We’re finally on to Week 2, putting the ugly season-opening loss to Miami behind us! The Minnesota Vikings provide just the right kind of tough challenges the Patriots need to face to prove they’re not the team that laid a major egg on the road in Miami last week.
Here’s our game plan!
Offensive Strategy
The Patriots offense was disjointed but effective in the first half against Miami. But it was too reminiscent of last year’s offense that was completely reliant on Edelman and Vereen. Amendola and LaFell were mostly invisible and Brady got locked onto Gronk a little too much. It’s understandable he’d want to get Gronk involved early and often to get back up to game speed, but Gronk’s progress back to normal isn’t going to happen over night.
The important pieces are Kenbrell Thompkins and hopefully Aaron Dobson. Thompkins flashed a lot of potential this offseason once again, but wasn’t much of a factor against the Dolphins. If Dobson can return and Thompkins can start to make some significant plays, the Pats offense can stop being so one-dimensional with Edelman/Vereen.
This week the Pats have to spread the ball around and when the playmakers have the ball in their hands they have to make plays.
Defensive Strategy
(Update 9/12 afternoon – Adrian Peterson is no longer playing due to his indictment for reckless or negligent injury to a child). Not having to face the best running back in the game is helpful for the Pats run defense, it’s just a shame why he won’t be playing regardless.
Cordarrelle Patterson now becomes the primary focus for the Pats’ defense.
The trio of Alfonzo Dennard, Devin McCourty and Darrelle Revis will have their work cut out for them, especially when coming down to contain the inevitable end-arounds the Vikes will run.
Upfront the Pats might want to lean on Wilfork and Siliga in the middle. A return to the double nose 4-3 makes the most sense to me (see below), especially if Jamie Collins is limited or out.
The rotation between Chung and Harmon at safety is one interesting area to watch. Chung is effective in the box but now without Peterson it might make sense to load the back end. The deep pass defense has been an issue in recent years. We assume they’ve been fixed with Revis in the fold, but now it’s time to prove it.
Points of Emphasis
1. Tackle: How different last week’s outcome could’ve been if the Pats had missed just a few less tackles. It might’ve been just a six-point game as Brady got the ball back, setting up a chance to win the game on the final drive, something he’s certainly capable of. It’s little surprise that tackling was so sloppy with the new rules in training camp, but it’s no excuse, they have to be better. Simply wrapping up and making the plays they’re in position to make will make a world of difference this week for the defense.
2. Do Your Job: Too many mistakes were made last week with guys trying to compensate for mistakes and it could be easy to get rattled after the results were so ugly. Players on both sides of the ball must play within the system and within themselves and not try to do too much. Focusing on this kind of thinking is what can get the team back on track playing clean and complimentary football.
3. Back to the Double Nose: With Jamie Collins limited on Thursday and missing practice on Friday, there’s chance the Pats could be short a linebacker this weekend. There are worse games he could miss. I think the best combo upfront would be Wilfork and Siliga inside, with Chandler and Ninkovich at defensive end, returning to the “double nose” defense of the past couple seasons.
If Chris Jones can get back that would be a big boost. Darius Fleming could be thrust into the fire at SLB if Collins is out, but sliding Hightower to MLB and Mayo to WLB might maximize both their effectiveness in the run game.
4. Block: Belichick said Mike Zimmer might just zerox his gameplan from last season when his Bengals defense held the Patriots to just 1-for-13 on third down. The Bengals had back-to-back third down sacks on the Pats first two possessions of the game and that set the tone. Per PFF, they blitzed 14 of 42 snaps, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you have Geno Atkins (which the Vikings do not) it certainly helps.
There’s no question the Pats protection struggled last week and even when they did get everyone blocked it looked far from smooth. Maybe it was the rotation, maybe it was just early-season jitters, but the Patriots offense has to get it together this week.
5. Win: As always, all that matters is getting that first win of the season. Even with a second loss it’s not time to panic, but this Patriots team needs to find themselves sooner than later. There wasn’t a lot to feel good about after last week’s second half, but there’s a huge opportunity to right the ship this week. Mike Zimmer’s defense had their way with the Pats last year. Overcoming these elements on the road will plant a lot of confidence in the 2014 Pats and put them on track for the kind of season we all expect out of them.