Questions on offense, and the final (most important) rematch of the season...this time without Gronk

[70Dart]

Gronk's real value comes on 3rd and long when he is almost always a threat with edelman lurking underneath. without him, teams can double edelman .I am surprised more teams dont put a punt protection unit on edelman on every 3rd down.

I don't fully agree but here's why. Edelman has always been money in the bank on 3rd and long. If you need 9 he gets you 9 and a half to 12 yards. This is after Gronk went down. Gronk helps, but Edelman is pretty awesome in his own right. And teams can't afford to double Edelman the reason d=being we have Lewis, White, Amendola and a few others to account for. You can't afford to lose two guys covering one against our Offense.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

I am not saying he can't play an important role in this game but he is no where near Gronk. I have been watching almost all the games again this year (this Texans game was unbearable to watch again!) and the difference between Gronk and Bennett is night and day. Gronk would catch everything remotely close to him. Not only that but go back to the 1st point, Gronk makes the big play when you need the big play. Bennett so far has not done that. I would be pleasantly surprised if he had a big day.

Gronk averaged 99.2 yards per game and has eight touchdowns in five matchups against the Steelers (!)

Bennett has only 14 catches for 165 yards in his last six games

You're absolutely right. The difference between the two is night and day. But the Bennett still has to step up.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

This is real simple.

If the pats o line keeps Brady clean, we carve up the Pittsburgh defense.

If Brady gets hit too much, especially early, he gets happy feet and we lose.

Pittsburgh's defense can not cover every combination of Lewis, Edelman, hogan, Bennett, Blount, develin, Mitchell, Floyd and amendola on any given snap.

We just have to give Brady time to execute.

 

[deroc5050]

This may sound nuts, but Bennett I think can be that role. He is bigger than Gronk and for a guy his size he has got serious speed. He is too big for a safety to cover and too fast for a LB cover. He may not be at the same level as Gronk, but I don't think there is a dramatic drop in talent either. Gronk knows the system better, but I think Bennett is going to be a pivotal player in this match up.

The fact of the matter is I have seen Bennett drop a lot of balls, well maybe not alot but he has dropped his fair share of targets. And I don't see the speed or quickness. The guy is a mammoth though.

Bennett is not on Gronks level.. and honestly its not even close. But Gronk is the best I have ever seen at the position.

I think Bennett will have a much larger role in the offense against the Steelers. 5-6 catches 125 yards. Its a Bennet, Lewis, and Edelman game.

 

[mosi]

The fact of the matter is I have seen Bennett drop a lot of balls, well maybe not alot but he has dropped his fair share of targets. And I don't see the speed or quickness. The guy is a mammoth though.

Bennett is not on Gronks level.. and honestly its not even close. But Gronk is the best I have ever seen at the position.

I think Bennett will have a much larger role in the offense against the Steelers. 5-6 catches 125 yards. Its a Bennet, Lewis, and Edelman game.

Agree. The problem is that Gronk, on a scale of 1-10 is a 15 and Bennet is a 7-8. We are comparing a good player to probably the greatest TE to ever play the game.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Found a really interesting article that explains how Lewis could serve as a similar mismatch generator as Gronk:

With Rob Gronkowski gone, Bill Belichick and the Patriots found a new key to their offense | FOX Sports

Lewis, the 5-8 burner who is extremely good at catching a football, is similarly versatile, just in a different way. He can’t block (much), but he can take a ball out of the backfield, and he can line up out wide as a receiver. Though the two teammates couldn’t be much more different in appearance, McDaniels has employed Lewis in a similar way as he did with Gronkowski. He’s Brady’s mismatch generator. Lewis often lines up in the backfield only for Brady to move him around — it’s his way of seeing what the defense is giving him.

If Brady sees a lumbering linebacker shadowing Lewis, it’s over. He’ll split Lewis out wide, and now he’s got the fastest guy on the field going at a defender who can’t possibly keep up with him. If Brady wants to disguise it more, the Patriots will call for the wheel route out of the backfield, a route that’s effective by my very unofficial count about 95% of the time. (I got a recent text message during a Patriots game: Has the Dion Lewis wheel route ever failed? Like even once?)

With Lewis moving around in the backfield, the defense is left with a bunch of terrible options. They can load up for the pass with a bunch of DBs, and be vulnerable to the run. They can switch a DB onto Lewis, but by doing so could give a favorable matchup to one of the Patriots receivers, which isn’t a great tactic when going against Tom Brady. Or they can try and have a linebacker cover Lewis, in which case, good luck.​

 

[SVN]

Unlike others , I am not so sure about bennett. Yeah he will get his catches but he is not going to dominate the game like people here expect him to taking over for gronk. He is likely to help in pass protection and running the ball esp with how our oline fare d last week. This game is edelman and lewis. Those two need to have a big/consistent game for us to win.