PatsPropaganda

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Pats Posits: 1-1 and we’re back having fun!

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The Patriots got their 2017 season on track with a 36-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints, evening their record to 1-1 and silencing any doubters who actually though the season-opening loss would derail the New England football machine.

It now feels like the season is officially underway and despite a handful of somewhat concerning injuries, the Patriots look every bit as primed as ever to make another run at a Super Bowl title. No matter who they do or don’t roll out there, the Patriots will be a tough out for whoever they play this season. Already, just two weeks in, the hope is they can pull Gronk, Amendola, Hightower, Mitchell and whoever else goes down together in January after a bye week for a three-wins-for-Super-Bowl-Six playoff run..

Perhaps most impressive was how this suddenly felt like the Bill Belichick Patriots we’ve become accustomed to. They carved the Saints underneath in the passing game, leaned on Rob Gronkowski when they had to, and played the kind of bend-don’t-break defense we’ve all come to love/hate. This was the Patriots and it was a nice reminder that despite an uneven performance on opening night, this is still a very good football team capable of beating any team on any given Sunday.

First things first, let’s get the injuries out of the way, because there were quite a few. This is a troubling trend in 2017 and we’re going on four-straight games dating back to the preseason with significant players going down. Luckily it seems like the initial reports on all the injuries are positive, but we’ve heard that before and then you find out Hightower’s seeing Dr. Andrews and maybe it isn’t just a “sprained MCL” but a chronic problem.

We’ll see on Wednesday just how serious and lingering these injuries from this one are.

Injury Report

  • Rob Gronkowski – Groin: Gronk told reporters he was “okay” after the game. Just the fact that he stayed on the sideline without anyone really paying attention to him leads me to believe Gronk will be fine. But it sure is scary having to rely on the big tight end that much. Hoepfully Alex Guerrero can work some soft tissue magic and Gronk’s groin will be fine. Of course, the groin jokes just write themselves with Gronk, especially after he nabbed his 69th touchdown catch in this game.
  • Eric Rowe – Groin: Rowe also indicated he’d be oaky with some rest.
  • Rex Burkhead – Ribs
  • Chris Hogan – Knee: Sounds like this problem popped up late in the week of practice. Hopefully it’s a minor sprain that doesn’t linger.
  • Phillip Dorsett – Knee: Injured just as he was starting to click with Brady, hopefully they don’t lose him, it would be a setback for a player still trying to pick up the offense.

Okay, with the injuries out of the way let’s jump into the Posits from a feel good win.

Posits

— Gotta start with Tom Brady who bounced back and put up the most yardage he’s thrown for since 2013. Gotta hand it to Brady, 10 days after an uneven performance he came out and played some of his best football, even without a shifty slot receiver. He did it by taking exactly what was open, especially underneath. Gronk (6/116/TD) and James White (8/85) led the way through the air. This is how the Patriots offense we’ve come to know and love functions. Brady carves them with the underneath stuff until some deep shots opened up. Five players ended up with a catch longer than 20 yards, and 9 total receivers had catches. This is a recipe for success, and you just know the team is still itching to open things up even more with Cooks and Dorsett.

— On defense, let’s start with the biggest defensive changes which were just about exactly what I prescribed this week. They swapped Jordan Richards out for Elandon Roberts, while flipping Trey Flowers to the left edge, (where he stood some and hand-down’d some) while Adam Butler got the nod at left defensive end (where there isn’t much standing and dropping). Dietrich Wise also got some snap at RDE and as I had hoped, the young guns helped spark the defense.

— Even without Hightower, this was a vintage Patriots defensive performance, giving up 20 points right on the nose which is generally the marker point for a good defensive night. To do that against Drew Brees in New Orleans? Impressive all the way around and it should help put some fears to rest. The strength of this defense has always been the sum of its parts and that was what was on display Sunday. They were far stronger on the edge and up the middle against the run (81 rushing yards against), and by winning those early downs it set them up for success on third down.

— So I guess Gronk isn’t done? Holy hoodie he reminded everyone he’s just on another level.

— Can’t say enough about Wise and Butler on the defensive front. Wise especially had a breakout game with one sack, two TFL and FIVE QB hits. I wondered all off season who would get after the quarterback now on critical third downs. Well Wise did that and more. I think he looks even better than Chandler Jones did as a rookie and that’s saying something. He clearly belongs on the field more than the 43.1 percent of the snaps he played. I expect that number to continue to climb. Butler might’ve been a little more ready for the 69.2 percent of the snaps he played, but regardless of how things are divvied up, the Pats have two rookie gems who can play on the edge and they should only continue to improve.

— I know Elandon Roberts has some weaknesses in coverage but the impact he makes against the run cancels those weaknesses out for me. I just love the pop he brings and I’m really wondering if David Harris has anything left to offer this season.

— Good old Gostkowski, misses the first extra point he tries, then hits three field goals and three more extra points the rest of the day. He loves to keep us just slightly off balance and I still can’t believe the Pats were the ones to introduce the idea of moving the kicks back. Something that has seemed to bother Gost since 2015’s AFCCG XP miss that cost the overtime eventually.

— Not sure what to make of Dion Lewis being mostly a kick returner and afterthought. Still had four carries and a catch, but there’s no doubt he’s buried behind White and Burkhead now. Something still makes me think they’ll need him at some point but I’m starting to lose hope of him ever being the Dion Lewis of the first six games of 2015 ever again, at least in New England. He just doesn’t have that ability to make people brutally miss anymore for whatever reason. Maybe it will come back? I don’t know.

— Phillip Dorsett is impressing me after I called him maybe the biggest factor in determining just what the ceiling of this Patriots’ offense is. He had a brilliant catch for 38 yards just before getting hurt and also had a nice LEGAL pick on one of the touchdowns. He’s in a tough spot trying to pick things up on the fly but he’s contributing and earning Brady’s trust and that’s all we can ask at this point. Really hope his injury doesn’t hold him back when he took so many positive strides.

— Cassius Marsh played 31 snaps as a designated pass rusher. Need to take a closer look at how he did but generally I thought the pass rush was pretty disruptive overall though they recorded just one sack of Brees. They did have seven QB hits.

— Chris Hogan (5/78/TD) is quickly expanding his role in the offense. He’s toughing something out and coming through with needed plays. Overall the offense looked far more balanced and I wonder how Brandin Cooks felt about his two catches for 37 yards.

— Mike Gillislee is reminding me why I thought Blount could be upgraded. He’s a finisher but he also doesn’t take negative plays when nothing’s there. He can makes guy miss in the backfield and at least get back to the line of scrimmage. That’s what will improve the Pats 17th DVOA run offense from 2016.

— Special Teams were without both Matthew Slater and Nate Ebner and I thought they did a pretty good job considered. Still, would’ve liked to have seen some of the kickoff returns brought down a little sooner, but they didn’t give up any game-changing plays and that was all that was needed.

— I think it’s fair to wonder if things aren’t going so great for Malcolm Butler, who didn’t start and played in a third corner role in this one (but still played 75 percent of the snaps. Yes, maybe it was a matchup thing, and yes maybe it’s just BB playing around early in the season, but there’s been too much smoke there all preseason, and he’s given up at least a play a game for whatever reason. In some part it’s related to the rest of the secondary, who has had their miscommunication moments in the first two games, but Butler/matchups is definitely something to keep an eye on. Stephon Gilmore sure isn’t doing so hot either, though he gets some benefit of the doubt being new to the system. I still think Butler will take Antonio Brown but we’ll see.

— If Jonathan Jones keeps balling out like he did and Eric Rowe continues his solid play, it would be hard not to admit that there is a level of expendability with Malcolm now as much as it pains me to write that about a player who competes so hard. We’ll just have to let it all play out, but Jones showed up with two passes defensed and looks like he fits on defense. I was shocked they paid Gilmore as much as they did, it’s really hard to imagine them doing it for a second cornerback.

More to come in the morning. As always plenty to unpack and a new episode of Patshow Live Tuesday morning! 1-1 and we’re back having fun.