No Soy Fiesta: Red Zone offense sputters without Gronk
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| Mike Ehrmann/ Getty Images |
Unfortunately, those fears manifested themselves in the Pats first game PG (post Gronk). The Patriots lost 24-20, with the Patriots scoring a touchdown on just one of their four trips to the red zone. The defense and special teams certainly deserve their share of the blame for the loss, but leaving those points on the board in the red zone clearly came back to bite them yesterday.
These problems were evident right from the games start. The Patriots offense went to work on it's opening possession, marching 83 yards down the field in 16 plays, eating up 7:13 in the process. However, the drive stalled with two incomplete passes at the four yard line, forcing them to settle for a Stephen Gostkowski 22 yard field goal.
Why Josh McDaniels opted to throw twice with only four yards to go is beyond me. The Pats seemed to be reluctant to rely on their running game, running only 22 times (compared to 55 pass attempts), despite getting solid production from both LeGarrette Blount and Stevan Ridley. There's no doubt in my mind that lack of balance contributed to the team's red zone struggles yesterday.
The Patriots would go on to get their only red zone TD of the day later in the second quarter on a brilliant, one-handed catch by Michael Hoomanawanui. However, their failure to get 7 on their first drive proved costly, as a Mike Wallace touchdown late allowed Miami to pull within a field goal at halftime.
The fact that it took such a spectacular catch from the Hooman to get a touchdown is a good illustrator of the difficulties the Patriots had punching it in. The fourth quarter saw another long drive (15 plays, 67 yards, 7:09 elapsed) end with a short field goal, this time ending with an incomplete pass on 3rd and 2 from the five yard line. The Patriots would get a final red zone opportunity on their last drive, but this expired when a Tom Brady pass intended for Austin Collie was intercepted in the end zone with 2 seconds left in the game.
The way the final drive stalled made it painfully clear how a lack of Gronk was hurting the offense. On 1st-and-10 from the 19, Brady lofted a beautiful pass into the hands of 5'11" Danny Amendola. While Dolphins corner Michael Thomas deserves credit for a nice play, getting his hands on the ball and knocking it out of Amendola's grasp, it's fair to wonder whether he could have made that play on a bigger receiver.
Second down brought up a similar scenario, this time with the 5'10" Julian Edelman narrowly missing out on a contested catch in the end zone. Third down saw Michael Hoomanawanui unable to snag another contested ball (on a play that Gronk probably makes 95 times out of 100). Finally, fourth down saw Brady get picked off by Michael Thomas on a forced throw to 6'0" Austin Collie.
See a pattern developing? Without Gronk drawing extra defenders everywhere he goes, the other guys on the offense were forced to make contested plays in the red zone. And while Amendola (10 catches, 131 yards) and Edelman (13 catches, 139 yards, 1 TD) were both very productive throughout the day, neither of them have the ideal size to be a go-to red zone target.
This is where the Patriots really missed their rookie receivers. Aaron Dobson (6'3", 200 lbs) and Kenbrell Thompkins (6'1", 195 lbs) are the Pats two biggest receivers, with both possessing a knack for going up and snagging the ball over defenders. It's unknown when either will be back: Dobson was spotted in a walking boot earlier this week, while Thompkins has missed two games since taking a nasty fall to the hip against Houston.
However, it looks like at least one of them needs to not only return, but to step it up and become a big target for Brady in the red zone. The defense showed once again yesterday that it has suffered too many losses to consistently stop teams. There's no point of sugarcoating it: this team needs it's offense to outscore opponents. 1-4 from the red zone certainly isn't getting it done.
