Jacksonville Jaguars vs. New England Patriots Preview and Prediction
My preview and prediction is up on Athlon!
analysis
New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 3 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars
The 2-0 New England Patriots “welcome” the 1-1 Jacksonville Jaguars this Sunday at 1pm EST in the last game before their early bye week. Both teams are coming off impressive wins, with the Jaguars knocking off the Patriots’ divisional rival Miami Dolphins.
The Patriots are 14-point favorites, but you can never get too overconfident in September, when the Pats have lost plenty of ugly games to crappy teams over the years, including 2012′s home loss to the Arizona Cardinals. That would be the Cards only road win of the season.
Still, this Patriots team has been clicking right out of the gate, and while they haven’t been perfect, they are healthy and experienced in all the right spots.
Getting to the bye week with a 3-0 record is all that matters, here’s how the Pats can do it.
Offensive Gameplan
Gus Bradley comes from the Seattle/Pete Carroll system and the similarities both in players and scheme are immediately evident. Bill Belichick has hit on the pure size of the Jags all week and they should present a physical challenge for the Patriots’ offense.
We only need to look back at the Super Bowl gameplan for a sense of how the Patriots might attack Jacksonville, and once again it’s probably not running the ball into the heart of their defense.
Rather, one of the keys to the offensive Super Bowl gameplan (as we saw in Do Your Job) was to make the defense defend the Patriots’ quickness on crossing routes. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but yes, it means using guys like Edelman and Amendola underneath and utilizing Gronk on the outside to stretch the defense, especially up the seam as well.
Jared Odrick is disruptive up front, while linebackers Paul Posluszny and Telvin Smith make most of the tackles. But if there’s one player to attack it’s old “friend” Sergio Brown, last seen getting thrown out of the club by Gronk in Indy. Sergio is now playing the Earl Thomas free safety role and guess what? Sergio isn’t Earl and no one knows that better than the Patriots.
Defensive Gameplan
Blake Bortles is coming off one of the best games of his career vs. Miami with 273 yards, two touchdowns and, most importantly, no interceptions. Bortles has a stable of big receivers, led by Allen Robinson, one of my favorite Patriots fits coming out in the draft two years ago. Robinson had 155 yards and two touchdowns against the Dolphins in the best game of his career as well.
At 6′3″, 220 Robinson will provide the first size challenge for the Patriots’ cornerbacks, and this is a time where you wish you had someone like Brandon Browner but I digress. Bortles will not hesitate to throw it deep as they had 177 yards deep down the field last weekend. The Patriots struggles against the deep ball over the last five season are well-chronicled, they’ve given up more 20+ passes in that time than anyone else, so expect the Jags to take their shots, ESPECIALLY AGAINST BRADLEY FLETCHER.
TJ Yeldon is a big back who ran well against a very tough Dolphins front, and if there’s one area on defense I’m really not sure about yet it’s the Patriots ability to shut down an opponent’s running game, not that they’ve really made it a point of emphasis yet.
But if I’m the Jags my offensive gameplan is simple: run, run, deep shot. This keeps Tom Brady off the field and will wear down the Patriots’ limited depth at defensive tackle.
So this will be a good game to see how concerned we really should be about the deep ball and the run defense just prior to a week off to address those issues.
Five Points of Emphasis
1. Do what we do on offense: There’s no need to reinvent the wheel this week. The Patriots know how to beat this scheme and it plays into what they do best, they just have to execute. That means making tough catches over the middle and dictating matchups on Gronk and then exploiting them. While it would be reassuring to see LeGarrette Blount get the power running game going, Dion Lewis should be able to replicate what Shane Vereen did against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Go fast. Identify the coverage and blow it apart. It’s the Patriots bread and butter.
2. Stop the Run: I asked this question on the podcast Wednesday night: How essential is stopping the run in today’s NFL? Belichick’s evolution to multiple linebacker hybrid packages signals that keeping up with the athleticism on offense is what he really values most. Still, the Patriots have gotten gashed in both games this season, whether by design or not. Stopping the run is about run fits, getting off blocks and making tackles. Those things are often sloppy early in the season, but now is the time to start putting it together. Keep the Jags backs from getting loose, put the pressure on Bortles to win the game with his arm and things should fall into place.
3. Highpoint the Deep Balls: 2014 was a murderer’s row of talented big wide receivers and that’s why Revis and Browner were so important. This year is less so, but the Jags will provide a challenge because our corners are smaller than their receivers across the board. Getting jams in man coverage, or flipping hips and running down the field in zone will be key this week because Bortles is going to take some shots, again, ESPECIALLY AT BRADLEY FLETCHER. McCourty and Harmon will have to be on their games as well. Nothing would make me happier than not allowing any 20+ yard throws.
4. Come Out Fast: We all know the scenario where this game gets ugly for the Pats. They get out to a slow start with a turnover or by allowing a long scoring drive and suddenly the Jags are in the driver’s seat and we’ve got a dogfight. The Pats cannot allow the Jags to be energized by any early positive plays. They must come out, put the hammer down and show them it’s going to be a long day. And then they have to make it a long day with a 60-minute effort because even with an early lead, it will be tempting to sit back and let the Jags back into it.
5. Win (and don’t get injured): Yes the final point of emphasis has always been “win” in these gameplan articles but now I’ve added the injury part because as we’ve seen early this season so much of the NFL season is a battle of attrition. Could there be a letdown after playing such a hyped game in Buffalo? It’s always possible, but returning home for their first Sunday game of the year has to count for something. This is one of those games you want to just check off the list, but the Jags have been knocking on the door of respectability for a long time now under Gus Bradley, and nothing would put them on the map more than back-to-back wins against the Dolphins and Patriots. Especially the Patriots on the road. Belichick seems to have the Pats focused for this one, and getting to 3-0 before a nice bye week would be perfect.
Patriots All-22 Review vs. Bills
It’s All-22 Tuesday! Trying to make this a little easier to read and follow, so I’m shortening it a bit and doing both offense and defense in one post, just divided by halves to look for adjustments.
Lots of great stuff in this one but I still think the Pats have much better football ahead of them on both sides of the ball.
Let’s dive in, defense first of course…
Defense
1st Half
The Bills had a nice first drive, with the Pats playing Cover 1 Man on 6 of 9 snaps. The problems were primarily early-season sloppiness, not getting off blocks, not causing havoc. The coverage shift that occurred after that was switching to Cover 3, which matched up well with the long-developing routes the outside receivers were running. That led to five-straight three and outs.
After the first drive I had them in Cover 3 on 16 snaps, Cover 1 Man on 8 snaps. Again, it’s Tyrod Taylor, and there were some open receivers in the zone holes, but generally this coverage was perfect for forcing indecision and check downs.
The Patriots also started to use McCourty closer to the line of scrimmage whether as a zone defender or spying the quarterback.
Chandler is up and down in run defense and it seems teams do target him, but his athleticism as a pass rusher is excellent and he’s a very solid piece.
On the long PI call on Bradley Fletcher he was playing Cover 3 so he wasn’t trying to jam and it quickly became a foot race that he was losing. Expect teams to target him on deep shots frequently now.
2nd Half
As expected the defense stuck with mostly Cover 3 in the second half and it continued to be mostly effective. The Bills adjusted by hitting some sideline comeback routes to attack the coverage, but they really didn’t start doing damage and mounting a comeback until Taylor started getting out of the pocket and make throws on the run late in down when the coverage had broken down a bit.
How about that hole?
The 32-yard Woods TD was a prime example of this as Malcolm Butler was left essentially alone covering two guys in the end zone and the pass just snuck through his hands.
Would’ve liked to see a better game out of Siliga. He’s probably their best tackle right now but he’s not playing like it, getting easily blocked too often. Alan Branch bounced back and made some plays while Malcom Brown was just okay.
The 24-yard Watkins TD again just beat Bradley Fletcher with speed over the top. This is a major area of concern.
Offense
First Half
The Patriots always have a feeling out period at the start of a game, especially on offense. They spread the field on the first possession, then went to a jumbo package early on the second drive, but still threw it. Just seeing how the Bills would play them.
Rex’s favorite thing is to only send three in the red zone, but credit the protection and Edelman on his touchdown as he beat the double team and Brady found room to scramble and deliver the perfect ball. Edelman makes so many tough plays we’re almost starting to take them for granted.
Loved Dion Lewis’ hard touchdown run, the first time the Pats handed off in the game, on their third possession! He lowered his shoulder to get into the end zone, the kind of play the coaches surely love. I know I do.
Never a good sign when there’s visible confusion on the defense’s side on how to cover Gronk just before the snap. That’s what happened on Gronk’s touchdown not surprisingly.
Michael Williams is an interesting player who seems to skew more tackle than tight end but the Patriots are using him all over the place. His rise could mean the end of the Hooman.
On the failed fourth-down conversion in the second quarter they tried to sell the fly sweep that they had just run earlier with Edelman. Nobody bit and Brady just had to fling and pray.
On the second-quarter sack of Brady, that was nullified by a hold on Buffalo, it’s clear where Vollmer hurts his finger. Andrews and Mason missed the stunt and Brady had to hit the deck.
Dion Lewis’ 40-yard catch up the sideline was reminiscent of Vereen but he’s got even more wiggle to him. Excited to see how they start to scheme even more to get him open in space. Dead on balls throw from Brady.
Second Half
What a throw by Brady on third-and-1 to find Gronk for 28 yards on the first possession. This is just as he’s throwing the ball, most QBs would have a loaf in their pants long before this.
Seemed like an effort to get Chandler more involved in the second half, of course him not coming up with a touchdown those two times they targeted him in the end zone were no bueno.
Lewis has such side-to-side agility and is so hard to tackle in tight spaces. That part of his game is very Woodhead-y.
Didn’t even realize Vollmer returned to the game until now.
Edelman’s touchdown was so Edelman, just all out effort. Can’t say enough about the player he’s developed into.
Definitely a few miscues by the offensive line but all things considered this was an impressive performance by all of them. Yes, Brady got the ball out quick but we’ve seen even that gameplan get disrupted by immediate pass rush.
Dobson did have one kinda gross drop but otherwise it was just the kind of game he needed to build some confidence. His chances will continue, I just want to see him do something special.
Didn’t love the 4th-and-1 play call but Edelman was open, Brady just missed. I prefer aggressive play calling but I think a punt would’ve been the right call there instead of trying to over-finish, if that makes sense.
On Brady’s fumble that made all our butts pucker up it was on Solder a bit for missing the cut block but also for Brady thinking he could reload. Good pursuit by Hughes and good coverage on Gronk to force Brady to not throw.
Pats were up five with 4:04 when they got the ball back and what a drive they put together to seal the game. Big part of it was the unbelievable Amendola catch.
Pats offense looked really good in this one, with Gronk, Edelman and Lewis making most of the big plays but Amendola and Dobson chipping some key ones as well. Still, they left some plays on the field and are still learning what they do best. But right now I see no reason this offense won’t be better than last year’s outside of injuries.
Pats Posits: Tuesday Edition After Reflection
Nothing like a victory Monday, and the more I thought about what we’ve seen from the Patriots in the first two weeks, the more I felt I needed some additions to Monday’s Posits.
– I did touch upon it a little bit, but the versatility of the defense is finally coming to fruition. Everything we wrote about all offseason, about how the defense would be more mix-and-match than ever is coming true. The old days of conventional defense are over. Now Belichick’s defense is truly a player-by-player, matchup-by-matchup amoeba. Look at the athletes we have in the front seven and it’s hard to compare this group to any we’ve seen before.
– Jamie Collins had a slow start last Thursday night but he was all over the place against the Bills. Between him and Hightower, Sheard, Chander, and Ninkovich you can’t put anyone into a box or assume anything about how the defense will play. I know it’s early, but I haven’t felt this good about our front seven since 2007 (and we’re still waiting to see what Easley can do).
– I think it won’t be long before a lot of the x and o football writers at the national level start writing heavily about the style of defense and how Belichick has evolved to deal with the passing game.
– When the Pats let Revis and Browner go this offseason, the general consensus at the time seemed to be that the Patriots would be a lot more of a zone defense now (a critical error in my view then and now). It was really Browner leaving that bugged me most because he was relatively affordable (by my standards but not the Patriots’) and how can you not have a use for a corner that big when you MUST play man defense at times. Well this preseason and into the regular season it’s been clear that the Pats have not abandoned man coverage. They might be a little less physical at the line, but they are okay playing Cover-1 Robber, last year’s majority coverage. So again I’m a little bummed about not retaining Browner, especially considering games against the Jets.
– Fans have to readjust their feelings toward the run game on both sides of the ball. I’ve long been a proponent of “throw to score, run to win” and it’s even more true now. There was no use running into the brick wall with Blount. His time will come. It goes back to needing to win on first and second down against the Bills to avoid third-and-long. Instead of trying to force the run they went with short quick passes on the perimeter. They threw on 29 of 37 first downs.
– The sacks are nice but I think a bunch of them don’t happen with a good pocket quarterback. Only two jump to mind where Chandler and Collins won clean off the line. Otherwise coverage was a big part of taking away the first read. Granted, the rush was getting there before guys could uncover, but I still think there’s pass rush work to be done. Cough Easley…
Can’t wait to dive into the All-22 today and really get a sense of the schemes they used.
Pats Posits: Things starting to click against Rex and the Bills
I didn’t quite enjoy this New England Patriots win one as much as I wanted to (highlights here). It looked like it was about to be a blowout until the Pats let the Bills back into the game, and their fans who had left early begging to get back into the stadium (only to see them lose finally). The fourth-down stop and then the strip that quickly gave the Bills some hope made us all clench after thinking it was already in the bag.
The offense was then forced to put a long drive together and then the defense sealed the game with an interception – a theme in four of the last five games going back to the AFCDG vs. the Ravens. The defense has certainly been clutch in that time.
Offensively the Pats put up over 500 yards and allowed minimum pressure on Tom Brady. They threw it almost 60 times and largely ignored the run, but that’s just smart football.
Defensively, they forced Tyrod Taylor to be a pocket quarterback and he couldn’t complete a non-checkdown pass when the game was in question. The Pats gave up some long runs, but showed some improvement from last week as they continue to get back into real football shape and used to tackling again.
It wasn’t all perfect and there are certainly things to work on, but generally the Patriots showed a lot of potential on both sides of the ball.
Here are the Posits:
Protection – First, a hand for the oft-rotating offensive line who allowed just two sacks and five QBs on 59 dropbacks. Most impressive were the interior rookies who really did a great job all things considered. There were some brain farts like Solder’s missed cut block that led to the strip of Brady, but compared to last year the protection has been good.
The potential loss of Sebastian Vollmer, who left the game with a hand/finger injury, is surmountable with Marcus Cannon whose best fit is at right tackle.
The offense is awesome because Gronk and Edelman consistently make big plays. Now with Dion Lewis making some big ones too it really rounds things out. Add in LaFell and this is a pick-your-poison type sitch.
Jamie Collins – Collins was kind of blah last week, but he was on fire against the BIlls with 2.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss and 3 QB hits. The way the Patriots are sending their front LB/DEs after the quarterback is a lot of fun and there’s no question Collins is now the best all-around linebacker on the team.
Pats defense allowed three TDs on three red zone trips, a number outside of the norm for them. They were 4-for-13 on third down, a stellar number, and again outside the norm, but this one in a good way.
Fouth down will be an area of focus going forward as they failed on both attempts and failed to steop the Bills’ only fourth-down attempt.
Dion Lewis – Yeah he fumbled for the second game in the row and Ridley would be in the doghouse if he had done that, but Lewis is so explosive and dynamic you can understand why the coaches are letting him work through the ball security issues, especially after two days off. Through two games he sure is making the decision to let Shane Vereen walk look like a good one. How was an electric playmaker like him out of the league last year?
Aaron Dobson had 7 catches on 8 targets for 87 yards for his first significant contribution since 2013 vs. the Steelers. This is just the kind of game Dobson needed to get something going and he should’ve earned some trust from Brady today. I still wish he could catch the ball on the run and pick up extra yards, but he made some tough catches in this one so I’ll take it.
Disciplined defense – Let’s not get too excited about shutting down a run-first offense after we grabbed the lead, but we saw the many options Belichick has on defense in terms of who he sends, drops or rotates in or out. Collins and Hightower are still the straws stirring the drink as Mayo gets eased back in. But there are a ton of good pieces up front that can play whatever style they need to.
In beating a dead horse news, Dominique Easley would really tie the defense together. I think they’ll give him through the bye to get healthy.
Chandler Jones gets some criticism for his run defense and that is something to focus on in the re-watch, but against the pass he had the perfect combination of pass rushing without overplaying Taylor. He had 3 sacks, 4 QB hits and 3 tackles-for-loss. Collins might be the team’s best blitzer but Chandler is their best pass rusher and he could be in line for a monster season (extend him asap).
What a catch by Danny Amendola! That guy isn’t a huge part of the offense but he finds ways to come through to help win games. They pay him more than they probably would like to but he’s hand a big hand in some clutch wins – Browns in 2013, Jets in 2014, Ravens/Seahawks in SB run. I’ll take him on my team any game.
Rufus Johnson got snaps as an interior rusher and though he didn’t make any splash plays it will be interesting to see how he did compared to Grissom, who played the role last week. Flowers will probably get his chance vs. the Jags.
Each week it’s becoming clearer that Malcolm Butler has the confidence and swagger of a starter and will not hesitate to get in opponent’s faces. After staying quiet as a rookie, Butler is showing some personality out there and it’s much needed for a secondary that had a lot of Pats fans worried heading into this season. Butler had one interception and almost had a second, one that just evaded his hands and went for a touchdown. Even when he’s beaten it’s not by much. Butler is for real
The one scary part of the defense has to be the target on Bradley Fletcher’s back for deep throws. Tarrell Brown has been good, but Fletcher scares me more than Arrington ever did.
While it made me cringe to see the Bills get back within five points, in the long term it’s a good thing that both the offense and defense had to make plays to win a game on the road. That’s great experience that will help down the road.
All-22 review coming up Tuesday afternoon.
New England Patriots Gameplan: Week 2 at Buffalo Bills
This is what the NFL season is really all about – a tough divisional matchup on the road against an opponent who is gunning for you. It’s games like this that I live for because if you judge your football enjoyment solely on whether or not your team wins the Super Bowl you’re almost always going to be disappointed.
Rex and the Bills are flying high after their Week One domination of the Colts and they have every reason to be. Their young quarterback played a near-perfect game, their defense played like tough bullies and there’s plenty of reason for the team and their fans to believe they’re going to build on last season’s 9-7 record.
Let’s face it, early season divisional games are almost always close for the Patriots, especially when facing a Rex Ryan defense. This version of the Bills looks a lot like the Jets did when Rex first got there – an elite defense and an offense centered around the ground game and a quarterback who doesn’t make the critical mistakes.
Sometimes it works to beat the Patriots – like Week 2 in 2009 and 2010, the 2010 AFCDG, and the 2013 OT Week 7 one – and sometime it doesn’t, including 45-3 and the rest.
It should be a great game against a team that is ready to give us their best shot. Here’s the gameplan!
Offensive Gameplan
The evolution that Bill Belichick engineered to his offense during the bye week of 2010 seemed in large part a reaction to Rex Ryan’s brand of physical press coverage and masterfully disguised blitzes. The long-developing deep routes run by Randy Moss were just unavailable, especially with Darrelle Revis on him. So instead Belichick fully embraced “the scalpel”, or as some might call it “dink-and-dunk”, by bringing back Deion Branch and employing an attack that could win quickly at the line of scrimmage with smarts.
That ideology is still largely in place with Edelman and Amendola, but the presence of Rob Gronkowski is what truly tips the scales for the Patriots because it allows them in large part to dictate the matchups.
But the biggest key is protecting Brady right out of the gate. Brady mentioned they had been working on complicated pass protection since the spring and it’s absolutely vital against Ryan’s defense. They will pretend everyone is blitzing only to drop everyone, they’ll overload one side then bring the blitz from the other, or, as we saw last week, move the defensive linemen behind the linebackers and then send them on a delayed blitz. All of this must be decoded at the line of scrimmage by Brady and his offensive line, and with three rookies in the middle (unless Wendell returns) things could get dicey.
It’s not like Brady needs a ton of time like he might’ve needed while waiting for Moss to get thirty yards downfield, but what we’ve seen in the games where Rex’s defense gets in Brady’s head is that the pressure gets to him early, and then often.
Identifying when it’s man and when it’s zone will be important as well. In the 2010 playoff loss Brady seemed to have no read on the defense and they couldn’t move the ball. Once he knows, it goes.
A big part of this is winning on first and second down with no negative plays. If they get into third-and-long Rex is able to open his entire bag of tricks. So while I welcome LeGarrette Blount back, there have been games where he has trouble getting going. That can’t happen here and it’s why I think you could see more Dion Lewis (or maybe Travaris Cadet) than expected because he’s so quick he usually picks up positive yardage. At least in the limited amount we’ve seen him so far.
Defensive Gameplan
This has all the makings of one of those maddening games where the Patriots defense just tries to keep Tyrod Taylor in the pocket and he ends up completing a bunch of passes and going right down the field on them. That’s just the Belichick style, and the necessary ingredient, and one the Pats haven’t always been very good at in recent memory, is generating pressure with only four rushers.
Expect it to be a similar approach to what they did to Russell Wilson in the Super Bowl. A somewhat slow, but definitely deliberate rush, that forces Taylor to be a pocket passer.
When the Patriots last saw Greg Roman’s offense with the 49ers in 2012 they were in a base defense 71 percent of the time, easily a season high and a number they haven’t come close to topping in seasons since. Most interesting is that they reverted to the old 3-4 defense, which has evolved into their run-stopping specialty package now.
It’s very possible they’ll return to that with Brown-Siliga-Jones up front and Ninkovich-Collins-Mayo-Hightower at linebacker. Now this is a lighter version of the old 3-4, especially when you consider the swap of Seymour at RDE for Chandler, but it’s far more athletic.
But one advantage with that athleticism is how they’ll be able to disguise their rushers from Taylor. Belichick won’t send more than four very often, but which four comes will be constantly changing, forcing the young quarterback to identify who is coming for him.
If the controlled rush can keep Taylor contained, then collapse the pocket around him and finish him off it will be ideal. But the Patriots have won plenty of games with subpar pressure that is saved by their overall discipline that forces turnovers.
Maybe Taylor has the perfect game in him like Mark Sanchez did a few times. If he does the Patriots could very well be headed home with a loss. But one thing is certain, the Pats won’t sell out with a ton of blitzes. They’ll force Taylor to beat them with a perfect game throwing the ball.
But I’m really praying we can finally see some consistent disruptive pressure out of our front four.
Five Areas of Emphasis
1. Decode the Blitzes – As I mentioned above, getting the protections straight for the Bills’ complex blitzes is paramount. This is especially true along the interior of the line where we can expect to see some rotating combination of Josh Kline, Tre Jackson, Shaq Mason and (hopefully) Ryan Wendell. Having two veterans like Kline and Wendell in there could be a big plus. Buffalo’s front is no joke and they’ll make some plays, but it’s important to not let one bad play lead to another bad play. If Brady can find a comfort zone early he should tear the Bills apart just like he can tear any other defense apart.
2. Stay on Schedule – Nothing will get the Pats in a quicker hole than if their runs on first and second down go nowhere. Or worse yet if they try to pass horizontally and get stopped behind the line. The Patriots’ offensive conversion rate against Rex’s Jets plummets as the yardage gets longer: 3rd-and-6+ = 30.5%, 3rd-and-8+ = 20.7%, 3rd-and-10+ = 16.3%. These numbers are well below the Patriots’ averages against the rest of the NFL. Essentially their chances of converting a first down are cut in half going from 3rd-and-6 to 3rd-and-10, so positive plays on early downs are critical.
3. One-on-One Must Win – With a number of talented pass rushers the Pats should be able to dictate some matchups on the defensive side of the ball. The key is when guys like Chandler Jones or Jabaal Sheard get only one blocker they must win. This has long been a sore spot for the Patriots but they finally have a number of different guys who can win these kind of matchups. There’s no more direct route to victory than making Tyrod Taylor uncomfortable in the pocket.
4. Feed Gronk – Tom Brady is Tom Brady, but Gronk is the deadly weapon that makes Brady and the Patriots offense truly lethal. He’s in the prime of his career and the more times he touches the ball the better. More than that, Gronk’s ability to block is the true wild card in this game, especially if the Bills give him too much attention as a pass-catcher. Whether he’s the target or he’s just pulling the attention of three players, Gronkowski gives the Patriots a chance to win every game with his complete dominance.
5. Win – Maybe no one wants to admit it but the Bills needs this game more than the Patriots do. But taking the division crown from the Pats is never done via a home win in September. It’s done by beating the majority of the other teams that aren’t quite as easy to get fired up for and THEN beating the Patriots in Gillette Stadium. The Pats have lost plenty of road AFC East games early in the season over the years, but it’s never mattered and a loss this weekend probably won’t really matter either. Not that I’m trying to mail this one in, but we’ve seen so many stinkers from NE in Week 2 in recent years we should at least be prepared for it. Still, there would be no better feeling than taking the wind out of the sails of the Bills once again. This is in all likelihood the hardest road division game of the season as the ones in New York and Miami don’t come until the last two weeks of the season. So there’s no pressure really, the Pats can just go in there and let it fly and see what happens.
Patriots vs. Steelers All-22 Review: Offense Edition
NFL Gamepass was pretty choppy as I tried to review the offense so instead of going drive-by-drive this will just be more general takeaways since it was tough to establish a flow.
Generally this was one of the better openers of recent memory for the offense. There was still some offensive line juggling and they struggled at times, but overall Brady was close to mid-season form. Of course, he always seems to look comfortable against the Steelers and this one was no exception.
– Dion Lewis is so quick through the hole and has the ability to not only make guys miss, but to break tackles as well. Still, I think he’ll be even more deadly when he’s paired with LeGarrette Blount. The Pats needed that big fourth quarter back in this one, but had to stick with Lewis and that was when the defense started to shut him down a bit. On Lewis’ fumble it was a perfect replica of Shane Vereen’s ability to make tough catches across the middle after squirting out of the backfield.
– Brady wasn’t holding the ball long but compared to last year, and considering the number of rookie OL playing, the protection and blocking looked pretty good. If you couldn’t tell from the summer, I just love watching Shaq Mason and it wasn’t a surprise to see him lineup as a goalline fullback. He’ll get a touchdown carry before his Patriots career is done. Yes Solder had a couple brain farts, but that’s kind of par for the course now, and he was still better than last year. Let’s just keep Cannon from playing any LT okay?
– Gronk is such a force out there, he really makes this offense unstoppable at times because of how he allows the Pats to dictate matchups. Now the four tight end set looks like a new nightmare to deal with.
– I said I’d give away a t-shirt for every yard-after-contact Bolden had and he ended up with 5 carries for 1 yard. I still gave away a t-shirt. But yeah, Bolden is nothing more than a stopgap at running back. He just seems like the easiest guy in the world to tackle and never makes that extra play like we consistently saw out of Lewis.
– Edelman and Amendola didn’t look like they missed a beat from the Super Bowl. Especially Edelman. What a progression he’s had since starting his career in 2009. He’s just relentless and picks up some many extra yards on extra effort.
– Brady set a record with 19 straight completed passes. Fitting that the last one came on the 52-yarder to Gronk. Brady was as locked in as I’ve ever seen him in an opener, maybe since 2007 when they unveiled Randy Moss.