The impact of Graham being out

[D-cleater]

It occured to me today that listening to Gil and Gino on the radio gives one a different perspective on the game than watching network announcers babble and banter about the cliched story lines and 'keys to the game' ( with the exception of Simms and a few others).

For instance, one thing that stood out to me today was not hearing Grahams name mentioned on any of the running plays. I'm used to hearing the phrase "gets a key block from Graham" at least once every few series or so. Not once did I hear about Dillon or Maroney getting a block from anyone today. Not a one.

How important is Graham to the passing game AND the running game? Does the O line depend on him for help against good pash rushers? Do the running backs depend on him to open holes and take LB's and safeties out of the play? How much did not having him in the game today hurt the offense? Discuss.

 

[Brownfan80]

It occured to me today that listening to Gil and Gino on the radio gives one a different perspective on the game than watching network announcers babble and banter about the cliched story lines and 'keys to the game' ( with the exception of Simms and a few others).

For instance, one thing that stood out to me today was not hearing Grahams name mentioned on any of the running plays. I'm used to hearing the phrase "gets a key block from Graham" at least once every few series or so. Not once did I hear about Dillon or Maroney getting a block from anyone today. Not a one.

How important is Graham to the passing game AND the running game? Does the O line depend on him for help against good pash rushers? Do the running backs depend on him to open holes and take LB's and safeties out of the play? How much did not having him in the game today hurt the offense? Discuss.

The loss of Graham was obvious. It was a big factor in why the running game never got it's legs.

Luckily we're headed into the bye week, so he'll probably (hopefully) be ready to go the first game back.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

As much as I think of Graham as the Pats' number one TE, he wouldn't have been enough of a difference against Miami's game plan - they knew Tommy and the WRs still need work and they knew the running game would hurt them more decisively than the passing game. They stacked things up against the run and were pretty successful in forcing Tommy to throw. They also plugged the middle to stifle Watson, remember the catch Thomas made? That crowd was what the TEs faced. Miami had a good game plan and they executed pretty well, Rodney forcing the fumble and Asante making the first pick forced them to play from behind against a pretty fair defense. It was a pretty good game, despite NEM's play calling.

 

[Brownfan80]

As much as I think of Graham as the Pats' number one TE, he wouldn't have been enough of a difference against Miami's game plan - they knew Tommy and the WRs still need work and they knew the running game would hurt them more decisively than the passing game. They stacked things up against the run and were pretty successful in forcing Tommy to throw. They also plugged the middle to stifle Watson, remember the catch Thomas made? That crowd was what the TEs faced. Miami had a good game plan and they executed pretty well, Rodney forcing the fumble and Asante making the first pick forced them to play from behind against a pretty fair defense. It was a pretty good game, despite NEM's play calling.

I always enjoy your injection of reality.

Execution and defensive gameplans actually exist to you, how novel!

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

I always enjoy your injection of reality.

Execution and defensive gameplans actually exist to you, how novel!

My vivid imagination (as opposed to NEM's fantasy realm ).

 

[brady et al fan]

As much as I think of Graham as the Pats' number one TE, he wouldn't have been enough of a difference against Miami's game plan - they knew Tommy and the WRs still need work and they knew the running game would hurt them more decisively than the passing game. They stacked things up against the run and were pretty successful in forcing Tommy to throw. They also plugged the middle to stifle Watson, remember the catch Thomas made? That crowd was what the TEs faced. Miami had a good game plan and they executed pretty well, Rodney forcing the fumble and Asante making the first pick forced them to play from behind against a pretty fair defense. It was a pretty good game, despite NEM's play calling.

I agree. As much as Saban looked like an a** whining about the pass interference call, he put together a heck of a game plan on defense. I think he matched BB in game planning. It'll be interesting to see what BB and friends come up with the next time we see these guys because I imagine they will do the same thing again.

 

[Brownfan80]

Yup, they sure do, and its up to an offensive coordinator to figure out how to combat them instead of playing into them.

Our defense won this game with the turnovers.

Seems to me that he did okay. The offense scored more points than the other team and won without running anything more than vanilla. I actually thought we passed too much.