Reiss: Interesting that Pats used NO shotgun formation during winning drive

[NYCPatsFan]

Anyone who uses the word "vicissitudes" on a football forum should be banned.

I agree!

Nice posts lamafist!

 

[Gwedd]

"Fractured" over "Fragile"?

Bold choice.

Eh..... With Maroney gone, some folks still need a scab to pick at.

 

[BradyManny]

Curious, maybe... interesting? Not quite.

Instead of cherry-picking one drive of one game, and trying to extrapolate about the Pats' use of the shotgun from that, why not, I dunno, consider every drive of every game? Every snap even?

At FootballOutsiders, they actually keep split stats of shotgun vs. under center. (I'd link, but it's pay-wallled.) The Pats average 7.1 yards per play out of the shotgun, and 4.9 yards per play under center. The former number puts them in a virtual dead heat with Dallas and New Orleans for best in the league out of the gun; the latter earns them a sub-par 21st in the league from under center. The 2.1 yard improvement from under center to shotgun is the third biggest improvement in YPC under shotgun.

The differential is even more glaring when you look at DVOA, but I'll assume that anyone who understands what DVOA is doesn't need to be convinced that the Pats don't need to use the shotgun less.

The subpar # out of under center comes as a result of a subpar traditional running game. If they have #s for the passing game from under center, I'd be curious to know that. I know that in both 07 & 09, Brady had off the chart numbers out of play-action.

It's also worth noting that our gun stats are probably inflated from the one game against the Bills when we drove on them at will out of our spread. Stats can be manipulated either way rather easily. Over the past few seasons many - self included - have used metrics like those at footballoutsiders to show why we needed a more balanced attack and less gun. So it really can go either way. Ultimately, nothing is proven other than the metrics from footballoutsiders are not always worthy of paying for - and that watching the film is the only way to learn anything about what really transpired. Defensive-back metrics are the ones that hold up best, IMO.

The fact is, our spread shotgun works brilliantly against teams with crappy defenses and crappy secondaries where mismatches are magnified, but can't survive on its own against the top Ds. I will say Woodhead's running out of the gun is an added dimension which makes our shotgun less predictable.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Eh..... With Maroney gone, some folks still need a scab to pick at.

Fragile Freddy predates Maroney and is completely unrelated IMO.

Fred Taylor has had a long history of consistent injuries that any fantasy football player who has ever been screwed by him over the years can attest to.

I still think he was worth taking a gamle on for the Pats and I think he is a talented RB, but the injuries are maddening.