The best offense is a great special teams
The scheduler for the NFL must have known New England would need some help to stay away from an 0-2 start. The worst week in history turned out to be one of the easiest for the Patriots. If this were baseball, it would be like playing the Seattle Mariners in Safeco Field for a weekend series, and not have to face ace RHP, Felix Hernandez.
This week, JJ Watt of the Houston Texans told us that "he wanted to always be underpaid." Patriots WR/PR/KR/Backup QB, Julian Edelman must have heard these comments as well. His four year $17 million deal with New England is highway robbery. Now I know why we lost to Miami when we didn't throw it to Julian in the second half, and scored no points.
Chalkboard Material
1. Hit somebody
2. Kickoffs out of the endzone
3. Allow no blocked punts
4. Block one field goal
5. Get head coach Bill Belichick his 200th regular season win
Tim Britton, Providence Journal:
“All of Mike Zimmer’s defenses that I’ve had an opportunity to go against are well-coached,” offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said. “They rarely give up opportunities to create big plays, which forces an offense to do a good job of being disciplined and driving the ball. You’re going to have to convert some third downs, and I think this is one of the best third-down schemes and groups that you’re going to see.”
The Patriots Offensive Coordinator, Josh McDaniels was making reference to last year's Cincinnati Bengals defense that the new Vikings head coach was in charge of. It never came into play because the game was not decided by the offense, but by special teams.
K Stephen Gotkowski had his usual solid game blasting most of his kickoffs out of the endzone. One offsides penalty forced a squib kick which was covered expertly. The only kickoff that KR Cordarrelle Patterson ran back got only to the 23 yard line. Stephen was perfect on all three field goal attempts. Grade - A.
P Ryan Allen had a very good effort pinning Minnesota deep at the 12 yard line on a punt that went out of bounds. he collaborated with coverage captain, Matthew Slater to down another punt at the 3 yard line. Ryan was never in danger of having any snaps mishandled. The two time Ray Guy recipient from Louisiana tech had things under control. Grade - A.
Ben Rohrbach, Yahoo Sports:
Nearly snatching the field goal try out of the air, Jones swiftly picked up the blocked kick, shoved Blair aside and outran placeholder Jeff Locke thanks to a block from Devin McCourty, showing the athleticism that had so many in New England excited about the younger brother of Indianapolis Colts defensive end Arthur Jones and current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon "Bones" Jones.Grade - A.
The Patriots were assessed 15 penalties for 163 yards. This is the most in the Bill Belichick era. The goal for 200 regular season wins was in the bag after Chandler Jones ran 58 yards with his block and catch on the one bouncer.
There is one unanswered question. "Why would you pass up a 53 yard field goal with 12:12 to play in the 4th quarter with K Stephen Gotkowski lined up to drill it through the uprights?" The guy is like direct deposit. It is automatic. Grade - A-.
Next time that the Patriots play the Vikings in Minnesota, they will be playing in a $1.024 billion new stadium. The result will be the same.
Paul Murphy is a freelance writer from New Hampshire.
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