PatriotsLife Mailbag: Sifting through the wreckage

Patriots fans had plenty of concerns heading into Week Four's Monday Night game against Kansas City. By the end of the ensuing 41-14 massacre, we all were coming to grips with just how legitimate those concerns are. I'm never one to jump to conclusions too early, and there's plenty of time to right the ship, but lets not sugarcoat it: there are serious issues right now with this Patriots team. On that grave note, lets jump right into your questions.



The Mankins trade certainly didn't help matters on the offensive line, but the problems up front have been too widespread for me to think that simply putting Mankins back into his familiar left guard spot would completely smooth things over. For example, losing Mankins doesn't explain both Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer seemingly forgetting how to play football over the past month. It's also worth noting that Mankins hasn't exactly lit the world on fire with his play in Tampa

My biggest bone to pick with the Mankins trade is how badly the personnel department swung and missed in its evaluation of its in-house options on the line. You don't pull the trigger on that deal unless you have complete confidence that you have capable options to fill that void on the interior. For whatever reason, the Pats apparently thought that some combination of Jordan Devey, Josh Kline and Marcus Cannon could get the job done. As we've seen so far, that has been very far from the case.

As for the question of Brady's offensive weapons, it hasn't been for a lack of trying. The long-term plan was to build the offense around the dynamic tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, as evidenced by extensions given to both players relatively early in their rookie deals. However, Gronk has rarely been healthy since signing that extension, and Hernandez is...well, you know what happened with him.

That, coupled with the free agent departure of Wes Welker, forced the team to adapt on the fly. They spent 2013 draft picks on Aaron Dobson and Josh Boyce They found potential playmakers in Kenbrell Thompkins and Zach Sudfeld in their class of undrafted rookies. They signed Danny Amendola with hopes that he could come close to replicating Welker's slot production.

Unfortunately, things simply haven't gone to plan. Dobson and Thompkins showed some flashes as rookies, but ultimately injuries and growing pains prevented them from bringing the consistency needed in this offense. Boyce and Sudfeld turned out to be duds. Amendola battled injuries last year, and has become irrelevant due to the emergence of Julian Edelman.

No one will mistake Brady's cast of weapons for Manning's, but it's not like this Patriots team is devoid of offensive talent. They have an excellent slot receiver in Edelman and arguably the game's best tight end (when fully healthy) in Gronk. Shane Vereen's speed and receiving ability creates mismatches to exploit, and Tim Wright should be able to create some favorable matchups as well. Dobson and Thompkins both have the ability to make plays on the outside.

For whatever reason, those playmakers haven't played to potential yet (or, in the case of Dobson and Thompkins, simply haven't played enough). Whether that's a byproduct of the offensive line struggling, or more indicative of the overall talent level amongst the team's skill players remains to be seen.

Speaking of Wright...


My best guess is that Wright's role has been limited by a combination of his inexperience with the playbook and the Pats schematic needs to help the offensive line. Wright earned praise for his work ethic and how quickly he was picking up things in training camp, but the team couldn't possibly come close to teaching him the entire playbook in the short time between his arrival in the Mankins deal and the start of the season. Not having full knowledge of the playbook in turn limits the team in what they can and can't run with Wright on the field. I don't think anyone, including the coaching staff, expected Wright to play a major role in the offense early on.

However, I do think the plan was to build up Wright's role week by week, and that hasn't come to fruition. He played 21 snaps in the opener against Miami and 16 on Monday Night against the Chiefs (both games in which the score dictated a lot of throwing by the Pats offense), but only 13 in the two game stretch between them. The reason was obvious: a need for extra blocking to help the offensive line. The Minnesota and Oakland games saw the Pats use a lot of heavy, multiple TE packages, with the tight ends being used to reinforce the blocking at front. In such a game plan, an undersized, receiving-type end like Wright is far less useful than a 300 pound bulldozer like Cameron Fleming.

Right now, the Pats find themselves in a bit of a conundrum. In devoting extra man-power to their pass protection, they're limiting how many receivers they can send out on patterns for Brady. Opponents have been able to get steady pressure while rushing just four, freeing them up to drop the rest of their defenders into coverage. As a result, Brady often is looking for two or three receivers to get open against six or seven pass defenders. It's no wonder finding open targets has been a problem early on.

Wright has the potential to be a mismatch creator for this offense, but getting him on the field more will mean one less guy helping to protect Brady. The question becomes whether or not they can afford to make any sacrifice in that area right now. With a little better protection, there's no doubt in my mind that Wright starts seeing more snaps and targets, but that improvement could be hard to come by with the deadly defensive lines of Cincinnati, Buffalo, the hated New York Jets and Denver all looming in the next five weeks. Certainly not an ideal situation.



It's not solely the offensive line, but the biggest issues all stem from the problems up front. Nothing will wreck a play quicker than a breakdown from the offensive line, and those breakdowns have been coming up all over the place through the first four weeks of the season.

Lets take a look at the passing game. It's unclear whether the Pats are even capable of stretching the field, because the offensive line has been unable to hold any semblance of protection long enough for players to get open down the field. Both the Patriots and their opponents are well aware of this. The Patriots have tried to compensate by bringing in extra blockers to fortify the protection, while emphasizing the short passing game even more than before.

However, opposing defenses have been able to get consistent pressure rushing four. This gives them a significant numbers advantage, as coordinators now have the entire back seven of the defense at their disposal in coverage. With no threat of a deep ball, opposing defenses can essentially crowd the short zones of the field with pass defenders. With extra men devoted to blocking, the Pats are often relegated to having two or three receiving options at most on the field, running routes against six or seven pass defenders. The pass coverage is generally very tight, a byproduct of both the defenses numbers advantage and the playcalling, which has been limited by the line's shortcomings and predictable as a result. More on that and Josh McDaniels in a minute.

Oh, and on top of all that, even with all those quick-hitting, three-step drops, Brady is still getting hit constantly. It's not hard to see how that failure in protection is holding back the offense.

This isn't to say the Pats are an offensive juggernaut waiting to happen with better line play. Right now, they lack playmakers. Rob Gronkowski still hasn't regained that explosiveness he had prior to knee surgery. Shane Vereen has curiously underperformed. Dobson and Thompkins are apparently in the doghouse and unable to get onto the field. Tim Wright can't get on the field because of the need for more blocking to support the line. Julian Edelman is the only guy Brady seems to really trust, and that's a major issue.

However, give Brady enough time to progress through his reads and open up the playbook, and I suspect you'll start seeing the offense begin to produce again. The cubbard isn't as bare as it appears to be right now, and Brady has always struggled when faced with pressure up the middle. I'll put it this way; there's little question in my mind that the offense will improve. The question is whether it will improve enough to get to an acceptable, competitive level, and that question wont be answered until November/December. If they don't improve by then, things could get real ugly, as the schedule gets real tough with games against Chicago, Denver, Green Bay, Detroit and San Diego all still to go.

First of all, lets make one thing clear: Dante Scarnecchia is not walking through that door. The man is enjoying his well-earned retirement, and his departure from the team was planned years in advance. He's not coming back.

There's no singular magic answer to fixing this offensive line. Many of the problems are simply poor technique and execution, including embarrassing breakdowns from Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer, veterans who were supposed to be rocks on this line. That theoretically should be cleaned up with hard work and coaching, although the coaching has unsurprisingly come into question given the departure from the universally respected Scarnecchia.

One thing that would help is establishing some continuity. The Patriots have tried to field an offensive line through trial and error, with multiple players (Josh Kline, Jordan Devey, Marcus Cannon) failing at guard. Given the importance of chemistry and communication on the line, it's imperative that the team figure out their best starting five and stick with them.

My gut feeling is that we may be seeing what winds up becoming the set starting five for the first time this Sunday night. Cameron Fleming has yet to practice this week after injuring his finger in a rough debut at guard, opening the opportunity for veteran Ryan Wendell to return to the lineup. With Stork seemingly entrenched as the center of the future, Wendell could find himself playing guard. This would give the Pats four of their five starters from last year, with Stork the only newcomer, and Wendell's ability as a run blocker could improve the interior push from the line. Wendell isn't exactly an inspiring option in protection, but can he really be worse than the dreck they've put out there during the first four weeks?

A starting five of Solder, Connolly, Stork, Wendell and Vollmer won't set the league on fire, but they certainly have the talent to be competent. Right now, sad as it is to say, competent would represent a giant step forward, both for the offensive line and for the offense as a whole.


Every option is on the table, and a midseason trade certainly wouldn't be out of character for the Patriots. After all, the past two seasons have seen the Pats pull off a trade to address a major need at the deadline, with various results. Aqib Talib worked out, Isaac Sopoaga, not so much.

This year, I could see the Pats looking to add a body at two spots: guard and defensive tackle. The need for a starting caliber guard is too obvious to analyze any further, and they could certainly use another big body to help clog up running lanes until Sealver Siliga returns from injury.

The question is: will anyone good enough to legitimately help the team become available? And for what price? With this context, I find it easier to see a move for a defensive tackle than a guard. Most teams aren't in the business of trading away starting caliber linemen, especially midseason. Any player good enough to improve the Pats offensive line right now is likely unavailable because he's a starter for his current team.

Defensive tackle could be a different story. The position has seen it's league-wide value dip as teams trend more and more towards the passing game, and one-dimensional run stuffers have particularly been marginalized during that transition. If the Pats can pick up a capable, early-down plugger for a low cost, I could definitely see them pulling the trigger.

For those keeping score of the Pats trade currency, they currently have their own 2015 picks in rounds 1-6, along with the Bucs fourth rounder acquired in the Mankins deal.

One additional note: please stop with the Larry Fitzgerald trade rumors. Just stop it. The Pats aren't going to give up anything of note to trade for a 31 year old receiver whose production has been declining for years, especially not when said player could become available on the free market sooner than you think.

Take a look at Fitzgerald's outrageous contract. Due to an offseason restructure, Fitz is on the books for only $8.6 million against the cap this season. The bill comes for that next season, when he's scheduled to count for an astronomical $23.6 million against the cap. Fitzgerald wasn't worth that much in his prime, let alone now as an aging veteran who's lost a step. There's a decent chance that Arizona bites the bullet and releases Fitzgerald in the offseason, choosing to save $9 million in cap space rather than allowing Fitzgerald to soak up such a large portion of their budget.

Giving up assets to acquire an aging player due that amount of money would be shortsighted. Doing so despite the very real possibility of said player becoming available six months from now would be outright lunacy, and that's before even getting into the difficulties of integrating a new receiver into the offense midseason. It's not happening folks, lets move on.


Before yesterday, Nick, I would have made the argument that Dobson, right or wrong, has seen minimal action this year because of how the struggles of the offensive line have limited the play-calling. Simply put, the offensive line hasn't performed well enough to justify any trust that they can hold protection long enough for routes to develop down the field. Given that Dobson's strengths as a receiver pertain to longer throws, it made sense that his role in the offense would be minimized with the line struggling this badly.

However, according to Shalize Manza-Young, Dobson's absence has had little to do with football. Instead, Manza-Young reports that the second-year receiver has been inactive the past two games due to his "mouthing off" to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

I'm going to bite my tongue on this one because neither you or I know what was said between Dobson and McDaniels. I will say this, however: it's possible to instill discipline and punish an individual player without punishing the entire team. Whether McDaniels is willing to admit it or not, this offense needs a spark, and Dobson has the talent to provide it. Dressing only three wide receivers on Monday night despite a "spread them out" game plan made absolutely no logical sense, especially with two healthy, talented receivers listed as healthy inactives. The Patriots need Dobson to come through for them, and keeping him from valuable, chemistry-building reps with Brady does nothing to help the team, both in the short and long-term. I'll be extremely disappointed if Dobson isn't back in the lineup Sunday night, and I'm sure most Patriots fans would echo that sentiment.

[NOTE: Bill Belichick was asked about the Dobson situation today. He claimed his recent demotion was for "football" reasons, and said he'll comment further on that later. Stay tuned]


Went over Dobson in the last question. As for Thompkins, I suspect the consistency just isn't there for Brady and the coaching staff to completely trust him. For every fantastic route and contested catch he makes, there seems to be an equally maddening drop, and nothing will get you in Brady's doghouse quicker than repeated drops.

Of course, that's my speculation on the team's thinking, and not my own. I actually think the offense could use Thompkins, particularly because of his excellent footwork and route-running. He's a very crafty player who "uncovers" himself quickly, and the ability to get open quickly is badly needed in the offense right now due to the offensive line's struggles. Furthermore, Thompkins ability to make contested catches is a needed attribute at this time, as most of Brady's throws have come into tight coverage. He'll frustrate you with the occasional drop, but Thompkins offers more playmaking ability than Danny Amendola or (potentially) Brandon LeFell. I'd like to see him on the field more.


Count me in the "anti-McDaniels" crowd, as I just don't get Belichick's apparent fascination with him. There is nothing more frustrating than helplessly watching McDaniels abandon the run far too early in a game, something which historically has always come back to bite the Pats. The written definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. For some reason, no matter how many times abandoning the run is cited as a reason for a Patriots loss, the next game with only 16 team rushing attempts is always just around the corner. In fact, this week's opponent brings back some bad memories regarding that; in last year's loss to the Bengals, the Patriots ran the ball 18 times and threw it 38 times, despite rushing for 4.6 yards per carry.

There's also McDaniels league-wide reputation to consider, which isn't favorable. His perceived arrogance and inability to get along with star players quickly submarined his one disastrous head coaching gig in Denver after just 28 games. Take the words of 15 year veteran punter Shane Lecher, who claimed McDaniels often threw players under the bus in meetings.

“It felt like I was playing for an equipment manager or something, [McDaniels] was like a little punk. He came in there and said that he wanted to hear a lot from me, he wanted to know what I thought about situations. He wanted to take advantage of my veteran leadership… he said all that. But as soon as I had a game that wasn’t up to his standards, he wouldn’t talk to you or look at you.”

“I never played for a guy in my life who guys wanted to play for less. He was just a guy you didn’t care about.”

With that said, the chances of McDaniels leaving appear to be slim to none. He's well established as one of Belichick's closest allies, and few know Brady better. Why he's become so entrenched here, I have no idea, but it looks like he's here to stay. Lucky us.

By the way, props to twitter user Gaff for this response to our story on Dobson's benching

Here's your reminder that it was McDaniels who not only drafted Tebow in the first round, but traded multiple picks to get back into the first round and take the former Heisman winner. That worked out well.

Moving on...

I certainly hope so, Ashura. It doesn't make sense to use Browner in any other way. He has a very specific skill-set that makes him excellent in press-man coverage, but Browner will get absolutely exposed if the Pats try to force him into zone coverage. Hopefully, a return to man coverage will not just lead to the team stacking the box, but sending their linebackers more often on blitzes. The pass rush could use a jolt, and rushing four every play isn't getting it done.

I covered the Tyms question last week, and I'll reiterate what I said then here. I like Tyms, but don't see where there's room for him at the moment. He'd have to leapfrog Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins on the depth chart, both of whom have far more reps with Brady under their belt. Furthermore, Tyms would have a tough case to make as far as being active on game day, considering he doesn't contribute on special teams. Worth a stash on the practice squad, but I don't think he winds up seeing any meaningful action with the big club.

As for Browner, it all depends on how the Pats use him. If they him in a position to succeed and allow him to do what he does best, namely maul receivers at the line of scrimmage, then he has the potential to be a very nice addition to this defense. If they make him play in off-man or zone, he'll be exposed quickly.

Browner's return could also help the Pats by bringing a badly needed spark to the defense and locker room. The veteran is a fiery competitor whose energetic presence could be just what the doctor ordered after last week's lethargic performance. Pride and physicality were two things clearly missing from the defense last week, and Browner brings both in spades.


Chris, my sources can confirm that this week the Patriots are indeed playing Cincinnati. In this case, "sources" equals the Pats schedule taped to my fridge.


The defensive performance against the Chiefs was shocking, Andrew. I don't think anyone had high hopes for the offense going into that game, but seeing the defense get run over like that by a middle-of-the-pack offense was tough to watch. Especially troubling when you consider that the struggling offense needs the defense to carry it through this early season slog.

To answer your question, scheme appeared to play a big role in the defense's disappointing performance on Monday Night. Both communication errors and bad personnel fits contributed to the Pats off-man and zone coverages getting shredded by Alex Smith. Given the abundance of strong, man-coverage corners on the roster, I can't find a logical reason for this team to be playing that much zone. Allow the secondary to do what they do best, which is get in guy's faces and play physical at the line.

A switch back to a steady dosage of press-man coverage would also have a trickle down effect on the rest of the defense. Having that kind of trust in Revis, Browner and co to lock down their assignments should free up the rest of the front seven. Right now, the pass rush hasn't been getting it done by just rushing four. Having the freedom to send an extra linebacker or two every now and then could help this defense make more plays while also playing to the strength of their personnel. Playing downhill and attacking could be the best way to up the energy level of the D as well, as that was clearly lacking during the passive showing against Kansas City.

We'll end with this one, since it seems to be a question on everyone's mind. To be frank, it's far too early to tell. There's still a lot of football to be played, and teams will be looking and playing differently two months from now.

With that said, the odds are certainly higher now than anyone deemed possible a month ago. As you likely know, the Pats are currently tied with Miami and Buffalo for the division lead at 2-2. Every loss will matter greatly in this race, and the Pats have a lot of tough opponents left on their schedule.

However, the Pats should still be the favorite in the AFC East race. Even with their issues, the Pats have more overall talent than any of the three teams competing with them for the AFC East title. All three of those teams are still searching for stability at quarterback, with Buffalo recently turning their season over to Kyle Orton and his immortal neckbeard and the Jets possibly close to yanking Geno Smith for Mike Vick. If the Pats continue to play like they have so far, they'll deserve to join these dysfunctional franchises in a dogfight for the division crown, but I do think the Pats still have enough talent to take the division again. However,  it certainly won't be as easy as it was in past years.

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