I'm marveling at the ability of this team to game plan completely differently every week

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

To do what the Patriots do, COMPLETELY changing their entire offensive and defensive approaches based upon the opponent, is still amazing to me, even after all of these years.

Now they face a very tough front 7 in Detroit. They're the most stingy run defense in the league. I could see the Patriots consistently using 5 wide outs, going no huddle, with empty backfields, and slinging the ball 50 times. Couldn't you? But who knows...

The level of coaching wizardry, the versatility of the personnel, the depth and variety of skill sets on the entire roster from top to bottom, and maybe most importantly the tremendously high player IQ that it takes to make such major adjustments that well, over and over again, is just a head-shaker.

Sure, every team game plans. But most everyone else has about 80% of their game plan being fairly constant from week to week, with basically the goal being "we will be doing what we always do, and doing it the way that we have practiced it, ever since training camp". Then they have to adjust on the fly when it doesn't work.

Sometimes I even think to myself "Come on, let's do what we did in the last game, because it worked so well!"

But then, I am playing checkers. We are all are playing checkers. Most of the NFL coaches are also playing checkers.

But our head coach, coaching staff, and players are playing chess.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Yeah, it's incredible how they do that year after year. It's really interesting to watch as a fan.

 

[mayoclinic]

To do what the Patriots do, COMPLETELY changing their entire offensive and defensive approaches based upon the opponent, is still amazing to me, even after all of these years.

Now they face a very tough front 7 in Detroit. They're the most stingy run defense in the league. I could see the Patriots consistently using 5 wide outs, going no huddle, with empty backfields, and slinging the ball 50 times. Couldn't you? But who knows...

The level of coaching wizardry, the versatility of the personnel, the depth and variety of skill sets on the entire roster from top to bottom, and maybe most importantly the tremendously high player IQ that it takes to make such major adjustments that well, over and over again, is just a head-shaker.

Sure, every team game plans. But most everyone else has about 80% of their game plan being fairly constant from week to week, with basically the goal being "we will be doing what we always do, and doing it the way that we have practiced it, ever since training camp". Then they have to adjust on the fly when it doesn't work.

Sometimes I even think to myself "Come on, let's do what we did in the last game, because it worked so well!"

But then, I am playing checkers. We are all are playing checkers. Most of the NFL coaches are also playing checkers.

But our head coach, coaching staff, and players are playing chess.

The thing is, they are doing it on both sides of the ball. Alternating personnel and scheme. They have such versatility and so many chess pieces. I think this is the closest BB has ever been to having the kind of personnel and roster that he dreams of.

 

[patchick]

The thing is, they are doing it on both sides of the ball. Alternating personnel and scheme. They have such versatility and so many chess pieces. I think this is the closest BB has ever been to having the kind of personnel and roster that he dreams of.

I agree, and what really amazes me is that they're doing it without their field general Mayo.

 

[borg]

Was last night's offensive success more about game planning or adapting. From my lofty vantage point the game plan was a balanced blend of pass/rush. But since the passing attack (Brady) was horrendous in the first half, they eventually/reluctantly went all in on the run. Just prior to both Brady's mind numbing piks, the NE rush was so dominating it felt like they would never have to pass again....but they did...to their own detriment. Frankly...NE could have put that game so out of reach in the 2nd period if they weren't so determined to get the pass going.
I don't view last night as game planning but riding the hot hand instead. Has a Pats back ever carried 38 times before?

 

[Nikolai]

Was last night's offensive success more about game planning or adapting. From my lofty vantage point the game plan was a balanced blend of pass/rush. But since the passing attack (Brady) was horrendous in the first half, they eventually/reluctantly went all in on the run. Just prior to both Brady's mind numbing piks, the NE rush was so dominating it felt like they would never have to pass again....but they did...to their own detriment. Frankly...NE could have put that game so out of reach in the 2nd period if they weren't so determined to get the pass going.
I don't view last night as game planning but riding the hot hand instead. Has a Pats back ever carried 38 times before?

The thing is, I think (someone can correct me if I'm wrong), the majority of the rush yards came in the first half.

 

[patchick]

Was last night's offensive success more about game planning or adapting. From my lofty vantage point the game plan was a balanced blend of pass/rush. But since the passing attack (Brady) was horrendous in the first half, they eventually/reluctantly went all in on the run.

See thread: Robert Kraft told Jonas Gray he was going to have a big game

 

[BelichickFan]

One of the many good things about last night is that we had a really good play action game before last night when we weren't running the ball that well; I wonder how the play action will work now that we've actually had a good running game.

Speaking of the running game, stopping the run is a significant weakness of the GB defense so while the running game may well struggle against Detroit we should see a lot of running against GB.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Was last night's offensive success more about game planning or adapting. From my lofty vantage point the game plan was a balanced blend of pass/rush. But since the passing attack (Brady) was horrendous in the first half, they eventually/reluctantly went all in on the run. Just prior to both Brady's mind numbing piks, the NE rush was so dominating it felt like they would never have to pass again....but they did...to their own detriment. Frankly...NE could have put that game so out of reach in the 2nd period if they weren't so determined to get the pass going.
I don't view last night as game planning but riding the hot hand instead. Has a Pats back ever carried 38 times before?

Agree somewhat, however it is clear from the personnel on the field that the deliberate game plan was to out beef the light, fast Colts D by putting an extra OL out there (Flemming) and by using the GronkMonster more as a blocker. Gray was we'll coached and as Collinsworth opined, he followed the blocks as diagrammed rather than dancing around.

 

[borg]

See thread: Robert Kraft told Jonas Gray he was going to have a big game

The wise-ass cynic in me has to rebut: Bob Kraft tells everyone they're going to have a 'big game"...especially his sky box bartender
The cynic in me Part II: I'm pretty sure "We got to get the running game going"... is standard boiler plate language for all teams.
That being said.....loading up the O-line early with extra tackles is definitely game planning....but does it compare to NE vs Pitt years ago when they opened up the game passing 16 straight times. Now that was game planning
Last night was awesome...... 35 minutes of possession....a game under 3 hours...a secure outcome in the 4th qtr. Heck I dozed off in the middle of the 4th and didn't wake up panicked that NE coughed up a win. Give me ground domination over the airshow any day

 

[FourierSeries]

Imagine trying to gameplan for a team that gameplans differently every week.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Gotta give the NFLN crew credit. Watched a few minutes last night and both Deion and Irvin were talking about the Patriots adaptability of offense: Specifically, the willingness to run. Deion compared that to the Broncos who (to paraphrase) "have no interest in even trying to run." Lots of folks taking notice of the difference between the Patriots and Broncos yesterday.

 

[manxman2601]

I've said this elsewhere but do people remember the talk of Arrington and/or Ryan switching to safety in the pre-season from SMY. That hasn't happened but Chung was off the field yesterday for about half the snaps because Arrington and Ryan were both playing slot CBs. So whilst they weren't playing safety, they certainly replaced the safety for 50% of the snaps last night.

Edit: Might have been Karen Guregian. I can't remember.

 

[mayoclinic]

Gotta give the NFLN crew credit. Watched a few minutes last night and both Deion and Irvin were talking about the Patriots adaptability of offense: Specifically, the willingness to run. Deion compared that to the Broncos who (to paraphrase) "have no interest in even trying to run." Lots of folks taking notice of the difference between the Patriots and Broncos yesterday.

That was one of my points after the Denver game. Denver is going to do what they are going to do - they beat you with their strength, or they don't beat you. They aren't going to adapt, and they aren't going to get better than they were over the first 8 games of the season, when they played 5 home games and had only 1 significant player lost to injury (Danny Trevathan). When they play an inferior team and can win the matchups, and when they can get ahead and play from a lead, they are very, very good. But hit them in the mouth, force them to play behind, or force them to adapt, and they are lost. The Pats are an entirely different beast.

 

[borg]

Imagine trying to gameplan for a team that gameplans differently every week.

Slightly OT but still inside the sphere of good coaching......I was very impressed with the Colts passing scheme. The routes were complex, creative, and they freed up their pass catchers...especially Fleener. Contrast that system with a team like Carolina....OMFG....the most basic passing offense in the NFL. Their stud WR Benjamin has the most dumbed down route tree you will ever see....unless in Pop Warner.
Curl in....curl out....post. There you have it. Either there are a bunch dumb players on that roster that can only handle so much...or the coaching staff are simpletons. I choose the former.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

The thing is, I think (someone can correct me if I'm wrong), the majority of the rush yards came in the first half.

Not vastly; Gray's yards were split 100 before the half, 99 after the half. (The Pats had another 35 or so on top of Gray's.)

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

still amazed...

Green Bay is 30th against the run. Pound.

On D, you'd think Lacy is the key, then have Revis take Cobb, and double team Nelson.

 

[RayClay]

The thing is, I think (someone can correct me if I'm wrong), the majority of the rush yards came in the first half.

And one of their linemen wandered onto the field, so they made him a tight end.

 

[Rob0729]

For all the crap McDaniels gets on this board, he really is an offensive genius. Name another OC who can radically change the offense from week to week to exploit the deficiencies of the opposing defense like McDaniels does. Even Weis (who people always compare McDaniels to) didn't do this to the extent that McDaniels does.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

For all the crap McDaniels gets on this board, he really is an offensive genius. Name another OC who can radically change the offense from week to week to exploit the deficiencies of the opposing defense like McDaniels does. Even Weis (who people always compare McDaniels to) didn't do this to the extent that McDaniels does.

Weis didn't have a GRONK.