Showing posts with label Pats Punk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pats Punk. Show all posts
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Tom Brady Named AFC Offensive Player Of The Month
Tom Brady has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month after being named AFC Offensive Player Of The Week several times this month. This is the second time this year that he has received the award.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tom Brady Named AFC Offensive Player of the Week
"FOXBORO – The New England Patriots announced today that Tom Brady has been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week by the National Football league for his performance in the Patriots’ 27-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins last Saturday. It is the 20th time in his career and the third time in 2011 that Brady has received the AFC Offensive Player of the Week honor. He earned the honor for his performance in Week 1 and Week 2 of the 2011 season after throwing for 517 yards in the season-opener at Miami followed by a 423-yard performance vs. San Diego."
-The Boston Globe
-The Boston Globe
Thursday, December 15, 2011
New England Keys to Victory against the Broncos
We can all admit that at heart, we're all worried about if NE can come out on top in this one. But it shouldn't be that hard with our high powered offense.
1) Contain the Outside on the Run
You hear people talk about it ALL the time. Contain the run. Contain the outside. Talking about who has containment. But what you'll notice is that normally it's about players NOT keeping contain. It's a very simple concept. Force the runner back to the inside where you have other defenders there to help you bring him down. But instead you'll see the man with contain on the play move inside and go after the ball carrier. Normally he misses his tackle, and now who has contain? Nobody because the runner is already outside. Therefore allowing a big gain. Against Denver, NE needs to keep contain well. Because of the way they run their option, they want to try to get the ball outside. But New England has good DTs and MLBs. So if they can force the runner back inside, well, chances are that he won't get too far.
2) Score Early and Often
Last year, New England was exceptional at ending games in the first half. Scoring TDs or FGs on their first drive of the day, and then doing the same on the second. Even just going up 6 on Denver early in the game could be a big factor. But going up 14 by the end of the first quarter? That could be monumental for New England this week. We all know Denver is great at winning games when down 10 or fewer in the fourth quarter. But what if they're down 14? Or 21? Big gaps? We haven't seen them do that yet, and I personally don't think they have an explosive enough offense to do that. Just giving them a wide spread of points to cover in the fourth could be big.
3) Get Turnovers on D and Don't Turn it Over on O
Tim Tebow has only thrown 2 picks in almost 200 pass attempts. New England has to change that. Because of how much Denver eats up the clock with their running, we need to get turnovers in order to get the ball back and allow Brady to get on the field and score on them. Because New England can't easily stop teams on third down, as they've shown, So in order to get Denver off the field, it's going to take taking the ball from them. Getting it back anyway possible. Denver is going to own the Time Of Posession in this one. We know that much. So Brady and Company need to make sure to score when they can, and not miss opprotunities because of Interceptions or Fumbles. Good thing Brady has trimmed down on his surprisingly high number of picks this year. And the Denver D has only gotten 2 INTs in the past 7 games I believe. So protecting the ball could be big in this game.
4) Protect Brady
Sure Brady is great and hanging in the pocket and taking a hit while completing a pass, but he isn't superman. His elbow is already hurt, so allowing any backside pressure that can smack at his right arm isn't good. It would definitely wear down on him I think. We saw last week that his accuracy is off since his elbow injury. So allowing that right elbow to take unnecessary contact could be big. And the line can't let the Broncos good defensive linemen to get in on the play and make a difference early. Early on we should make the defensive lineman second guess their blitzing by running few screens. After you run a couple screens, the D Lineman will rush the QB at a slower speed because they don't wanna get fooled like they had been early on. So throwing a quick RB screen out there or a screen to Welker could make a big difference even if it only gets us a couple yards. Just make sure Brady's Jersey stays clean.
I think if New England can accomplish these 4 things, we should walk out of Denver with a nice point margin and the W.
1) Contain the Outside on the Run
You hear people talk about it ALL the time. Contain the run. Contain the outside. Talking about who has containment. But what you'll notice is that normally it's about players NOT keeping contain. It's a very simple concept. Force the runner back to the inside where you have other defenders there to help you bring him down. But instead you'll see the man with contain on the play move inside and go after the ball carrier. Normally he misses his tackle, and now who has contain? Nobody because the runner is already outside. Therefore allowing a big gain. Against Denver, NE needs to keep contain well. Because of the way they run their option, they want to try to get the ball outside. But New England has good DTs and MLBs. So if they can force the runner back inside, well, chances are that he won't get too far.
2) Score Early and Often
Last year, New England was exceptional at ending games in the first half. Scoring TDs or FGs on their first drive of the day, and then doing the same on the second. Even just going up 6 on Denver early in the game could be a big factor. But going up 14 by the end of the first quarter? That could be monumental for New England this week. We all know Denver is great at winning games when down 10 or fewer in the fourth quarter. But what if they're down 14? Or 21? Big gaps? We haven't seen them do that yet, and I personally don't think they have an explosive enough offense to do that. Just giving them a wide spread of points to cover in the fourth could be big.
3) Get Turnovers on D and Don't Turn it Over on O
Tim Tebow has only thrown 2 picks in almost 200 pass attempts. New England has to change that. Because of how much Denver eats up the clock with their running, we need to get turnovers in order to get the ball back and allow Brady to get on the field and score on them. Because New England can't easily stop teams on third down, as they've shown, So in order to get Denver off the field, it's going to take taking the ball from them. Getting it back anyway possible. Denver is going to own the Time Of Posession in this one. We know that much. So Brady and Company need to make sure to score when they can, and not miss opprotunities because of Interceptions or Fumbles. Good thing Brady has trimmed down on his surprisingly high number of picks this year. And the Denver D has only gotten 2 INTs in the past 7 games I believe. So protecting the ball could be big in this game.
4) Protect Brady
Sure Brady is great and hanging in the pocket and taking a hit while completing a pass, but he isn't superman. His elbow is already hurt, so allowing any backside pressure that can smack at his right arm isn't good. It would definitely wear down on him I think. We saw last week that his accuracy is off since his elbow injury. So allowing that right elbow to take unnecessary contact could be big. And the line can't let the Broncos good defensive linemen to get in on the play and make a difference early. Early on we should make the defensive lineman second guess their blitzing by running few screens. After you run a couple screens, the D Lineman will rush the QB at a slower speed because they don't wanna get fooled like they had been early on. So throwing a quick RB screen out there or a screen to Welker could make a big difference even if it only gets us a couple yards. Just make sure Brady's Jersey stays clean.
I think if New England can accomplish these 4 things, we should walk out of Denver with a nice point margin and the W.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Patriots-Redskins Postgame Analysis
The game was rather disappointing. I think it was probably the most dis-satisfying win of the year. Sure the Colts game was close, but they weren't close all game. They only got close when BB started using the prevent and when he started experimenting more. But the Skins keeping up all game? NOT good. So here's some things we learned.
1) This defense, as Bart Scott said last year, can't stop a nosebleed.
Allowing Rex Grossman to dictate the tempo? Allowing huge runs? Deep bombs to Jabar Gaffney, Santana Moss, and the like? Not even coming close to the WRs in coverage, but instead allowing nobody within 5 yards of them? As Charles Barkley would say, that's turrible. Sure there was that trick play, but where was the tackling? Just bad. There's absolutely no communication between defensive players. Jerod Mayo and Rob Ninkovich were supposed to be the new Tedy B and Mike Vrabel. And Brandon Spikes should have been the new Ted Johnson. Now, Spikes is still out, but what's wrong with Jerod Mayo this year? Him and Ninkovich NEED to talk before the snap so they know what they're doing. Ninkovich has been a pleasant little surprise though. I mean, I knew he was good, but he's playing great out there. Blitzing, reading plays, etc. I think he's the new captain of the defense. Also, we need pressure on the QB still. Andre Carter may have had that streak of several sack games, but the fact of the matter is that those sacks were because of bad quarterbacking. It's taking too long to get pressure. We need our lineman to get in on the QB early in the play so that he needs to hurry with his decision making. Hurried decisions are usually bad decisions. With this defense continually allowing bad QBs to throw for 300+ yards, I'm worried about our playoff chances. Every team that's currently leading their division, and most in the Wild Card hunt have good QBs. Flacco, Roethelisberger, Schaub, Carson Palmer, Andy Dalton, etc. Those QBs will eat our defensive backs for breakfast.
2) We need to utilize Chad Ochocinco
OK OK, sit back down and pick up the mess you just made when you spit out your coffee. I'll be here when you get back. Ochocinco, sadly, had the surest hands on the team yesterday. Sure he only caught one ball, but he didn't drop any. He was hardly on the field. Even if he won't get the ball, put him on the field. Have him run some deep routes. Posts, seams, go routes, and corners. Let him stretch the D. Welker can't be the only #1 caliber WR on the team even with Gronkowski and Hernandez. Ocho showed to me that he can run routes properly in the system. That out route against Washington was beautiful. It may have only been 15 yards, but it was a pretty 15 yards. And it got us a first down when we needed it. I think if we can manage to use Ochocinco to stretch the field, like he did against the Jets, Welker and Gronk and even Branch can get done their work underneath. And if the safety dosn't follow Ocho deep and instead doubles Gronkowski, well, just throw it up to Ocho. Let him do his job. He could still be a great part of this offense.
3) Bill O'Brien isn't cut out to be an OC
With Julian Edelman being an ex-QB all though college, why have I yet to see him throw the ball after catching it? We ran a play like that with Moss, who never played QB, so why isn't a QB doing it? And why are there no screens to the RB and hardly any to the WRs? Why have we not seen any trick plays other than a little WR reverse? O'Brien needs to start being predictable. We lost in the playoffs last year because we kept trying the exact same thing over and over. The same thing we ran all year. Nothing unpredictable. The same thing this year. Welker running a slant, Gronk running an out, Hernandez on a hitch, it goes on. Early this year, we had Welker running 30-40 yard routes. And the defenses never knew what to expect. So you combine that with no-huddling, and the defense couldn't stop us. But now it's all the same. No variety. All it takes is doubling Gronkowski and knocking Welker down at the line (let's be real here, most corners have a 20-40 pound advantage on him), and we'll be forced to give the ball to Hernandez and Branch. Those guys aren't our big playmakers. We need to mix it up. And we need to no-huddle more on the first series. Because facing some of these high-powered offenses, we'll need points early. Run a lot of fast routes early on, run the ball a lot, and then run a nice play action. Keep the D off balance.
4) This team can not make it deep into the playoffs
Now, I know we all wanna think that Brady can play exceptional football for the 4 games straight that he'd need to in order to carry this team, but the fact of the matter is, well, he can't be amazing EVERY game, and the odds of this defense stepping up when he doesn't are slim. To beat some of these teams like Baltimore and Pittsburgh and Houston, Tom Brady would have to light it up with at LEAST 3 TDs, and have BJGE get at least one more. Because these offenses in the playoffs are incredibly talented and can run all over this D. We need to make sure the O can keep up, but right now, in all honestly, playing a D like Pittsburgh, the offense will end up being stopped several times. Which means out D will need to do the same. I'm not sure it can. If BB can manage to find something to motivate this defense, then we have a shot. So BB, get started finding motivation, cause right now this team looks un-motivated as ever.
1) This defense, as Bart Scott said last year, can't stop a nosebleed.
Allowing Rex Grossman to dictate the tempo? Allowing huge runs? Deep bombs to Jabar Gaffney, Santana Moss, and the like? Not even coming close to the WRs in coverage, but instead allowing nobody within 5 yards of them? As Charles Barkley would say, that's turrible. Sure there was that trick play, but where was the tackling? Just bad. There's absolutely no communication between defensive players. Jerod Mayo and Rob Ninkovich were supposed to be the new Tedy B and Mike Vrabel. And Brandon Spikes should have been the new Ted Johnson. Now, Spikes is still out, but what's wrong with Jerod Mayo this year? Him and Ninkovich NEED to talk before the snap so they know what they're doing. Ninkovich has been a pleasant little surprise though. I mean, I knew he was good, but he's playing great out there. Blitzing, reading plays, etc. I think he's the new captain of the defense. Also, we need pressure on the QB still. Andre Carter may have had that streak of several sack games, but the fact of the matter is that those sacks were because of bad quarterbacking. It's taking too long to get pressure. We need our lineman to get in on the QB early in the play so that he needs to hurry with his decision making. Hurried decisions are usually bad decisions. With this defense continually allowing bad QBs to throw for 300+ yards, I'm worried about our playoff chances. Every team that's currently leading their division, and most in the Wild Card hunt have good QBs. Flacco, Roethelisberger, Schaub, Carson Palmer, Andy Dalton, etc. Those QBs will eat our defensive backs for breakfast.
2) We need to utilize Chad Ochocinco
OK OK, sit back down and pick up the mess you just made when you spit out your coffee. I'll be here when you get back. Ochocinco, sadly, had the surest hands on the team yesterday. Sure he only caught one ball, but he didn't drop any. He was hardly on the field. Even if he won't get the ball, put him on the field. Have him run some deep routes. Posts, seams, go routes, and corners. Let him stretch the D. Welker can't be the only #1 caliber WR on the team even with Gronkowski and Hernandez. Ocho showed to me that he can run routes properly in the system. That out route against Washington was beautiful. It may have only been 15 yards, but it was a pretty 15 yards. And it got us a first down when we needed it. I think if we can manage to use Ochocinco to stretch the field, like he did against the Jets, Welker and Gronk and even Branch can get done their work underneath. And if the safety dosn't follow Ocho deep and instead doubles Gronkowski, well, just throw it up to Ocho. Let him do his job. He could still be a great part of this offense.
3) Bill O'Brien isn't cut out to be an OC
With Julian Edelman being an ex-QB all though college, why have I yet to see him throw the ball after catching it? We ran a play like that with Moss, who never played QB, so why isn't a QB doing it? And why are there no screens to the RB and hardly any to the WRs? Why have we not seen any trick plays other than a little WR reverse? O'Brien needs to start being predictable. We lost in the playoffs last year because we kept trying the exact same thing over and over. The same thing we ran all year. Nothing unpredictable. The same thing this year. Welker running a slant, Gronk running an out, Hernandez on a hitch, it goes on. Early this year, we had Welker running 30-40 yard routes. And the defenses never knew what to expect. So you combine that with no-huddling, and the defense couldn't stop us. But now it's all the same. No variety. All it takes is doubling Gronkowski and knocking Welker down at the line (let's be real here, most corners have a 20-40 pound advantage on him), and we'll be forced to give the ball to Hernandez and Branch. Those guys aren't our big playmakers. We need to mix it up. And we need to no-huddle more on the first series. Because facing some of these high-powered offenses, we'll need points early. Run a lot of fast routes early on, run the ball a lot, and then run a nice play action. Keep the D off balance.
4) This team can not make it deep into the playoffs
Now, I know we all wanna think that Brady can play exceptional football for the 4 games straight that he'd need to in order to carry this team, but the fact of the matter is, well, he can't be amazing EVERY game, and the odds of this defense stepping up when he doesn't are slim. To beat some of these teams like Baltimore and Pittsburgh and Houston, Tom Brady would have to light it up with at LEAST 3 TDs, and have BJGE get at least one more. Because these offenses in the playoffs are incredibly talented and can run all over this D. We need to make sure the O can keep up, but right now, in all honestly, playing a D like Pittsburgh, the offense will end up being stopped several times. Which means out D will need to do the same. I'm not sure it can. If BB can manage to find something to motivate this defense, then we have a shot. So BB, get started finding motivation, cause right now this team looks un-motivated as ever.
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