The 2020 Offense

TheRainMaker said:

BB didn't even try to improve the offense. This is exactly why I wanted Brady to walk.

BB still drafts as if his security blanket TB will bail him out. Good luck to whoever plays QB.

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He used almost all of last years draft on offense and this years 2nd.
He drafted wr in the first traded for wr in the 2nd
He drafted qb, rb, g, t all in 2019. This year he drafted 2 te and 3 ol.
So between last years draft and this years he has drafted (or obtained with a pick)
QB
RB
WR
WR
TE
TE
OT
OT
OG
OG
C

In other words an entire offensive unit and only 3 of the OL were later than the 4th.

that’s not trying?

Ras-IR Dowling said:

He grabbed a couple TEs and added some depth to the interior OL. Maybe he’s confident that Harry with a full camp will be the player BB envisioned when he drafted him.

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He has drafted or traded a pick to draft an entire offense in the last 12 1/2 months.

Ras-IR Dowling said:

Maybe he’s confident that Harry with a full camp will be the player BB envisioned when he drafted him.

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Probably not the best idea to rely on one player.

Ring 6 said:

He used almost all of last years draft on offense and this years 2nd.
He drafted wr in the first traded for wr in the 2nd
He drafted qb, rb, g, t all in 2019. This year he drafted 2 te and 3 ol.
So between last years draft and this years he has drafted (or obtained with a pick)
QB
RB
WR
WR
TE
TE
OT
OT
OG
OG
C

In other words an entire offensive unit and only 3 of the OL were later than the 4th.

that’s not trying?

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Harry and Sanu were both disasters and it's not a good idea to rely on them again without insurance.

Their skill players were the worst in gaining separation from defenders in 2019.

BelichickFan said:

Andrews, Wynn, Harry, LaCosse, even Edelman wasn't himself for a while)

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In addition to those:
Sanu's ankle removed all his cutting ability. Cannon was out a bit. Shaq Mason played injured and it showed. Karras was injured bringing in a 3d stringer. Develin and Jakobsen both out. The offense wasn't hampered...it was obliterated. That they made the playoffs was all on the defense not because of lack of talent, it was lack of health. "Out" is not the only measure of injury that impacts a team's ability to win games.

BelichickFan said:

It's not all about the QB. How many of our SB wins were due to the offense?

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2003, 2004, 2016, with 2014 being arguable

BelichickFan said:

Not a lot. And both Giants' losses the defense did well enough. It's a team game.

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The 2011 loss was mostly because the defense did not do well enough. The loss to the Eagles was also obviously on the defense.

TheRainMaker said:

Probably not the best idea to rely on one player.

Harry and Sanu were both disasters and it's not a good idea to rely on them again without insurance.

Their skill players were the worst in gaining separation from defenders in 2019.

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Sanu has been a capable wr2/wr3 in the nfl for many years. He had 45 receptions in 9 games (which includes 1 that was after 2 practices with a new team) before getting injured which is the equivalent of 80 catches in a full season.
Harry was a #1 pick that was a consensus #1 who missed almost all of camp and more than half the season.
Their skill players were all injured in 2019.

iapatsfan said:

At this point in his career Edelman isn't a number 1 (whatever that is), and he shouldn't be asked to be. He's simply the only guy in the WR group that can beat man coverage.

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We have never really had a true number 1 WR other than 2007 - 2009 when Moss was here. But having 2 starting caliber WR's is something we've had and something to aim for.

EDIT: i should say welker in 2011/2012 deserves a shout since he absolutely beasted those years.

sb1 said:

I don’t think it will be hard for Stidham to match Brady’s 78 passer rating in the second half of the season.

it’s all about the running game. That’s our offense. They are healthy this time and ready to go.

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I love the idea that replacing the Goat with a rookie is just no big deal. Hey maybe an improvement even

TheRainMaker said:

Probably not the best idea to rely on one player.

Harry and Sanu were both disasters and it's not a good idea to rely on them again without insurance.

Their skill players were the worst in gaining separation from defenders in 2019.

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For WRs we’ll see if they add anyone during camp and after cuts but for right now BB has identified the TEs as last years biggest weakness and has attempted to fix the issue.

Adam Seward said:

with an offseason under his belt

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Everyone wants "things we're not confident in" for the Patriots? How about zero confidence there is going to be an "off season". No OTA, no mini-camp, no camp.

The NFL, if there is a season this year, even a truncated one is going to be some of the ugliest, and most injury prone football we have ever seen...league wide if there is no practice time in both the off-and on season.

PScottman said:

Everyone wants "things we're not confident in" for the Patriots? How about zero confidence there is going to be an "off season". No OTA, no mini-camp, no camp.

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I'm not sure exactly how to frame this:

Last Monday, NFL teams were permitted to launch virtual offseason training programs. This Monday, twenty more teams will be doing so.

Per a league source, these teams will launch stay-at-home sessions on April 27: The Cardinals, Ravens, Bengals, Broncos, Lions, Packers, Texans, Jaguars, Raiders, Rams, Dolphins, Vikings, Saints, Jets, Eagles, Steelers, 49ers, Seahawks, Buccaneers, and Titans.

Of those, the Ravens, Dolphins, Eagles, and Buccaneers will have virtual workouts. The other 12 will not.

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but it's definitely a part of an off season.

20 more teams starting virtual offseason programs on Monday - ProFootballTalk

Ras-IR Dowling said:

Skill players includes the TEs right?

For WRs we’ll see if they add anyone during camp and after cuts but for right now BB has identified the TEs as last years biggest weakness and has attempted to fix the issue.

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Yes, at least they draft two instead of one and calling it a day.

I think the success of our offense in 2020 is going to be dictated by 2 things, health and scheme.

Like every year health is going the be one of the biggest factors for every team. This season though we don’t have the luxury of great depth or incredible talent to make up for it. In particular we need our OL and WR’s to stay healthy to give us a shot. We have seen with Brady under center how much injuries on the OL can effect the entire offense. With an inexperienced Stidham those issues will only be magnified.

It’s no secret we are thin at WR. We are going to rely heavily on Edelman and hope Sanu and Harry can take leaps forward from last season. One benefit of Stidham is hopefully he will have an easier time integrating new WR because we know of Brady’s struggles there. Either way this isn’t an overly talented group (especially when considering age) so it will be interesting who else is added either before or during the season.

In terms of scheme I think if we run Stidham out there and ask him to do exactly what Brady did we are setting him up to fail. I think the complexity and reliance on Brady is too much to expect from Stidham. I think we need to simplify it, try and scheme more throws instead of such a heavy reliance of option routes and utilise Stidham legs. As amazing as Brady was (and I wouldn’t trade the last 20 years for anything), he also had his limitations scheme wise. With the more athletic Stidham we now have the opportunity to evolve, be more creative and add different concepts not possible with Brady under center.

While the rest of the league is trying to become faster and more explosive it seems our offensive identity for 2020 will be to control the ball and the clock. We are going to have to run the ball, move the chains and perhaps most importantly, when we get the ball in the red zone we have to score touchdowns. The 2019 Patriots were abysmal in the red zone (26th in the league in red zone TD %). To be successful in 2020 we are going to have to do a much better job of taking advantage of our opportunities because we have a much smaller margin for error.

I don’t have high expectations for our offense in 2020. I think we are going to win a lot of low scoring games on the back of our defense and be a solid overall team. The disrupted offseason could definitely be a factor but one that could help us.

Long term however I think there is reason for some excitement. Everything we have heard is the team really likes Stidham and none of the moves they have made this off season show any different. I’m excited about the 2 TE’s we just drafted but I have low expectations for 2020 (historically rookie TE’s almost never produce at a high level). While I’m a bit down on Sony I’m excited to see what we have in Damien Harris. Hopefully with a year under his belt to learn and improve his pass protection he is ready to contribute. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is our lead back by the end of 2020, I really liked him at Alabama.

I think 2020 is a rebuild year but one in which we can still compete for the playoffs. For the first time in about 2 decades the expectation isn’t to compete for a Super Bowl. If we can just be competitive and show improvement I will be happy. Hopefully we can figure out what we really have with Stidham, reload for 2021 and get back where we belong, at the top of the AFC and playing for the Lombardi Trophy.

skinnydog said:

I love the idea that replacing the Goat with a rookie is just no big deal. Hey maybe an improvement even

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Right? It’s not a big deal, it sucks that Greatest is not here anymore. But the only thing you can do other than quit following the Patriots or switching teams to TB is to move forward. Its never going to be the same although I am a Patriots fan first. Nervously excited about a fresh start and a rebuild. Plenty of cap space next year so enjoy the ride and lets see where this goes.

Way too early too tell. Under normal circumstances, I would say we might have an idea after a few preseason games but.. Whatever happens, this year is going to be one hell of a test for McDaniels. Scheming for the young qb, getting two rookie TEs going without overwhelming them, and working with a mediocre (hopefully just average) WR group, all with a disrupted offseason. Some strong and healthy OL play would help immensely.

Bourne Patriot said:

Last year we couldn't move the ball when we had to.. at all. Time to get back to basics, yes that means more sacks/INTs with a young QB, but it should lead to confidence building for all of the youth on O when they start to put together scoring drives.

I think Brady last year was so determined to keep doing it his way, that the young guys just couldn't get with the programme. He forgets he had 20 years to reach his Jedi level of playbook mastery. These kids were probably busting it to get on the same page for all we know.

It's an age/experience gap thing in some ways. When he was the young QB his receivers were experienced and would have given him some slack. When he was in his prime, he had a nice mix of veteran and youth. Towards the end I think his patience ran out (berating WRs all the time) and he just didn't want to go through growing pains anymore, which I can also understand.

This year they will all be starting at the beginning. The playbook will be simplified to allow the youth to grasp it with competence and the result should be that we can actually move the football. If there's something we suck at one year, BB usually fixes it the following year.

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Last year was not about Brady wanting to do it his way. In the beginning there was a lot of promise for the offense, but a lot of that was the D playing lights out. In the middle the O-line was putrid. Also the lack of anything at TE position started to catch up with them. With the return. Of Wynn, the O-line started to get better-approaching average. Throughout the year the ONLY (except the one game with Brown) receiver who could get separation with any consistency was Edelman. But down the stretch, with Edelman badly banged up there was no receiver getting separation. Backs weren’t open either because no one cared about the Patriots receivers. Can this be fixed? Yes, but not likely in one year. The rookies will all have growing pains especially the QB. Even if he is the real deal, expect Stidham to have a couple 3 and 4 interception games as he figures out NHL defenses.

Expectations for Stidham seem to be overly optimistic and too high. He has not shown yet what he can do in NFL is very inexperienced and to expect he will start day one and hit it big this year seems improbbale. I expect Hoyer most likely to start season and possibly Stidham coming on at mid year.

Offense should depend heavily on run game with Michel and Harris leading the way. I do expect Harry to take a big step forward this year and become Anquin Boldin like. Also expect Sanu to play like a man possessed. But I doubt you will see Hoyer or Stidham throwing me than 25 times a game this year. Offense should be about long slow drives and ball control.

skinnydog said:

Backs weren’t open either because no one cared about the Patriots receivers.

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Zolak, among others, noted that what teams did was to just put a corner on White, because they didn't fear the other receivers at that point.

I wanna be in play for Trevor Lawrence or fields but unfortunately i see a scenario where this team goes 6-10 or 7-9. They will try and win games but the schedule will be too tough for stidham and this offense.