Patriots Offense Primed To Finally Be Back Near Full Strength Saturday. NESN

[FourierSeries]

The OP is incredibly silly to state that he's terrified of the Jags, but he's absolutely right about the fact that the Steelers are the much easier match up. There's really no rational person with a brain who can deny this. This doesn't have much to do with the Jags being scary, and everything to do with the Steelers.

The difference between Big Ben's performances at home and on the road over the last few seasons are staggering. He's a completely different QB on the road, and pretty much just an ordinary player at best. He's much less aggressive when it comes to throwing the ball down field, and his TD/INT ratio is horrendous. My take, from what I've seen of them, is that their offense performs significantly better out of the no huddle, which they obviously don't/can't utilize much of on the road. Either way, road Big Ben isn't much of a threat, even with his full arsenal of weapons.

Additionally, the 3 additions for NE's defense that didn't play in the week 15 game should all have an impact. KVN and Branch will help in the run game, and James Harrison will provide a match up advantage vs their LT, Alejandro Villanueva. Harrison performs his best against tall tackles who he can get leverage on (Eric Fisher is the most recent example of this) and he has some familiarity with Villanueva. Villanueva has also struggled against the speed bull rush. Harrison should be able to generate a ton of pressure when he sees the field.

That leaves Pittsburgh's defense who, despite playing more man coverage in week 15, and despite NE missing some players, gave up the exact same point total that they did in last year's meeting at Heinz. I haven't seen anything from them to suggest that they have learned how to stop NE's offense, especially in Foxboro. Even if they play more man, they don't have the guys who can consistently cover for 60 minutes. They still have no answer for Gronk, and the middle of their defense is vulnerable and can be attacked with the RBs in the passing game. Haden's return won't help them much, since he's not even remotely the same player he was a couple of years ago. His performance against the 0-16 Browns was pitiful.

This match up would result in another one way ass beating in Foxboro, as it always does when the Steelers come to town.

 

[Pats2000]

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

The fallacy is trying to state aboslutely that it isn't the cause. Brady somehow went from declining for 3 years to getting better with age. If you've got a better explanation other than what the QB who is doing it, attributes his success too, I would love to hear it.

 

[Pats2000]

The OP is incredibly silly to state that he's terrified of the Jags, but he's absolutely right about the fact that the Steelers are the much easier match up. There's really no rational person with a brain who can deny this. This doesn't have much to do with the Jags being scary, and everything to do with the Steelers.

The difference between Big Ben's performances at home and on the road over the last few seasons are staggering. He's a completely different QB on the road, and pretty much just an ordinary player at best. He's much less aggressive when it comes to throwing the ball down field, and his TD/INT ratio is horrendous. My take, from what I've seen of them, is that their offense performs significantly better out of the no huddle, which they obviously don't/can't utilize much of on the road. Either way, road Big Ben isn't much of a threat, even with his full arsenal of weapons.

Additionally, the 3 additions for NE's defense that didn't play in the week 15 game should all have an impact. KVN and Branch will help in the run game, and James Harrison will provide a match up advantage vs their LT, Alejandro Villanueva. Harrison performs his best against tall tackles who he can get leverage on (Eric Fisher is the most recent example of this) and he has some familiarity with Villanueva. Villanueva has also struggled against the speed bull rush. Harrison should be able to generate a ton of pressure when he sees the field.

That leaves Pittsburgh's defense who, despite playing more man coverage in week 15, and despite NE missing some players, gave up the exact same point total that they did in last year's meeting at Heinz. I haven't seen anything from them to suggest that they have learned how to stop NE's offense, especially in Foxboro. Even if they play more man, they don't have the guys who can consistently cover for 60 minutes. They still have no answer for Gronk, and the middle of their defense is vulnerable and can be attacked with the RBs in the passing game. Haden's return won't help them much, since he's not even remotely the same player he was a couple of years ago. His performance against the 0-16 Browns was pitiful.

This match up would result in another one way ass beating in Foxboro, as it always does when the Steelers come to town.

I agree, and one of the downsides of Cooks is that he doesn't have the strength to beat press man coverage with CB that are fast enough to keep up with him. So all Pit. had to do was maul Gronk every play and not get called, while flooding the short RB routes and they were able to do a pretty good job defensively against the Pats. With the personnel they should have back on offense, it's a different ball game.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Patriots Offense Primed To Finally Be Back Near Full Strength Saturday

This is exciting news. I think it will be more important if we play the Steelers in two weeks than it will be this Saturday. The reason Pittsburgh almost beat us was that they were able to mix in a lot of man coverage against us. With a healthy offense they wont be able to get away with that nearly as much. Hopefully they beat Jacksonville this week instead of getting embarrassed by them like they did in week 5. I want no part of the Jaguars in the AFCG.

Not to look ahead, but if we are debating hypothetical AFCCG matchups, I would be pretty thrilled to see Blake Bortles coming to Foxboro.

They're tough to score on, but as long as you don't give up any defensive touchdowns you basically win by getting to 14. They're one of the only teams in the league that can't exploit our LBs weaknesses in coverage.

 

[Pats2000]

I may be in the minority here, but I think we match up well with the Jags or Steelers, obviously in different ways. Both teams are good and will pose problems but we can beat them. First though, we need to beat the crap out of Tennessee.

I think you would be in the majority if you felt that the Patriots matched up well with any other team in the league.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

SO if the Patriots offense is at full strength there is no reason to say "I want no part of the Jaguars in the AFCG." They are good however our team is pretty good too.


He will click "Disagree" in 3...2...1...

 

[dafoe2016]

Oh the irony...

Someone needs to explain irony to you.

 

[PatsDeb]

Someone needs to explain irony to you.

Hahahaha

 

[Joker]

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

Oh yeah?...well chuck you farley...

 

[mosi]

Man, it would be amazing to have Gronk, Hogan, Cooks, White, Amendola and Lewis out there!

 

[n6249c]

I am not sure we will see Hogan and Burkhead. They are limited, that doesn't mean they will play. In fact, I suspect they won't play.

I expect Hogs will play Saturday, Burkhead may not from the sounds of his knee. Hogan got the practice award before the Jets game and was reportedly ready to go if needed. No reason to think he's regressed.

 

[Uptown]

 

[Deus Irae]

I'm not vouching for the data, obviously, but that would align with what many of us have been saying about the receivers this year.

 

[Nunchucks]

I'm not vouching for the data, obviously, but that would align with what many of us have been saying about the receivers this year.

Or confidence in receivers to get the ball. Tight windows.

 

[Ivan]

I agree, and one of the downsides of Cooks is that he doesn't have the strength to beat press man coverage with CB that are fast enough to keep up with him. So all Pit. had to do was maul Gronk every play and not get called, while flooding the short RB routes and they were able to do a pretty good job defensively against the Pats. With the personnel they should have back on offense, it's a different ball game.

I don’t think Cooks problem is strength, I think it’s technique. I really like him and I hope they can re-sign him but he needs to learn how to fight and win jump balls, and he needs to learn how to beat pressing corners. He should spend this offseason working on these areas of his game, he’s still young enough to grow into a better all around receiver.

 

[Deus Irae]

Or confidence in receivers to get the ball. Tight windows.

Well, we've been saying that the receivers aren't getting open. The data seems to track with that.

 

[Pats2000]

I don’t think Cooks problem is strength, I think it’s technique. I really like him and I hope they can re-sign him but he needs to learn how to fight and win jump balls, and he needs to learn how to beat pressing corners. He should spend this offseason working on these areas of his game, he’s still young enough to grow into a better all around receiver.

I've watched a couple breakdowns on him, he really is smaller than most of the guys he goes up against and I don't think he can add much power mass without affecting his speed. His technique is awsome, but when guys that are much heavier get hands on him, he's light enough that it's easy for them to redirect his route or throw off timing. I don't know how much he can do about that.

 

[TommyD4207]

I've watched a couple breakdowns on him, he really is smaller than most of the guys he goes up against and I don't think he can add much power mass without affecting his speed. His technique is awsome, but when guys that are much heavier get hands on him, he's light enough that it's easy for them to redirect his route or throw off timing. I don't know how much he can do about that.

Practice. He just turned 24, and is in his first year in a new offense.

This isn't exactly an Ochocinco situation.

 

[RobertWeathers]

This could mean many different things.

What was it last year?

Are there individual #s?

 

[Galeb]

Patriots Offense Primed To Finally Be Back Near Full Strength Saturday

This is exciting news. I think it will be more important if we play the Steelers in two weeks than it will be this Saturday. The reason Pittsburgh almost beat us was that they were able to mix in a lot of man coverage against us. With a healthy offense they wont be able to get away with that nearly as much. Hopefully they beat Jacksonville this week instead of getting embarrassed by them like they did in week 5. I want no part of the Jaguars in the AFCG.

Good post, Dafoe. Keep up the good work.