This "balance" crap gets REALLY irritating. The key to being a successful offense is rather simple: pick plays that attack the defenses weakness/holes, put the ball in your playmakers hands with good matchups, and execute. Sometimes it means running the ball a ton, sometimes it means perfect balance, sometimes it means an aerial assualt. It comes down to those three things. The Patriots strength is clearly their passing game. They have one of the greatest QBs in history, arguably the best WR in football right now, and dangerous and versatile TEs.
Lets just break down this season game by game:
Week 1 @ Dolphins
1st Drive: down 0-7 on first possession
3 pass attempts, 3 completed for 64 yards
3 runs for 9 yards including a 4 yard TD run.
TD run is standard, first and goal on the 4, you run. The first run was for 2 yards after a penalty giving them 2nd and 2. You could argue it set up the run, but the 2nd and short situation is generally a 'could run, could go for a pig play' situation, so you really didn't/don't need to set anything up. The other run (a first down run) was for 2 yards and the following 2 plays then came out of the shotgun, so again, not setting anything up. \
2nd Drive: game still tied
5 passing attempts, 5 completed for 63 yards, TD pass
2 rushes for 7 yards, both came late in the drive and on first downs.
3rd Drive: 14-7
7 passing attempts, 3 completed for 25 yards
4 rushs for 24 yards.
Punt. What killed the drive: 1st down penalty on 84, 1st-15, 1st down incomplete mid-pass, 2nd-15 deep pass attempt to Gronk (should have been completed, was the right decision), 3rd-15 7-yard short pass to Branch. I have no problem with how the drive unfolded. Suggesting we should have run on that last drive is all hindsight, there are many many many 3 down sets where you just run or just pass, throwing on 1st and 2nd down is perfectly fine in that situation and the long bomb on 2nd is a risk/reward assessment where the times it's completely likely out-way the times it isn't and you are put in 3rd and long.
4th drive: 14-7
3 and out. First down 1 yard run by Woodhead, 2 incomplete short passes to Welker. This was one of the spots where Welker missed what should have been a fairly standard catch that would have given us a first down.
5th drive: 14-7 2-minute drill with 2 TO
Missed FG attempt at end of 1st half
5 passes attempted, 4 completed for 59 yards
1 run for 9 yards (minus a QB scramble and sack)
What killed the drive: 1st and 10, Ocho not being on the same page and missing a pass. 2nd and 10, completed pass that would have been 1st and goal at the 1, but a penalty puts us at 2nd and 20 instead. Sack and missed field goal.
Halftime stats:
22 passing attempts, 15 completed for 211 yards
11 runs for 50 yards.
66% passing attempts, 14 points on 5 drives with 2 drives killed by penalties.
2nd half:
1st drive - Brady throws a pick on 2nd play. **** happens, bad break on a tipped screen pass of the TEs hands.
2nd drive: 14-14
7 passing attempts, 5 completed for 47 yards
3 runs for 22 yards.
TD scored (pass)
3rd drive: 21-17
6 passing attempts, 6 completed for 76 yards
2 runs for 13 yards
TD scored (pass)
4th drive: 28-17
6 passing attempts, 4 completed for 58 yards
2 runs for 4 yards
FG
5th drive: 3 and out. 1st and 10 incomplete pass, 2nd and 10 - 4 yard run by woodhead, 3rd and 6, incomplete pass. Standard, **** happens.
6th drive:31-17
1st play: 99 yard TD pass to Welker
7th drive: 38-24
3 and out with an incomplete pass on 3rd and 1. Should have ran? Probably.
Game Stats:
48 passing attempts for 517 yards
22 runs for 106 yards
69% pass. Yes, running was successful and there was one or two spots where clearly the play-action worked well, but more than anything, the Dolphins couldn't stop the passing game, thus we stuck with it. It's all about the matchups and in this game, that was Welker and our TE.
This sort of split (pass-run ratio) and passing success has been fairly common with the team, the difference here is that it was a close enough game until the end so we kept throwing the ball and had enough success that there wasn't a reason to run a whole lot. Why fix what's not broken?
My next post I'll dissect how balance played out in our losses the last 2 seasons, first in quick glance and then maybe in more detail.