Film Review: Pats-Jets

The Patriots’ latest win over the Jets had its share of weird plays and penalties. As I pondered how much angst I had toward then performance, I wasn’t sure how to divvy up the blame. After watching the film, I think there’s quite a few to just chalk up to weird situations, bad bounces and calls.

What was apparent right out of the gate was the Jets were going to mix what has hurt the Patriots defense most over the past few seasons — bunch sets, crossers… anything to get the linebackers in coverage. It’s nothing new, but it was often effective.

The offense had some self-inflicted stumbles but showed some big play ability, which is a necessity in today’s NFL. With the offensive line opening up big running lanes for Sony Michel everything seemed to be clicking. There’s no secret, when their ground game is going the Patriots offense is very hard to stop.

Here’s some more quick-hit thoughts as I banged through the All 22 film.

— I am really not trying to get ahead of myself but I think finding a defensive tackle centerpiece should be a priority this offseason. A lot of the struggles start with Malcom Brown and Lawrence Guy just being okay. That has trickle-down effects on the rest of the defense, making life harder for Flowers, Roberts and Hightower especially. The run fits weren’t especially great behind them either and that goes into the secondary.

— It was bothersome seeing Brady’s late third-down throw to Gronk that almost got him killed on the first drive. Those are the kind of plays that are obvious and get overdiagnosed. When we do start to see cracks in Brady this is where they’ll start popping up, late decisions.

— Melifonwu got a little look in tight end coverage. A simple first step for a new guy, have one role on one guy. The guy looks like a specimen out there, and if he shows promise I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as a Chung successor at strong safety. That transition is coming sooner than later.

— Nice to see Brady find Gordon in a zone defense soft spot. You can count on them to give plenty of man-to-man 50/50 ball shots to Gordon but seeing him make a catch where he needed to get to a spot is a good sign.

— This is as good as it gets for a quarterback, takes a hit, delivers an out.

— On the red zone third down that they didn’t convert, Brady had a free rusher in his face and unloaded to a one-on-one matchup for Gronk. This is a spot you’d love to see them convert and open up a touchdown lead. The Jets rushed five but the Pats strongside protection shifted in, could’ve been an issue there.

— Jason McCourty got caught up out of a two-man bunch for 41 yards to Enunwa. A play action with two tight ends and the Pats in man coverage left no other help for McCourty. There were only two receivers running routes. Luckily Gilmore made a nice interception on the next play, but the Jets weren’t done.

— Three Michel runs for a three-and-0ut on their own eight, giving the ball back to the Jets who would tie the game was not a great way to end the half. Michel should’ve had the conversion but got tripped up by the blockers in front of him.

— The 16-yarder the defense gave up to put the Jets in field goal range was a nice throw under pressure and a nice catch, somewhat contested by Jonthan Jones. I do think Jones has a big target on his back, despite generally competitive plays like this one, but Duke Dawson could get a look soon.

— The offense kicked off the 2nd half with a 31-yard run by Michel that was perfectly executed. They stalled on another third down which was just a case of good protection but no one open. Three-man rush, White stays in to chip then has three second-level defenders. Hogan, Edelman eliminated in MOF leaving Gordon who loses out the back of the end zone, then Gronk running the late crossing route toward the corner of the end zone. Couple of these plays with Brady-Gronk have looked like they were on different pages, perhaps some rust from a month off?

— After giving up a short yardage third down, the defense allowed a McNown third-down scramble for a first down, 10 yards. Classic case of man defense and the front lets the quarterback out. We’ve seen lots of this in 2018.

— The go-ahead drive was a three-play masterpiece, hitting Hogan deep in the middle, a draw to White that creased the edge and finally an Edelman catch-and-run-jump for the TD. There you have it, a fully operational Patriots offense that needs to find this kind of gear for a full game.

— The defense never allowed the Jets out of a 10-yard holding hole on the next possession forcing a timely punt. The offense responded with another Michel-fueled like you’d hope in the early fourth quarter. Gordon came through with a timely third-down catch that was close. He continues to earn trust in key moments that win games.

— The defense sent 7(!) rushers on the last meaningful third down of the game, once again forcing a punt. This was nice to see instead of a less aggressive approach that we might’ve seen in the past.