Bedard on Pats offensive problems

[SVN]

Ravens, Texans and Colts will define seasons coming off byes in Week 9 | The MMQB with Peter King

Everyone, especially the rabid fans in New England, wants to know what’s wrong with the Patriots’ offense. After watching film this week, here’s my quick synopsis: they stink.

All of them.

It’s not just the receivers. It’s not just the pass or run blocking. It’s not just Tom Brady’s inaccuracy. It’s a combination of everything. Basically, there isn’t one thing they do well. It looks like the Patriots coaches think that as well, because the game plan against the Dolphins last Sunday was bare bones. The Pats won, 27-17, but there wasn’t a whole lot of motion or variety. They stuck to a few basic runs, a handful of different pass concepts.


The Patriots looked like they were saying, “We aren’t doing anything well at this point, so let’s dial it back and start from the basics.” The problem is, they couldn’t even execute that game plan. The first half was one of the worst performances I’ve seen in some time from the Patriots’ offensive line, both run and pass. Left guard Logan Mankins, normally the stalwart, struggled mightily in all phases of the game. He might be toughing out some sort of lower body injury. That said, the run blocking was much cleaner in the fourth quarter, so that may be something to build off of. Although I have no clue why the Patriots aren’t playing Stevan Ridley more. He’s by far their best running back. It’s not even close.
1. As for Brady, he’s certainly part of the problem—but not a huge part. Yes, he has missed throws he normally makes and his ball placement has been shoddy. The hand injury he’s dealing with has probably caused some of that. What I also see is that Brady, in years prior, made his living down the middle of the field to Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowsi and Aaron Hernandez. With Danny Amendola not 100%, and Gronkowski shaking the rust off, Brady has lacked those kinds of targets. He’s had to rely more on throws to the boundary; those aren’t his strong suit, and they’re a lower percentage pass in general. But the bottom line is, the Patriots’ offense is far from a lost cause (even if swapping injured right tackle Sebastian Vollmer for Marcus Cannon is a huge step down). They’ve had so much flux in personnel, they are obviously discombobulated. If they get some stability there, the Patriots can regain some of their timing coming out of a bye in Week 10.

 

[Deus Irae]

Some of us have been pointing this out all year.

Welcome to the dark side, Mr. Bedard. We've got cookies and frozen alcoholic egg nog.

 

[Triumph]

Ive said all along that the playcalling has been bull ***** more often than not.

 

[SVN]

Some of us have been pointing this out all year.

Welcome to the dark side, Mr. Bedard. We've got cookies and frozen alcoholic egg nog.

I think if we can replace Josh...

 

[IcyPatriot]

Talent does not always equal chemistry ...

 

[Christian]

What he's saying is pretty much the truth. Let's be honest.

But he did say at the end there was hope....

 

[Tunescribe]

And despite this horrific diagnosis, the team is 6-2.

 

[Jackson 2]

Bingo! He's got Bingo!

 

[hwc]

I must say that it takes a special kind of genius analyst to review the game tape of the first half against the Dolphins and come to the conclusion that the Pats offense isn't playing very well. :rocker:

 

[ahmed]

Bid deal.... we have 8 more weeks to get our **** together and we will. I'll only get worried if they are playing like this in the playoffs.

That said... he's right about Ridley. Whatever BB's problem with him; he needs to get over it. We need him!

 

[Deus Irae]

Talent does not always equal chemistry ...

It all starts with the receivers. If they get that fixed, the rest will fall into place.

 

[Fencer]

It all starts with the receivers. If they get that fixed, the rest will fall into place.

Probably. It's hard to be too pessimistic about the ball carrying, OL, or QB.

RB pass blocking could be better, but that's only a small part of the problem.

 

[Claremonster]

And despite this horrific diagnosis, the team is 6-2.

The defense is playing better than previous years...

 

[Ive_Killed_People]

Worst offense ever! .......................Scores 27 points......Que?

 

[Claremonster]

Bid deal.... we have 8 more weeks to get our **** together and we will. I'll only get worried if they are playing like this in the playoffs.

That said... he's right about Ridley. Whatever BB's problem with him; he needs to get over it. We need him!

BB is resting Ridley for the playoffs.

 

[Tunescribe]

The defense is playing better than previous years...

Yes, but it's not winning games all by itself. Despite all the misfiring the offense has been hanging in there. It will be better after the bye.

 

[Zeus]

Bedard is right, the deficiencies are interrelated. Everyone has to play better. Certainly, the receiver situation is a big contributor, but I'm most surprised at the drop off in O-line play. And Brady is clearly not as accurate as he has been in the past.

It's nowhere near as simple as callling different plays. You have to execute and they are not doing it.

The good news is that there is a lot of room for improvement and a real opportunity to play better going forward. But that's on everyone - QB, OL, backs and receivers.

 

[RIpats88]

I think Gronk getting his legs under him and going back to playing the majority of snaps will help...He only played 33 snaps last week

as will Amendola playing his normal amount of snaps. I dont know if they limited him last week because of the concussion, but he hasnt looked exactly the same as he did in week 1. But hopefully that changes, he's a much better receiver than has been shown thus far.

if we can get some consistency against the steelers I feel pretty good coming out of the bye with our full compliment of receivers in Gronk, amendola, vereen, edelman, dobson

 

[patfanken]

I think that nothing Bedard says is wrong. In fact its pretty obvious. You don't have to be a "football expert" to notice that there are many things wrong with the Pats offense. It only points out to what an extreme degree we have all been spoiled by the outrageous productivity of the Pats offense since 2007..... including 2008.

What all this should show is how extremely delicate the balance that has to be maintained by all aspects of the offensive game in order for it to function at the extremely high level that we've become accustomed to.the previous 6 years.

Part of the reason for all the success was the newness of the scheme. The Pats were ahead of the curve first in running the 4 wide so successfully and later the 2 TE's. We the fact is that NFL defenses catch up over time. What's so surprising is that they have had this scheming advantage as long as they have. Its to their great credit that they've been able to have the offense evolve over time to keep ahead of the D. But make no mistake about it, the Defenses are catching up

Part of the reason is that the balance is so delicate that it only takes about a 5% drop off in execution by the QB, receivers, and OL groups to throw the whole thing into the crapper, The good news is that the solution is not a big fix. Its just going to take time. Time and patience. Personally I don't think we are going to see see any offense have a 6 year run of that kind of excellence any time soon. The DC's in this league are just too good to let it happen.

But the offensively challenged 2001 team was good enough to win a superbowl, while the equally offensively challenged 2006 team played well enough that they should have he to have gotten to another supper bowl, but for a defensive melt down and Peyton Manning having a career playoff game.

Lets see how this offense looks after the bye (assuming they don't lose anyone else on Sunday ) I think we will see some gradual improvement over the last 7 games of the season, and it will be good enough to make a deep run into the playoffs

 

[mgteich]

IMHO, the OL hasn't performed poorly because they are in a very different situation than in the past. We no longer have a team where the QB can release the ball quickly. The OL has to hold the ball longer with obvious consequences.

And, IMHO, it is not Bardy's fault, although he has indeed missed open receivers. I watched part of a DEN game a couple of weeks ago. The ball was often coming out in 1.6 seconds.

The keys are long, over the middle and short. Brady needs

1) to have targets downfield that can separate and be in the right place,

2) to have targets over the middle that can separate and be in the right place, and

3) to have a dependable dump-off receiver.

And yes, Brady could use a RB who could dependably pick up the blitz.
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My BOTTOM LINE is that the offensive line is the same line that was one of the top 3 in the NFL last year. Their skills have not gone down. The need for a young addition at C/OG is still here. But we can always reasonably complain about OL production, they haven't produced.

Long ago, many of us learned a principle: "OTBE". Other things being equal, this OL is as good as last year's line. Other things are NOT equal.