Rewatch Thread: NE vs. Indianapolis (W5 TNF)

[luuked]

Thanks for the replays. It seems to me now that DMac got beat more by excellent route-running and perfect throws, rather than his own lack of speed. At least last night.

As others have said I think he would look a lot better if he was able to play a deep safety (i.e. the Harmon role). But similar to Hightower his relative versatility just makes the staff put him all over the place and at times in positions where his weaknesses are exposed.

 

[PP2]

Edelman's 6th sense in finding the soft spots in the Colt coverage schemes just broke the game wide open for everyone else. White was the biggest beneficiary of Edelman's return last night- with all the other receivers covered, White was left way open as the checkdown option out of the backfield. Nobody else brings that- Edelman is arguably more important to this offense than Gronk is.

Consequently, we are back to creating the mismatches that Brady thrives on and he got back his swagger big time, but I still think this offense hasn't reached its potential, yet. Plenty of plays were left out there last night.

One other thing that I liked about the game is that Michel is slowly hitting his stride, he was much more patient last night, waiting for holes to open up instead of running into walls. He is reading Devlin's blocking better, and learning to anticipate them. His timing should only get better and he'll hit the holes right when they're opening. Now, despite all that, he's gotten just about 100 yards per game the last two games, which is downright terrifying.

 

[Joker]

I must be getting too old to understand this game anymore. I'm reading all these "slowing down!" and"lost it!" posts about McC..and I watch the 2nd half and I see good coverage on a perfectly placed ball by Luck and a look to the left running half speed until he sees the help he thought he had not there. The TE was running FULL SPEED and McCourty had to accelerate to cover him..no one makes up that ground, it's physically impossible unless you have Deion speed. I think this is all PABDS..Patriots Are Bad Derangement Syndrome.

was this game EVER a contest? stop demanding superman heroics when the movie is over and the credits are on the screen.

 

[luuked]

Edelman's 6th sense in finding the soft spots in the Colt coverage schemes just broke the game wide open for everyone else. White was the biggest beneficiary of Edelman's return last night- with all the other receivers covered, White was left way open as the checkdown option out of the backfield. Nobody else brings that- Edelman is arguably more important to this offense than Gronk is.

Consequently, we are back to creating the mismatches that Brady thrives on and he got back his swagger big time, but I still think this offense hasn't reached its potential, yet. Plenty of plays were left out there last night.

I will have to wait for the A22 but what I like to add to this is McD using Gordon as a way to clear up space in the flat for White a couple of times. So despite not getting the credit for it on the stat sheet he is contributing in meaningful ways.

It will not just be Edelman and Gronk because if Gordon can continue to the point where he knows the system better opponents will have to start putting their CB1 on him (and sometimes even a safety) which in turn will make Edelman/Gronk devastating. And if the top options all get doubled or are covered up you still have White/Dorsett and Hogan against the weaker DBs.

This has the potential to be an amazing offense.

 

[Kontradiction]

The pass to Ebron before the Swoope TD:



On the second angle he definitely looks to be slower. But then again he has to flip his hips, accelerate against a player who is already in motion. The ball arrives just at the perfect time and into the ideal place as well. Again, not sure there is a player who can make up that difference in about 6 steps.

Am I not harsh enough on him ?

Honestly it looks like he’s having trouble diagnosing the plays. But that’s so hard to believe given how experienced he is.

 

[PScottman]

stop demanding superman heroics when the movie is over and the credits are on the screen

These are really more Deadpool. Time to make the chimichangas!

 

[Sicilian]

I think people might be underestimating Ebron a bit here too. I'm sure McCourty could have done better, either in technique or diagnosing the plays earlier, but this isn't the Ebron that was busting in Detroit. Since training camp there's been reports out of Indy that he's been really good, and seems to have found a bit of a renaissance with Andrew Luck. This wasn't McCourty getting beaten by a scrub, Ebron was a talented first round draft pick who probably just needed a change of scenery. He had 3 TD's in 4 games already coming into this game.

 

[Kontradiction]

I think people might be underestimating Ebron a bit here too. I'm sure McCourty could have done better, either in technique or diagnosing the plays earlier, but this isn't the Ebron that was busting in Detroit. Since training camp there's been reports out of Indy that he's been really good, and seems to have found a bit of a renaissance with Andrew Luck. This wasn't McCourty getting beaten by a scrub, Ebron was a talented first round draft pick who probably just needed a change of scenery. He had 3 TD's in 4 games already coming into this game.

It wasn’t just Ebron and hasn’t just been Ebron though. McCourty hasn’t looked like himself all season. It could a number of things - trouble settling in to a new role (he seems to be covering TEs and RBs more than in years past and playing closer to the LoS), diagnosing the play, diagnosing coverages and knowing when and when not to hand his guy off, or losing a step. We will figure it out more as the season goes along. If it’s the first three, he should improve. If it’s the last one, he’ll look like this all season long and, at that cap number, will either be asked to re-work his deal or will be gone. Either way it was one of the troubling spots in what was otherwise a good win last night. I would suspect that Reid is going to paint a target on his back going into next week’s game.

 

[PScottman]

I would suspect that Reid is going to paint a target on his back going into next week’s game.

Undoubtably. Maybe they should just have McCourty the Elder and McCourty the Younger switch Jerseys periodically to confuse the Walrus a bit.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Honestly it looks like he’s having trouble diagnosing the plays. But that’s so hard to believe given how experienced he is.

Looks like bad technique, maybe a lil worried about Ebron getting behind him.

He's pushing Ebron inside but hesitates to commit, crosses his feet, which is a no-no here. Right after you can see him tryna get a hand on 85 but Ebron already broke off his route.

 

[Nunchucks]

Eric Ebron was drafted in the first round because of his speed and ability to get open. He has been plagued by injuries and drops, but has always flashed top notch TE receiving ability. It isn't terrible that McCourty is having trouble covering him.

 

[bigballas]

Ebron dominated....look for him on our roster in 2 years...

 

[ScottishPatriots]

Some of the coverage wasn't even that bad in the secondary at times, the lack of pass rush and Luck dropping perfect passes happened quite a few times.

 

[Ring 6]

I am gonna start with some gifs and thoughts on DMac getting beat a few times:



This is the TD to Swoope where from my point of view he just took a few steps too far back and when swoop broke inside he was already beat. There is no speed in the world that will be able to make up for those wrong steps he made.

He’s playing outside leverage. Sometimes the offensive play call beats the defensive play call no matter how you play it.
Luck saw outside leverage and knew if he drew the underneath players away it was the perfect call. McCourty actually did a good job challenging the play when he was beaten by design before the snap.

 

[luuked]

He’s playing outside leverage. Sometimes the offensive play call beats the defensive play call no matter how you play it.
Luck saw outside leverage and knew if he drew the underneath players away it was the perfect call. McCourty actually did a good job challenging the play when he was beaten by design before the snap.

That is how I saw it as well which is why I kept referring to DMac as being outleveraged twice. I was just wondering what he could have potentially done better.

 

[Ring 6]

If he diagnosed that play better he would have had a chance for an int. Overall though he seems slower. He had No closing speed on Ebron, it actually looks like he is even losing ground on some other plays too.

It’s not diagnosis. It’s that his call is to play outside leverage.

 

[Ring 6]

That is how I saw it as well which is why I kept referring to DMac as being outleveraged twice. I was just wondering what he could have potentially done better.

What can you do really? Every defensive call has an Achilles heel. It just happens that the play call was perfect against that d call.

 

[luuked]

What can you do really? Every defensive call has an Achilles heel. It just happens that the play call was perfect against that d call.

I don't know Andy. I was wondering if you or the other pretty knowledgeable people around here would see something he could have done differently. Because to me all times he got "burned" were either being outleveraged (both Ebrons receptions) or just taking a wrong step like against Swoope.

People keep critizising his speed in a hivemind way and I could not see anything he could have done on any of those plays if he was a step faster. I was thinking that I am missing something obvious.

 

[Ring 6]

I don't know Andy. I was wondering if you or the other pretty knowledgeable people around here would see something he could have done differently. Because to me all times he got "burned" were either being outleveraged (both Ebrons receptions) or just taking a wrong step like against Swoope.

People keep critizising his speed in a hivemind way and I could not see anything he could have done on any of those plays if he was a step faster. I was thinking that I am missing something obvious.

I’m talking about the swoope td.
He didn’t take a wrong step. He was playing outside leverage. That’s the play call. You either play inside leverage to take away that throw or outside leverage to take away the out routes. The expectation is that there is underneath traffic to disrupt but it wasn’t there.
You can’t cover everything.

 

[Ring 6]

The pass to Ebron before the Swoope TD:



On the second angle he definitely looks to be slower. But then again he has to flip his hips, accelerate against a player who is already in motion. The ball arrives just at the perfect time and into the ideal place as well. Again, not sure there is a player who can make up that difference in about 6 steps.

Am I not harsh enough on him ?

So this is the opposite, where he is playing inside technique and Ebron runs an out.
Basically you have 2 plays here where McCourty assignments were the opposite of the play call. With no pressure and no underneath help pretty much any team can do this all day to any other team. This is why QBs complete almost 70% of their passes. When you subtract drops , throwaways, hit while throwing and passes over 20 yards downfield that have a much lower completion rate it’s more like 80%.
Picking out one play or a few plays and asking why they weren’t covered sugggests that receivers don’t have an enormous advantage over defenders which is not the case.