez role (although he isn't the same type of TE as Hernandez so they will have to modify how they use him).

Sudfeld show too much in the preseason to make me think that he is completely useless. He just isn't ready to be the primary TE receiver. I think he needs to grow into the position and the Pats have been forced to throw him in the deep end.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

[*]I think many of Brady's struggles is his lack of confidence in his receivers and his desire to do too much. Once the receivers started to click, Brady started to become money (except three goalline throws which two were due to poor pass protection.

I think "confidence" is the wrong word. I think it's more a matter of familiarity. He doesn't know exactly how his receivers will separate from coverage or how they will read the coverage. Therefore, it takes him longer to make his reads, because he has to think about it. It also leads to missed connections. For example,

I think it was Thompkins who was running a slant from the outside; the underneath defender had carried the deep inside route so far upfield that there was nobody nearby. Brady expected Thompkins to continue his route and catch the ball in stride, but Thompkins settled into the zone seam, making his literal read against a zone. Brady was confidently expecting Thompkins to adjust his read based on the blown coverage and keep moving, but KT needed that play to learn it. Similarly, on the miss with Dobson in the end zone, he ran to the open space vacated by the safety, but Brady threw the conservative low ball, figuring Dobson would be there to catch the TD. In this case, Dobson read the coverage, and TB made the automatic throw, rather than the other way around. I'm not sure whose fault that one is. If that were Welker, Branch, Thompkins, or Edelman, you would expect the low ball to be the right one. With Gronk, it would be the high ball, and I suspect that with Dobson breaking for the back of the end zone, the high ball would be the right one, too. That's a familiarity issue, not a trust issue.

That's not saying there aren't confidence issues, too. That play where both Edelman and Thompkins were breaking open downfiled, and Tom was focused on the higher-percentage ball, perhaps was a confidence issue. I just think that's less an issue and that the talk of confidence and trust (in general) is overblown. He's giving those guys chances to make plays. That's confident enough for me.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

very good post.

The Dobson incomplete/Sudfeld INT sequence was Bad Brady, but as you said: TB has an above-average defense. I don't think Dobson ran hard the whole way through his route and Sudfeld never turned around on the INT.

Brady on the radio said he was targeting Dob on the pick

 

[Oswlek]

I'm not insightful enough to explain why, but Brady definitely had a down game (for him) missing on several throws that weren't remotely defense related, as well as missing on a number or reads as well.

Not that I'm concerned about it being an ever-present problem, but I don't see the harm in mentioning it.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

I agree that TEs are a bigger problem with the offense, but I think with Gronk back that will be less of a problem. I think Sudfeld will benefit most from going to TE #1 on certain plays to being the complimentary TE to Gronk.

I think Sudfeld will benefit from Gronk returning by getting more practice time before he needs to be out on the field. In the 2 TE sets, we'll probably see Hooman back in the move role, and the one who will benefit most is Ridley. Our WRs are a far better pass-catchign option than Sudfeld, and he really doesn't offer much as a blocker. I wouldn't be surprised to see him as a regular on the inactive list once Gronk is back in the swing of things full-time. A red-shirt year, a year in the weight room, and some Dante time to learn how to block will be necessary to see what Sudfeld is really worth. Right now, I think it's not much, but maybe he'll prove me wrong and start catching some balls when there's a favorable match-up for the 2TE sets.

 

[I am party]

Seeing Hooman fail to even put a hat on any of the defenders that took down the direct snap RB today was frustrating to say the least. He was directly involved in the play as it was ran to his side, and as we all saw the play failed to pick up the several yds needed for the first down. To me that is inexcusable. He simply stood there at a half jog and didn't even attempt to block anyone at all.

Regarding just that specific play, you should watch it again.

Hooman did his job. He pushed his man (Trevor Scott, #71) 4 yards past the LOS and held the block long enough.

The reason that play failed was that McCoy (#93) got way too much penetration on Connolly (#63) at the snap. This forced Bolden to take a wider turn around the corner, giving the Bucs D more time to pursue.

Leonard Johnson (#29) is the one who actually made the initial tackle after shedding Dobson's block. By the time Mark Barron and Trevor Scott got to Bolden, he was already on the way down after being tripped up by Johnson. But McCoy is the one who blew up the play.

Hooman wasn't really at fault there. If I had to blame someone on that play I'd blame Connolly.

 

[Kontradiction]

Regarding just that specific play, you should watch it again.

Hooman did his job. He pushed his man (Trevor Scott, #71) 4 yards past the LOS and held the block long enough.

The reason that play failed was that McCoy (#93) got way too much penetration on Connolly (#63) at the snap. This forced Bolden to take a wider turn around the corner, giving the Bucs D more time to pursue.

Leonard Johnson (#29) is the one who actually made the initial tackle after shedding Dobson's block. By the time Mark Barron and Trevor Scott got to Bolden, he was already on the way down after being tripped up by Johnson. But McCoy is the one who blew up the play.

Hooman wasn't really at fault there. If I had to blame someone on that play I'd blame Connolly.

Both Connolly and Wendell turned in rough games yesterday. I saw what you saw on that play.

 

[supafly]

Regarding just that specific play, you should watch it again.

Hooman did his job. He pushed his man (Trevor Scott, #71) 4 yards past the LOS and held the block long enough.

The reason that play failed was that McCoy (#93) got way too much penetration on Connolly (#63) at the snap. This forced Bolden to take a wider turn around the corner, giving the Bucs D more time to pursue.

Leonard Johnson (#29) is the one who actually made the initial tackle after shedding Dobson's block. By the time Mark Barron and Trevor Scott got to Bolden, he was already on the way down after being tripped up by Johnson. But McCoy is the one who blew up the play.

Hooman wasn't really at fault there. If I had to blame someone on that play I'd blame Connolly.

Both Connolly and Wendell turned in rough games yesterday. I saw what you saw on that play.

Good stuff, thanks for the recap. I only saw it once in real time, so I appreciate the breakdown.

Sooooo....I can move on to being disappointed in Connelly then?