Over the past 3-4 weeks, I have been re-watching parts of the 2017 season. Pasted below are the notes I jotted on my iPhone. Apologies for any typos and any improper football terminology….I was pressing pause to check how offenses/defenses were lining up...progressing in slow motion...to see who is eye balling who...then playing at a normal rate...and jotting it all on my iPhone. Here goes:
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Week 1 vs. Chiefs:
- 9:25 1st qtr. week 1 vs. Chiefs, Gillislee doesn't convert a 4th and 1 up the middle on the Chiefs 10.
- 2:55 2nd qtr. week 1 vs. Chiefs, up 17-7...2:55 left in half. 3rd and 6, Cooks can't hold onto a pass from Brady.
- :13 left in q2, hunt scores off a screen pass to make it 17-10 at the half....
- 3rd qtr week 1 10:11 2nd and 8. Thuney pulls to right side to block Justin Houston. Develin was the lead blocker. Cannon team blocked someone inside with Shaq Mason. Houston was able to contain Gillislee for a 4 yard loss.
- 9:28 3rd qtr, week 1, Chiefs ball. 1st and 10 on the 25. K.C. is in a 4-1 personnel with two WR's stacked on both ends (Kelce was the WR behind Hill on the right side). Pats were in Nickel w Rowe, Butler, Gilmore, and McCourty on the outside covering the stacked WR's. Jordan Richards was showing blitz along with Hightower and Van Noy on the LOS. Ball is snapped and we only rush the four down linemen along with Rowe from the left side. Richards covers the shallow right side. Van Not drops back to the middle. Hightower picks up Kelce shallow then released him deep. Gilmore picked up Hill who looked like he was running to the sideline before turning up. Can't see what McCourty did on TV, but looks like MC moved a bit towards Kelce in the middle before Smith finds hill deep for a 75 yard score and a 21-17 lead.
- Went on it on 4th and inches at KC 39 with 12:36 left. We lined up 8 guys: Gronk, Waddle, Thuney, Andrews, Mason, Cannon, Solder (next to Cannon), and Allen. Hard to say what happened, but the chiefs all went to the left side (towards Gronk)…Develin was aiming for a hole between mason/cannon. Brady hands off to White but does so counter clockwise 270 degrees to draw the D to the left side. Looks to me that both Cannon and Mason couldn't open a hole and Develin hits a wall of bodies then Gilly gets stuffed. After the snap, I can only count 6 helmets on the LOS.
- 5 mins left, Pats down 35-27 on their 25. Cannon and Solder give up pressure to Houston and Ford...Brady gets sacked. Berry was hurt on this play.
Week 2 @ Saints:
1- 0:35 left in Q1, 1st and 10 on the Saints' 18, line up three wide with Cook, Hogan, Gronk, and then Develin on the LOS, Saints line up in a single high dime, one on one coverage on Cooks, Hogan, and Develin. Two guys on Gronk lined up slightly behind Cannon at RT, Burkhead back to block, Brady motions Burkhead to the slot next to Gronk, ball is snapped, Brady never looks at cooks (running to the corner on the left) and Hogan (running a cut in the flat), Brady ignores Develin running a curl route on the right side, Brady keeps his eye on the high safety and slightly moves his shoulders, hi safety commits to Gronk, Brady lets it fly to Burkhead running a right corner slant, Brady is almost sacked by a blown Solder block but somehow gets the pass off...TD...7-0. One of the best throws from 2017 that I forgot about!
- 9:40 left in the 3rd, Pats up 30-17, facing a 3rd and 3ish on their 27. Brady gets the offense to the LOS quick after a Dion Lewis stop on 2nd and 5. The ball is snapped quickly and Brady takes 3-4 steps back and lets one fly off his back foot...intercepted...and run back to about the Pats 5. Brady is signaling "1 & 2" in reference to 12 men on the field. Refs confer. Automatic first down. Brady sure is in command of all 10 men on offense to line up that quick.
- 1:20 left in 3rd, Pats have a 2nd and 9 on the Saints' 12. Saints in dime with one MLB and 4 down linemen. Pats line up five wide with Develin, Hogan, & Allen on the left side and Cooks/Lewis on the right side. Saints pass rush blows by Solder and Cannon. Develin runs a straight line to the EZ and never looks back until he crosses the goal lone. Hogan runs a quick shallow out but Brady is scanning the right side. Lewis' route is a stop n' go to the EZ, Brady then scans Cooks coming across the middle. Andrews is blocking a tall guy looking to swat any ball over the middle. Brady sees Allen running a curl route on the left side and lets it rip hard. Almost intercepted. After looking at this 4-5 times, throwing to Allen was the 2nd best possible decision behind tossing it out of bounds and taking a penalty for not being outside the TE box.
Week 3 vs. Houston:
- 1st quarter, 12:28 remaining, 3rd and 13 on the Pats 46 following a good Amendola PR. 3 wide with Gronk, Amendola, and Hogan on the right side. White in to block on Brady's left. Cooks alone on the left side. Houston in a 4-3 look with two high safeties and the CB's at least 7 yards off Hogan and Cooks. Houston rushes 4. Gronk takes Watt 1 on 1 with Waddle looking. Amendola is covered by 2 of 3 LB's who didn't rush. Brady's first read is Hogan while White slips out to the left flat. Gronk releases Watt to Waddle. White is picked up by the 3rd lb. Whitney Mericuls is blowing by Andrews up the middle. Brady looks off the safety..shifts to the left and throws across his body to Cooks deep while getting hit by #55 (who got by Solder) and Clowney I think. Cooks catches it at the 12 covered by Banks and the safety is late. Banks had his arm across Cooks chest....still nice throw though....hit the numbers.
Hyped's note: More on Houston later.
Week 4 vs. Panthers:
- 13:07, 1st qtr., Patriots facing a 2nd and 4 on the Carolina 47. Lined up in 3 WR with Cooks to the left side and Amendola in the left slot. Gronk and Hogan on the other side with White in the backfield to Brady's right. Brady surveys the 4-3 Carolina D and sees Thompson on Amendola...taps his left shoulder pre-snap. Amendola does the same. Looks like it communicated to Cooks to run a rub route to the inside so Amendola could go underneath and race up the sideline for a 16 yard gain.
- Panthers first drive, ****son (the TE) gets an easy 1st down. Looks like the Pats were too cute with their LB's in coverage by dhaving KVN and Flowers show blitz then drop back/outside to cover the shallow areas then drop deeper to cover ****son too late.
- Funchess was using size vs. Butler at least 2-3 times early in the game.
- 3:09 left, 4th and goal on the Panther 5ish. Hogan, Gronk, Amendola, and Cooks line up left/right with two on each side of the line. White in the back field to Brady's right. Ball is snapped. Hogan runs to the post before breaking to the EZ corner on the left. Gronk breaks to the outside along the goal line on the left side. Cook runs a corner route to the right side before breaking towards the post. Amendola runs a post route. White stays in to block. The Texans rush 4 and drop 7 in coverage. Two guys cover Gronk initially before one breaks off to cover Hogan. The LB's in zone coverage get a bit confused and open up the middle of the field. Brady hits Amendola in the back end of the EZ to tie the game 30-30. Hyped's note: This looked a lot like the AFCCG winning TD, so I went to the Jacksonville game to check it out. Here are the details: AFC Title game vs. JAX: Cooks on left side alone. Dwayne Allen on right side blocking. Amendola and Hogan on the right side. White behind Brady. Brady under center. Ball is snapped...Cooks runs the same route Hogan did in week 4 (post then corner route to left). Allen blocks on the right side instead of running a route (Gronk ran a left flat route in week 4 on the left side). White and Brady execute a play-action fake. Amendola runs the exact same post route from the right and Hogan does exactly what Cooks did in week 4 (corner then post route). Brady hits Amendola in pretty much the same exact spot.
- Carolina's final drive chart:
3:09 remaining: Pats kick off to McCaffery who brings it to the 24.
We have Carolina in a 3rd and 7 on their 27. Wise Jr. sacks Cam for a huge loss. Gilmore gets flagged for hands to the face on Funchess. Looked at it in slow motion....Gilmore jams Funchess within the 5 yard zone, but Funchess had his helmet downward a bit...the contact was SLIGHT. Bad call...even worse in slow motion.
Stewart gets an easy rumbling first down after the penalty. 2 min warning. Carolina on the 50ish now. Deep pass to Funchess is almost intercepted by Butler, but Funchess bats it away. Cam runs for 7ish.
3rd and 3....Pats still have a 3/2 time out edge...but do not call a time out...1 minute left. Cam hits Funchess underneath easily with Butler covering. Carolina is on the 41 with 45 secs left and call a TO. 1/3 TO's left for both teams.
Stewart for 4 yards. On the 37 now...but holding call on Chung (he pulled McAffery down...legit call). 1st and 10 on the 34 with 41 seconds left. Cam runs for 4 to the 30. BB still doesn't call TO. Panthers run it again to get it to the right hash mark on the 31ish and call TO.
Gano comes on for a 48 yard try. BB ices him with one TO. Ball is snapped...and Zeus actually almost blocks it...he just timed his jump a tad bit too early. FG is good. Carolina 33-30.
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More to come later. On the menu: More Houston....one Buffalo game...the Miami loss...the Steeler win...and the play-offs (probably skipping SB52 though).
