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Analysis

Coffin Corner: Can Belichick Learn to Share His Roster? *Coughs up a loogie*

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By far, the most amazing thing about parenthood is watching how children learn stuff. Every time, you see a neurological spark that connects a cause to an effect your heart swells: “My kid’s a forking genius.” The kid sees a stopped bus then he sees the red light. Then says: ‘bus stop at red lights’. “My kid’s a forking genius.” Every time he notifies me “I poop”…. I greet the disgusting revelation with “My kid’s a forking genius.”

It’s the most amazing thing to witness. And yet it happens to every parent, for every kid. Language, understanding spatial relationships and even the tenants of physics are innate naturally developed cognitive skills. My son learned Einstein’s theory of gravity the first time he walked down the stairs carrying three trucks, did a “yard sale” and bloodied his chin. “Fork!  My kid’s not a genius.” But one thing that child professionals, teachers and pediatricians tell you is that the concept of sharing is not innate. There is no inherent understanding for humans to share. If you left four kids in a Biosphere, they would likely never learn to share. Sharing is a learned trait, instilled by the teachings of families, parents, mentors, religions and communities.

And as we know Bill Belichick is happy to share… some things. He always shares credit graciously, he shares his personal feelings about how dumb writers are with aplumb, he shares his workplace with his children, his life with a spouse or girlfriend, but there’s one thing that he has had a pretty hard time sharing over the years.  Final say over roster construction.

Everyone does their job.  Brady is the CEO on offense, the Krafts are the CEOs of the company and Belichick is the CEO of the roster. That is the biggest reason that he is in New England in the first place.  He was promised limited owner intervention into the team building aspect, also the fact that the Jets suck donkey butts. And let’s just say that after 5 Super Bowls, 16 going on 17 winning seasons, 14 AFC East titles, it’s been a good recipe for success. Stay in your lane.

But at appears on first blush that Trading Jimmy G marks a huge forking fork in the road.

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The Record-Setting Pace of the 2017 Offense

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Despite another relatively ugly effort, the Patriots ground out a victory Sunday against the Chargers to extend their winning streak to four games. Leading the charge to the Pats 6-2 record is the offense, which leads the NFL in total yards, and while they continued to struggle in the red zone on Sunday, they still rank 7th in the NFL in points per game.

While this success is certainly not surprising, there was some concern about the passing game after the loss of Brady’s safety blanket, Julian Edelman. However, thanks to the best variety of distribution we have seen in the Brady era, the passing game has been able to combat the loss of Edelman, and even prosper through it, reaching territory that few Brady-led offenses have ever reached.

Thus far in 2017, the Patriots have five players with have 31 catches or more, compared to the first eight weeks of the 2016 season, in which they had just three. In 2017, James White leads the way with 43 catches, followed by Rob Gronkowski (34), Chris Hogan (33), Brandin Cooks (33), and Danny Amendola (31). These five are all on pace to reach at least 670 yards this season, with Cooks leading the way at 1,126 yards and Gronkowski in second with 1,018 yards.

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Patriots Trade Jimmy Garoppolo to 49ers

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Last year around Halloween the Jamie Collins trade to the Browns bombshell dropped and this year we’ve got another huge Patriots move as Adam Shefter reported the team has traded back up quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers for a second-round pick.

Where to start? Yeah, we all thought the Pats could get more than a second-rounder for Garoppolo. There were plenty of reports this offseason that anything short of multiple first rounders wouldn’t get the job done. Heck, Schefter was the one leading that charge. Now, getting a mere single pick, when the Pats have obvious and immediate personnel needs is a head scratcher.

But this isn’t a total shock, because let’s face it, they probably weren’t keeping Garoppolo after he hit free agency this offseason. I never bought that they’d actually give him a contract that he’d accept to remain Brady’s backup. Most likely? That they’d franchise tag him then trade him as they did with Matt Cassel. What’d they get for Cassel? Yup, a second rounder.

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Report: Hightower Done for Year with Torn Pec

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Welp, you spend a good hour this morning writing about how the Pats can manage for a game-plus without Hightower and then Ian Rapoport drops this bomb.

No other way to cut it, this is a huge blow to Patriots Super Bowl hopes. Between Julian Edelman and now Hightower, it’s hard to come up with a worse scenario that doesn’t involve the quarterback, and given the depth and meaning of all those players, losing your best wide receiver and linebacker might even be worse. At least with Jimmy G there’d be a small element of excitement.

So what now? Is there a trade out there that could help? Are we ready for a whole lot of David Harris? There’s no easy answer as is often the case when you lose a player of this magnitude. As I mentioned this morning, getting Shea McClellin back would certainly help. Then a trio of Harris, McCellan and Cassius Marsh would be serviceable, complimenting Kyle Van Noy, who has shown remarkable progress in recent weeks and is now the de facto leader of the front seven now. Throw in some Trevor Reilly and Marquis Flowers and maybe someone emerges. Is that a Super Bowl winning linebacker group on paper right now though? Ummmmmm….

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Injuries Strike Pats Just After They Clicked

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We’re all sick of hearing it but here it is again “injuries are the only thing that stand between the Patriots and Super Bowls at this point in the Belichick/Brady dynasty.” You either get years where they stay almost entirely healthy — 2014/2016 (with a notable exception or two like Gronk last year), or 2013/2015 where key guys are lost and it’s just not enough to get past the AFC Championship.

Every year is a bit different. And this year, the injuries to Julian Edelman, such a critical player, and others cam early enough that they could still be overcome. But it’s a long season and we’re not even half way through it. And now, after a couple weeks of injury reprieve, the Pats once again had a frightening injury report on Wednesday with Dont’a Hightower, Malcom Brown and Danny Amendola leading the way.

These were three gut punch absences, especially after the Pats were coming off their first complete game performance of the season. A feel-good “Pats are back” type win that made the sloppy start a distant memory.

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First Down Problems for Pats Defense Continue

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After the first game of the 2017 season, a blowout loss to the Chiefs, I pointed out that it was first down where the Chiefs did most of their damage and prescribed simple improvement on first down as a key for a defensive turnaround.

Checking back in on first down now, after six weeks, there hasn’t been much improvement. In fact, for a defense mired near the bottom of the league in almost every category, their poor work on first down is some of the most glaring.

Here are the numbers from the past four years:

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Is 2015 Dion Lewis Finally Back?

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The Cardiac Pats ground out another win in their fourth-straight game in which the game hung in the balance on the final play. A lackluster effort overall marred the play of Dion Lewis, who ran all over the Jets front. Sunday marked Lewis’s first real impact in the 2017 season, as prior to this game, his season high in snaps was just 18, and had averaged just 6.5 touches per game. However, watching him on Sunday, it was hard not to harken back to the Dion Lewis we saw in the 2015 season, when he seized control of the Patriots backfield with elite performance after elite performance.

It is easy to forget just how incredible Lewis’s 2015 season was prior to tearing his ACL. To preface, it is obviously difficult to discern whether Lewis can ever regain the level of play he displayed in 2015, but if he has, I firmly believe he deserves a far heavier workload, and his stats back up my belief.

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