Pre-game Thread: Jets @ Pats

[Ross12]

I wonder if we should assume Folk kicks off now.

Bill told a reporter that Palardy has experience kicking off and holding so I doubt they ask Folk to do it. Hopefully not anyway.

 

[Ross12]

He's had over 300 punts and has a 45 yard average. With how bad Bailey has been I think we'll be ok. He just better not throw off Folk.

Thanks, for some reason I was under the impression he was a street UDFA...? Guess I got myself tripped up somehow...

 

[Ross12]

Here's Palardy's stats as the Dolphins punter last year. Played all 17 games.



Same stats for last year for Jake Bailey, as a reference:



Significantly fewer punts for Bailey, but a similar long and average. Bailey's stats are better, but not miles better. Don't know offhand if Palardy can kickoff quite as well as Bailey does (or rather, used to), though.

 

[captain stone]

Here's Palardy's stats as the Dolphins punter last year. Played all 17 games.

View attachment 47464

Same stats for last year for Jake Bailey, as a reference:

View attachment 47465

Significantly fewer punts for Bailey, but a similar long and average. Bailey's stats are better, but not miles better. Don't know offhand if Palardy can kickoff quite as well as Bailey does (or rather, used to), though.

One of the things Jake the New Fake particularly sucked at was pinning opponents inside the 7-8 yard line... It's like the idiot never heard of the Coffin Cornah... Let's hope Mr Palardy has...

 

[FCB02062]

"everyone here" (at the website following the team that hates them most and has done for 50+ years) thinks the franchise is an embarassment. Okay. They're also, by our respective records, better than us right now.

One of our 3 remaining losses cannot be to them, that's fair -- although to be objective, you have to add "if we're going to make the playoffs this year." We might not!!! Wah. So not a bad point about the "must win" tag but it comes with asterisks. "Must win" unless someone else has an unexpected loss, or several someone elses, or unless we win a game we "should" lose. Etc. So to be accurate I'd say this game is one we should win and one where losing it would makes the playoffs much, much less likely. It's must-win-adjacent. Every game's critical until we're in, and that is unlikely to be before the final week.

Just to nitpick one more thing, how much of the season constitutes a stanza? Back in the 14-game season I guess a season was a sonnet. A Belichickian son-not might be the best representation of the 16-game season, 4 quatrains, with a turn in the 4th stanza with the rhyme scheme W/W/W/W, and 3 additional lines after the turn for a total of 19.

I'd say a stanza, other than begging a cool word to say, would be the last 5-6 games... but that's just moi

 

[40yrpatsfan]

The wind forecast for tomorrow sounds almost as bad as the game in Buffalo last year. This will affect passing, punting, FG’s big time.

 

[patfanken]

Thank you, Ken, for reiterating and fleshing out some of the same points I've been trying to make. There is a reason the OL is referred to as a "unit" and no truly justifiable reason(s) for it becoming so problematic this season. I've belabored this issue because of its contributions to stunting the development of Mac Jones. Fingers crossed that improvements across the board will be seen out of the bye.

Some telltale info out of Tom Curran's NBSBH show this evening: the Patriots are near top of the league in number of stretch zone run attempts yet near the bottom in yards gained per attempt. Conversely, in conventional gap run blocking they're among leaders in yards per carry. Makes you wonder where things would be with an experienced OC and capable OL coach.

I'm a big power guy because I go back to the Delaware wing T blocking schemes. That's all angle blocking double teams, and pulling G's. One of the questions I've always wanted to ask Bill when we sit down and have this football conversation that I have imagined in my head, was his thoughts about Delaware Wing T blocking schemes in the modern NFL offenses.

However some teams have had GREAT success with stretch blocking, which when run successfully give RB's the benefit of multiple cut options and OLmen the ability of getting to the 2nd level with more ease The bad news on this strategy is that it's like a ballet. Everyone, including TE's and WR's HAVE to be in synch for it to be truly successful. You get more chunk running plays in this system, but it's not as consistent in getting regular + yardage on every run, even its only a couple of yds. Stretch runs are more likely to result in a negative yd run if a team blitzes correctly or stacks the box.

Given the RB group we hoped to have and the OL we hoped would be there,, it was worth the shot. Andrews Wynn, Strange and Owenu all have the exact kind of skill set you'd want in an OLman in a stretch scheme. All very athletic. Brown not so much, BUT not s slouch athletically either. I think it was worth a shot.

That being said, I think they go back to more power blocking schemes for the 2nd half just because they DON'T want to be in situations where they don't make plus yds on EVERY run play. Even 3rd and 5 or 4 is a MUCH easier get than 3rd and 12. I also would like to see Wynn and Brown switch positions for the 2nd half. I think BOTH would benefit But I don't think THAT will happen

I believe we will see more consistency from the OL tomorrow. Nothing that will make us believe that the OL is no longer an issue, but BETTER than the last few weeks.

BIT GAME tomorrow. A great defense, but an offense that is as F'd up as ours is. First team to 24 wins this game.

 

[Guts]

Let's make it 14 in a row boys
Huge AFC playoff implications game

 

[Wax Frog]

Palardy have mercy!

 

[JMC00]

the 13 straight wins i'd be confident but then the 6-5 after bye the last 11 season makes me pause.

 

[State]

Some telltale info out of Tom Curran's NBSBH show this evening: the Patriots are near top of the league in number of stretch zone run attempts yet near the bottom in yards gained per attempt. Conversely, in conventional gap run blocking they're among leaders in yards per carry. Makes you wonder where things would be with an experienced OC and capable OL coach.

We performed better in the gap blocking two years ago with nearly the same personnel.

And drafting Strange so early, he’s like a poster child for zone blocking, makes me wonder if this transition likely led by Patricia, isn’t something beneficial.

If it ain’t broken…

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Calm down. One of the best-ever Patriots to play guard, Stephen Neal, was a star wrestler who didn't play a single down of college football.

Stephen Neal's unique journey to the NFL has proven successful

Stephen Neal has been a model of consistency on the Patriots offensive line. Neal's success isn't surprising considering how hard he works at getting better.

www.patriots.com

Yeah but he beat Brock Lesner in the NCAA wrestling finals!!

Solder was a TE originally in college. I’m sure that will placate the Captain

 

[goheels22002]

One of the things Jake the New Fake particularly sucked at was pinning opponents inside the 7-8 yard line... It's like the idiot never heard of the Coffin Cornah... Let's hope Mr Palardy has...

Bailey has a significant back problem. Apparently, he's played with pain since training camp. What's interesting is why it would erode his punting ability so drastically but not his place kicking. There are lots of moving parts to punting and incredible stretching and stress on hips, lower back and core muscles with punting. It's very hard at that level. Few punters last very long, unlike place kickers.

I wonder if he makes a transition to field goal kicker.

 

[1960Pats]

If you look at the earlier comments from the posters here like Ashley it's pretty apparent - you can have any amount of talent in the world, but if you don't have the mental aspect to go with it - focus, drive, determination, patience, etc it doesn't matter. Jeff George was a massively talented, athletic kid...with nothing between the ears. Troy Brown didn't have massive talent in every measure yet all he did was produce because he used guile and smarts to fill the void where talent peaked.

Wynn has the "measurables" outside of arm length, but as was stated seems to take plays off, makes innumerable poorly timed penalties, and just doesn't apply his talent at all. He's absolutely embodies Rod Serling's line "It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge."

Wynn's "pit" of fears is way deeper than his summit of knowledge.

Excellent response.

Wynn is a good example of why the draft is a crap shoot. You never really know how players will adjust to the pros, both mentally and physically, until you put them there. I'd prefer to pick up players through FA as much as possible but that's more expensive.

My favorite Pats player of all time is Troy Brown. It still bugs me that the Pats lost to BrINT Favre and the Jets in 2008 on the day of Brown's Pats HOF ceremony.

 

[goheels22002]

Dugger didn’t play, he got hurt in the chicago game and didn’t come back until indy. He may be as high as the 3rd most important guy in this defense so along with barmore these are monster additions for the defense.

Dugger makes the corners better due to his speed. In Cover 2 and Cover 3 Dugger makes seamless handoff from corners to safeties the way we're used to seeing Devin McCourty in coverage. The added benefit, for time being, is Dugger's ability to be a sideline to sideline tackler against the run. He needs to protect his body and tackle less violently as he ages.

 

[goheels22002]

So, he went from practicing to IR?

Yeah - knee injury. Bummer.

 

[Triumph]

the 13 straight wins i'd be confident but then the 6-5 after bye the last 11 season makes me pause.

Some folks are way too confident that this game is in the bag.

If Wilson does not throw INTs in spades this will be a different game.

 

[Brotherblues]

My favorite Pats player of all time is Troy Brown. It still bugs me that the Pats lost to BrINT Favre and the Jets in 2008 on the day of Brown's Pats HOF ceremony.

There's only one loss to Brint that's really stuck with me over the years. Really shoulda had that one... Although if they'd won that SB then maybe the whole BB + Brady era doesn't happen a few years later. So in retrospect (and this feels nauseous to say) it might have been a good thing that they lost that SB. Now excuse me while I go puke after saying that.

 

[Tunescribe]

Some folks are way too confident that this game is in the bag.

If Wilson does not throw INTs in spades this will be a different game.

Nobody thinks this game is "in the bag." You're imagining things again.

 

[SHOWTIME15]