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Film Review: Pats vs. Dolphins Defense Edition

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The Patriots defense continued their streak of solid play against the Dolphins, only allowing 10 points and showing more of their renowned Bend-Don’t-Break style. There isn’t a lot of flash or sizzle with this defense, instead it’s mostly role players doing their jobs, tackling well and getting off the field in critical situations.

The team is on a seven-game win streak and they haven’t given up more than 20 points in a game since losing to the Panthers back in Week 4. As we’re well aware, points are what matters most but how good is this Patriots defense really? It’s been fairly smooth sailing as the offense has broken 30 points the last three weeks and has been generally in control for most of the seven games they’ve won in a row.

I still have my questions, not that I’m skeptical, but because I like to see the true character of a defense revealed and that only comes in pressure-packed situations, which they’ve mostly been able to avoid of late. That’s helped them get their feet under them, and the next few weeks should provide some more interesting challenges, especially facing the mobile Tyrod Taylor on the road this weekend and then the vaunted Steeler offense in two weeks after a rematch with the Dolphins in Miami (which I am very much not looking forward to).

Here’s 10 hits on 10 players who stood out to me against the Dolphins, players that will be critical to the defense for a Super Bowl run.

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Patriots Gameplan: Week 11 vs. Oakland Raiders in Mexico City

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The Patriots high-in-the-sky two-game road trip continues this weekend, as New England goes from last week’s game against the Broncos at 5000 feet above sea level, to a week of practice in Colorado Springs at 6000 feet above sea level and now on to Mexico City, which is 7000 feet above sea level to face the Raiders.

Before the season this looked like a potential AFC Championship preview, but the Raiders haven’t quite lived up to expectations, losing five of their last seven. The Pats and Raiders are similar teams in that their offenses are good (NE 1st DVOA, OAK 3rd DVOA) and their defenses have been at the other end of the spectrum (NE 30th DVOA, OAK 32nd DVOA). Usually all those things kind of cancel out and what we’re left with is: Tom Brady vs. the 32nd-ranked pass defense in the NFL.

But it isn’t exactly a slam dunk. Oakland is better than their record indicates and have shown good resiliency. Nowhere was that more apparent than against the Chiefs when the Raiders had a miraculous last drive that featured two chances at the end zone with time expired. With the game coming at significant elevation, and with unknown field conditions, there are some x-factors that could play into things.

Simply put, the Patriots cannot afford to let the Raiders hang around in this one, because they can sling it when their backs are against the wall. The young Oakland team will see this game as a huge opportunity for them to make their presence in the AFC and NFL felt after a poor start. If it was in Oakland I’d like the Raiders’ chances more, but an experienced New England team, that has been practicing close to altitude all week should be extremely well-prepared and focused on this game.

What the Pats need to do to get that eighth win of the season and finally descend from the clouds back home in the gameplan.

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Patriots Film Review: Defense vs. Broncos Edition

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The Patriots’ defense has finally settled in and is back to playing their good old bend-don’t-break style of defense. This isn’t the ’85 Bears, but they’re doing what well-coached defenses do — playing within the system, limiting big plays and getting stops in the red zone. As maddening as it can be to watch, we should all know by now that it’s a winning formula.

Despite their improvements I still have my concerns about the defense. The last two games have pretty much unfolded perfectly for them so I can’t get too high on them at this point, but improvement is improvement and there’s no question the product on the field has looked far superior to what we were seeing early in the season.

The truth is against the Broncos the defense turned in one red zone stop and they were already up 14-3. That’s the context of this game, which is important.

So yes, it’s okay to feel better about the defense, but there’s still a ways to go and some good offenses to stop.

Here’s what stood out in reviewing the All-22 game film.

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Three Plays That Defined Patriots Defense vs. Chargers

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After yesterday’s Garoppolo spookstravaganza on Patshow I’m moving back to some analysis of the players on the team who have actually played a down this season. I know the trade will continue to dominate the conversation for much of the next week and a half, but it’s time to refocus on the second half of the season.

The Patriots sit at 6-2, and while we can talk about their flaws, the reality is the sports betting odds are still very much in their favor to make a strong playoff run this post season.

I thought the defense did a solid job against the Chargers, although there were just a couple notable breakdowns with Melvin Gordon‘s 87-yard touchdown run leading the way. They continue to make strides and while they certainly have some weak links in certain situations, they’ve continually bounced back and made the key spots necessary to help the Patriots on their four-game win streak.

Here are three plays that defined the defensive effort against the Chargers.

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Patriots Pregame Meal: Surprise Absences Throw Late Twist

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After what felt like two weeks off the Patriots are back to take on the Jets today. I gotta admit it, I miss Rex Ryan still, he made the season so much more interesting and his defenses usually gave Brady and the offense some trouble. I guess I won’t miss those parts, we’ll see what the young Jets can do today. I expect they’ll play with their hair on fire with nothing to lose, which might make it interesting early, but I expect the Pats to pull away in the second half.

Certainly hurts that they’ll be without Bilal Powell, who was the one multi-threat weapon that I thought could really get the Pats on their heels. Josh McCown might play up to Bill Belichick’s lofty expectations but ultimately this is a traditional offense and those haven’t really seemed to be a problem for the Patriots defense.

Yesterday was a crazy day of Patriots news, with Harvey Langi getting into a car accident and Stephon Gilmore mysteriously turning up with a concussion. Obviously I hope Langi and his wife are okay, I drive by the area where his accident happened all the time and it’s scary to imagine getting plowed into like that. On a football level it would seem like Langi season could very well be over which isn’t exactly a devastating blow for the team but it’s just another injury that thins depth, hurts a promising player’s development and is yet another linebacker down.

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Patriots Gameplan: Week 6 at New York Jets

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It felt like a lackluster Patriots off week, didn’t it? The Pats had an okay with last Thursday night, but it was so middle of the road that it sparked neither the “Pats are dead” nor the “Pats are Super Bowl favorites” crowds.

Sure there were plenty of complaints like there usually are. I think those were best summed up when I was listening to Dale and Holley for a minute and they were complaining about the offensive line. Then there was a pause and Holley mentioned that Pro Football Focus has the o-line ranked 11th in the league. Silence. What were we just talking about? They digressed. Yeah, it was one of those kinds of weeks, where everyone goes to default complaints but there just wasn’t the same kind of fire that existed after the Panthers’ loss.

The other big headline? That Tom Brady has a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. By this time we just brush off Brady injuries like they’re no big deal. Brady brushed it off. We brush it off. Do we take his toughness and durability for granted? Of course! But tying any injury, no matter how small, to the offensive line are just the dots that must be connected when you have 10 days off and hours upon hours of sports talk radio time to fill.

How do we feel about the Patriots right now? If we’re being honest with ourselves it does feel like it’s off to another injury apocalypse year like 2013 started out and 2015 became. But it’s still early so no one should be abandoning ship just yet, but keeping the remaining roster healthy, especially 12, 87, 80 and 54 is critical to any Super Bowl aspirations.

In some ways it feels like the Pats are under the radar. I like how Kurt Warner put it, the Pats aren’t the favorites in the AFC, they’re the favorites to upset the favorites. That sounds about right. Still, the real football season is just starting and that’s always when the Patriots start to roll.

This week has been a soft reset. The defense didn’t look lost against the Bucs and the offense showed more explosiveness. Both ran out of gas at the end to make the game interesting, but it’s hard to kill them for that on a Thursday night on the road.

So now we get back to business against a Jets team that could field 22 high school JV players and still play the best Patriots team close in mid-October in the Meadowlands. For whatever reason, that’s just always how it seems to go unless it’s the rare exception like the Buttfumble game.

What do the Pats have to do to get their first divisional win and get the Patriots hype train back on track? Here’s the gameplan.

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Pats Posits: No Style Points On TNF

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It wasn’t surprising to wake up to a lot of people pissing and moaning about the style points from last night’s Thursday Night Football win by the Patriots. On an uber-short week, against an unfamiliar opponent on the road you’ll take a victory any way you can take it, especially after how apocalyptic the Patriots defense looked on Sunday.

Really, it was only the fourth quarter that anyone should have any problem with. At that point the Patriots went to sleep on both sides of the ball after actually being quite good for most of the previous three quarters. The defense gave up 214 yards while the offense only picked up 42 in the 4th. So yes, that’s something for the entire team to focus on, but let’s not throw out the rest of the night based on the final frame.

When the narrative for three miserable days was how the defense couldn’t stop a nose bleed and the offense would have to be over-relied on, things were certainly turned on their head last night.

The defense forced six punts, including five three-and-outs and two four-and-outs. It’s hard to ask much more from any defense, even more so one that was busting coverages left and right only a few days earlier. Plus, they had to overcome two Tom Brady turnovers, something none of us would’ve thought them capable of.

The offense continues to move the ball well in between the 20s, but sputtered when the game was on the line. They remain a work in progress despite exciting flashes from Cooks, Gillislee and Hogan, and a 2015 Dion Lewis sighting.

It wasn’t pretty at the end but there was plenty on both sides to build off of and I think it’s safe to say that rumors of this Patriots teams’ demise were once again premature. Here are a bunch of Posits on the third win of the season…

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