Pats have Slowest Skill Position Players - Why it May not Matter

[SlowGettingUp]

So Phil Perry calculates that Pats have the slowest skill position players in the league (assuming a 11 package of 3 receivers, a tight end and a running back). Is this Bill deciding to zig when the rest of the teams zag with lots of speedy but light defensive players? Does this fit his draft choice of a big RB over a speedy receiver that he could have gotten at that same spot?

Makes sense that the dominant Pats package will not be 11 but rather 12, with two tight ends or maybe even 13 with three tight ends. That will force teams to their slower base formation and away from the much more common nickel. Then suddenly any speed mismatch is much reduced - way easier for a receiver or a tight end to gain separation vs. a linebacker than a speedy corner or safety.

Perry's full article is well worth reading - he suggests it actually might make things easier for a new QB:






Also worth revisiting the glory days of our two high-level tight ends - Gronkowski and he-who-cannot-be-named for some ideas of what next season might look like:

Breaking Down Why the Two-Tight End Offense Is the Best in the NFL​

https: //bleacherreport.com/articles/1624948​

(have to copy and paste that link to remove the space - otherwise just posts as blank for some reason).

 

[Les archambeau]

Who's Phil Perry?

 

[amfootball]

Ugh. This is what I have been saying. I hate this approach of plodding along with big backs and TEs. You have to be able to score in today's league. We are not beating the Bills, Chiefs, Browns with this approach. We have to get more dynamic but I do think it is good for year one of Jones as it will keep things simple for him.

 

[Nehalem]

Ugh. This is what I have been saying. I hate this approach of plodding along with big backs and TEs. You have to be able to score in today's league. We are not beating the Bills, Chiefs, Browns with this approach. We have to get more dynamic but I do think it is good for year one of Jones as it will keep things simple for him.

3/5 of the bottom 5 teams made the playoffs last year.

2/6 of the top 6 teams made the playoffs last year.

I am also confused why the #32 Patriots couldn't beat the #31 Browns?

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Who's Phil Perry?

Local TV reporter that covers the Pats:

Phil Perry – NBC Sports Boston

Phil Perry is the New England Patriots Insider for NBC Sports Boston. Follow him on Twitter & Instagram @PhilAPerry.

www.nbcsports.com

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

I wouldn’t call Agholar and Bourne and Smith slow.
I don’t get it.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

This article was a bunch of nonsense.

1. The entire premise is wrong so he wastes a lot of effort on a wrong premise. There is zero correlation between 40-time and how good an offense is. Are the 'fastest' teams notably better than the 'slow' teams? Nope.
2. Jerry Rice greatest WR ever ran a 4.7 or 4.8.
3. Bourne runs a 4.68 while Harry runs a 4.5, Bourne is 100X better than Harry is.
4. The Raiders used to draft track stars, and sucked for multiple decades.
5. 40-time is the biggest bunch of bull. Actually combine metrics in general don't mean much. They're for lazy low IQ John Carroll people who don't know how to actually evaluate talent on the football field.

.

 

[Wozzy]

Fast in four directions is better than fast in one.

Edelman ran a 4.5 forty, most of my skill position teammates in high school ran that or better. What Jule’s possessed that made him special was world class agility, change of direction ability... and the majority of Patriot skill position players share that, as the team actively scouts it.

Agholor is fast inline, this kid they drafted in the 7th is fast. On average they’ll only put 2-3 WR’s on the field at a given time, one will play that “fast” flanker position that David Patten made famous for running a three route tree to take the top off a defense.

Perry thinks their first two draft picks weren’t very good, he desperately wants this team to lose so Bill looks inept without Tom... like many in the media who get short gruff answers from Bill.

 

[Salsalife]

Stop the speed madness concept, please. I hope from my advantage point that we are a diverse offense, thats it. Just watched some of the the Detriot lions vs Patriots Thanksgiving day game. We had Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Gronk, Hernandes, Tate and ran with Green Ellis. That offense had alot of options and talent at key positions. Take what the defense gives you, be multifaceted, change on the fly. That's a Super Bowl contending offense i.m.o. I would say this offense COULD be the same type. Henry and Smith combo if healthy with the rookie Freight train RB Stevenson and Fullback Johnson, check pound it. Then add a shifty Bourne and Agalor on out at wides with Gunner or Myers in the slot. White is effective as a pass catcher and will be open if the playbook inner chapter are used. The real trick i.m.o. is if Cam can play Dink and dunk offense and then be accurate enough to soften up defenses with some deep passing down the seam. We have Jones in the making but it sounds like where gonna put him in Canton without 1 start in the NFL. To me to make a long story short it's the playbook comprehension and decision making versus speed players in the NFL.

 

[BTTA]

This kind of media coverage is where I want a "meh" emoji.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Fast in four directions is better than fast in one.

Actually we have a fast in four directions guy already on the roster - in the 2020 combine this 3-cone would have been good for second overall, and the short shuttle would have been top among WRs.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

Actually we have a fast in four directions guy already on the roster - in the 2020 combine this 3-cone would have been good for second overall, and the short shuttle would have been top among WRs.

View attachment 32800

I forgot All about this kid but was excited when he was snatched from the Tits PS.
Hoping like crazy he is working out with the QBs and can make the 53 over Harry possibly.
Trading Harry for a mid round pick like a 5th that can turn to a conditional third and this kid blowing up would be awesome.

 

[Deus Irae]

Stop the speed madness concept, please.

Because of the rules, speed is becoming more and more important in the NFL. The same thing has happened in the NHL, where hitting is more heavily scrutinized and fighting's being taking from the game.

You "stop the speed madness concept" at your own peril, nowadays.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Where are the NEP ranked in 3 cone and 20 yd shuttle?

 

[holyredeemer]

Ugh. This is what I have been saying. I hate this approach of plodding along with big backs and TEs. You have to be able to score in today's league. We are not beating the Bills, Chiefs, Browns with this approach. We have to get more dynamic but I do think it is good for year one of Jones as it will keep things simple for him.

They didn’t have too hard of a time hanging in there with the Bills and Chiefs last year. Aside from the 2nd Bills game, that terrible roster played better than they should have. Speed isn’t what lost those games. Talent was.

 

[Deus Irae]

They didn’t have too hard of a time hanging in there with the Bills and Chiefs last year. Aside from the 2nd Bills game, that terrible roster played better than they should have. Speed isn’t what lost those games. Talent was.

Buffalo is a divisional opponent, and you don't tend to blow such opponents out time after time after time. Buffalo waxed the floor with the Patriots in the second meeting. And a 16 point loss (Chiefs game) isn't really "hanging in there".


But the Chiefs game might actually have been interesting if they'd kept Hoyer in there, especially if they'd kicked the field goal rather than risk a last second play by a QB who hadn't played in a while.

 

[Wozzy]

Actually we have a fast in four directions guy already on the roster - in the 2020 combine this 3-cone would have been good for second overall, and the short shuttle would have been top among WRs.

View attachment 32800

Why do you say “actually” when I said all of the Patriots have good to great quickness in my original post, were you agreeing with me? Wilkerson may be the quickest, but the rest are good to great as well.

 

[Wozzy]

They didn’t have too hard of a time hanging in there with the Bills and Chiefs last year. Aside from the 2nd Bills game, that terrible roster played better than they should have. Speed isn’t what lost those games. Talent was.

The Pats had the worst QB play in the league, that’s mostly what lost all those games.

 

[50-yard-line]

Well, that might be the dumbest thing I've read this year. And I usually kinda like Perry, but man, that was Roseanne Barr's "She Devil" bad.

You're comparing the 40-yard dash average of 5 positions - in a position group that probably has 9 or 10 players, finding a difference of less than .2 seconds and trying to make it mean something.

Let me know when they start running those 40's in full uniform, to start. So, some teams value WRs who can block and in-line TE's? Shocking.

 

[moosekill]

Ugh. This is what I have been saying. I hate this approach of plodding along with big backs and TEs. You have to be able to score in today's league. We are not beating the Bills, Chiefs, Browns with this approach. We have to get more dynamic but I do think it is good for year one of Jones as it will keep things simple for him.

You realize we all understand you are a troll right??