Going into last night’s game I didn’t really care much about style points, and there were certainly none to give out, at least on the defensive side of the ball.
Given the events of the past week – two divisional games in five days, losing defensive and offensive leaders for the season, and missing two of the interior offensive lineman who had stabilized the protection – add it all up and it was one of those games where all you really care about it getting a win and that’s what the Pats got.
Here are my Posits…
So much of the defensive problems were reminiscent of the Chiefs game, except instead of Chandler Jones losing contain every play it was Rob Ninkovich. So many of the runs seemed stopped in the backfield by the “wall” that Wilfork and Chris Jones had created, and as Ninkovich tried to crash down to finish the ball carrier it opened up the edge and allowed him to bounce outside for a big gain.
These kind of things are fixable and really, it’s way out of character for Ninkovich to be playing like that. He will be better.
Overall the defense looks like they really need the 10 days to get healthy and regroup. But there are some things that will remain concerns, primarily Jamie Collins playing middle linebacker. It’s been clear this year, Collins is awesome on passing downs and in space. When asked to take on offensive linemen he doesn’t have the physicality to defeat them, instead needing to use his athleticism to slip around blocks. This is somewhat of flashback to Gary Guyton playing mike, a bad situation that culminated with the 2009 playoff loss. I don’t know what the answer is, there might not be one, but Collins is going to get run at a lot the rest of this year.
Chandler Jones came through with some big plays this game, including his sacks, as did Dont’a Hightower despite playing with a bulky knee brace. The long break is needed for Hightower to get back to form. He’ll really have to be the all-everything of the linebacking corps going forward this year. This is his defense now.
Interesting that Kyle Arrington only played one snap as Dennard move the slot. I’m not sure if Dennard is best there, but I really like his play of late despite some penalties and catches allowed. How the Pats use those two going forward will be something to watch.
As I tweeted last night, I wonder if the Pats still would’ve pursued Browner if they knew holding and illegal contact would be called like this now.
Patrick Chung continues to show up as the Robber safety and will be needed even more to help stop the run without Mayo. He was PFF’s top graded Patriot defender.
Third down defense was atrocious until the red zone. I don’t get it. The players change but the results since 2010 remain the same – the Pats are simply one of the worst teams in the NFL in getting off the field on third down. For going on five years in a row now.
As for the offense, I thought it was a decent step forward for the offense. The protection was decent and Brady seemed to have a good sense of when Rex was bringing the house and when he was dropping the house.
Can’t get enough of these deep shots that Brady is taking now.
What a difference Brandon LaFell is making to this offense. This is the guy we’ve been missing in recent years. Not a deep threat, a big receiver who presents a different matchup problem that the Welker/Branch/Edelman/Amendola guy.
Not sure if Vereen will have the same workload as he did last night for the rest of the season, but he stepped up to the challenge of being the go-to guy last night. The Pats seemed to take extra steps to put him in good position. Vereen has a great chance to earn another contract from the Pats. If he plays like he did last night consistently, he’ll be a lock.
Jonas Grey showed enough hard-running to sell me on getting him more involved. The fact that he had more carries that Brandon Bolden shows you the Pats probably feel about Bolden the way that I do. He’s a fill-in back, not a feature guy.
Edelman has earned enough good will that he gets a pass for his drops last night. Let’s just hope it doesn’t become a habit. Without those drops, the Pats end it a lot earlier than they did.
Like just about everyone else, I’m not sure why the Pats keep rotating Marcus Cannon in. My best guess is that they’re trying to preserve everyone, but he’s a liability even when he gets in there for one snap. Solder has had a rough year, but I’d still much rather leave him in there all game.
Really, really worried they’re running Wifork into the ground again. Luckily Siliga and Walker look like capable interior replacements if anything happens to Big Vince. As a threesome they are formidable.
Really happy for Danny Amendola. He really provided a spark with his kickoff returns and then that carried over into two huge game-cliching/saving plays. Let’s hope he can keep it up. A fourth tough receiving target would take this offense to unstoppable territory.