Patriots Pregame Thread Pre-Game - Divisional Round Texans at Patriots

[dliverey44]

I agree with him and feel confident that Maye and McD will come up with a gameplan that allows Maye to exploit some of those voids. That does not mean he won't have bad plays or that it will be enough to win, but I think we will win.

 

[DaBruinz]

Yep put him on Kirk and then I don't know where Houston goes with the football. I really don't.

Dalton Schultz says "HI". Schultz is a TE. What's been the Pat's Kryptonite on defense all year? Passing to the TEs..

Who are you going to get to cover the TE? None of the Pats' LBers are truly capable. Do you play Single High Safety, rotating either Woodson or Hawkins down to cover the Schultz? Or do you sub Mapu for Elliss and have Mapu attempt to do it?

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Dalton Schultz says "HI". Schultz is a TE. What's been the Pat's Kryptonite on defense all year? Passing to the TEs..

Who are you going to get to cover the TE? None of the Pats' LBers are truly capable. Do you play Single High Safety, rotating either Woodson or Hawkins down to cover the Schultz? Or do you sub Mapu for Elliss and have Mapu attempt to do it?

Higgins had a pretty decent year for a rook, 6 TDs. He's a bigger body, that will need to be accounted for.
Noel was pretty underwhelming, but he has the physical traits to be a good slot guy in the future.
Hutchinson, meh.
Higgins is the guy that would need to step up for them to come even close to replacing Nico.

 

[DaBruinz]

He still loves us…

I don't think Bill ever stopped loving the Players and fans.

 

[Huckleberry1]

If they choose to go hurry up with both of them on the field they will be able to create a lot of mismatches in the pass game given both RBs have some WR abilities.

If they can protect Maye they win this game.

 

[Zuma]

Dalton Schultz says "HI". Schultz is a TE. What's been the Pat's Kryptonite on defense all year? Passing to the TEs..

Who are you going to get to cover the TE? None of the Pats' LBers are truly capable. Do you play Single High Safety, rotating either Woodson or Hawkins down to cover the Schultz? Or do you sub Mapu for Elliss and have Mapu attempt to do it?

When we thought Alex Austin at CB3 would be able to cover TE's...those were the days.

 

[TommyD4207]

If they can protect Maye they win this game.

Protect him *enough*, sure. It's going to be ugly again.

To me, it's whether Maye can protect the football better, if he can they'll be fine.

 

[DaBruinz]

Higgins had a pretty decent year for a rook, 6 TDs. He's a bigger body, that will need to be accounted for.
Noel was pretty underwhelming, but he has the physical traits to be a good slot guy in the future.
Hutchinson, meh.
Higgins is the guy that would need to step up for them to come even close to replacing Nico.

That's why I find it hilarious when people who should know better think that another team only has 1 receiver.

Of course, then you have others who don't understand the game worth a damn such as @TommyD4207. Which is why my post went right over his head.

 

[TommyD4207]

That's why I find it hilarious when people who should know better think that another team only has 1 receiver.

Of course, then you have others who don't understand the game worth a damn such as @TommyD4207. Which is why my post went right over his head.

He had 3 catches for 12 yards against another 'team that can't cover TEs' (which is pretty much every team in the NFL by the way, a fact that goes over your head), just last week

Color me unconcerned about Dalton Schultz. If he has 12 catches for 100 yards, Texans lose.

Your hilarious 'understanding of the game' is truly entertaining, week after week.

 

[DaBruinz]

When we thought Alex Austin at CB3 would be able to cover TE's...those were the days.

Was Austin asked to cover TEs this year? Granted, the position that he lined up at for the snap counts aren't necessarily inidicative of whom he was covering, but he only had 17 snaps where he lined up anyplace but at Wide Corner.. 16 of those snaps were Slot, Box, or on the Line.. I believe the "DL" snap he actually blitzed. So, he might have had 15 snaps.. Someone would have to look at the all-22 for those 4 games to see if he actually lined up against a TE in any of those scenarios.

It is interesting that Williams, Kuhr and Hamilton hadn't been able to work with Austin to improve things with his coverage so that he could be effective against TEs.. But, it also could be that they felt that keeping in the Nickle and having Elliss/Spillane on the field mitigate against potential Draw plays was more important.

 

[TommyD4207]

Higgins had a pretty decent year for a rook, 6 TDs. He's a bigger body, that will need to be accounted for.
Noel was pretty underwhelming, but he has the physical traits to be a good slot guy in the future.
Hutchinson, meh.
Higgins is the guy that would need to step up for them to come even close to replacing Nico.

Higgins has a nice future. He'll have to transition to the PI Bait spot which, we'll see how he does at that as a rookie in a big spot. Last week it was Kirk, who actually stepped up and played somewhere in the neighborhood commensurate to his contract. He's a chain-mover and has some route-running savvy (if he's checked-in, of course). That's where I'd expect Stroud to go in a tough spot.

Collins is not only great at it, he can actually burn you deep, and run really good routes in the intermediate game, making him a real threat, even with an inaccurate QB like Stroud.

 

[TheRainMaker]

On this day in 2017 the Patriots and Texans met in an AFCDG.
Pats won 34-16.
Dion Lewis set an NFL record with his three touchdowns, as he became the first player in postseason history to score on a catch, a run and a kickoff return.

​

When Dion Lewis was healthy, he was by far the Pats most dangerous receiving back. It's not even close. You can see in that Gif alone how fast he was able to turn corners and blow past defenders.

 

[DaBruinz]

Is the Moses knee injury the same he's been dealing with the last month or so... seems he always gets Wed practice off.

Also, how many open spots do they have on the 53 right now? Lost track if they'd have to cut someone to bring back Jennings or Austin. Seems that if Gonzo fares well after today that he'll be a go, and Jennings might be activated back from IR. We obviously need a 3rd RB since Johnson was released.

The Pats have 1 open spot currently.. I started keeping track of that in the roster transaction thread and it's been on the Roster Spreadsheet since I started that.

The Pats either have to activate Austin or IR him for the rest of the season as his window is up. Being that he was listed as a full participant, we should see him added to the Active Roster in the next day or so.

Jennings they just started the practice window.

IF Jennings is at a point to potentially clear protocol, I would expect Kobee Minor or CJ Dippre to be released on Saturday to free up a slot.

 

[dliverey44]

It should not be our base offense.
Yes we can use it, and throw out of it a couple of times but our base offense should be 11 or 12 personnel with the ball in Drake Mayes hands not 3 yards and a cloud of dust.

A Jumbo formation does not mean 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Look at the game against the Chargers the only TD was out of Jumbo, the 42 yard completion to Booty was out of Jumbo.

There were also some chunk plays vs Miami out of Jumbo in the passing game.

I also do not think that we should use Jumbo as our base, but to make it sound like its only 3yards and a cloud of dust is not accurate.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Gonzo and tonga at practice is music to my ears. As is will Campbell telling ppl he dont give a ****. LFG

 

[Zuma]

 

[Triumph]

If they can protect Maye they win this game.

Pats need to run the ball and create play action.

Over the Texans 10 game win streak, they sacked Lawrence 5 times, Allen 8 times and Herbert 5 times.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Protect him *enough*, sure. It's going to be ugly again.

To me, it's whether Maye can protect the football better, if he can they'll be fine.

I'm not worried about Maye protecting the ball. When he makes mistakes he learns from them, and after watching Vrabel's presser after the game it was clear that would be addressed, Maye.will be aware of it going into the game.

 

[ViperGTS]

Pats need to run the ball and create play action.

Over the Texans 10 game win streak, they sacked Lawrence 5 times, Allen 8 times and Herbert 5 times.

Maye WILL get sacked, that is unavoidable. Question is for how much yardage and what down/distance.

 

[Ross12]

Milt and Christian are about to introduce themselves to Mr. Stroud