Primary reason for slow starts

[micronin127]

When the Jets, Dolphins, and Bills can hang with the Patriots or even take an early lead, it establishes a pattern.

Is it coaching or execution? Are they hanging back and being conservative or vanilla to see how the game is going before they get aggressive or play with urgency?

On offense, a lot of first possessions are 3-and-out and include an ineffective running play and a 3rd-and-long.

On defense, even against the Bills with our first stringers, Orton felt no pressure and aside from Revis, we were in a pretty soft zone defense. Tackling wasn't great either, so is it players or playcalling?

In the playoffs, digging an early hole can be a problem, because the teams are better so coming back is more difficult than against the Jets.

 

[Nunchucks]

Teams usually script the first series of offensive plays and prepare a defense that is meant to throw the offense off. What we are seeing is the offense and defense adjusting to what is going on....that and I think they are not starting the game with enough pop.

 

[Kontradiction]

1. ****ty OL depth and injuries to starters.

2. No true #1 WR. They have two WR2's and an elite TE.

3. Ridley injury.

There you have it. Against softer defenses, the offense can light up the scoreboard like a pinball machine from the get go. Against better defenses we'll continue to see these slow starts.

 

[pwes]

It's called they play in the same division and are always tough to beat. Injuries in the Jets game were a factor. The Buffalo game does not count. I don't know how anyone who actually watched that game can think that the Pats really tried to win.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

1. ****ty OL depth and injuries to starters.

2. No true #1 WR. They have two WR2's and an elite TE.

3. Ridley injury.

There you have it. Against softer defenses, the offense can light up the scoreboard like a pinball machine from the get go. Against better defenses we'll continue to see these slow starts.

My buddy is certain the pats didn't miss ridley at all and thinks he is so overrated. I personally feel when he went down it was also a reason for slow starts sometimes

 

[Fencer]

In this respect at least, I miss Charlie Weis. The Patriots had a long streak of first-possession scoring drives when he was around.

 

[chasa]

1. ****ty OL depth and injuries to starters.

2. No true #1 WR. They have two WR2's and an elite TE.

3. Ridley injury.

There you have it. Against softer defenses, the offense can light up the scoreboard like a pinball machine from the get go. Against better defenses we'll continue to see these slow starts.

lol no.

 

[micronin127]

I think no Edelman for 2 games and no Edelman/Gronk vs. Buffalo contribute as these guys convert a lot of our 3rd downs.

I was at Buffalo and it's true they sat a bunch of skill and OL guys, but Brady was out there the whole half. Let's throw that game out. No Browner too.

I think I would prefer to see the offense throw more early to setup the run. When we start out games trying to establish the run against a base defense, we end up punting. When the defense sits back, the opposing QB tends to finds whoever is covered by Chung or Ryan.

3rd down efficiency seems to have suffered. We punt more and the defense stays on the field more.

Second half defense has been awesome, so our adjustments are really good. End of the half against the Dolphins where we tried to run out the clock and failed and gave up the touchdown to Mike Wallace was the most concerning quarter... quickly forgotten in the second half as the team just came out and executed at a much higher level and rolled the Dolphins off the field.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

In this respect at least, I miss Charlie Weis. The Patriots had a long streak of first-possession scoring drives when he was around.

They had 1 year where it was some crazy number of opening drive TDs or scores when he was here..i forget the exact amount/number

 

[Kontradiction]

lol no.

Ridley was, by far, the most dynamic back on this team. Capable of pounding it up the A and B gaps or cutting it outside. The defense couldn't get a read as easily on run or pass when he was in the game like they can when the team uses Blount or Vereen. Yes, his loss has been one of the reasons why the offense is sputtering. But thanks for your important contribution.

 

[Ivan]

Too conservative on both sides of the ball. They want to control the clock on early on early possessions and aren't running the ball well early, and they are being too vanilla defensively while they sort out what opposing defenses want to do. Once they settle in they are better, especially defensively, but they cannot afford to start slow in any of their remaining games. I want them to come out much more aggressively on both sides of the ball the rest of the way.

 

[Fencer]

I'd like to see them start in a no-huddle, even if the other team got the ball first. And use an extreme set, whichever of spread or power they think best. Then go to a more balanced set (2 WRs, runs, play action, appropriate third-down packages, etc.) on the second or third drive.

 

[neuronet]

It's called they play in the same division and are always tough to beat. Injuries in the Jets game were a factor. The Buffalo game does not count. I don't know how anyone who actually watched that game can think that the Pats really tried to win.

That's right: less helpful game tape for our next opponent from the Bills game!

 

[chasa]

Ridley was, by far, the most dynamic back on this team. Capable of pounding it up the A and B gaps or cutting it outside. The defense couldn't get a read as easily on run or pass when he was in the game like they can when the team uses Blount or Vereen. Yes, his loss has been one of the reasons why the offense is sputtering. But thanks for your important contribution.

Since we do this dance quite often and i know you are going to ignore the actual facts of the situation and its a waste of time, but I'm going to tell you them anyways.

He played in 6 games this year and averaged 3.6 ypc. Certainly sounds dynamic right?

Lets looks at his touches for the first 3 drives for each game he played:

Miami:
Drive 1: Rush for 2 yards on first down, result of the drive, punt

Drive 2: lots of passing, minitron and vereen have a couple of nice runs, ridley has one run on the second drive, its for no gain. result of the drive with vereen as the primary back, touchdown.

Drive 3: no touches for the most dynamic back on the team. result Field goal

Results: three drives, ridley with 2 total yards, the patriots come away with 10 points.

Min:
Drive 1: first down ridley runs for... no gain. 2nd down ridley runs for ... 2 yards. punt

Drive 2: (after an interception, ball is on the 1 yard line): first down ridley runs for no gain, second down ridley runs for 1 yard. touchdown. no a very convincing 1 yard http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000393980/Ridley-1-yard-touchdown

Drive 3: 1st down ridley runs for 5 yards, 2nd down ridley runs for 3 yards, ridley only gets one more touch on the drive negated by a holding penalty. results field goal.

Results: three drives, 11 yards 1 td. 10 total points.

OAK:

Drive 1: no touches punt

Drive 2: first down 7 yards, second down 2 yards, third down 1 yard, no more touches punt

Drive 3: 2nd down 6 yards, another 2nd down 5 yards, a first down 5 yards, another first down -1 yards

results: 3 drives, 25 yards 7 total points

KC:

Drive 1: no touches punt

Drive 2: first down 6 yards, no more touches punt

Drive 3: first down 2 yards punt

results: 8 yards no points

CIN:

Drive 1: first down 9 yards, second down 7 yards, second down 3 yards, second down 1 yard touchdown.

Drive 2: second down 8 yards, third down 2 yards no more touches

Drive 3: first down 5 yards, another first down 2 yards punt

results: 37 yards 1 td, 14 total points

Buff:

Drive 1: second down -2 yards punt

Drive 2: second down 9 yards, first down 6 yards, second down 3 yards, second down 3 yards, missed field goal

Drive 3: no touches

Results: 19 yards 3 points.

Big picture?:

Ridley averaged 3.125 ypc, and the patriots averaged 7.3 points in the first three drives before Ridley got hurt. Hardly lighting it up imo The slow starts recently have absolutely nothing to do with Ridley going down.

I look forward to your response about strawmen, and how its not fair to count touchdown runs in relation to yards per carry even if they barely get the 1 yard they needed to in order to get the td, and how ridley is just so dynamic, probably the best back in the league.

Ridley is average at best.

 

[deters]

Poor OL play coupled with too conservative/poor playcalls.

 

[Danger Zone]

It's called they play in the same division and are always tough to beat. Injuries in the Jets game were a factor. The Buffalo game does not count. I don't know how anyone who actually watched that game can think that the Pats really tried to win.

I felt the Patriots played not to get injured and the Bills played to redeem their season.

 

[chasa]

I felt the Patriots played not to get injured and the Bills played to redeem their season.

It also didn't help any that the bills have a defensive line that has 3 pro bowlers, and probably should have had a 4th, while the patriots were missing 2 offensive linemen, and their best blocking tight end.

 

[Ring 6]

The Bills game is meaningless.
The offense starts slow sometimes because:
1) Every offense starts slow sometimes
2) The other team gets paid
3) **** happens

 

[Oswlek]

First down. Here is a sampling of NE's gains on first down during their blackout period of each game. Red plays are penalties, with the subsequent number being what NE did on 1st and 15.

GB - first quarter
12, 6, 0, 3

SD - third quarter during four straight 3-and-outs
0, 0, -5, -6, -2

Miami after the opening drive through halftime
2, 1, -5, 2, 5, 0, -1, 0

NY first half ignoring TD drive
6, 4, 0, 13, 11, -8..... 0, -7

Twenty four plays, only six earning five or more yards with the average gain being 1.3 yards. Yes, these drives are cherry picked, but they are cherry picked because they are precisely when NE struggled the most. With the exception of GB, when NE was able to drive for a TD with the following first down results (0, 0, 5, 5, -5, 0) there was an almost exact correlation between scoring and first down yardage. For instance, the lone TD drive in the first half against NY was (5, 12, 7, 3) with the 3 being a three yard TD.

Get first down squared away, and this offense is back to being a 35 ppg unit again.

 

[Kontradiction]

Since we do this dance quite often and i know you are going to ignore the actual facts of the situation and its a waste of time, but I'm going to tell you them anyways.

He played in 6 games this year and averaged 3.6 ypc. Certainly sounds dynamic right?

The first thing you need a lesson in is the meaning of the word dynamic as it applies to football. When LeGarrette Blount is in the game, the defense knows that it's a run the vast majority of the time. When Shane Vereen is in the game, the defense knows that it doesn't have to respect interior runs and can gear up against the pass. When Ridley was in the game, it was harder for them to telegraph what the call was going to be. Plus, they had to respect both outside and inside runs. It's the reason he got the nod throughout the season and the reason why, when the team did actually commit to the run, they went with him.

Lets looks at his touches for the first 3 drives for each game he played:

Why narrow it down to 3 drives? Why not include them all?

Miami:
Drive 1: Rush for 2 yards on first down, result of the drive, punt

Drive 2: lots of passing, minitron and vereen have a couple of nice runs, ridley has one run on the second drive, its for no gain. result of the drive with vereen as the primary back, touchdown.

Drive 3: no touches for the most dynamic back on the team. result Field goal

Results: three drives, ridley with 2 total yards, the patriots come away with 10 points.

Min:
Drive 1: first down ridley runs for... no gain. 2nd down ridley runs for ... 2 yards. punt

Drive 2: (after an interception, ball is on the 1 yard line): first down ridley runs for no gain, second down ridley runs for 1 yard. touchdown. no a very convincing 1 yard http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000393980/Ridley-1-yard-touchdown

Drive 3: 1st down ridley runs for 5 yards, 2nd down ridley runs for 3 yards, ridley only gets one more touch on the drive negated by a holding penalty. results field goal.

Results: three drives, 11 yards 1 td. 10 total points.

OAK:

Drive 1: no touches punt

Drive 2: first down 7 yards, second down 2 yards, third down 1 yard, no more touches punt

Drive 3: 2nd down 6 yards, another 2nd down 5 yards, a first down 5 yards, another first down -1 yards

results: 3 drives, 25 yards 7 total points

KC:

Drive 1: no touches punt

Drive 2: first down 6 yards, no more touches punt

Drive 3: first down 2 yards punt

results: 8 yards no points

CIN:

Drive 1: first down 9 yards, second down 7 yards, second down 3 yards, second down 1 yard touchdown.

Drive 2: second down 8 yards, third down 2 yards no more touches

Drive 3: first down 5 yards, another first down 2 yards punt

results: 37 yards 1 td, 14 total points

Buff:

Drive 1: second down -2 yards punt

Drive 2: second down 9 yards, first down 6 yards, second down 3 yards, second down 3 yards, missed field goal

Drive 3: no touches

Results: 19 yards 3 points.

There were 4 games in which Ridley had significant touches, in order: @ Vikings (25), vs. Raiders (19), vs. Bengals (27), and @ Bills (10). Of those games, Ridley only had two poor showing: vs. Raiders and @ Bills. The Raiders were when the OL was still in flux and they hadn't even settled on a starting line-up yet. The Bills are just a dominant DL. The other two games, Ridley averaged 4.1 and 4.6 YPC, respectively, and had stat lines of: 25 att, 101 yds, 1 TD and 27 att, 113 yds, 1 TD. Hell, even against the Chiefs (why you would consider that and the Miami game is beyond me since the sample size is so small, but whatever), he was breaking off 5.6 YPC.

Big picture?:

Ridley averaged 3.125 ypc, and the patriots averaged 7.3 points in the first three drives before Ridley got hurt. Hardly lighting it up imo The slow starts recently have absolutely nothing to do with Ridley going down.

When you lose your best RB, it always hurts the offense. The loss was somewhat mitigated at first by Blount's return and Grey's coming out party against a weak run defense, but it's still there.

I look forward to your response about strawmen, and how its not fair to count touchdown runs in relation to yards per carry even if they barely get the 1 yard they needed to in order to get the td, and how ridley is just so dynamic, probably the best back in the league.

Ridley is average at best.

Well, you proved before you don't know what a strawman is and I see by the bolded and underlined that you didn't bother to learn what it is still. The underlined is a strawman. I never came close to making that claim. The only claim I made is that Ridley was the most dynamic back on the team and his loss ultimately hurts the offense more than helps it. <---- There you go. That's my claim. Now please base your counter arguments off of that instead of a logical fallacy.