Week 3 film breakdown: Offensive line continues to hold back Brady and co
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| Khalil Mack was merely one of many Raiders to frequently pressure Tom Brady. AP Photo |
"Fundamental breakdowns" continue on offensive line
"I would say we didn’t really have a lot communication issues ... we had more fundamental and technique breakdowns – an assortment of mental errors. I don’t think it was a game where there was a lot of missed assignments. It was more, I would say, a lack of execution of good fundamentals.”
That was Bill Belichick at the podium three weeks ago, talking about the performance of a Patriots offensive line that had just allowed Tom Brady to be mauled in a second half collapse against the Dolphins. Under Belichick, sloppy fundamentals have rarely been an ongoing problem for the Patriots; a poor performance has almost always been cleaned up the following week.
That has not been the case so far in 2014 for an offensive line that was dramatically reshuffled late in the preseason due to the surprising trade of Logan Mankins. The line carried over its struggles from the first two weeks into the Raiders game, and it's poor performance was largely to blame for a sluggish offensive performance that allowed an inferior Raiders squad to hang around until the final minutes of the game. While there was an occasional flash of good play from the line (Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen had some success running the ball early), the drive-killing breakdowns continued to far outnumber any positives.
Take the Patriots second possession of the game. Things started off well enough with a seven yard first down run by Ridley, and the offense had moved the chains for the first time of the game two short runs later. However that set up the following disastrous sequence:
First and 10: Marcus Cannon (61) allows Antonio Smith to beat him to the outside and is forced to hold, negating an eight yard run by Vereen.
First and 20: The Pats attempt a screen here, but Sebastian Vollmer gets beat by Lamarr Woodley (58) and Cannon fails to slow down Smith (94) before releasing to the flat. The pressure disrupts the rhythm of the play, which corner Carlos Rogers diagnoses well, dropping Vereen for a 5 yard loss.
Second and 25: For some reason, Nate Solder's initial step out of his stance is to the outside, despite the play being an inside handoff to Vereen. As such, he doesn't have a chance against the speedy Khalil Mack (52), who screams by him untouched and runs the play down from the backside, holding Vereen to a paltry 2 yard gain.
That is how you kill a drive, folks.
Even the rare good moments for the offense often came in spite of the line's performance. The team's lone touchdown drive started with a 12 yard completion to Julian Edelman, but that was no thanks to Cannon, who was beaten almost immediately from the snap by Smith.
The Pats got a touchdown in spite of those breakdowns on that drive. They weren't so lucky on the next possession. How do you get first and down from the three yard line and not get a touchdown before the half?
A first down handoff to Ridley gets blown up by the penetration of Smith, whose quickness of the snap gave Marcus Cannon fits all day.
A second down handoff to Vereen gets blown up by Justin Tuck, who quickly gets inside Vollmer and knifes his way into the backfield for the stop.
Finally, third down saw Brady bobble an errant snap by Connolly. The Pats were lucky Brady managed to gather the ball and huck an incompletion, just in time to stop the clock and salvage a very unsatisfying field goal.
Things didn't get much better in the second half. The Patriots first possession imploded quickly. Second down saw Mack beat Rob Gronkowski inside to drop Ridley for a loss of three yards. This set up up third and 10, which became third and 15 after a false start penalty on Jordan Devey.
The ensuing third down resulted in a sack for Justin Tuck, who wasted no time beating Devey (65) to the outside. Had Tuck not gotten him, Antonio Smith would have, as he completely lost Cannon when he looped around the outside on a stunt.
The following possession also gets killed by the line. Despite a few negative plays thanks to poor run blocking from Solder, the offense finds itself in a manageable third and four. However, Solder barely manages to even get a hand on Mack, who races right by him and crushes Brady with a blindside hit. Brady manages to get rid of the ball, avoiding a sack or fumble, but the punting unit once again comes onto the field.
The Pats would mount a drive the next time they got the ball, but once again saw it stall out after getting a first and goal from the two. Credit safety Usama Young for the stop on first down, as he did a nice job of filling the gap and stopping Vereen for no gain. Likewise for Charles Woodson on second down, whose deflection of a Brady pass did just enough to throw Gronk off and prevent a touchdown. However, a third down pass to Danny Amendola was rushed thanks to Antonio Smith, who split Solder and Cannon before overwhelming Stevan Ridley and getting in Brady's face as the quarterback released the ball. With more time, there's a good chance Edelman breaks open for a touchdown in the back of the end zone.
The following drive saw rookie center Bryan Stork come in, with Dan Connolly sliding over to right guard and Jordan Devey heading to the bench. As much as I've ragged on Devey, one could easily make the argument that Cannon deserved the benching more, given how badly Antonio Smith abused him all game. Either way, the improvement from abysmal to merely adequate line play helped the team dramatically, as the offense promptly marched down the field...until they reached the red zone and the line breakdowns reared their ugly head once again.
The defense promptly forced a three-and-out, giving the offense another chance to extend the lead, but more of the same poor play doomed them again. First came a Stevan Ridley run that went no where because of a lack of push. Then came Oakland's second sack of the game, with CJ Wilson doing the honors this time against Cannon. This one was actually more of a coverage sack, as Brady had time initially, but Cannon's inability to hold his block ultimately doomed the play. Third down sees Brady forced to step up in the pocket after Khalil Mack and Lamarr Woodley each gain a step on the edge against Solder and Vollmer, and Brady's pass to Brandon LeFell winds up two yards short of a first down. On comes the punting unit once again, giving Oakland one more chance to tie the game (a very real possibility until Vince Wilfork's somewhat fluky interception sealed the deal).
The good news for the offensive line is that many of these problems are fixable. As Belichick said, these are fundamental errors. Many of the above pressures can be explained by errors in technique, footwork or hand-usage. These are all mistakes than can be fixed.
There's also hope in the form of Stork, who looked like he belonged in his first meaningful NFL action. Stork didn't pop off the tape, but he generally executed his assignments and looked plenty competent against an Oakland line that gave the Pats fits throughout the day. If he can emerge as the starting center, the Pats will improve two spots on the line, as Dan Connolly is certainly an upgrade at right guard over Devey.
However, most of these issues can't be explained away by scheme or opponent. It's simply players getting physically outclassed by their opposition, and the offense won't have a chance if that continues. Cannon in particular needs to improve, as he looked like he was moving in cement all day against Smith, but he at least has the partial excuse of playing in a still unfamiliar role at left guard. Vollmer and Solder have no such excuse, and both have proven to be too good in the past to continue to play this poorly. They'll have to step up their game in a big way, as the dynamic edge rushing duo of Tamba Hali and Justin Houston awaits this Monday night.
The offense as a whole showed glimpses of what it could be on the rare occasions the line gave Brady a chance to go through his progressions. For all the talk of Brady freezing out his secondary targets, look what happened when he got a clean pocket to work with.
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| 15 yard completion to Brandon LeFell |
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| 20 yard completion to Tim Wright |
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| 16 yard completion to Kenbrell Thompkins |
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| 12 yard completion to Shane Vereen |
However, the line simply hasn't been up to the task of giving Brady enough time for his routes to develop downfield. The play calling has clearly been influenced by the line's limitations, as the past few weeks have seen a number of plays obviously designed to get the ball out of Brady's hands as quickly as possible. Julian Edelman has gotten the bulk of those opportunities, which makes sense given his ability to make guys miss in open space.
Like any quarterback, Brady will quickly try to find his go to guys in time of need, and there's no arguing with Edelman and Gronkowski's status on the top of that pecking chart. It's hard to blame Brady for going to the receivers who get open the most, especially when he's found himself having to get rid of the ball in a hurry for most of the season so far.
History has told us time and time again that Brady's game doesn't work if he's not afforded the time to do what he does best: pick apart the defense with his accuracy and decision making. I have little doubt that Brady will look like the hall of fame quarterback New England fans are accustomed to watching with better protection,and believe that Brady has actually been about as good as you could expect from him given the lack of protection around him. However, it will be a long season offensively if the line doesn't dramatically improve from it's dismal early season form, and there's little they can do scheme-wise to fix it. Sometimes, the only solution is to simply play better.
