No Need To Panic Regarding The Patriots Offensive Line

[bagwell368]

3rd & 3 yds or less should never be a passing down for this offense as much as it has been in the past.
That's why Bill drafted 2 RBs in the top 75, right?

Why does it have to be one OR the other? It would be much more effective if we threatened to do both run and pass and could do both equally well.

 

[Shelterdog]

How close is Cannon? Really no word.

They put him on IR so he's out until at least week 7. BB has noted has has some medical limitations.

I think it's safest to assume that he doesn't contribute this year.

 

[Shelterdog]

Add the fact that Brady hardly ever rolls out anymore, and that defenses know exactly where he will be stationed (like a statue) in the pocket, then the OL needs to be better than it was in '03 & '04.

RG is a big problem, esp. now that Cannon has been placed on the Reserve PUP list.
Koppen gets pushed backwards too often for comfort.
And there is nobody on the active roster capable of providing help at either position.

3rd & 3 yds or less should never be a passing down for this offense as much as it has been in the past.
That's why Bill drafted 2 RBs in the top 75, right?

Third and three is a passing down for every team in the NFL.

According to the football outsiders guys the Pats run it 66% of the time in power situations (third down and 1 or 2 to go, fourth and 1 or 2 when they go to it, and goal and 1 or 2), which is 6th in the league, so they're very near the top of the league in running in short yard situations.

The facts show you're full of crap.

 

[nnmnmmnn]

Wow you told me. How dare I think that anyone but you could have an opinion that is valid.

By the way, after only a couple of weeks, you have it wrong already. I never said anything about whether BB would play 34 or 43, I said I would be very surprised if he abandons the 2gap scheme he has used every time he has had decision making capacity. But I guess it was easier to sound like a tough guy by making up something and saying I said it.

I'm not sure what makes you think I sound like a tough guy. I apologize if I intimidate you, it is not my intention. The bottom line is this: I don't agree with the reasoning that something is going to be a certain way, because that's how it turned out the last 10 years. It doesn't work for me when talking about the o-line, and it didn't work for me when you were denying a shift in defensive strategy. Quite frankly, I picture you as someone who would have been arguing 400 years ago that the earth is flat, because everyone has always know it's flat.

And I'm not sure what point you're trying to make by nitpicking over 3-4/4-3 vs 2 gap/1 gap. You know damn well that when we're talking about the change from last years 3-4 two gap base to this years 4-3 base one gap base, the two are going to be used interchangeably. In the future, if someone refers to the switch from 3-4 to 4-3, or a switch from 2 gap to 1 gap, please take that as a brief way of referring to the entire shift in defensive strategy we've seen this year. I really don't think it's necessary to have to highlight all the specific changes every time it's brought up in discussion, just so you can have at least one thing to not be wrong about.

That out of the way... I think we agree that neither of us are panicking about the o-line. I see no reason to panic because they have quality players at most positions, and a few guys that may be quality players in the future, who could possibly contribute this year. The depth is a slight concern at this point, but I don't think there's anything to panic about unless the injuries hit in a big way.

Do you have any significant disagreement with that assessment? Why does it seem like you'd rather ignore the information we have on the o-line, and fall back on a "in Bill we trust" argument that the o-line will be fine?

 

[SanAngeloState]

IMHO Light is barely serviceable at LT at the moment. Maybe he gets better as the season progresses......Solder needs the reps to get better....he is the future....

Too bad Light can't play RG......

Pats need to sign a solid RG either as a backup or starter.....

Want to see how much Vereen brings to the ground game......

I agree with this. Lighth would make a better OG than OT. He isn't really much of an OT right now.

 

[captain stone]

Why wouldn't you throw on 3rd and 3 when you have Brady? And Welker, Woodhead, Gronk, Hernandez.........

I'm not saying that they should never throw on 3rd/3;
I'm saying that they should run more often on 3rd/3, for 2 reasons:
- running establishes an attitude that permeates the entire team,
- and it also prevents Brady from taking more hits. The more he takes, the worse he plays.

Throwing on 3rd/3 from play-action then becomes more effective, and might give Brady another half-second-plus to find an open receiver.

What I never, ever want to see is an empty backfield/shotgun formation in short-yardage situations.

 

[captain stone]

The facts show you're full of crap.

An "I respectfully disagree" would suffice.

 

[JackBauer]

Anyone who is panicking needs to have their head examined.

Concern? Fine, yes, definitely. Panic? I don't think so.

 

[Betterthanmost]

I totally missed his point the first time around and was quite disappointed in the article on first read, but today I kind of see what he was trying to do.