It’s not hard to say this weekend’s Pats Pilgrimage was a success. The Patriots got a win, but more importantly it was a weekend of immense fun with family, friends and my Pats Fan Brethren.
The game itself was a good one to see live. You squirmed just enough before everything turned around with Dont’a Hightower‘s safety sack. Then Brady-Gronk went off and all was well in Patriots Nation.
The Welcome Back Brady Bus was a chance to meet a bunch of awesome Patriot fans from all over the USA, and one fan all the way from Mexico! We gave away a bunch of swag and just happened to park next to a huge tailgate of people with enough food for everybody, including award-winning whoopie pies. Yes, please.
More on the Pilgrimage and a whole lot more on another Gronkilicious and defensively progressive win in the Posits.
— This week I’ve got to lead off with the defense. Yeah, Brady/Gronk unstoppable, but the guy that turned that game around was Hightower. Overall, the defense still had a couple drives where they looked like swiss cheese, namely the monster 16-play, 89-yard drive that the Patriots couldn’t stop until their own one-yard-line. But stop it they did.
The Bengals took at 14-10 lead at the start of the third quarter on a surgical nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. After a Patriots punt it felt like the Bengals could pull away. We started to squirm. Until the just-taken-off-the-injury-report Hightower stopped that Bengal momentum.
High had 13 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 2 QB hits. I said his return would fuel solutions to the problematic pass rush and he sure did.
— In the debate of Hightower vs. Collins, I’ve always felt heart-Hightower, head-Collins, but now I’m officially all-in on 54. Holy Hoodie, we can’t let him get away. Nothing against Collins. He’s the better athlete, but if I’m building my defense I want Hightower in the middle it, and it’s about more than just the play on the field. Would love to keep both, but if I only get one, give me Hightower.
— The defense ended up 5-12 on third down and 2-4 in the red zone. That’s good, and certainly improvement from what we’ve been seeing. Progress. And now they get a backup QB in Pittsburgh before travelling to Buffalo for a rematch with Rex. That’s shaping up to be one of the first exciting AFC East games in recent years.
— Some exciting new faces on defense: Elandon Robrts (again) and Eric Rowe who had a key end zone pass defense on AJ Green that got a red zone stop, forcing a field goal. There haven’t been enough of those kind of plays this year. Now that it’s October it’s good to see them popping up.
— With Freeny on IR, and Jamie Collins battling a hip injury, Roberts is looking at a spike in snaps. He has a pop to his game and continued to make noise in the running game and looked fine dropping into zone then tackling the checkdown for little gain. Always good to see new promising talent showing up and making an impact.
The first #GronkSpike of the season! #CINvsNE https://t.co/i2sXGGznUv
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) October 16, 2016
— Okay, how can I go this long without talking about Brady and Gronk? Seven catches, 162 yards, one Gronk Spike. The Patriots Super Bowl odds depend heavily on having an unstoppable tight end like Gronkowski. Without Gronk they’re still a very tough out, with Gronk they’re near unstoppable for at leas a couple drives a game, sometimes more. Every year the joke is the same — WRAP HIM IN BUBBLE WRAP NOW!!
— Nice day for James White (8 catches, 47 yards, two TDs), he’s definitely built on his solid 2015 season and while he’s still not going to make guys miss like Dion Lewis did briefly last year, White is progressing and becoming a nice weapon who can more than fill that role capably now. Any one he makes miss is a bonus.
— I do like how Edelman isn’t getting lit up as much now with the offense at full strength weapon-wise. Jules (4-30, long 13) and Amendola (2-30) are effective in key situations and the more you can protect them the better. Amendola is essentially “important down guy”, I’m not sure if he played on anything but third down. Not so long ago we got more designated pass rushers. Amendola is now a designated pass catcher. It’s a good role that protects him and allows him to stay fresh to deliver clutch impossible catches.
— Chris Hogan seems like the perfect permutation from the Welker-Edelman-Amendola Machine, only he’s the outside receiver version, which is ideal. Hogan plays as hard as Welker and Edelman do and his value in the run game downfield with his blocking is huge.
— Malcolm Butler had his best game of the season. Butler’s had a quiet but effective start to the season. He hasn’t really been manned up with the best overall receivers, he’s been playing more zone. He’s given up some catches but he’s competitive as always and tackles. And let’s face it, everyone’s been throwing at Logan Ryan. Butler is excellent.
— The only thing offensively I’m still questioning is the run game. Blount (13-50, 1 TD) was effective in spots and ineffective in others. A good chunk of that is on the offensive line as well. We’ll dig into the film to see what’s going on there. After a hot start the running game has become secondary to the passing game. Now, like last year, you wonder if it will hurt if/when Blount can’t get going when it matters. There isn’t really a change up in the power department.
— But ultimately for the offense, the only thing to worry about are injuries. They’ll have some ups and downs, some hopefully minor injuries that force them to adjust, maybe have a flaw exposed, but in the end if this offense is intact come January… Very possibly with homefield? Yup.
Defensively, I think the lesson to remember is that each season needs to incubate a bit in September. The defense had, and still has, some weak areas, but they’re talented and well-coached and they always get better as the season progresses. This game had the arrow in the right direction for the defense, now they have to build on it.
On to Pittsburgh
I’m a bit disappointed Big Ben isn’t going to be playing. I want hard matchups. Those are games to get excited for. Now? Well, winning an AFC road game in PIttsburgh is nice too!
But the BIlls re-match is looming large behind it and it’s exciting to think what that matchup could be — the 6-1 Pats at the 5-2 Bills for the lead in the AFC East. Rex with a chance to sweep Belichick in a season for the first time. The biggest thing in Rex’s favor for the first time? It’s at home for him.
We’ll see how it shakes out.
Brady Bus Recap
This weekend was my annual Patriots Pilgrimage and I did it in conjunction with Skedaddle, organizing a Welcome Back Brady Bus to and from the game.
Fans had come from near and far to join myself and my sis Mary, Fitzy and Kippah from the Shit Pats Fans videos. Two fans from Indiana had been staying in Foxboro but still made the drive out to Quincy to take the bus with us all the way back to Foxboro! They then had to endure a two hour traffic nightmare getting back to Quincy, only to have to get their car and go BACK TO FOXBORO. (Thanks guys! Sorry!)
The true highlight of my day was anonymously attending the game with Fitzy himself Nick Stevens and his pal George Kippenham. Patriots fans love them some Fitzy! Their positivity and appreciation for Nick’s tireless work was awesome to witness. I’ve never seen a person take more selfies with people in my life, including two 50-something ladies who chased down Fitzy and George for a “bucket list” photo op.
Nick is a true spreader of Patriots joy and the poor guy had a long drive and a long Monday ahead of him after we got done with all our fun. Thank you to Nick and George for joining us, you won’t find two better people! And also thank you to our pal Jeremy for the perfect steak tip /sauce/soft roll sandwich before the game!
A great moment for me was when we stopped by Chris Price and Pete Shepherd hot box broadcasting attic. Getting to finally meet Chris and shake his hand was long-awaited for me. Chris is another one of those who have long and passionately been on the Patriots grind and its coverage would be severely lacking without his contributions. Thank you Chris, who was sweating it out in the shack down by the freeway still rocking the bow tie!
A video from the trip is to come. Thanks to all who came and of course to the Patriots for turning things around on the field and not ruining (a part) of our day.
