The Official Patriots vs Bills POST game thread

[mgteich]

Being Welker-centric makes the offense better. It is NOT wrong to focus on Welker, Gronkowski and Lloyd as our pass receivers.

We may a better team with Edelman in there instead of Branch, and as a returner. We are NOT a better team with Edelman in a major receiving role, taking reps from the top 4 receivers.

It may turn out that the injuries to Hernandez and Edelman, while certainly not something to hope for, have a beneficial effect for the offense in the end. With them sidelined, the offense is much more Welker-centric, and it looks better by orders of magnitude. It's one thing to be diverse, but I seems clear that it's another to alter the basic offensive focus.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Being Welker-centric makes the offense better. It is NOT wrong to focus on Welker, Gronkowski and Lloyd as our pass receivers.

We may a better team with Edelman in there instead of Branch, and as a returner. We are NOT a better team with Edelman in a major receiving role, taking reps from the top 4 receivers.

That's the right perspective on Edes. He can make a few plays with his > Branch speed but should be the last read in most plays. I have grown to hate the receiver screen post Givens and Welker's 1st seasons.

I'm glad we have The Twig, whom I thought was done last year but he's just useful as a last resort sub who Brady knows will be where he expects him to be. Unfortunately for Branch he's at the stage where he's most often easily covered by the defense's worst cover guy.

I guess that barring horrific WR injury, The Hut is completely off the Pats radar now.

 

[Deus Irae]

Being Welker-centric makes the offense better. It is NOT wrong to focus on Welker, Gronkowski and Lloyd as our pass receivers.

We may a better team with Edelman in there instead of Branch, and as a returner. We are NOT a better team with Edelman in a major receiving role, taking reps from the top 4 receivers.

I don't want to say that Edelman shouldn't have a major receiving role. If his role this year is similar to Branch's role last year, I don't see that as a problem, as long as he gets the job done.

Lloyd = what Chad Johnson should have been
Gronk = Gronk

Those are fine, and I think those roles work nicely in the Welker-centric system. Not only that, but the upgrade from Johnson to Lloyd puts the team in position to take some of the pressure off of Welker and to lessen his target/touch numbers to something in the 90-100 range, and it forces defenses to defend more of the field. The problem, IMO, is that the team was screwing with the other 3 roles, and that's where things went off the rails.

 

[Deus Irae]

Check out these snap counts.....


Devin McCourty – 71 of 71
CB Kyle Arrington – 67 of 71
CB Sterling Moore – 58 of 71
CB Ras-I Dowling – 5 of 71
S Patrick Chung – 67 of 71
S Steve Gregory – 51 of 71
S Tavon Wilson – 34 of 71

Defensive snaps: Little rest for Jones - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

That's a lot of nickel and dime, Wilson's establishing himself as a significant part of the S crew, and Moore v. Ras-IR is no contest at this point.

 

[RodThePat]

I don't want to say that Edelman shouldn't have a major receiving role. If his role this year is similar to Branch's role last year, I don't see that as a problem, as long as he gets the job done.

Lloyd = what Chad Johnson should have been
Gronk = Gronk

Those are fine, and I think those roles work nicely in the Welker-centric system. Not only that, but the upgrade from Johnson to Lloyd puts the team in position to take some of the pressure off of Welker and to lessen his target/touch numbers to something in the 90-100 range, and it forces defenses to defend more of the field. The problem, IMO, is that the team was screwing with the other 3 roles, and that's where things went off the rails.

Pretty much. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having the 2011 Patriots offense, only with Brandon Lloyd and more depth at TE. Had we had that last season, we'd have another Lombardi at Patriot Place. They tried to tinker with the team's offensive philosophy a bit, and it didn't work out, so it's time to go back to basics.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Pretty much. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having the 2011 Patriots offense, only with Brandon Lloyd and more depth at TE. Had we had that last season, we'd have another Lombardi at Patriot Place. They tried to tinker with the team's offensive philosophy a bit, and it didn't work out, so it's time to go back to basics.

I really wish they would go back to what has made them so successful offensively, just with a sprinkle more of Ridley and co.

 

[Kontradiction]

50's the Mike.

 

[Deus Irae]

2 WR/2 TE/1 RB -- 37 of 77
3 WR/1 TE/1 RB -- 36 of 77
1 WR/3 TE/1 RB -- 2 of 77
3 WR/1 TE/2 RB -- 1 of 77
3 TE/1 FB/1 RB -- 1 of 77

Positional groupings: Fells a key - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

QB Tom Brady -- 77 of 77
WR Brandon Lloyd -- 76 of 77
WR Wes Welker -- 74 of 77
TE Rob Gronkowski -- 64 of 77
TE Daniel Fells -- 45 of 77
WR Deion Branch -- 36 of 77
RB Stevan Ridley -- 34 of 77
RB Brandon Bolden -- 26 of 77
TE Michael Hoomanawanui -- 11 of 77
RB Danny Woodhead -- 10 of 77
RB Shane Vereen -- 8 of 77
FB Dan Connolly -- 1 of 77

Offensive snaps: Full load for Welker - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

 

[Deus Irae]

While I have been critical of the DBs, I did find this to be something of a shock to read today:

I was surprised Chung wasn't benched

https://twitter.com/GregABedard/statuses/252748958651281408https://twitter.com/GregABedard/statuses/252748958651281408

 

[Deus Irae]

BB is on WEEI now. He just pointed out that they didn't change their approach going into the second half and that they thought the problem in the first half was execution.


That's going to kill the McD bashers who were insisting otherwise.