{"id":15916,"date":"2018-03-07T08:36:55","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T13:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=15916"},"modified":"2018-03-07T08:50:47","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T13:50:47","slug":"daily-patriots-notebook-3-7-edelmans-return-should-spark-a-big-improvement-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2018\/03\/07\/daily-patriots-notebook-3-7-edelmans-return-should-spark-a-big-improvement-in-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Patriots Notebook 3\/7: Edelman’s Return Should Spark a Big Improvement in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking back at the 2017\u00a0regular season, one of the biggest things that stood out for the Patriots was the fact that they managed to win 13 games despite struggling to move the chains more than they have in recent years.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Julian Edelman’s absence played a significant role in those problems during this past season and looking at the third-down numbers over the course of the regular season, Tom Brady finished with his lowest completion percentage on third down for the first time since 2011, completing under 60% of those attempts for the first time since 2013.<\/p>\n

Here’s a quick rundown of Brady’s third-down totals going back to that season:<\/p>\n

2011: 80-of-139 (57.6%) 1012yds, 9 TDs, 2 INTs
\n2012: 92-of-150 (61.3%) 1133yds, 13 TDs, 1INT
\n2013: 96-of-161 (59.6%) 990yds, 8 TDs, 4 INTs
\n2014: 88-of-145 (60.7%) 1041yds, 10 TDs, 3 INTs
\n2015: 92-of-145 (63.4%) 1147yds, 10 TDs, 2 INTs
\n2016:\u00a0 82-of-123 (66.7%) 1289yds, 11 TDs, 1 INT
\n2017: 81-of-140 (57.9%) 1019yds, 9 TDs, 6 INTs<\/p>\n

Many will likely remember that following Wes Welker’s departure that offseason – and Danny Amendola’s addition – 2013 was Edelman’s breakout season.\u00a0 The receiver came in and\u00a0took over the lead role, finishing with his first thousand-yard season (1056yds) and found himself with even more pressure on him following Rob Gronkowski’s devastating knee injury in Week 14 that sidelined him for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

The following season, Edelman was comfortable in his role and it was he and Gronkowski who carried the load on third down, with both players catching a combined 44 passes and with 36 first downs.<\/p>\n

The result?\u00a0 The team’s first Super Bowl title in 10-years.<\/p>\n

In 2015 Edelman suffered a foot injury that knocked him out of the regular season and seemed to re-aggravate it in the postseason when he finally returned, which you could tell limited his effectiveness in the AFC Championship loss in Denver.\u00a0 Without a healthy Edelman, it was obvious how important he was and how much the injury ultimately cost the team another championship run.<\/p>\n

But in 2016, Edelman completely took over, catching 28 passes on third down with 24 first downs, which is an absolutely remarkable success rate.\u00a0 The amazing thing about that is the fact he did it after Gronkowski went down in Week 12 after re-aggravating a back injury against the Jets, which he originally sustained against Seattle two weeks earlier.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Edelman’s efforts, Brady ended up finishing the season completing nearly 70% of his passes on third down.<\/p>\n

The result, again?\u00a0 Yet another championship.<\/p>\n

It’s just a reminder of how important his return will be next season, especially if he’s even able to be close to the same player he was prior to his knee injury.\u00a0 Joining Edelman will hopefully be Malcolm Mitchell, who himself caught 10 of his 15 targets that year with 9 first downs when called upon on third down as a rookie.\u00a0 The obvious question mark will be the future of Gronkowski, which remains uncertain as he continues teetering on retirement.\u00a0 However, as we learned, with Edelman, they have the ability to play at a championship level, which should hopefully put a few minds at ease in the event Gronkowski chooses to walk away.<\/p>\n

Flores gets a shot, without the pressure<\/strong> – Another bit of news that came out yesterday was the fact according to Yahoo! Sports Charles Robinson<\/strong><\/a>, linebackers coach Brian Flores will inherit the responsibility of calling the defensive plays in 2018, but he won’t reportedly be promoted to defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

That shouldn’t surprise anyone as that’s how Bill Belichick has handled things on both sides of the football.\u00a0 It works out well as it causes any issues to fall on him while taking the pressure off of Flores during the transition.\u00a0 They’re no stranger to this approach, as Matt Patricia wasn’t named as defensive coordinator until 2012 after former coordinator Dean Pees departed following the 2009 campaign.<\/p>\n

As a result, it should be interesting to see how it pans out next season for a group that was inconsistent in 2017 and has the sting of a poor performance in the Super Bowl to hopefully motivate them heading into 2018.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n
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Alan Branch’s time in New England appears to be over.<\/strong><\/font>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Branch is Out, Britt is In –\u00a0<\/strong>With free agency closing in, the Patriots have apparently already made up their minds about a couple of their players.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the Patriots have informed defensive tackle Alan Branch that they won’t be picking up his $1 million option for the 2018 season.<\/p>\n

As we mentioned yesterday, following previous reports the news doesn’t come as a surprise given that Branch has already been talking about the team in the past tense<\/strong><\/a> and this news simply means he’ll hit the free agent market and move on.<\/p>\n

Reiss points out that moving on from Branch will save the team about $3 million in cap space, giving them somewhere between $17 million and $18 million to work with.<\/p>\n

He also reports that the team did pick up receiver Kenny Britt’s $150,000 option, which should create some competition in camp and also provides some additional insurance should either Edelman or Mitchell suffer any setbacks, or, as we unfortunately learned last year, in the event they were to lose anyone to injury in the preseason.<\/p>\n

Gronk still exploring his options –\u00a0<\/strong>Speaking of the passing game, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention Gronkowski and it appears that he’s still potentially exploring his options outside of football.<\/p>\n

The latest speculation surrounds the talk of his interest in pursuing an acting career, which saw him spotted on Monday at a Hollywood Casting agency.<\/p>\n

According to @mambochicken on Twitter, the agency he was at is responsible for Handmaid’s Tale and The Walking Dead, so it’s definitely worth noting that he was there.<\/p>\n

\n

Andy. Here is a picture of Gronk yesterday at a Hollywood Casting agency. They do Handmaid\u2019s Tale and Walking Dead. pic.twitter.com\/cejQDSfqiJ<\/a><\/p>\n

— larry mollin (@mambochicken) March 6, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n