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Patriots Film Review: Defense Got No Juice Edition

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In today’s film review I’m going to try to ignore Jamie Collins. It would be easy to make this all about Collins and how his play in this single game may or may not have impacted him getting traded. But here on the blog I’m about the future and without Collins there’s plenty of work to be done. What exactly the remaining players need to do to pick up the slack is what I prefer to focus on.

Let’s take a look at what went down in Buffalo.

— Alan Branch should’ve had two sacks on the first drive but Tyrod Taylor twice evaded his finishing grasp, including one on third down that allowed the drive to keep going. At least he was winning his matchup. That’s the biggest thing that hasn’t been happening. And yes, as it’s been said this week, Branch might be the Pats best defensive player the first half of this season, at least in the front seven. Put me down for Malcolm Butler overall.

— After giving up a BDB (Bend-Don’t-Break) first drive, allowing three points, the Pats forced a three-and-out on the next drive but the third down should’ve been converted if not for a Buffalo drop. The Pats rushed five and again, nobody got home, including, uh, #91, who was stopped stone cold coming off the edge by a nice block from the running back. Lucky stuff.

But let’s cleanse the palate with another of what are becoming weekly Elandon Roberts GIFs. Watch him push the lead blocker #70 back into the hole and use him to help make the tackle.

Elandon Roberts

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Patriots vs. Bengals Film Review: Defense Edition

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There was a lot to like about the Patriots defensive performance in their 35-17 win over the Bengals. It wasn’t all perfect, there were three drives where the Bengals moves the ball with ease, but as the game progressed the Patriots defense settled in and showed improvement in some of the areas they struggled in early in the season.

For the game, the Patriots held the Bengals to 5-10 on third down, and 2-4 in the red zone, including a fourth-down, goal-line stop that should fuel the defense’s confidence. The Pats are now second in the league in points allowed. That’s the ultimate bottom line stat and shows that despite some struggles on third down and in the red zone, this is still a very good defense that is one of the hardest in the league to score on. That has to count for a lot.

And even you’re not sold on points against, the bad areas are now improving statistically every week. Third down, red zone, yardage… each week they get a little better. If that continues this will be a playoff-ready defense by any metric.

Here’s what else stood out from film review, including a few more Elandon Roberts “fire in the hole” hit GIFs…

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A Closer Look at Elandon Roberts

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By now you’ve probably had the treat of seeing Patriots rookie Elandon Roberts run right through Joe Thomas to tackle Isaiah Crowell this past weekend. If not here it is from the end zone cam of the All-22 which really captures what a wrecking ball Roberts was.

elandon roberts

This is the kind of thumping the Patriots have really missed since Brandon Spikes left (and then came back only to leave again). The Patriots struggles against the run last season when Dont’a Hightower was out were well-documented, yet the Patriots still did little this offseason to address their linebacker depth.

Enter the 214th overall pick in the draft. Roberts immediately showed up in preseason because he comes downhill like a runaway dump truck, destroying anything in his path. In the final preseason game, Roberts went down with what looked like a game-ending ankle injury. Yet, perhaps knowing he was on the bubble to make the team. Roberts battled through the injury and returned to lead the team with nine total tackles.

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Pats Posits: Tuesday Leftovers Edition

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Things certainly seem back to normal this week. Brady had a vintage Brady performance, all the Jimmy/Jacoby stuff can be put on the backburner (at least by me) until next offseason and the Pats are once again in the driver’s seat in both the conference and the division.

This feels like Belichick/Brady Patriots football!

Here are some leftover tidbits as I cleaned out my Pats notebook and looked back at a few key moments in the game before diving into the All-22 once it becomes available.

— Plenty of digging on how the Pats used Bennett and Gronk going on. Kevin Duffy of Masslive.com had a good breakdown:

Here was Gronkowski’s breakdown by alignment on snaps with Bennett:
In-line: 31
Slot: 8
Wide: 4

And here was Bennett’s:
In-line: 35
Slot: 4
Wide: 4

The Pats rans on 19 of the 30 snaps both tight ends were in-line, but some of their biggest pass plays came out of those kind of sets as well, including Bennett’s 37-yard touchdown. This illustrates the power of having two all-around Y tight ends — they can dictate however they want to. And the play action is going to absolutely devastating this season. And it really boils down to keep them mostly in-line and working from there.

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One More Week! Patriots Catchup on Stickergate, 53-Man and more

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We’re just one week away from the start of the Patriots 2016 season, making today the last football-free Sunday until February. It’s hard to believe another offseason has gone by and here we stand, ready for one more run at this thing with Belichick and, eventually, Brady.

With all the focus on the 53-man roster over the last two days, it’s a good time to catch up on some things we might’ve missed and some of the more interesting news around the web today.

Here’s some of their stuff, along with some leftover thoughts as we turn all of our focus to the Arizona Cardinals.

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Patriots 53-Man Roster Set (for now)

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The Patriots made all their necessary cuts today, getting their roster down to the required 53 players. Of course, things are still very fluid and there could be plenty of more movement over the next day or so. But for now, we get to overreact.

They cut a draft pick! But I loved that undrafted rookie! What happens if that guy gets hurt!

Yes, I’m sure you’re already as sick of those people as I am. Who cares. The Pats are stacked again.

Overall there were a few surprises, as there always are, but no true shockers. There are certainly some spots of concern, but those could still be addressed in the next day or so as there are now plenty of available players on the open market, many of whom could potentially help in the Pats’ trouble spots: wide receiver, running back and offensive tackle.

Here’s how things shook out on the depth chart:

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