Wrote this for my "home" board. Thought I'd copy it here and in the NFL forum to see what my fellow Pat fans and other NFL guys think.
What appeared to be their strongest position only a month ago, wide receiver, is now decimated. I failed to properly asses what had recently happened to Brady and his receiving corps.
First Edelman went down in pre-3. There is a reason Brady calls Edelman "Jewels". In the Patriot tradition of having a tough slot player to go over the middle and catch his laser underneath stuff (Troy Brown, Wes Welker), Edelman was the best of those three. Going underneath into the middle requires precise route running, toughness, and timing. Any mistake and the ball is loose with defenders all around it ready to steal it and go the other way. The receiver is going to get hit hard and often. Mental and physical toughness are a must. Takes a special guy to have those attributes and also be sure handed. Troy Brown, Wes Welker, and Edelman, all had those qualities. But Edelman added another. Brown and Welker would make the catch, then take a dive in order to preserve their bodies. Still tough, sure handed and admirable for maintaining their concentration in traffic. But Edelman added another dimension. He would catch the ball and instead of taking a dive, he would have this little bag of elusive moves that would get him yards after the catch. Truly a rare talent, plying his trade in an area of the field that few have the guts to reside in.
This is Brady's game. Underneath timing routes, which when successful as they virtually always were with Edelman in the slot, would set up the deeper routes with Hogan, sometimes last year's emerging rookie, Mitchell, and sometimes a streaking big man, Gronk, or Bennett and the expected new deep sensation, Brandin Cook.
But Edelman went down three weeks ago. The only guys who could now bang around in Brady's underneath comfort zone were Amendola and Gronk. But Amendola, although gutsy and normally sure handed, is often hurt as his body can't take the pounding of the under middle (he got hurt before halftime last night and never made it back), and Gronk, well I didn't like what I saw out of Gronk last night. Gronk had offseason back surgery. He looked very stiff and not himself last night. He didn't do much in the underneath middle. I think Gronk is playing hurt and is only a shadow of his old self. I'm praying I'm wrong here. Another couple of games will tell the story.
Bennett got let go in the offseason (couldn't afford him). Mitchell went on IR last week. Amendola left the game injured. Gronk didn't have his "Gronkness". Edelman is gone for the season.
That leaves Hogan, Cook, and a couple of no names. And nobody to go underneath to set up the rest of them. Hogan and Cook are deep ball guys. That is not Brady's bread and butter. He needs a 10 to 15 yd game to spring those deep routers.
And if Brady has to stand back there play after play and wait for deep routes to develop, his O line just isn't good enough. See the end of last night's game.
So this is the Patriots. That is Tom Brady coached by the best coach of all time. They will run and use checkdown passes to very speedy and sure handed backs. But my assessment is that will not be enough to fuel the explosive and relentless offense that we have come to expect out of the Patriots.
Unless Gronk suddenly looks like the Gronk of old, and unless Amendola can stay healthy running those underneath routes, this offense may be very broken. The pundits will say that B&B will bounce and will cite examples where they did just that. But the components may be missing to effect that resurgence. Be wary.
And I didn't even talk about the atrocious defense. That's another long story. But circumstances have colluded to also weaken the defense. Like I said, another long analysis.
Be wary.
What appeared to be their strongest position only a month ago, wide receiver, is now decimated. I failed to properly asses what had recently happened to Brady and his receiving corps.
First Edelman went down in pre-3. There is a reason Brady calls Edelman "Jewels". In the Patriot tradition of having a tough slot player to go over the middle and catch his laser underneath stuff (Troy Brown, Wes Welker), Edelman was the best of those three. Going underneath into the middle requires precise route running, toughness, and timing. Any mistake and the ball is loose with defenders all around it ready to steal it and go the other way. The receiver is going to get hit hard and often. Mental and physical toughness are a must. Takes a special guy to have those attributes and also be sure handed. Troy Brown, Wes Welker, and Edelman, all had those qualities. But Edelman added another. Brown and Welker would make the catch, then take a dive in order to preserve their bodies. Still tough, sure handed and admirable for maintaining their concentration in traffic. But Edelman added another dimension. He would catch the ball and instead of taking a dive, he would have this little bag of elusive moves that would get him yards after the catch. Truly a rare talent, plying his trade in an area of the field that few have the guts to reside in.
This is Brady's game. Underneath timing routes, which when successful as they virtually always were with Edelman in the slot, would set up the deeper routes with Hogan, sometimes last year's emerging rookie, Mitchell, and sometimes a streaking big man, Gronk, or Bennett and the expected new deep sensation, Brandin Cook.
But Edelman went down three weeks ago. The only guys who could now bang around in Brady's underneath comfort zone were Amendola and Gronk. But Amendola, although gutsy and normally sure handed, is often hurt as his body can't take the pounding of the under middle (he got hurt before halftime last night and never made it back), and Gronk, well I didn't like what I saw out of Gronk last night. Gronk had offseason back surgery. He looked very stiff and not himself last night. He didn't do much in the underneath middle. I think Gronk is playing hurt and is only a shadow of his old self. I'm praying I'm wrong here. Another couple of games will tell the story.
Bennett got let go in the offseason (couldn't afford him). Mitchell went on IR last week. Amendola left the game injured. Gronk didn't have his "Gronkness". Edelman is gone for the season.
That leaves Hogan, Cook, and a couple of no names. And nobody to go underneath to set up the rest of them. Hogan and Cook are deep ball guys. That is not Brady's bread and butter. He needs a 10 to 15 yd game to spring those deep routers.
And if Brady has to stand back there play after play and wait for deep routes to develop, his O line just isn't good enough. See the end of last night's game.
So this is the Patriots. That is Tom Brady coached by the best coach of all time. They will run and use checkdown passes to very speedy and sure handed backs. But my assessment is that will not be enough to fuel the explosive and relentless offense that we have come to expect out of the Patriots.
Unless Gronk suddenly looks like the Gronk of old, and unless Amendola can stay healthy running those underneath routes, this offense may be very broken. The pundits will say that B&B will bounce and will cite examples where they did just that. But the components may be missing to effect that resurgence. Be wary.
And I didn't even talk about the atrocious defense. That's another long story. But circumstances have colluded to also weaken the defense. Like I said, another long analysis.
Be wary.
