PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 7 at Pittsburgh Steelers

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The 5-1 Patriots travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers Sunday in what was supposed to be an AFC Championship game preview, but with Ben Roethlisberger out the game won’t quite live up to that hype. Still the Steelers have two of the most dynamic weapons in the game — Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, and both should provide plenty of problems for the Patriots on the road.

It seems after last week’s win over the Bengals that the Patriots are starting to find their stride in 2016. They got through Brady’s suspension and overcame some minor injuries and are now looking to establish the one thing they’ve been missing in the first six weeks of the season — consistency.

No one will be handing out any awards for beating Landry Jones, but this is an important game nonetheless, and one that could very well determine where a potential rematch is played. We all know how impossible the Patriots can be to beat at home in the playoffs so a victory here provides a key tie breaker that could be needed when the season ends.

It’s hard to believe the Patriots and Steelers have only met four times in the regular season since 2010, and haven’t met in the playoffs since 2004’s AFC Championship.

Here’s the gameplan for a rivalry renewed once again…

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Patriots-Bengals Film Review: What’s Up With Jules Edition

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I came out of the win over the Bengals happy that the Patriots were no longer having to over-rely on Julian Edelman. Preserving Edelman for the key moments in the playoff run is of prime importance as we saw last year, when the Patriots 3rd down numbers fell off a cliff when Edelman went down.

However I made the mistake of flipping on Felger and Mazz on Monday afternoon to discover them wondering what was going on with Edelman. Huh? I usually don’t humor F&M’s silly outrage with blog posts, but it does seem like Edelman’s been a little bit more quiet than we’re used to. Add in a few recent penalties and his lack of a touchdown through six games and I started to wonder if something was up with #11.

So I took a look at Edelman’s season so far to see what, if anything, is really going on.

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Patriots Terrible Take: Tomato Cans? – Week 6

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I only have the energy for one take today because The Oldest Huckster in Boston threw out a doozy of a tweet.

Hot Take:

King of the Strawman argument, DickButter Shaughnessy, pulls out his classic “tomato cans” analogy to describe the rest of the Pats schedule. His columns and hot takes have become the laziest game of madlibs.

Here’s the formula: [Thing that is good for team’s chances to win this week]. Actually it’s bad you idiot because [uninformed, but intensely guttural opinion] [then always] #tomatocans

Here let’s try one, something that is good? Home field. Okay how about: The Patriots have home field advantage in the playoffs. Actually it’s bad you idiot because they won’t be tested on the road until the Super Bowl. #TomatoCans

I might have to rewrite the formula because it sounds so stupid when you say it out loud—

He said that?! For real? I was just making a – When did he say it? 2014, like when the Patriots won the Super Bowl or how it’s always confusing because the season is played over two years and you mean like the 2014-2015 season? No? The year they won?!! Woooooooow. That’s just doubling down on stupid. Let’s examine the wall of Tomato Cans.

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Week 7 Scouting Report: Pittsburgh Steelers

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Another week, another Patriots win. It’s gonna get really hard when this franchise falls back to Earth with the rest of league. Reminds me of a great Charles Barkley quote, “When Belichick and Brady leave, y’all team is gonna f*****g suck.”  This franchise is pretty safe for the next few years but you have to wonder, how will the the team transition out of the BB/Brady era into a new one. Something to ponder later, but in the meantime…

Here’s everything you need to know about the Pittsburgh Steelers, aka “The Pittsburgh (Antonio) Browns.”

Week 7 at Pittsburgh Steelers

Sunday October 23

4:25 pm EST, CBS

Low 60’s, 10% chance of rain, 11mph winds

Opponent/Patriots Stats:

Steelers: 4-2

Notable Games: The Steelers were blown out in a Week 3 loss to their next door neighbors, the Philadelphia Eagles 34-3. They came roaring back in a big way decimating the Kansas City Chiefs 43-14 the following week.

Common Opponents: Cincinnati Bengals (both teams won) and Miami Dolphins (Patriots won Steelers lost 15-30).

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Patriots vs. Bengals Film Review: Defense Edition

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There was a lot to like about the Patriots defensive performance in their 35-17 win over the Bengals. It wasn’t all perfect, there were three drives where the Bengals moves the ball with ease, but as the game progressed the Patriots defense settled in and showed improvement in some of the areas they struggled in early in the season.

For the game, the Patriots held the Bengals to 5-10 on third down, and 2-4 in the red zone, including a fourth-down, goal-line stop that should fuel the defense’s confidence. The Pats are now second in the league in points allowed. That’s the ultimate bottom line stat and shows that despite some struggles on third down and in the red zone, this is still a very good defense that is one of the hardest in the league to score on. That has to count for a lot.

And even you’re not sold on points against, the bad areas are now improving statistically every week. Third down, red zone, yardage… each week they get a little better. If that continues this will be a playoff-ready defense by any metric.

Here’s what else stood out from film review, including a few more Elandon Roberts “fire in the hole” hit GIFs…

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Video: Welcome Back Brady Bus Recap

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I wrote a little bit in the Posits yesterday about what a blast the Welcome Back Bus was but every year I like to edit a small video of my Patriots Pilgrimage on the return flight so here that is along with a bunch of pics as well.

Thanks to Skedaddle for making it all happen and to Nick “Fitzy” Stevens and George Kippenhan who kept us all laughing the entire day. And thanks especially to all the fans just crazy enough to join our merry bus of Pats fun. I hope you all had as much fun as we did! And best of all, the Pats won and we didn’t leave anyone behind!

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And finally here’s the video I put together of the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fEnVHmESJE

Patriots Special Teams Report – Week 6 vs. Cincinnati Bengals

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Tom Brady’s return to Foxboro proved triumphant, as the Patriots overcame some early struggles to dominate the Bengals in the second half, leading to another solid win. With the Broncos, Raiders, and Steelers all losing, the Patriots now have sole possession of first place in the AFC, and special teams have certainly played an important role in the team’s early-season success. This week, I chose to focus on the “Core 4” special teams units, the kickoff and punt coverage units and the kick and punt return units, and the strengths and weaknesses of them.

First, the kickoff coverage unit is off to an outstanding start, allowing just 16.5 yards per return on average, good for second in the NFL, trailing just Denver. Belichick certainly has great trust in the unit, and has used the new strategy of forcing opponent to return kicks instead of kicking it through the end zone for a touchback several times a game, due to the unit’s tremendous ability to get down the field and gang-tackle.

The Patriots rank third in kickoffs returned with 15,  and the two teams ahead of them, Houston and Buffalo, rank 9th and 16th, respectively, in average kick return yards. These statistics show that the Patriots have adapted to the new touchback rule better than just about anyone else in the NFL, and a huge part of that success has to be credited to the work of the coverage

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