The gushing SJH mentions:
The game also told us the 2010 New England offense is for real. The Patriots lead the league in scoring at 32 points per game, and have posted consecutive defeats of the Jets and Bears, serious teams, by a combined 81-10. What's making the New England offense work?
• Smorgasbord approach. Belichick isn't wedded to any particular offensive philosophy. He runs everything from jumbo packages to five-wide. Whatever works.
• Variation. The Patriots vary their tactics week-to-week more than any other NFL team. Most defensive coordinators study an upcoming opponent's past couple of games. With New England, this is a mistake.
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Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesOh the weather outside is frightful / and our offense is quite delightful.
• Protecting the football. New England leads the league at plus-18 in turnovers and hasn't committed a turnover in five games, which is spectacular. There's luck in turnovers -- Brian Urlacher dropped what could have been an interception at a key juncture, a Chicago fumble returned for a touchdown might have been overturned by replay. But Belichick knows that possession of the ball is of the essence, and teaches ball security as well as any coach ever has. Sunday, Jay Cutler and other Bears were waving the ball around, resulting in four fumbles. New England players had the ball high and tucked, resulting in no fumbles.
• Tremendous blocking. The New England offensive line looks as good as it looked in the 18-1 season of 2007.
• Undrafted free agents. The Patriots started five players who were not drafted or were waived at least once; the Bears started two such players. A week ago, undrafted Danny Woodhead, BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Wes Welker significantly outperformed the Jets' offense, which starts eight first-round draft choices.
Is it actually an advantage to work with unwanted players? At the NFL level, in many cases a guy chosen in the first round has perhaps 10 percent more talent than a guy who just misses being chosen, such as Welker. If both performed with the same motivation, the first-round guy would prevail. But high-drafted megabucks players tend to devote a lot of time and energy to complaining, while the undrafted give you what they've got. The kind of players who give you what they've got benefit more from coaching. Note that Belichick's teams almost never have busted plays, blown coverages or wrong routes. Undrafted or unwanted players learn the playbook and watch film. High-drafted glory-boy types think they can just show up and wing it. Busted plays are a bigger factor in NFL outcomes than commonly understood. Working with humble players allows Belichick to nearly eliminate the blown assignment.
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• Tom Brady not only throws well but reads the field well. While the Bears were committing the Single Worst Play of the Season So Far -- see below -- Brady looked down the middle to draw the safeties to the wrong place, then snapped his head back and released the ball where he'd always meant to throw. Outstanding.
• Nobody on the Patriots ever stands around doing nothing. Watch NFL film, and on almost every down you can find a player who either isn't pursuing or just brushed his man and then stood around watching. (Some examples are below.) You never see this with the Patriots. When there's a guy standing around on one team while everyone is moving for the Patriots, that makes the game 11 versus 10. Belichick's record proves that eliminating the player who stands around watching is essential to football success.
• Belichick uses sets with double pass-catching tight ends, a tactic few NFL teams show. Catches by the tight end drive safeties crazy and make other things possible.
All the above make New England the NFL's best team of the moment -- the only on-field criticism I can think of is they may be peaking too soon. But this being the Patriots, there's a dark side. In 2007, Belichick admitted to years of what seemed to everyone except him as cheating. If New England returns to the Super Bowl, the sports world might have to relive Spygate -- including the unresolved questions of why Belichick wouldn't come clean until forced, and why he never really apologized. If the Patriots win this year's Super Bowl, people might wonder if they are cheating still. Probably not, but considering the elaborate, systematic nature of their previous clandestine efforts, this can't be ruled out. Many football enthusiasts, including in the league front office, might not mind if the Patriots are knocked off early in the playoffs, and Spygate: The Sequel doesn't happen.