Film Review: Deep Dive on Gronk, Brady, Edelman vs Vikings

I was a little surprised to find this week that Rob Gronkowski, Tom Brady and Julian Edelman were catching a bunch of criticism after Sunday’s win over the Vikings. Admittedly I’m a bit more of a defense guy. When the offense is on the field, it’s my time to relax and not get overly caught up in minutiae, at least on the initial live watch.

So when I saw Gronk’s game being labeled as one of the worst of his career I was scratching my head a bit. I remember him getting stopped short on third down which seemed weird and I remember the penalties, of which I wasn’t wasn’t entirely sure how good or bad they were. Edelman and Brady both had some similar moments but nothing that gave me much initial concern. The results overall were good and if anything, I felt like this looked like the Patriots offense we know and love — the scalpel — and this was the first time in a while it felt like they were playing to their strengths.

Maybe part of that was getting Rex Burkhead back and having three running backs for the first time all season. Or maybe it was just everything gelling like it usually does around this time of year.

This made an offensive film dive critical. Yesterday I banged through the defense’s film, which I loved, and today, I jumped into the other side of the ball.

— The Pats opened things up with an 8-play, 81-yard touchdown drive that was hardly a harbinger of “worst game of careers” to come, though Gronk did kick things off on play one with a false start and that was an unfortunate sign. The second play, an incompletion to Edelman where it looked a bit like he pulled up seeing a linebacker over him, put the narrative in place there as well. Edelman made up for it on the next play with a nice 13-yard catch that looked like it might’ve aggravated his left foot. 18- and 24-yard plays to Hogan and Patterson put the Pats in Viking territory, same route for both of them, designed to get the ball underneath and pick up YAC.

— One theme I caught coming out of this one was that it was all underneath passes which means yes, we’re back on the dink-and-dunk argument. I swear, these things just go round and round for the last decade — What came first, the Belichick or the Brady? The dink-and-dunk. The Bend Don’t Break. — All that stuff used to take away from the Pats being more effective than good, if that makes sense? (It doesn’t) Give me this offense all day every Sunday over the run twice for two yards, chuck up a deep pass that is likely incomplete but maybe an explosive play or pass interference.

— Gronk definitely drew some extra passing attention through the game. His blocking didn’t have the same kind of overwhelming dominance. His whiff in the second quarter got Sony blown up the backfield.

— Edelman’s third-down drop in the first quarter was another one of those plays he usually makes. Overall I don’t think post-ACL Edelman moves all that different from pre-ACL Edelman and that’s pretty remarkable. With him, you have to give him until next year before we truly can decide if some of his inconsistencies this year are due to recovery or just him getting close to the time quick receivers start to lose their mojo.

— The third drive stalled out inside the 10. Gronk went out on one route on second down but the ball was out before he could be an option. On third down he was more running interference to spring Edelman but a blitz forced a bad throw.

— The three-and-out before the end of the half that opened the door to the Vikings only touchdown was a low point for the offense. The second down play where Gronk was stopped one short was his low point. In the past this might’ve gone for six, instead Gronk was stopped short of a first by a much smaller defender. The overall lack of explosion to his game is what’s most noticeable. He really seemed like an afterthought for the offense except for this play that was designed to put him in the exact position it did. He just couldn’t win one on one and that’s definitely something I never remember saying before about Gronk.

— The third down direct snap to White didn’t work, but I say if you’re going to live by the fun stuff you’re going to die by it sometimes too.

— Brady’s incomplete to Gronk on third-and-15 in the third quarter was one of the only times Gronk wasn’t garnering extra attention downfield. Great play by the defender. Gronk’s best catch for 15 yards came on the next drive, as he snagged it in between two defenders and was immediately hit in the thigh and tackled as soon as he caught it. He lost the ball after the tackle, not that it was a fumble but it was still a bit indicative. Not much was perfect from Gronk in this one.

— Brady’s interceptio in the fourth targetting Edelman was a bit rushed by a free blitzer, but again, a disconnect with Edelman.

Conclusions

Tom Brady

Aside from a couple rushed throws this looked pretty close to vintage Brady to me. The new twists with Patterson and White especially have been slowly building for weeks and now we’re seeing multiple “gadget” plays per game which is a necessity in today’s NFL. This was Brady playing to his strengths, using all weapons at his disposal and finding his old favorite receiver — the open one.

Julian Edelman

Definitely not one to put on Edelman’s Patriots Hall of Fame reel, but he still looks like possesses elite NFL quickness off the line of scrimmage. Brady still looks to him in crunch time and that’s why he’s still a key piece to any Super Bowl run. He looks like he’s still a little distracted by his foot, especially after it got wrenched in the third play of the game. I continue to believe Edelman will be there where the playoff dust settles and there isn’t another receiver in Patriots history I’d rather go into a playoff war with.

Rob Gronkowski

I can’t lie, Gronk was an average-at-best tight end in this game and arguably hurt them more than he helped them. I’m not sure a Dwayne Allen gameplan would’ve been all that different. Gronk’s still an effective blocker and defenses will always put multiple defenders on him up the seam. What’s surprising is that he’s getting shutout in the red zone, it used to be his most effective part of the field. Most of what’s lacking is that manic Gronk energy that he had when he was younger. Is he hurt? Is he over it? Is he growing up? Is TB12 proving ineffective for him? Impossible to know the current mix and the future prognosis. Even that average tight end Gronk fits fine into this offense because with White, Burkhead, Patterson and Gordon the Pats don’t have to lean entirely on the older pieces. That’s a good thing for the offense even if it’s not a great sign for Gronk.

Here are the Pats Red Zone targets from 2010-2017.

And here it is in 2018.

The hope is that with a week off before the divisional round and then another potential week off for the Super Bowl, Gronk will have enough time to get healthy before the biggest games of the season. It only takes one monster touchdown to change the course of a playoff game and Gronk will be more than capable of delivering that. But even your loyal minister of PatsPropaganda can make an argument that we’re seeing a far less effective Rob Gronkowski, whatever the reasons and future prognosis might be, and Sunday’s game against the Vikings was a prime example.

The silver lining is that the Patriots offense is clicking, with a different and new version of their ultra effective scalpel and the excitement for that is enough to mitigate the worries about Gronk, who’s already in the gravy phase of his career anyway.