Offensive woes

Arguably the Patriots' most talked about topic so far this season is our offensive line. From the week 1 loss against Miami, to the win in Minnesota, to barely squeaking by Oakland at home, the constant concern has been our offensive line. I get a lot of questions asking why I stress about the OLine so much. Here's why: your offensive line is essentially the make or break deciding factor on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line is responsible for blocking for running backs and protecting their quarterback like their lives depend on it. The play starts on the line, when the center snaps the ball. Once the ball is in the quarterback's hands, it's the offensive line's job to protect the quarterback and give him time to assess the defense, and make a play. It's tough to relax in the pocket and give your receivers time to run their routes, when defensive linemen are running right through your OLine. This is where the offensive problems stem from, and the offense won't drastically improve until the OLine does. 

Trading Logan Mankins to Tampa Bay for tight end Tim Wright, during the preseason definitely left a lot of questions and concerns for Patriots fans. Mankins and Brady had great chemistry. Mankins also provided veteran leadership, which the Patriots are lacking right now. As I said, we traded Mankins...the leader of our offensive line...for a TE. It didn't make a whole lot of sense then, and still doesn't. Wright, disappointingly, hasn't been phased into our offense very much, yet. Which leads to the question, if he was worth trading Mankins for, why aren't we using him? 

Aptitude and mental toughness are underrated and often overlooked traits when it comes to offensive linemen. They're typically the smartest guys on the field, right after the quarterback. 

Two things to keep in mind: First, even though it's been messy and Brady's taken too many hits already, they've already shown slight improvement from week one. Obviously, there's still a lot of work to do. I'm of the impression that it can only get better. While it's disappointing to see the Patriots struggling so much, I think with time and experience playing together, they'll turn it around. Second, if making adjustments with the players we already have isn't enough, there's a couple free agent offensive linemen we could sign. One being Ritchie Incognito. Incognito to the Pats has been a rumor since the Mankins/Wright trade. While at first I didn't like the thought of Ritchie Incognito in a Patriots uniform (given all the drama surrounding him last season in Miami), I began thinking that if anyone could straighten him out, it's Belichick. He would almost immediately have a positive impact on the Pats offensive line. He's a very physical, tough, nasty player which is exactly what the Patriots need. He would also provide veteran leadership to a fairly young unit. Eric Baca is another option for the Patriots at OG. He was drafted in the 6th round by the Vikings in 2013. While there's not a lot of game tape on him (I believe he played in only four games last season), he has impressive athleticism, and could give the Patriots more depth at the position. Sometimes, a different player with a slightly different skill set, is exactly what's needed. Lastly, they could consider bringing Jon Halapio back. While he was certainly not the best, he would again be a different set of strengths and weaknesses for the Patriots to play around with. 

Tomorrow night we face the Chiefs at Arrowhead, our toughest challenge yet. Keeping Brady upright, and giving him time to throw the ball is the key to a win. 

What I would love to see: 

1) Start Bryan Stork at center. Being a Florida State fan, I love the guy. He won two big trophies in college. A BCS National Championship and the Rimington Trophy for being the best center in all of college football in 2013. Hello, "best center in college football", start him. This makes Wendell and Connolly able to jump around on the offensive line. Move Connolly to left guard and put Cannon in at right guard. Love that idea. This would be a nice start to fixing the Patriots struggles. 
2) Nate Solder has gotten beat at least two times in all 3 games so far. At left tackle, his main job is protecting Brady's blind side. Solder stands right at 6'8, your typical dream for a left tackle. He's allowed 2 sacks and something like 12 pressures on Brady thus far. Solder, a former first round pick, is in his fourth year in the league. I think he could be out of a starting job soon if he doesn't improve his game. 

3) Spreading the ball around and giving each receiver some love could benefit the Pats tremendously. I know Brady's been doing the best he can with who he's got and who he's most comfortable throwing to, but getting out of his comfort zone from time to time, might be a good thing. After all, chemistry is never going to develop with guys you never throw to during games. Connecting with LaFell, Wright, and Amendola in practice is great, but being able to complete passes to them in actual games is what really matters. Gronk and Jules are clearly Brady's security blankets. While they're both great players, opposing teams start to pick up on these kinds of things. So they'll start to double-team Edelman and Gronk, forcing Brady to look elsewhere to make a play. This is why it's so important to incorporate all of our wide receivers, TEs (Gronk, Hooman, & Wright), and versatile RBs into the game plan. Brady & Co will figure it out and get in synch eventually, I have no doubt. In fact, I'll go as far as to say we'll look better on offense starting this week, against the Chiefs. 

4) Last but not least, our offense needs to be better balanced. The Patriots no huddle-hurry up offense works best when given a strong running game. While our running game hasn't been terrible this season, it needs to be better. We need explosive, dominant runs. Give Brady a much improved OLine, time to throw, and a strong running game, and we'll be on the right track to getting back to New England football that we all know and love. 

As always, Go Pats. 

To panic, or not to panic.

Last season, the Patriots had a lot of the same struggles they're having so far this season. It was a brand new offense, a pretty banged up defense, and by week 12, we had about 15 players on IR. This season, the offense is still pretty new, and learning to work together as a unit while trying to compensate for losing key players, such as Logan Mankins and LeGarrette Blount. Defense is fairly young, Big Vince is coming back from a nasty injury, Revis is still adjusting to New England and Belichick's ways, and Matt Patricia is still, well, Matt Patricia... 

I put a lot of blame and focus on our coordinators on both sides of the ball, quite often. I know that it doesn't matter what plays you practice, call, and run, it means nothing if the players aren't executing well. That being said, you can't tell me that Revis and Wilfork and Mayo don't know how to execute plays in the NFL. They're vets. They've all been in the league for a good amount of time; and they've been pretty darn good, too. Or that Brady can't consistently make plays anymore. Nope, I won't buy it. So this is where the coordinating and coaching comes in. I've had mixed feelings about Josh McDaniels for a while. I don't love him, I don't hate him. I think he knows his football and could be a really good offensive coordinator...just not for the Patriots (I should point out that he's not horrible...we could have a lot worse). Maybe I'm just still not over Bill O'Brien leaving for Penn State and now being the Texan's head coach. Bill O'Brien was my favorite. An offensive whiz. Annnd when he left I was bummed, but kept an open mind about McDaniels' return. But, over the past 3 years, I just haven't seen that much from him to be totally ecstatic about. Granted, it's hard to fill the shoes of someone like Bill O'Brien. 

On to defense. Matt Patricia is another one of those, "I don't hate him, but I definitely do not love him", guys. This season, I just feel like we should be dominating more than we have been. You have Revis, one of the top 5 corners in the NFL right now. You're loaded with young talent, but you still have some vets to bring the experience and leadership you need. I'll cut him some slack for last season since we did have a lot of significant injuries. This season, I see a good defense in the works, waiting to come alive. We've already seen that someway, somehow, no matter how good or bad they've been playing, they seem to step up and make plays when it really matters. 

I'll do a more in depth post about these 2 later on. 

Here's what I'm thinking. Good news? As shaky as the Patriots have looked so far this season, we're 2-1, tied for 1st in the AFC East. Bad news? Our 2 wins have come against 2 average teams that simply don't compare to the elite competition (ie. Seattle, Denver, Cincinnati, even San Diego). We didn't quite have the bounce back game I was hoping for against Minnesota, and we barely got past Oakland at home. 

What does this mean? 2 very important things: 1) Belichick and staff have some work to do. 2) If anyone can somehow overcome this slow, very un-Patriot like start, it's Tom Brady. Don't lose hope yet. I don't think I'm the only one who's noticed that Tom Brady seems to be lacking his usual enthusiasm and excitement on the field that he normally has. I hate it. When you think about it, put yourself in his shoes. He's been given pretty much no name receivers, Gronk and Jules being the exceptions. His OLine is so bad that he has no time to look down the field and analyze the defense, and plays are rushed. He has people questioning about his ability to throw deep, but he knows that he can't even think about throwing deep because 9 times out of 10, he'll be on the ground before his receivers get a chance to run the route. He's taken too many hits this season already, and we're only 3 games in. 

Can they get (back) on the right track? Of course. Simply put, yes. BUT, big changes have to be made. And I do believe it starts with the OLine. Whether it's rotating the guys you have to see who fits best where, or signing a free agent interior lineman (or 2), something needs to happen, before it's too late. The Chiefs are a "blitz happy" team. They blitz more than Matt Patricia would even think about blitzing (okay, okay, he is getting better about that). So, the main key to winning Monday night is our offensive line. If they show up and do their jobs, we should be okay. I'm not guaranteeing a win by any means, but we'll say I like our chances a whole lot better if our OLine does what they're getting paid to do, and allows Brady time to work his Brady magic. 

Last season we managed to overcome injuries and differences to win our division and make it back to the AFCCG. It wasn't always pretty and I can't lie, I wasn't always confident that we would or even could win. This reassures me that if anyone can do it, I like our chances with Brady and Belichick. I know every season is different. Really when it comes to the NFL, every game is different. Anything can happen on any given Sunday. I'm hoping this season is a lot like last season, but with a different, much better outcome.  

As always, Go Pats!

Bledsoe down, Brady In

13 years ago, today, the NFL changed forever. Football changed forever. 

On September 23, 2001, Patriots fans all over the world held their breath as Drew Bledsoe went down on the sideline after a brutal hit from Jets LB, Mo Lewis, in week 2 of the 2001 season. He stayed in the game and played the next series before being rushed to Mass. General where he would be treated for severe internal bleeding. And so began the Brady era in New England.

With a little under 5 minutes left in the game, Brady took over as quarterback, but couldn't pull out a win. The Patriots lost 10-3. 
Bledsoe was going to be out for 6-8 weeks, leaving the job under center in Brady's hands. The Pats won their next game, Brady's first NFL start, against the Colts; thus beginning the Manning-Brady rivalry. 
Brady ultimately led the Patriots to an 11-5 season and something New England had never known...a Super Bowl Championship. 

Brady finished the season third in passing in the AFC, second in completion percentage, with 18 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. *

Bledsoe was traded to Buffalo where he had one of his best seasons, and made the Pro Bowl for the 4th time. After his stint in Buffalo, Bledsoe signed with the Cowboys, where he reunited with former Patriots head coach, Bill Parcells. Bledsoe retired on April 11, 2007.

I could say "and the rest is history", but I love Bledsoe too much to sound that cold. I appreciate his time as a Patriot and he will forever be a fan favorite in New England. He was that kind of guy. A lot like Grogan. Everybody loved him, and he was your dad's favorite player at one point in time. Bledsoe wasn't the best quarterback ever, but his enthusiasm on the field and his persona off the field made it difficult to not like him. 

*Stats found on www.pro-football-reference.com*

16-9

The Patriots progress to 2-1 on the season with a 16-9 win over the Raiders, for their 2014 home opener. There's a lot, and I mean A LOT, of things that they need to work on before I'm ready to call them the best team in the AFC and a lock for super bowl contenders, but I did see some positives to take away from today's game. 

When I watch my Patriots play I don't just watch like a "normal" fan. You're more likely to find me jumping up and down, yelling at the TV like Belichick can hear me, and tweeting about every little thing that's happening. Patriots fans take their sports very seriously. They're the die-hard, my-mood-for-this-week-depends-on-whether-my-team-wins-or-loses, fans. And I'm no exception to that. I love football, and I especially love New England football. I love nothing more than to break down plays and see what went wrong and who could've done what differently. I'm not one of those Patriots fans that thinks our beloved Brady can do no wrong. In fact, I'm pretty hard on Brady at times. I love the guy and think he is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play and I'm grateful for each and every time he steps onto the field in a Patriots uniform. But, with that being said, he's still human, he makes mistakes.
Alright, so back to today's game. The first quarter was rough. Luckily our defense was able to hold the Raiders to field goals the entire game. Brady & Co. couldn't seem to get in synch and find a rhythm. It was honestly atrocious at times. Our offensive line has been a problem the past 2 two seasons and continues to be one of the most blatant issues the team has. I say it all the time, but a quarterback cannot do his job if his offensive line can't protect him and the pocket is continuously collapsing around him. Far too often Brady has no time to throw and plays are rushed. I'm not blaming all of our offensive woes on the OLine but something has to be done, and I think it starts there. 

Passing game: Brady is still working on developing chemistry with his receivers. The only player he seems comfortable throwing to is Edelman. I love Jules and think he's a great player, a nice security blanket for Brady, but it's only week 3 and he's already taken some big hits. He's a pretty small guy. Durable, but small. I hope to see chemistry develop and Brady spread the ball around a little more. We have Dobson, Thompkins, LaFell, Amendola, Gronk, and the newly acquired Wright. Not a lot of big names outside of Gronk but I think with time (and patience), we could have a nice receiving corp. On one drive in particular, there were 2 opportunities for a touchdown, but on 2nd and goal, and 3rd and goal, the ball was dropped in the end zone, and we had to settle for a field goal. Those are critical things that the offense needs to work on and correct, sooner rather than later. It took until over halfway through the first half for the Patriots to finally put some points on the board. That's something that has to change before we play elite teams, like Denver, Cincinnati, San Diego, Detroit, Green Bay, etc. We can't have slow starts like we've had the past 3 games. All in all though, I really do think it all comes back to the offensive line. 

Running game: Our running game was pretty solid today, for the most part. Ridley showed me a lot of good things, and had several strong runs. Thankfully Ridley has been able to hold onto the ball, thus far, so that's an automatic plus. I love Vereen.  I think he's a great versatile player and reminds me of one of my all time favorite Patriots, Kevin Faulk. He can run the ball pretty well, catch passes out of the backfield, or even get off the line quickly, and get open for a short yardage pass from Brady. Bolden isn't my favorite, and I definitely don't think he should be running up the middle, especially if we're trying to gain any yards, but he has his moments. 

Defense: Defense is where it gets tricky. With the talent that we have, you would think that we should be able to do more than what we're doing, especially today. Wilfork's interception at the end of the game was sweeeet. Logan Ryan tipped it to him, Wilfork did a great job catching it and falling on it, securing the win for us. Revis got smoked a couple times, and he allowed 5 out of 6 catches. I like Revis and think he's good, but I'd like to see more from him. Our secondary had its moments... I'd say it was half and half. We didn't allow Oakland to score a single touchdown, so that says something, but we could thank the Oakland receivers that dropped passes on crucial 3rd down plays, for that. Our secondary plays too far off the receivers 90% of the time, and practically leaves them wide open. They need to play right on them, and not act scared to death to make a tackle. You play football, a contact sport...where tackling is required... I mean, really. I was hoping to see more pressure on Carr, who I thought was too comfortable in the pocket most of the game. We had trouble stopping Darren McFadden more times than we should have. Our run defense, just like the rest of the team, has flaws, that can, should, and probably will be fixed.  I'm just thankful that Maurice Jones-Drew wasn't active because I'm not sure how we would've stopped him. On the defensive side, we have a good amount of talent, but for the most part, we're a young team, and it's going to take time to mesh together and play as a unit. Another big issue with our defense is Matt Patricia, our defensive coordinator. There need to be better schemes and play calling. Use who we have to their strengths. Don't be afraid to move players around a bit and find what works. Once we do, and we get Brandon Browner back from his 4 game suspension, we could have a nasty, physical defense, which is just what New England has been missing the past 4 seasons. We saw great things from our defense last week, but not as much this week. We'll get there. 

Special teams: Special teams was pretty spot-on today. Matt Slater is everything you could want in a special teams player. Speed, agility, and dedication to his team. Ryan Allen was pretty good with the punts today, and Gostowski nailed his FG's, per usual.

Overall: A win is a win, in my book, but it was far from a pretty one today. Brady & Co found their rhythm a few times today, especially in the second half, but, still there were too many missed opportunities and wasted drives. Play calling on both sides of the ball needs to improve tremendously. The offensive line needs major help and defense needs to play nastier and more physically. 

Grateful for another win and glad Big Vince got the INT to seal the deal. GO PATS. 

NFL: Week 3

Tomorrow, err today really (it's 1am here), is the 2014 Patriots' home opener. I'm stoked. Wish I could be there. Home openers have the best feel to them. The vibe is unreal.
Hopefully we get a W this week and progress to 2-1 on the season. We have a bit of a history with Oakland. And it all goes back to 2002 and the infamous "tuck rule" game. Now, I was only 5 when this happened but I've done my share of research on it and I've watched said game about a hundred times by now. But, if you're not familiar with the Pats/Raiders 'rivalry', or maybe you just don't remember the tuck rule, we shall reminisce. 

When: January 19th, 2002; 2001 AFC divisional playoff game
Where: Foxboro Stadium *fun fact: this was the last game ever played at Foxboro Stadium*
Final Score: 16-13, Pats
What exactly happened? Charles Woodson sacked Tom Brady, which resulted in a fumble, recovered by the Raiders (I can't remember which player). Under further review, the refs determined that Brady's arm was moving forward, resulting in an incomplete pass. The original call was overturned, New England got the ball back, moved into field goal territory, and Adam Vinatieri took the field to kick the game tying FG, to send them into overtime. Had the original call stood, it would've pretty much sealed the deal for an Oakland victory. The Pats won in overtime, thanks to another Vinatieri clutch kick. 
The Patriots went on to win Super Bowl 36 vs the Rams, 2 games later. 

The NFL owners voted to do away with the Tuck Rule in 2013. *fun fact: New England and Washington didn't vote; Pittsburgh was the only team to oppose eliminating the Tuck Rule.*

Tuck Rule: 1999-2013 

Here's hoping for a great game, a dominating performance by NE all around, from our coaching to our players; to play calling and everything in between; and a fantastic job by Brady.  As always, Go Pats! 

I have a blog now...weird. (1st post)

I've been talking about starting a blog for the longest time...so I finally did. I love to write. About anything and everything. So, my blog is going to be one big 'journal' of random topics. From sports (my first love), to music, to rants, to day-to-day life stories, and everything in between. So be prepared. There's no rhyme or reason to this mess I'm calling a blog. Hahaha. 

Get ta know me:
-Boston is my favorite city in the world
-I'm a senior in high school, currently going through the whole college decision/admissions process *sigh*
-I love to travel; I live for airplanes and airports and flying
-I'm obsessed with sports. Football, basketball, baseball, and hockey, in that order. 
-Boston sports basically consume my life
-Most girls watch reality shows and tweet about the Kardashians.I watch NFL Network and tweet about sports. 
-I have the cutest dog in the world. Her name is Josie and I've taught her everything I know about sports. She loves her Patriots! Her nickname is "Little Gronk". 
-I love Skip Bayless, unlike 93% of sports fans. Hahahaha
-Concerts and music festivals are my second home... only behind Gillette Stadium. 
-I have a slight caffeine addiction, but not like normal teenagers. I'm addicted to coffee and green tea! 
-I love health and fitness. Working out and eating clean, healthy foods is very important to me. 
-I play guitar

annnnd 2 more for tonight...hmmm

-I love cold weather and snow!
-From Thanksgiving to New Years Eve is my favorite time of year. So pretty!