Hybrid SuperBeast!! Patriots Merge 2004, 2007, & 2010 Offenses!!

[PATSYLICIOUS]

When Jake Ballard returns to the field, watch out. this year has been great but I feel next year is going to make god a fan.

On top of that, it's even more amazing about this year when you consider the injuries on OL and injuries to Gronk/Ahern. Ahern has been full speed/strength for 1 game this year. Gronk has been either out or hobbled for all but 3 or 4 games where he was his usual self. To my recollection, our offense was pretty healthy all around in 2007 and 2010.

 

[Off The Grid]

What a thread full of Fail.

Say...

Anyone want to guess the most points ever scored in 5 days by one team, in this League's 90 years??

An Hint: 59 + 49 = 108!!

Love ya, Brother Stone, but I couldn't resist!!

 

[mayoclinic]

Say...

Anyone want to guess the most points ever scored in 5 days by one team, in this League's 90 years??

An Hint: 59 + 49 = 108!!

Love ya, Brother Stone, but I couldn't resist!!

The Pats put up 87 points in 5 quarters of football, and that included going scoreless in the 1st quarter against the Jets. They had the football for just over 2 minutes TOP in the 2nd quarter against the Jets, and put up 35 points.

If that's what "fail" is like, give me more.

 

[Off The Grid]

A note...

There is no question that my prayers ~ and those of Brother Mayo and others ~ have been answered, in that this Offense is substantially more evocative of the 2004 Offense ~ including its Power Running Game ~ and the 2010 Offense ~ the arrival of the best Tight End and the best Wing Back in the entire Game ~ than of the 2007 Air Brady Offense...and I thank the Gods for that.

But leave us not forget: neither the 2004 Offense nor the 2010 boasted a legitimate Split End.

The 2004 Offense was balanced enough ~ and committed enough to Using The Whole Pig ~ that our Running Game prevented Defenses from taking away our narrowly concentrated Weaponry ~ because it wasn't narrowly concentrated ~ something that was unfortunately not true about the narrowly concentrated Patriot Offenses of every single team from 2005 through 2011.

Lloyd has been pretty unspectacular, so far. No argument.

But I don't think you can overstate his Impact on this Offense, as he is the first Split End since Randy Moss who forces the Defense to account for him ~ not vertically, but horizontally ~ and truly spreads the field for Brady and the rest'f'm to do their Work.

 

[VJCPatriot]

If the Pats average 40 ppg over the final 5 games, they will shatter the NFL scoring record and break the 600 point barrier for the first time in league history!

Who's in the way of this record? The 9ers, the Texans, Miami twice, and the Jaguars. Definitely possible to blowout the Phins and the Jags. The question is can we maintain 30+ against the Texans and 9ers respectively.

 

[patsinthesnow]

When Jake Ballard returns to the field, watch out. this year has been great but I feel next year is going to make god a fan.

If the Pats win the SB this year, they should openly come out in 2013 training camp and say the goal is to 19-0. Brady/BB would have won the 4th ring last year, been annointed the best GOAT QB and headcoach, they would need something for motivation.

WR: Welker, Lloyd, Edelman
TE: Gronkowski, Hernandez, Ballard
RB: Ridley, Bolden, Vereen, Demps, Woodhead

This year has been great, but next year will be even more nuts.

 

[mayoclinic]

A note...

There is no question that my prayers ~ and those of Brother Mayo and others ~ have been answered, in that this Offense is substantially more evocative of the 2004 Offense ~ including its Power Running Game ~ and the 2010 Offense ~ the arrival of the best Tight End and the best Wing Back in the entire Game ~ than of the 2007 Air Brady Offense...and I thank the Gods for that.

As an aside, compare the productivity of 2nd year TEs Gronk and Hernandez last year and 2nd year RBs Ridley and Vereen this year:

2011: Gronk and Hernandez combine for 2284 yards from scrimmage and 25 TDs.
2012: Through 11 games Ridley and Vereen have combined for 1294 yards from scrimmage and 12 TDs, which would project over 16 games to 1882 yards from scrimmage and 17 TDs. With Vereen getting more involved, it's not inconceivable that they could combine for 2000 yards from scrimmage.

The Pats revolutionalized the TE position last year. This year they have one of the most effective running back groups in the NFL, and Vereen is just beginning to get incorporated into the offense.

Pretty good productivity from their 2nd year draft picks 2 years in a row.

 

[RobertWeathers]

As an aside, compare the productivity of 2nd year TEs Gronk and Hernandez last year and 2nd year RBs Ridley and Vereen this year:

2011: Gronk and Hernandez combine for 2284 yards from scrimmage and 25 TDs.
2012: Through 11 games Ridley and Vereen have combined for 1294 yards from scrimmage and 12 TDs, which would project over 16 games to 1882 yards from scrimmage and 17 TDs. With Vereen getting more involved, it's not inconceivable that they could combine for 2000 yards from scrimmage.

The Pats revolutionalized the TE position last year. This year they have one of the most effective running back groups in the NFL, and Vereen is just beginning to get incorporated into the offense.

Pretty good productivity from their 2nd year draft picks 2 years in a row.

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Bolden when he is eligible for the HOU game (and if his knee is ok). While the running game overall and Vereen's ability have been impressive, I thought Bolden added a nice hard-hitting dimention to the backfield corps and with Ridley on a pace to hit 300 carries, I'd be nice to have another power-back that can get the ball and hammer away at a defense.

However, with his injury and his time time away, he's dangerously close to getting buried on the depth chart. We'll see.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

If the Pats average 40 ppg over the final 5 games, they will shatter the NFL scoring record and break the 600 point barrier for the first time in league history!

Who's in the way of this record? The 9ers, the Texans, Miami twice, and the Jaguars. Definitely possible to blowout the Phins and the Jags. The question is can we maintain 30+ against the Texans and 9ers respectively.

We need that record. Otherwise we'll still be behind...

Oh that's right ... never mind.

 

[WhoaDirty]

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Bolden when he is eligible for the HOU game (and if his knee is ok). While the running game overall and Vereen's ability have been impressive, I thought Bolden added a nice hard-hitting dimention to the backfield corps and with Ridley on a pace to hit 300 carries, I'd be nice to have another power-back that can get the ball and hammer away at a defense.

However, with his injury and his time time away, he's dangerously close to getting buried on the depth chart. We'll see.

With Vereen playing the way he has been the last couple games, and Ridley and Woodhead being solid all year, how often do you expect Bolden to hit the field?

 

[RobertWeathers]

With Vereen playing the way he has been the last couple games, and Ridley and Woodhead being solid all year, how often do you expect Bolden to hit the field?

Well...with his time off I expect garbage time minutes from here on out and maybe a carry here or there.

Just saying that IMO the team needs (and I'm sure that they are) to keep an eye on Ridley's carries as this is his 1st year with a heavy workload. Bolden was starting to get a decent amount of carries for the reasons I mentioned. Did he get them because Vereen was injured and just coming back? Not sure.

With that said, the team as a whole has been running the ball approx 34 times a game and with Ridley getting 19 or so carries that leaves about 15 carries to be divided b/t/w Vereen and Woody which is an embarassment of riches IMO. Since neither one of those two guys bring the power that Bolden does, its nice to have that option.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

If the Pats win the SB this year, they should openly come out in 2013 training camp and say the goal is to 19-0. Brady/BB would have won the 4th ring last year, been annointed the best GOAT QB and headcoach, they would need something for motivation.

WR: Welker, Lloyd, Edelman
TE: Gronkowski, Hernandez, Ballard
RB: Ridley, Bolden, Vereen, Demps, Woodhead

This year has been great, but next year will be even more nuts.

If you want to know what the Pats should come out and openly say the goal is, just look at your handy-dandy schedule page.

As of right now, they should come out and openly say that they are working on beating the juggernaut that is the Miami Dolphins.

Come on man, think. All those lovable Gloom-isms will keep pouring out of Belichick... the next time he hits the podium he's going to talk up the Dolphins and try to emphasize as much as possible that it's an uphill battle to win this game.

There's a reason he comes at it that way... it's the discipline of saying "don't let anything go to your head... you're still facing a team of highly paid elite athletes in superb condition. You look at it that way and you still have to be hungry and work hard, whether you're "supposed" to win or not.

Oh enough bloviating... allow me to demonstrate...

You know, any time you play... you play a team, an awful good team like the Dolphins, underrated, that's how I would put it, underrated. Ryan Tannehill's a talented quarteback, going to be a talented leader in this league a lot of ways for a long time. If we execute we just hope we, you know, we do some of those things to contain him, on some of those big plays, keep it to a low roar (laughter). We're glad to have Aqib here and we'll need him to bring...we need everybody to bring their A game... Everybody on that roster, Brian Hartline, Anthony Fasano, you can go down the line -- everybody knows Richie Incognito... they're quality players with a quality coaching staff. I just hope, you know, you look at tape of us in the Jets game, there are those things we have to do better. I just hope we'll have more of that fixed, you know, and don't come up with new things... every game in the NFL, just about every opponent it's a thin margin, and any time Reggie Bush is on the field, that margin is never safe. Tommy's been doing okay, Vince has been doing better this last year or two on the other side of the ball. That helps. Julian shows some promise. I guess Wes gives us some things we can do in the middle of the field -- so we hope we can match up with them if we play our best game.
​

You really think this guy is coming out at the start of next season and stating his goal of going 19-0? He's not going to talk about the second game out, never mind the 19th. You know, because every team is this daunting world-class powerhouse we'll be lucky to survive.

 

[patfanken]

The effectiveness and flexibility of this offense has been positively scary, especially given the amount of injuries they have had to play through. The OL missing starters is epic. I doubt there is a team in the league that had more starter games missed. IIRC only Nate Solder hasn't missed a game, and this from an OL that started the year needing to replace 3 starters. Its truly been remarkable what has been accomplished on the OL from the end of last season to this one.

THEN you have consider that in an offense that was predicated on 2 premier TE's, yet for most of the season they haven't been healthy together for more than 2 games (IIRC). Its simply awesome what they've done overcoming these circumstances. Its a great story that has been lost amid the ho hum attitude of "the Pats offense is good, so what else is new", and "can we say anything else great about Payton Manning", Andrew Luck, and RGIII.

You called it Grid. You hit the nail on the head, and you are right about another thing as well. Brandon Lloyd was a great addition, and those so eager to write him off as being another bad WR signing are just typical. He's done EXACTLY what the Pats have wanted him to do. He demands the kind of attention the WR position wasn't getting last year. And his lack of perceived production is more the result of missed opportunities than bad play. We all can think of the half dozen times he was open deep that Tom missed him, and the 2 times he didn't catch the ball.

The other reason is that most people had expectations of him that he could never meet. He's not and was never a deep outside threat. He was not and was never a YAC guy. Yet people want to damned him for not being a speed threat and not getting YAC. You are right Grid; Lloyd helps the Pats spread the field HORIZONTALLY, not vertically. It will be nice to have that someday. Maybe Edelman can provide it to some degree.

The Bottom line Lloyd is on pace for a 70 catch, 800yd season, (and I bet he winds up north of 900 before its all over). That's a pretty good number when you consider that its his first year with the team. and he is usually the #3 option behind Gronk, Welker, and now Hernandez. There is still only one ball guys. He is who he is, I'm not sure what everyone expected. Me I'm glad we have him.

I have a dream. Yes I said "I have a dream".....That one day black children and white children can walk hand an hand and see on OL where Solder, Mankins, Wendell, Connolly, and Volmer are all healthy at the same time. An offense where Gronk and Hernandez are at their best. A passing game where Lloyd and and Edelman are fully integrated, A time where all the RBs are playing their designed roles, and the Lord Tom Brady has full control of the operations.

Now THAT my friends will be a day of reckoning for the rest of the NFL, and THAT day could be coming starting the first week of January.

 

[Stilla]

The offence has come along so well, that it is hard to say who should be on the field at any given time, (other than Brady,) as each player brings so much excitement to this team. Its incredible that the team has so much depth. And even more incredible is that the coaching and Brady keep all the players happy as the ball is spread out well between them all.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

The effectiveness and flexibility of this offense has been positively scary, especially given the amount of injuries they have had to play through. The OL missing starters is epic. I doubt there is a team in the league that had more starter games missed. IIRC only Nate Solder hasn't missed a game, and this from an OL that started the year needing to replace 3 starters. Its truly been remarkable what has been accomplished on the OL from the end of last season to this one.

Pittsburgh may have it worse i nthe sense they've had starters go down and they weren't as good to begin with. Still, this is why I never really question BB when it comes to drafting best player over most needed position. Depth is always needed and while we have great first team talent, I doubt there are many teams with such able and ready backups and our OL depth has to be tops.

THEN you have consider that in an offense that was predicated on 2 premier TE's, yet for most of the season they haven't been healthy together for more than 2 games (IIRC). Its simply awesome what they've done overcoming these circumstances. Its a great story that has been lost amid the ho hum attitude of "the Pats offense is good, so what else is new", and "can we say anything else great about Payton Manning", Andrew Luck, and RGIII.

I'm not even sure they've bee n healthy (together) for 60 minutes even. Did Hernandez go out in the first game (I thought he did) and when he came back, it appears it was too early and Gronk still had hip issues.

 

[VrabelJr]

Our depth on offense might be unprecedented.

 

[Off The Grid]

Update...

Even after an unimpressive, clunky, drop-filled effort against the Fish ~ cough, cough!! Trap Game!! cough!! ~ the Patriots' 2004/2007/2010 Hybrid SuperBeast is still raging light years ahead of everyone else:

2012 NFL Standings, Team & Offensive Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com

And the statistics ~ while stunning and flat out awe-inspiring ~ don't do justice to just how terrifying this Offense has been...without Kong, Aaron The Navigator, Sebastian The Cruel, Logan Mankins ~ that's four Pro Bowl level Players, for those counting at home!! ~ and Dan Connolly for huge stretches...God only knows what we're going to be capable of, if those guys all come back and the whole team plays together for awhile!!

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Re: Hybrid Offense ~ 2007 & 2011 Merge, Forming "Some Terrifying Mutant Combination!!

I'd say it's a combination of 2004, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2001, and 1985

I have to update this list because on Sunday we added a new dimension to the offense. Lob one up for Shane Vereen and hope for a ticky tack PI. So maybe we can add 2012 Ravens offense to the list, but hopefully we won't need to do it week in week out like them.

 

[mayoclinic]

Through 12 games the Pats have rushed for 1689 yards and 19 TDs. They rushed for 1764 yards and 18 TDs in 16 games last year. The most rushing TDs ever for a Brady/Belichick Pats' team was 20 from the 2006 team. Just as they altered their offensive approach in 2010 around the TEs, they are learning to rely on the running game as a crucial component of a prolific offense:

Stevan Ridley Has Altered Patriots’ Offensive Philosophy With Continued Productivity on Ground | New England Patriots | NESN.com

Through 12 games Pats have also completed 41 passes to the RBs for 478 yards and 3 TDs. In 16 games last year they completed 30 passes to the RBs for 329 yards and 0 TDs. In 16 games 2010 they completed 48 passes to the RBs for 532 yards and 1 TD. So although the RBs may not have been as involved in the passing attack as we might like, there does seem to be an increase in their use. It remains to be seen how this will be affected once the Pats have both Gronk and Hernandez on the field, but there clearly seems to be another dimension to this offense.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Through 12 games the Pats have rushed for 1689 yards and 19 TDs. They rushed for 1764 yards and 18 TDs in 16 games last year. The most rushing TDs ever for a Brady/Belichick Pats' team was 20 from the 2006 team. Just as they altered their offensive approach in 2010 around the TEs, they are learning to rely on the running game as a crucial component of a prolific offense:

Stevan Ridley Has Altered Patriots’ Offensive Philosophy With Continued Productivity on Ground | New England Patriots | NESN.com

Through 12 games Pats have also completed 41 passes to the RBs for 478 yards and 3 TDs. In 16 games last year they completed 30 passes to the RBs for 329 yards and 0 TDs. In 16 games 2010 they completed 48 passes to the RBs for 532 yards and 1 TD. So although the RBs may not have been as involved in the passing attack as we might like, there does seem to be an increase in their use. It remains to be seen how this will be affected once the Pats have both Gronk and Hernandez on the field, but there clearly seems to be another dimension to this offense.

This post inspired me to look up the previous best rushing years we've had (in terms of overall rushing yards). The best in the BB era was 2008, the Brady-less year. This year we're on pace to finish about 30 yards less than that year but comfortably the 2nd best season under BB in overall yards, ahead of 2004. The rushing stats may take a hit the next 2 weeks though some tough run D's.