I don't understand what is so amazing about that.
You missed the part where I wrote, "unless the they draft someone else". In addition, Gillislee failed as the "bigger back role" last year which was not his fault - that is not his game. In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if Gillisle asks for his release at some point during training camp. If Hill is truly over his injury, he'll easily be the featured back in this offense.
Yes he is more dangerous at the 2nd level than the line of scrimmage but I believe more often than not he could pick up a first down if the blocking was poor. I'm not talking about defenders already in the backfield which was most of the blocking Laurence Maroney had which didn't give him any time to dance. Lol.
I guess you didn't pick up on the humor regarding Hogan and Burkhead. I know they don't do this on purpose. Ditto with Mitchell. I agree Brady throws hospital balls which one contributed to Gronk getting his ACL torn by TJ Ward.
Yes, but you still need to have other WR's help out. The less threats on the outside makes it easier to take out Gronk if you haven't noticed.
You missed the part where I said he could have the Hernandez role. Allen is making too much money just to block.
Of course it's possible Garcia steps up out of nowhere, but you can't just assume someone already on the Pats roster or rookie can realistically step up and protect Brady in a pass heavy offense with a now 41 year old QB when the season starts.
The comparison I made for Clayborn to Ealy is that I could see Clayborn not even making the team. Wise having another year in the system will help him not being so undisciplined vs the run. He also needs to learn more pass rush moves than just the track star move. After teams picked up on his only move, he was invisible after week 3.
I agree that solid DT's make your overall run D look better than it might be (see the Vikings defense when they had Pat & Kevin Williams). However, their LB's had a phobia of defending passes in the flat and had a hard time defending RB's in general.
This is not by design. When they had Hightower, Mayo and Collins on the roster, did the exclusively run a two LB set? No. They wanted them all out there but Mayo regressed really bad. They do this now to try to hide their extremely putrid LB corps. I also think BB would rather run a 3-4 but he can't find the players to effectively run his style of defense. LB's are two small these days and it's hard to find DL like Warren and Seymour.
My issue is that they both aren't very good. Rowe couldn't play inside or outside gave up the most yards per play last year. This is all they talked about during Super Bowl week. Too many people here like Jones because he's "fast" but he got beat quite a bit last year.
I don't think there really is a "bigger back role", at least not by design. When the Pats have one, they'll scheme to make use of that size when they can (or have no other viable choice, like in 2016). Anyway, at 210 lbs, Gillislee is hardly a "bigger back" compared to Hill at 233 or Blount at 250.
And Gillislee didn't "fail" at anything. In spite of anecdotal "fan evidence" to the contrary, Gillislee consistently picked up the necessary yardage based on down and distance.
You may
believe that Blount "more often than not could pick up a first down if the blocking was poor", but we'll never know because the Pats run-blocking was at or very near the top of the league in both 2016 and 2017.
Allen was one of the primary reasons that the 2017 run-blocking was so exceptional, as was Bennett in 2016. Allen was also critical to helping out the tackles in pass-pro. And yet, even with the current "situation" at LT, you think he's "overpaid?"
Wise was "invisible after week-3"? Two of his five regular season sacks came in weeks 15 & 16. And he had two more sacks against the Titans in the Divisional Round.
Solid DTs don't just "make your overall run D look better" - they're the critical anchor for a solid run defense.
Apparently you haven't noticed that the Pats have been running with 5 DBs and 2 LBs on 40%+ of the defensive snaps for years now - yes, even when they had HT, Collins and Mayo on the roster together. They went almost exclusively with 2 LBs in 2017, because they didn't have any more healthy LBs to put in there. LB effectiveness was poor because they healthy ones were woefully inexperienced and overworked - because the DL couldn't stop a minor nosebleed.
Jones "got beat quite a bit last year"? He allowed the lowest completion percentage, the lowest YPC and had the most PBU's per target of any of the Pats CB's last season. He played 439 D-snaps compared to Rowe's 239, and was targeted 51 times compared to Rowe's 20 times and Gilmore's 68. Jones isn't just fast. He's damn good.
