I don't see Gillislee as having any more upside than Burkhead and I like Burkhead's potential versatility as a dual threat. Gillislee had, what, 2 runs over 4 yards last night? The game plan clearly needed more involvement of the RBs in the passing game, which is why I wanted to see more of Burkhead and Lewis or even some more sets with 2 RBs at the same time.
To me there are enough differences between NO's and NE's systems - historically the Saints have had bigger slot guys like Colston and / or Jimmy Graham - to think the Patriots might use Cooks differently. If they're just going to use him the same - throw a half dozen deep bombs and hope he runs under one or two - I have problems with trading a first-round pick for that. Cooks is a good player and was good last night (especially considering the two DPIs he drew), but he's only cheap this year and half-cheap next year and then he's expensive.
Cooks to the slot quite a bit, with Hogan and Dorsett outside?
On one hand, yeah, on the other hand, oh man would WR be bad right now without that trade.
I like all four of them, view the sample size from last night as too small to draw any meaningful conclusions about and think that trying to give snaps for all four of them on a regular or semi-regular basis will make it tougher for any of them to function at peak capacity. RBs often say they need touches to get into the flow and be their most effective.
RB in the passing game is all about matchups - you get James White or Dion Lewis matched up on a LB, they can make hay. On the other hand, they're not wide receivers, so they're not likely to beat a defensive back one-on-one. I haven't studied the tape to see how KC was matching up, but based on their snap counts it looks like they played a lot of dime and matched up DBs on the NE RBs. The Pats averaged only 2.3 WR per snap, while the Chiefs averaged 5.2 DB - normal substitution would be 4 DB for 2 WR or 5 DB for 3, so KC played NE light. That would also explain why White got more carries than usual, if KC was playing a lot of dime when he was in the game.
Sure, unless they did something else. Several WR changed teams last offseason, but none of the other ones cost a first-round pick.
I remember on multiple occasions that KC LBs were matched up on Patriots RBs. A couple in particular were Derrick Johnson out wide 1-on-1 covering Rex Burkhead.
All good points, in re this one in particular I actually thought Gilmore was generally good last night, with one obvious/large exception. Did BB or anyone else comment on that? It wasn't a physical issue, it looked like either a pure mental error or one of those plays where the CB looks like an idiot but the real fault lies with the safety who was supposed to take over coverage. It looked much more like the former -- DMC obviously had to go in the other direction to pick up the other receiver (Conley, I think) and Gilmore just didn't pick up on that adjustment. Is there any other way to break down the play other than 100% on Gilmore?
Same here. Pass catching RBs is a strength of this team and they managed 4 receptions last night. A RB vs. LB matchup won't be there on every play but there were opportunities that I felt the team missed during the game. Ultimately, I like the diversity of this group but McDaniels will clearly need more time to figure out how he can best use everyone.
KC might have matched up on Burkhead differently than White. The Patriots did target Burkhead three times on the 10 plays he was out there for (three of which at least were runs), but they only completed one.
Right, but they didn't trade for him with the thought that Edelman, Amendola, and Gronk (probably) would all be hurt by the 4th quarter of week one.
The question, though, is how good are the last couple of DBs on the opponent's depth chart, especially as the game goes on and a couple of the starting DBs are banged up/out of action?
To me, that makes it worse, not better, because the WR were banged up as you mention in the fourth quarter and KC was still flooding the middle and daring the Patriots to beat them outside.
It's the quality of the mismatch relative to your other options. If the second receiving back and the third / fourth WR are both going to draw the 5th / 6th DB in coverage, you'd rather have the WR out there because he's almost certainly going to be a better pure receiver than the RB.
Gronk got up oddly after the diving catch that got called back. In real time, i thought it was his arm.
Yeah, I saw that. My first thought was that he got the wind knocked out of him. Could have been worse, but we won't know until next Sunday what is going on.
Never mind the fact that Berry is like totally hanging on Gronk, his left arm totally wrapped around him, pulling at him as the ball approaches. At minimum, should have been first and goal at the one.
a) But what if you're down to your 5th and 6th WR?
Yeah, I'm not sure how that's even really debatable. He didn't have the ball secured and it touched the ground. Incomplete pass. Berry and his holding is another conversation, but the review official made the right call on that non-catch.
Probably not then, but if we want to keep going this route ("what about 8th WR?"), certainly at some point it is true. My point is that when we talk about a RB being a good receiver, we are talking about relative to the kind of routes they run and relative to the kind of defenders they face. White matches up mostly on LB and SS and rarely sees press coverage. It says something that the Patriots ran Phillip Dorsett out there, a not-very-good WR who has been on the team less than a week, rather than Lewis or Burkhead.
Lewis isn't going to thrive in traffic, either, certainly not in the way that we talk about a receiver like Edelman thriving in traffic. And yeah, he can make guys miss, which is why its great to throw him swing passes and screens and get him in space. That's a different skill set than lining up at WR and beating defensive backs, though. White has more WR-esque route-running ability, but he's still not a WR.
That's not weird, right, considering he's coming off back surgery and didn't play a single preseason snap? Last year he did nothing his first couple weeks back, and in 2013 he didn't look quite right when he first returned (< 50% catch rate his first two games).
This is what I was thinking. I mean, we're talking about the best football mind in probably NFL history. Do we think he won't be able to figure it out?
Given that it's just one game, I'm not quite willing to pull the fire alarm just yet either. In the 2014 opener, the Pats gave up 33 points to a Miami Dolphins team that would finish 8-8. And the defense was a bit shaky in the first 2 games last season as well. So, I expect to see some adjustments in the schemes as well; just proves that it can take even the best coaches a couple of real games to truly figure out what they are working with. And teams sometimes look worse in losses than they truly are.
They were also 19th in net yards per passing attempt, and 23rd in rushing yards per attempt. It was a team that never seemed as good as its 10-6 record, and they got shredded by the Colts and Saints that year, and also once by the Dolphins for 416 total yards.
KC shut down Gronk the last time they faced, too - 2 catches for 31 yards, one a 13-yard TD in garbage time from Jimmy G. Berry is very good and KC was flooding the middle with extra defenders. It was a game where the Patriots had to win outside (and mostly deep) to move to the ball. That's not where Gronk usually works. Even most of the times Gronk was targeted, it was outside and deep.
Gronk did go 7 for 83 and 2 TD in the 2015 playoff game, in which Berry played..
Just watching the highlights of the two TDs, Berry wasn't covering him - it was CB Sean Smith I think (#21) on one and #27 on the other
The KC D-Line was really tight with no gaps. Brady usually likes to go in low on sneaks, but he needs some kind of opening to choose and go through. With a back, you either hope your line can push back their line a couple feet or your back can go over the top. When I saw the KC line, both times, I thought no QB sneak, packed in too tight. Of course, why doesn't everybody line up like that against the Pats on 3rd and 4th and very short with Brady's 90 something % success in QB sneaks?
