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How patient must we be? He had zero impact as a pass catcher in his rookie year and has had zero impact or targets through three games. With a group that includes dynamic backs to throw to such as White and Burkhead I don’t envision it happening anytime soon.
OK good to be 3-0 in our extended preseason. The fact that these game count is just an added bonus, I guess. A very choppy result even though they won comfortably. LOTS of things to improve on, on the offensive side and still some questions about the defense as the last 2 offensive tests haven't been exactly arduous....to say the least. So lets begin.
1. General offensive thoughts - When the Pats came out throwing the ball like it 2010, I thought it was probably a wise decision since the strength of the Jets D was their run defense and their weakness was their CB's. Here's the thing. Suddenly after scoring TD's on their first 3 drives, something happened and they pretty much managed just one real scoring drive after the middle of the 2nd quarter. And that is DESPITE often having very good field position to start drives.
The Pats scored only 10 points from the midway point of the 2nd quarter and 3 of those came after a pick gave them the ball inside the 20, and they moved backwards from there. The only real scoring drive of the 2nd half needed a 3rd and 22 to be converted.So to say our offense is a work in progress isn't a like, despite the overwhelming point differential the team has put up thus far.
2. QB - I thought Brady had a lot of incompletions today until I did the math and found he had a 66% completion rate, for 306 yds and 2 TD's. A thoroughly decent day. But it still bothered me how often we failed on 3rd down, especially in the 2nd half. Overall we converted about 50% of the time which is a decent number, but I think if you looked at the 2nd half numbers, it wouldn't be that good
As for Stidham, on the plus side he threw the ball to the right person on every pass. He seemed very poised in the pocket, and simply overthrew the ball by about a foot, and made Adams day. Brady's done it in a Superbowl, so no harm no foul today....fortunately. Great lesson....and one he'll be told about for the next 4 years.
In the end I'd call Brady's performance very workman-like. He did what he needed to do, and came out unscathed. Love the block he threw on the trick play. Its stuff like that that endears him to his teammates. He did exactly what we have expected of him for the last 19 seasons. It might be a while before Kellerman can bring out the Brady "cliff" hot take again.
3. OL - Really glad Cannon played. Newhouse did a solid job in pass protection, though I won't know until we look at the tape to see how/if the Pats schemed to help him. Brady was rarely rushed and the sack that they DID get was clearly a coverage sack. So kudos to the OL in pass protection. As far as the run blocking went.....not so much. Later we will talk a lot about the run game, and Sony's name will be mentioned. But on those runs where he was hit for losses were NOT his fault. The OL has, to date, opened very few holes for our RB's this fall. Jim Brown wasn't getting any yds on those carries.
4 RB's - Rex shone again both in the run game and passing game, but we all know that Rex has a shelf life and it isn't a long one, so we need to do more in the run game.
I think we only ran with a FB a couple of plays. I thought we'd see more of Jakob. But like I said earlier the logical game plan didn't include it. I wish we could have had a look at Harris for a few carries today, with White out, but I guess we are going to have to wait until Rex blows a tire for that to happen.
I wouldn't sweat Sony. You can't gain yds if there is ZERO holes.
5. WR's - Sorry about Edelman's injury. The next defense will be very good and you'd want your best players in such a hostile venue. Not sure I want him back. Rib injuries hurt. This is a LONG season with many tough games to come. Let him sit this one out.
Josh Gordon is a beast, and one tough dude. Not as good a blocker than Gronk, but he's making a lot of Gronk-like catches for this team thus far.
Dorsett is going to do fine as the "scheme" guy. He's the guy who isn't going to get open on his own, but gets open running the pattern. Dorsett's stats thus far are 13 catches 190 yds and 3 TD. Nice job for a guy a lot of people wanted gone.
Meyers - Another 2 targets and another 2 catches. Just doing his job. He might have to play a major roll in Buffalo if Julian is out. Nothing not to like about his game.
6. General defensive thoughts - Again not a huge test, but they nailed it. just like they did last week. You can only pass the tests that you are given. Next week should be a lot tougher as it should be. For this defense to truly reach its peak they will need bigger and bigger challenges....and they are coming.
7. Front 7 - One question that could be answered in this game would be how our front 7 would fare against a real good RB. Now the Jets OL will never be compared with the Steeler OL, but Belle did very little (35yds) in this game and the test will harder next week, the run defense has passed every test so far.
The pass rush was AGAIN very effective. They have been very aggressive in their pass rushes but when they have brought the house, the secondary has done a great job making it hard for the QB to find the easy throw. They might not have any "brand names" outside of Gilmore, but the fact they all work so seamlessly between the DL, LB, and DB's is really the strength of this defense.
But maybe before the season is over, we will add another "brand name" to that defense. Collins had a great stat line - 8 tackles, 2 sacks, THREE tackles for losses, and a blocked pass. THOSE are stats that get you noticed. The play I liked the best was on a 3rd and short, Jaime set the edge well on a Belle run, and rather that attack the ball, he KEPT is contain and was in perfect position to make the play when Bell made one of his patented lateral cuts, but Collins was right there to make the tackle for no gain. THAT doesn't happen in 2016
Shelton was even more of a factor this week, and Guy was once again the model of efficient consistency, and Bentley and Roberts filled their rolls admirably. This has been so good so far, I no longer care who is signalling the calls in.
8. The secondary - yeah they're great. Yeah, they are tackling well, yada yada yada. Really no longer any insights to add more than what you all saw with your own eyes. More and more this is become hard to divide this defense into sections to explain what is going on here, since the TOTAL unit is working in such smooth concert that the whole IS greater than the sum of the individual parts.
9. Special Teams - Ugh One TD's is an atrocious result. Only about 2 punts before I was thinking just how comfortable Gunner seemed catching the punts, with never even a bobble of the ball when he caught it. And then "it" happened....just like it does for EVERY punt returner. Julian is one the best punt returners in league history and has had TWELVE fumbled punts in his career, including 5 in 2013
As to Gotskowski, He was clearly pushing his kicks right for some reason. When they did the extra point from the right hash it seemed to solve the problem. Lets see how it goes from here. BTW- we can always get the Bucs kicker when he gets cut loose.
10 General comments -
a. Boy did that game seem to flow smoothly and of course there was a reason. The officials kept their flags in their pockets and the coaches COACHED their team not to be stupid.
b. I didn't think Wise was late on the Roughing call, may be "low". I'll be interested in see the explanation.
c. I LOVE the fact that Buffalo is 3-0 too and we are going up there to that very hostile environment. Most Pats fans will think that a win is a given, but it has NEVER has been that easy up there. This is the best Bills team this decade and their rabid fans know it too.
For the first time this season, I expect the Pats to be in a full 4 quarter game with a team that will give as well as it gets. We will get more into it over the coming week, but this is going to be a war, and I will be interested to see how this team responds, and I think Bill is wondering too.
d. after going 4-1 last week in my pool, I've been badly disappointed by Indy and the Seahawks with only the Rams left to save me from a losing week. I can feel your empathy and thank you.
e.
Yes he was, a little bit. Credit to the entire unit including Burkhead and White along with the line doing a terrific job opening up holes for those guys.
Just a note, Ice, in every clip I reviewed in the Rewatch thread, it looked like Ryan Izzo was doing a pretty good job blocking, especially in pass protection. I wouldn't be surprised to see his targets to go up as well. Not Gronk, but better than expected
Yeah he is a solid player thus far. I’ll be thrilled if he can give us similar contributions as Blount did. I just don’t think he is going to be much better than that. Which is fine.
In the words of Julian Edelman, too.
Billy Madison? I thought that was a quote from Julian Edelman.
