- Joined
- Jan 17, 2007
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I have to believe as the receivers and Brady get better chemistry the line will look better but I still believe against a great DL like the Bengals or Chiefs in the playoffs this could be a fatal flaw as it has been against the Giants and Ravens. From a personnel perspective I really don't see the Patriots doing much so we have to hope Dante can sprinkle some of his magic pixie dust and get this unit to be more cohesive but at the end of the day they're never going to blow a big athletic D-Line off the ball in the run game which will be important come January.
The QB\Receiver chemistry is still a work in progress however Brady targeted Gronk 17 times yesterday for only 8 completions and a pick 6. That percentage should go up but I don't want him targeting Gronk that many times every week. To progress as an offense I think he needs to spread the ball around a lot more. I know people have been clamoring for Nicks but I really don't see them adding somebody at the receiver position. I also still believe that by the end of the season this group will be a lot better.
Three and four play into each other. While the run defense actually did a really good job against the running backs of the Jets overall they also had to dedicate a lot of resources into doing it at the expense of any pass rush and pass coverage over the middle. When they come up against the Broncos they're going to have to choose to defend the pass and they're going to get exploited up the middle in the running game. Second if they are going to use Hightower and Spikes in coverage they'll get killed across the middle even worse against the good QBs. They could use Collins and\or Fletcher in coverage. I haven't seen a defensive snap count from Sunday yet but I don't recall Fletcher being in but Collins seemed to have more snaps.
Even with Tommy Kelly returning at some point I'd like to see the Pats make a move for another stout DT. If their two DTs could plug the middle it would allow them to go smaller and faster in the back seven. I see this defense reverting to the form of the last few years without addressing this issue where tight ends and running backs are just killing them especially on 3rd down. Losing one of VW and Mayo was bad. Losing both could be the fatal flaw that does them in.
In regards to offensive play calling I believe McDaniels does a great job more often than not. He does have his head scratchers especially in the red zone though. I believe the issues yesterday were 99% execution and that he did a good job. I do wish he would be more balance and do more play action. Ridley and Bolden only ran the ball 19 times combined for a 4.5 average. So the line was actually pretty decent yesterday in the running game. If he runs it a few more times and uses play action more maybe some of the throws are into bigger windows and Brady is more comfortable.
The QB\Receiver chemistry is still a work in progress however Brady targeted Gronk 17 times yesterday for only 8 completions and a pick 6. That percentage should go up but I don't want him targeting Gronk that many times every week. To progress as an offense I think he needs to spread the ball around a lot more. I know people have been clamoring for Nicks but I really don't see them adding somebody at the receiver position. I also still believe that by the end of the season this group will be a lot better.
Three and four play into each other. While the run defense actually did a really good job against the running backs of the Jets overall they also had to dedicate a lot of resources into doing it at the expense of any pass rush and pass coverage over the middle. When they come up against the Broncos they're going to have to choose to defend the pass and they're going to get exploited up the middle in the running game. Second if they are going to use Hightower and Spikes in coverage they'll get killed across the middle even worse against the good QBs. They could use Collins and\or Fletcher in coverage. I haven't seen a defensive snap count from Sunday yet but I don't recall Fletcher being in but Collins seemed to have more snaps.
Even with Tommy Kelly returning at some point I'd like to see the Pats make a move for another stout DT. If their two DTs could plug the middle it would allow them to go smaller and faster in the back seven. I see this defense reverting to the form of the last few years without addressing this issue where tight ends and running backs are just killing them especially on 3rd down. Losing one of VW and Mayo was bad. Losing both could be the fatal flaw that does them in.
In regards to offensive play calling I believe McDaniels does a great job more often than not. He does have his head scratchers especially in the red zone though. I believe the issues yesterday were 99% execution and that he did a good job. I do wish he would be more balance and do more play action. Ridley and Bolden only ran the ball 19 times combined for a 4.5 average. So the line was actually pretty decent yesterday in the running game. If he runs it a few more times and uses play action more maybe some of the throws are into bigger windows and Brady is more comfortable.
