Words on things I watched, read & heard

[TomPatriot]

Bill's lying, plain & simple.

He should be. No reason to throw a young player under the bus.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

It's probably on the first two pages but I talked about the use of dime, DB's filling in for LB's before the year. I didn't think we'd be using it this much.
I thought we play like exactly 1-2 downs of base a game or two ago but am probably wrong. Either way the point stands. Issues remain.

I think it could work if we had Dugger, Williams ... bigger DB's that can & want to tackle. HT & KVN departure/opt out are killing this defense rn.

I really don't think the secondary has been that bad at all considering what's asked of them.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

It's probably on the first two pages but I talked about the use of dime, DB's filling in for LB's before the year. I didn't think we'd be using it this much.
I thought we play like exactly 1-2 downs of base a game or two ago but am probably wrong. Either way the point stands. Issues remain.

I think it could work if we had Dugger, Williams ... bigger DB's that can & want to tackle. HT & KVN departure/opt out are killing this defense rn.

I really don't think the secondary has been that bad at all considering what's asked of them.

Agreed. I would add not having a NT hurts situationally. Hopefully Allen can join the team this week.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Seen a lot of "Tank for Trevor" post. I get it but we've lost that race in terms of W/L record. Jets are leading comfortably and there's like 9 teams with 1 loss. Actually lots of bad - mediocre teams this year. Anyway that ship had sailed and we'd need a lot of luck to get Lawrence in terms of someone willing to deal him.

Even still rn we're 11th I believe. Great position considering we have so many picks and teams like Mia, Cinci, NYG, SDC and even Atl either have young QB's or Ryan. Next week is big. We lose bad and look like a 2 win team and I'd rather not win more than 4 games. Stay in the top 10 or as close to it. Personally I can stomach a 2-3 win year. A few of them if we're doing it right.

Lawrence is out but there's 4-5 other intriguing QB prospects and again more than a few teams around us just got QBs in the lottery last year. So if we stay around 8-12 we could potentially get a partner to land a Wilson or Lance in that area. Or trade out, trade back. There's a few QBs in the 2nd-3rd round that we might like.

TLDR: Lawrence is out. A few other good options, very good QB class. If we're bad, let's be bad not mediocre.

*Lawrence is making moves and saying things like he's intrigued about going to NYJ. Again I touched on this in the thread but NYJ are a mess. A mess. No one wants that. Life is too short for that mess

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Agreed. I would add not having a NT hurts situationally. Hopefully Allen can join the team this week.

Our DL/LB situations aren't the best rn. Guy is a good-very good player. Butler flashes but isn't taking over games and he shouldn't be asked to. Those plus WR/QB are my 4 biggest draft needs as of now.

 

[AQPE]

Violently agree that a DT who can 2 gap is desperately needed. Having Easley bust and Brown essentially bust is hurting them badly now (not that Easley was going to be that type of DT). Personally I think that's a bigger problem for this team right now than is the evident issues with Harry, though I certainly understand the agitation many here have about him.

I am also very concerned about the inability of the coaching staff to develop guys at the DT, TE, and WR position. It isn't just about drafting, in fact I feel it is more about not getting enough out of guys than it is about picking guys. I really wonder whether there is a big disconnect between who they have scouting and evaluating personnel and who they have coaching them. I'm not talking about BB so much, but more about his assistants. Let's face it also, BB has lost a lot of talented coaches over the years and often did a great job replacing them, but the drain on the organization had to come back to haunt them eventually and I think we are seeing that now. As I commented a few weeks ago, BB is really going to need to do some hard thinking about who he has on his staff and how productive they are at the development process. I won't be shocked or all that disappointed to see a major reorganization of the coaching staff be Step 1 this offseason.

 

[Uptown]

A bit of a look ahead to a future opponent.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

We often run a 5-1-6 defense. It stops almost all passing games. The issue is defending against the run. But, we knew that before the season started. We needed an ILB and a NT. We still need an ILB and NT. However, this is somewhat nitpicking. We aren't losing games because of the defense.

And, every defense has strengths and weaknesses. Our weakness is up the middle, And yes, Bill uses strong safeties to help the run defense, as he always has.

If Beau Allen, Cowart and Guy are ever all healthy in the same game, they should hold up, but linebacker is a mess. Bentley is hesitant and slow, Jennings looks slow and lost, Uche has not played. Dugger has looked better to me at linebacker than the listed LBs; hope he gets back out there soon.

 

[patsfanfromoversea]

If Beau Allen, Cowart and Guy are ever all healthy in the same game, they should hold up, but linebacker is a mess. Bentley is hesitant and slow, Jennings looks slow and lost, Uche has not played. Dugger has looked better to me at linebacker than the listed LBs; hope he gets back out there soon.

I think Jennings would be better on the outside as an Edge defender

 

[captain stone]

Kittle & Juszczyk?

 

[Uptown]

Kittle & Juszczyk?

On a purely blocking level, yes.

 

[captain stone]

If Beau Allen, Cowart and Guy are ever all healthy in the same game, they should hold up, but linebacker is a mess. Bentley is hesitant and slow, Jennings looks slow and lost, Uche has not played. Dugger has looked better to me at linebacker than the listed LBs; hope he gets back out there soon.

I think Jennings would be better on the outside as an Edge defender

Yeah that's what he did mostly at Alabama I think, whether it was on or off the LOS, though he also seemed to be lined-up in the MOF occasionally...
But no matter where he's been here, he's sucked so far, same as all the others...

 

[Uptown]

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Kittle & Juszczyk?

They're definitely up there. 1A/1B type situation but I feel like there might be a few others too I'm just blanking. I might look into it if I have enough time.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

This is one of the best threads I've ever read on Twitter. So good.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

More good stuff by Ted. Who's excellent btw if you're on the bird.

Pats need to regroup, rebuild and become a team that others fear ... again. A team you have to stay up all week thinking of plan A, B, & C bc we have so many options.



Unlike the Rams, the Patriots played a lot of one-deep safety coverages, even against the 49ers’ spread formations, to ensure they would get seven or eight players in the box. They are a predominately man-to-man coverage team, so when Samuel or any other player went into motion, the defender guarding them would follow them across the formation. Also, the defender guarding the tight end adds an extra man to the strongside. It looked like the Patriots had an auto-blitz for one of their inside linebackers when they saw jet motion.

Shanahan exposed the Rams’ light box by running the ball from 11 personnel. Against New England, he used a lot of 21 personnel (two backs, one tight end, two receivers). Instead of motioning Samuel in front of the quarterback and throwing him a shovel, they motioned Samuel behind Garoppolo, so he could hand the ball off to him. The handoff allows Samuel to get downhill faster and presents a new look for running the same Deadpool concept they gashed the Rams with. It’s a strongside outside zone play with the fullback and tight end combo blocking the edge defender to the defensive back.

...

“Certainly, the receivers carrying a ball is something that you’ve gotta defend but there’s a lot of things you gotta defend too so it’s that’s the whole problem with San Francisco is it’s not about stopping one guy or one play or one player,” Belichick said before the game.

The Patriots had a good plan for the 49ers’ jet passes. Shanahan knew the Patriots would. The 49ers didn’t hand the ball off or shovel pass the ball to Samuel much in this game, but Shanahan had a lot of plays in the game plan to take advantage of all the attention that Samuel would get when he went in motion.

 

[Uptown]

 

[captain stone]

Man we are trending in the wrong direction everywhere...And yet Bill doesn't even bother to bring in any reinforcements...