PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

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pottsisstarksheart:

We’ve put ourselves in a good position to have a home playoff game. We’ve got to go out there and take advantage of it, so hopefully we can do that. It’s been a great year to this point, but now’s where the opportunity really starts for us.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/pottsisstarksheart-weve-put-ourselves-in-a/

Loved your Gameplan column. I agree on a lot of the points. Rank the following on the concern-o-meter: Protection/ O-line; Inability to generate a pass rush; Flacco scrambling for 1st downs; penalties; short yardage situations (offense); short yardage situations (defense). This may not be played out by the stats, but my recollection is that at home with the benefit of the snap count and easier communication the O-Line has played much better than on the road (NYJ, SD, GB, KC, MIA).

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Thanks. As I’ve written my only real concern is that our OL shows up to play. If that happens the rest of those issues shouldn’t be a huge concern in this one because Brady will light up that Ravens secondary that played way over their head last week. 

If had to pick another one it’d be pass rush because if we can’t take advantage of this patchwork OL with our front seven it will be disheartening.

Certainly in potential future match ups we’ll have to worry about those other things, but for now, just protect Tommy.

Before the season started i was worried about Gronk. I was worried that since he was injured so much it was setting him up to either take a pay cut, or be cut. I knew he had to have a strong season and play the majority of the games. To be honest, he exceeded my expectations. I am no longer worried about his future on the team, but should i be?

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I was a little worried too, but yeah, I think Gronk is here to stay and his option will be picked up this offseason. Perhaps most importantly, it seems that Gronk is doing a better job of protecting himself this season.

For guys to tackle him they have to go low, so instead of trying to grind out the couple extra yards that put him at risk after initial contact, he’s learned to protect his legs and go down safely. Hopefully that continues in the playoffs because for all the “we have a healthy Gronk for the playoffs this year!” talk, he was healthy going into the 2011 playoffs too. 

There’s no better weapon and I only imagine what he’ll do next year with an offseason where he’s not rehabbing.

really worried about the offensive line play against the ravens. The past couple weeks leading up to the bye the line didn’t seem as stout as they did during their 6 game win streak

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I think this is a little overblown, but we have to worry about something, right? First, let’s remember how excellent they were when they hit their stride with the Solder-Connolly-Stork-Wendell-Vollmer group before Connolly got hurt. The line the last couple weeks was a little patchwork and let’s face it, probably a little less motivated with the division already sewn up, especially vs. the Bills with the bye already sewn up. 

The offensive line is still pretty good, it’s not like they’re a glaring weakness that has to be hidden and/or managed. Could they have a bad game? Sure. That could happen to any line on any particular weekend. But they should be generally solid enough to get the win.

Bring on the 2014-2015 redemption tour. 1st stop BAL (for 2009 and 2012 with a Steve Spagnuolo bonus in there). 2nd stop DEN (for 2005 and 2013 with a Peyton Manning 2006 bonus in there). 3rd stop either SEA (who’s mad now, Bro?) or GB (the Desmond Howard / Tuna defection game) with a Glendale, AZ “House of Horrors” (SB 42) bonus in there. Bring. It. On.

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I love good stories and as you laid it out, this is a great story. But I got ahead of myself in 2011 with the the Broncos (2005 revenge), Ravens (2009 revenge), Giants (2007 revenge) story so for now I’m just trying to get that first W. But yeah, this would be poetic.