I made this post in April, after the draft:
Better than Gesicki? He couldn't get open with Hill and Waddle dragging defenses attention on every play. And Gesicki and Henry might actually be the worst top 2 tight ends when it comes to blocking, a huge part of their job, in the entire league. A rookie TE may not come in and drop Gronk receiving numbers, but a bunch of them aren't literal turnstiles either.
I have no idea why anyone has faith in our offensive line, and that doesn't seem to be getting any better. Then we get to wide receiver. Folks were telling me Meyers was really good, the Pats disagreed and let him walk for the same money they gave Agholor, who sucks complete ass.
We all know what's coming. Defense will play well, make plays, keep them in the game against middle tier or lower teams. Awesome, meanwhile we'll be here debating whether Mac sucks or not week in week out, as he is running for his life, hoping some retread gets open in under 5 seconds. The defense is going to be staring at short fields, because our offense can't do a damn thing.
The worst part is I love their fucking draft picks. LOVE THEM. I just have no fucking idea what the plan is to actually compete, unless it's to run our the string with Mac, build a defensive team and move on when they find a QB they like. It's a plan, I guess, but one that comes with crazy long odds in today's NFL.
I am a very, very long time season ticket holder, ill be there, ill root them on, but damn, it's 2023, not 1992. The game us different and folks simply need to look at the teams in the playoffs last year to figure out what works and what doesn't.
I'm glad that
@SMU_Sox seems to be fighting the good fight in here with what I've been saying for going on 3-4 years (and even in Brady's run when they wouldn't give him help). If anyone watched that game and came with anything other than "Wow, speed makes a big difference in the NFL," then they aren't paying attention.
The Pats D was focused on not allowing deep throws. The Miami defense doesn't have to worry about that with the Pats, because well, we don't have a fucking receiver that can get 1 yard of separation anywhere on the field. So Miami takes away the deep throw just by virtue of our personnel. So they can come up and hammer our receivers a split second after a catch. Meanwhile, we're stopping the deep ball, but giving up passes underneath to guys like Hill and Waddle that can turn it up field.
And you know what Hill and Waddle do that never, ever gets discussed around here. They create fucking gravity. Do people really not understand that the reason River fucking Cracraft and Braxton Berrios and Durham Smythe are getting open and making plays is because those guys pull everyone towards them. We don't have that, so it's going to be a dink a dunk shitshow until we do. But then what happens, Miami gives up some space in the middle of the field, because they know they are going to get so much fucking pressure that Mac is going to be running for his life before he has a chance to find a guy over the middle.
Mac's arm strength is fine. The problem is he can't fucking step into a throw because he's getting pancaked on every other play. Mac threw a pick yesterday, terrible throw. You know who else picks yesterday on terrible throws, Tua, Hurts, Ridder, Burrow, Mahomes, Daniel Jones, Goff, and on and on and on, and most of those guys I just mentioned, their "teams" won those games. One bad throw or interception shouldn't doom a team to losing. Tom Brady threw 12 picks in the last 10 regular season games of 2001. The Pats went 8-2.
I'm not going to rehash this debate again, because I've been pretty clear on this topic for years. The Goats for me yesterday:
The offensive line (all of them, but special shout outs to Strange, O,wenu and Anderson). If you can't block in the passing game, you damn well better be able to block in the running game, they can't do that either.
The WR's (not because of any specific plays, although once again, would be nice to see them catch a ball that doesn't have to him them perfectly in the middle of the chest) because well, they just aren't good enough, talented enough and can't get any fucking separation.
BB, the GM, the guy should not be shopping for groceries on offense anymore, and the guy who benched Pop Douglas, the only guy with any NFL level agility and speed on the offense.
And Myles Bryant, because fuck him. And Jayhlani Tavai, who was quickly on pace to be my new Myles Bryant last night, until I think they finally benched him too.
