Three things the Patriots need to do better
Ah, the bye is upon us.
Everyone can take a sigh of relief. This Sunday will be calm and relaxing, and will not involve me shouting obscenities at the television. But, the bye is the perfect time to reflect and look back at what has been actually a pretty good start of the season for this Patriots team.
I could go on for days about how awesome it is to see Brady and this receiving core starting to click, or how Ridley is finally being allowed to run the ball during a game, or our actually good pass defense. But the angry Boston sports fan in me wants to focus on the places where the Patriots shat the bed and how we can clean those sheets. Here are three things the Pats can, and should, get better on coming out of the bye:
Here are the sack numbers from the next four games: vs Saints- 5 sacks, vs Jets- 4 sacks, vs Dolphins- 3 sacks, vs Steelers- 3 sacks.
With all these young receivers in there, the O-line needs to tighten up and give Brady a lot of time in the pocket so he can get the ball to these guys. We have seen flashes of brilliance in this offense, and all of that starts with the play of the O-line.
The Pats went out and traded for Isaac Sopoaga right before the trade deadline in order to help solve this problem. I love this pick up, simply wonderful job by the bros at Patriots headquarters. Sopoaga is a huuuuge body, clocking in at 6 foot 2 and 330 pounds. Thats a big boy. He already had some impact against the Steelers, and expect him to be called upon more after the bye to help plug up holes and force backs out to the sidelines where Hightower and Spikes can smack them upside their heads.
The play calling has gotten better now that Gronk is back, and I’d expect it to only improve with an actually receiving back in Vereen, but still, some of McDaniel’s plays in pressure situations have seemed pretty dumb and ultimately have not worked for the Patriots.
Here’s a tip for you Josh, if Ridley has carried you down the field by running the ball straight ahead, keep doing that, even in the red zone.
The Patriots are actually in a pretty awesome spot right now and if they can make a few tweaks to how they are running things, this team could easily bulldoze the rest of the schedule.
-Pete Rogers
@ftcsports
@petahrahgas
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| Photo via Washington Post |
I could go on for days about how awesome it is to see Brady and this receiving core starting to click, or how Ridley is finally being allowed to run the ball during a game, or our actually good pass defense. But the angry Boston sports fan in me wants to focus on the places where the Patriots shat the bed and how we can clean those sheets. Here are three things the Pats can, and should, get better on coming out of the bye:
Numero One: Pass Protection
The first few games of the season the Patriots O-line was actually playing pretty well, giving up about 2 sacks a game. Thats not all that bad. But then we played the Bengals. Going into that game, the big key that would help the Bengals win was their pass rush, and boy, did those guys come to play. They slapped Brady around all game long, ending up with four sacks and a whole lot of pressure.Here are the sack numbers from the next four games: vs Saints- 5 sacks, vs Jets- 4 sacks, vs Dolphins- 3 sacks, vs Steelers- 3 sacks.
With all these young receivers in there, the O-line needs to tighten up and give Brady a lot of time in the pocket so he can get the ball to these guys. We have seen flashes of brilliance in this offense, and all of that starts with the play of the O-line.
Numero Two: Run Defense
This is a pretty obvious place where the Pats need to improve. Ever since big baby Vince went down, the Pats rush defense has fallen to shit. And it didn't help that Tommy Kelly got injured and is now joining Vince from the couch. This leaves two undrafted rookies, Chris Jones and Joe Vellano, to plug up the middle. They have been doing a decent job, but it is hard to replace the size of Vince and Tommy in the middle there.The Pats went out and traded for Isaac Sopoaga right before the trade deadline in order to help solve this problem. I love this pick up, simply wonderful job by the bros at Patriots headquarters. Sopoaga is a huuuuge body, clocking in at 6 foot 2 and 330 pounds. Thats a big boy. He already had some impact against the Steelers, and expect him to be called upon more after the bye to help plug up holes and force backs out to the sidelines where Hightower and Spikes can smack them upside their heads.
Numero Three: Play Calling
Now I wanted to pick something a little more off the beaten path here for my final area to improve. I could have picked something like injures (though not sure what you can do to improve that) or red zone offense, which is still pretty bad. But I think Josh McDaniels is sometimes too cute with his play calling and that shit needs to change. I can recall many times where the Pats are in the red zone, 2nd and 6, and McDaniels calls a draw to Bolden. And how much yardage do we gain on that? NADA. And then we have to pull out a 3rd and long, which more often than not, would lead to field goals. Or cute little screenplays, where Brady play actions, pumps left and then throws a quick screen to Edelmen. Either Edelmen gains nothing, or Brady gets his ass driving to the ground because the defensive line isn't fooled by any of this and is just heading straight for Brady.The play calling has gotten better now that Gronk is back, and I’d expect it to only improve with an actually receiving back in Vereen, but still, some of McDaniel’s plays in pressure situations have seemed pretty dumb and ultimately have not worked for the Patriots.
Here’s a tip for you Josh, if Ridley has carried you down the field by running the ball straight ahead, keep doing that, even in the red zone.
The Patriots are actually in a pretty awesome spot right now and if they can make a few tweaks to how they are running things, this team could easily bulldoze the rest of the schedule.
-Pete Rogers
@ftcsports
@petahrahgas
