Mike Dussault

Patriots Gameplan: Week 16 vs. New York Jets

December 22, 2016 by Mike Dussault

The 12-2 New England Patriots look to take another step toward securing homefield advantage as they welcome the 3-8 New York Jets. The Jets beat the Pats in Week 16 of 2015, helping to knock them from the first overall seed. This time the Pats are at home and against Bryce Petty they’ll look to dispense with the recent spat of close games with the green and white.

Just four weeks ago in the Meadowlands, the Pats overcame a 17-13 hole with nine straight points to win 22-17. But now the Jets are already focusing on the offseason and the Pats are looking to prevent a repeat of last year’s collapse that allowed the AFC Championship to be played in Denver instead of New England.

Here’s the gameplan for a Christmas Eve edition of Patriots-Jets…

Patriots vs. Broncos Film Review: Defense Edition

December 20, 2016 by Mike Dussault

It was one of the most dominant defensive performances of the last decade and one that I couldn’t wait to jump into. The Patriots defense had a slow start to 2016, but with each passing week they’ve gotten better and better. In the last three games they have the second-best third down defense in the NFL, and have risen all the way from 28th early in the season to 7th overall on third down.

The emergence of Trey Flowers as veterans Rob Ninkovich, Jabaal Sheard and Chris Long got their games going now has the entire defensive front clicking. And don’t just take my word for it, here’s what Belichick had to say on Tuesday:

“I think in our case what I’ve seen from this team, especially defensively but really in all three phases of the game, is a commitment to work hard and get better. You take small steps every day. Those pile up after days, weeks and months together. I think that’s really what’s happening with our team is they’ve worked hard. They’ve improved, improved a little bit each day. They maybe improve a little bit each week in certain areas. I think we do things better now than we did a few weeks ago. We did them better a few weeks ago than we did them a couple of months ago, which is the way it should be.”

Let’s take a closer look at the All-22.

Patriots Tuesday 10 Pack

December 20, 2016 by Mike Dussault

Plenty to kick around this week as the hardest part of the Patriots’ schedule is over and we have a near-complete picture of who the 2016 team is. Once again they’re playing their best football in December and must survive two games before turning all their attention to the playoffs.

Do the Patriots have a fatal flaw? Only if the early season defense returns and they stop getting takeaways, red zone and third down stops. Offensively, it’s no longer all Gronk and Edelman. You have to stop the run, and while they will stay dedicated to pounding it up the middle, their stable of backs are just as capable in the passing game.

And as I mentioned in the Posits, all their receivers can play each receiver position. Then there’s Bennett, who might not be as dominant as Gronk, but is close to being as dangerous, especially when teams get caught up figuring out where the receivers and backs are lining up.

The fact that their special teams are playing dominant football is only the icing on the unstoppability cake.

Put them all together and there’s no question it’s Super Bowl or bust once again.

Here’s a 10 pack of thoughts…

Pats Posits: Primed, Again

December 18, 2016 by Mike Dussault

2016 AFC East Champs!

The Patriots locked up the AFC East championship and a first round playoff bye with their 16-3 win over the Broncos, moving to 12-2 on the season, and putting to rest some of their Denver demons.

Yup, if you didn’t love the 2016 Patriots before impressive wins over Baltimore and Denver, you sure do now!

The victory was perhaps the most complete of the season, with the defense completely neutralizing Denver’s offense in the second half and becoming the top scoring defense in the NFL; the offense capitalizing in key spots while maintaining excellent balance; and the special teams generally dominating every hidden yard there was.

With just two games to go, the Patriots look as primed as ever to make a run at another Super Bowl. But they might need to win both to secure homefield.

More on the Pats’ playoff aspirations and a feel-great win over the Broncos…

Patriots Gameplan: Week 15 at Denver Broncos

December 16, 2016 by Mike Dussault

We’re going back. It’s no secret that Denver has been a house of horrors for Tom Brady and the Patriots. Three times has Brady’s playoff run ended in Denver (2005, 2013, 2015), more than any other away stadium or team. The annoying thing about Denver, and this was especially true in both losses there last year, is that they’re fluky weird games, with Gostkowski’s missed extra point still looming large over last year’s season ender.

Now the Broncos are not the same team that won the Super Bowl this year. Free agency departures, retirements and injuries have depleted a team that rode their impenetrable defense to a championship last season, despite an offense that was the least lethal to ever raise the Lombardi Trophy.

This is an important game for so many reasons. The tangible — that the Patriots can clinch a first round bye with a win and give themselves options to rest some key players down the stretch. The intangible — getting the Denver monkey off their back and potentially eliminating the Broncos from playoff contention in the process.

Yes, there would be a lot to feel good about after a Patriots win this Sunday, and it appears that the Broncos are primed to get throttled, IF, the Patriots can finally just play their game in the Mile High Stadium.

What the Pats need to do to put a nice big bow on the 2016 season before turning their sites to the playoffs in the gameplan…

Patriots vs Ravens Film Review: Defense Edition

December 15, 2016 by Mike Dussault

This was the game by the defense that I’ve been waiting a long time for. Were there some mistakes? Of course. But overall, the Patriots defense played with their best intensity of the season and demonstrated why they can be as good as they want to be when they play within the system.

The big headline coverage-wise in this one was a shift to a lot more zone coverage, with a lot of special attention being paid to the middle of the field as I noted was a critical area in my gameplan article. Early in the game the Patriots played a lot of Cover 2 zone, which had safeties over the tops of the wide receivers and a flood of three zone players right in the flat.

They mixed in some man coverage, but this was primarily a zone game as they shifted to more Cover 3 in the second half. It was a good lesson for me from a football study perspective. I’ve always believe man coverage is the only way to go in today’s NFL but this game showed how effective zone can be when it’s executed well.

We’re finally seeing what we expected this season. An amoeba defense that can flood the line of scrimmage and have any number of guys drop or rush. Maybe they just needed some time but everyone is working together now and the results were obvious. Boil it down to the simple “Do Your Job” because that’s what everyone on the Patriots defense was doing.

Pats Posits: The Rumble with Double Fumbles

December 13, 2016 by Mike Dussault

The Patriots overcame three critical turnovers in what was otherwise their best game of the 2016 season, defeating the Ravens 30-23. It was interesting, as it always is with these teams, but the Pats sealed the game with a clutch 79-yard touchdown pass to a streaking Chris Hogan. That put the Pats back up by 10 and effectively won the game.

A quick-strike 79-yard touchdown? A 1,000 yard rusher leading the league in touchdowns? A defense leading the league in points-against and safeties? Who is this Patriots team, because I think I love them.

It’s hard to win in the playoffs against good teams when you turn the ball over three times in the second half. But the good news is that great teams don’t collapse when they cough it up twice on back-to-back returns.

It was hard not to recall the 2015 season and how everything seemed to be going pretty great until Harper’s Muff in Denver. That team still fought to overtime before succumbing to the Broncos and watching their homefield advantage and season slowly fade away, but the 2016 team decided:

Cyrus’ Muff was not the hill they were dying on. Nor was Slater’s Cough Up.

Resiliency. The mark of any championship team. No matter how much people want to complain about Cyrus Jones this week, things are looking good for the pending Super Bowl run. Clean up the turnovers and the Patriots will be primed for a run at number five.

More on the 2016 Patriots’ identity, how to proceed with Cyrus, and more in the Posits…