New England offense needs to learn to R-E-L-A-X
Paul Imig, FOXSports:
So that's what Aaron Rodgers meant when he told everyone to "R-E-L-A-X" after the Green Bay Packers' slow start this season.
In his 100th NFL start (playoffs included), Rodgers had one of his best-ever performances Sunday in a 38-17 win over the Chicago Bears. Completing 22 of 28 pass attempts for 302 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions resulted in the second-best passer rating of his career (151.2). That's nearly a perfect day for a quarterback, with the maximum-possible passer rating being 158.3.
With 2 minutes 41 seconds remaining before halftime against the Kansas City Chiefs on 3rd down and 3, Patriots QB Tom Brady threw an ill advised pass to WR Julian Edelman. Tom had stepped up in the pocket and could have run for an easy first down. Instead, the pass was incomplete and the Patriots were forced to punt. Kansas City messed up its clock management, and were only able to kick a field goal on the drive for a 17-0 lead halftime lead. "Turn out the lights. The party's over."
The Patriots had seven drives against the Chiefs that were five plays or fewer. The series with five plays recorded -3 yards in offense. Punt. Punt. Punt. Punt. Punt. Fumble. Interception. Seven drives took 14 minutes 26 seconds off the game clock and produced 46 yards.
Andy Benoit, MMQB:
The Patriots mostly use a short-drop passing attack, so it seems intuitive that it’s not exactly bad for a quarterback to speed up. But it doesn’t work that way. Speeding up means distorting the synchronization of route concepts. The Patriots’ passing game hinges on that synchronization.
While it is true that timing is important, possession is more important. The Green Bay Packers struggled mightily against the Detroit Lions with five drives netting 32 yards, 3 punts, a safety and a fumble. The offense had the ball for only 20 minutes for the entire game. Their defense played well in holding the Lions to 19 points. The following week, QB Aaron Rodgers shredded the Bears defense. The Packers didn't make wholesale changes on offense. Rodgers just threw it to the open man.
New England made 11 changes on the offensive line against the Kansas City Chiefs. The unit appears out of synch. The wideouts don't get open or win the battles on the line of scrimmage. The QB has no time to throw. Yards per game of 384.5 from 2013 has dropped to 298.5 in 2014. Points per game of 27.8 from 2013 is down to 20.0. Total offense in 2013 was ranked seventh. In 2014, it is now 23rd and would drop to 29th if Arizona, Denver, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Seattle and St. Louis did not already have their bye week.
According to Andy Benoit of MMQB, New England has a good defense that had a bad game. The defense will get stronger with the return of CB Brandon Browner. The Patriots fans just need to ease up the calls for Tom Brady's job, and take their hand off the panic button.
Number 12 in Green Bay figured it out by Week 4. Number 12 in New England just needs an extra week.
Paul Murphy is a freelance writer from New Hampshire.
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