Bye Week reset

Saints Rest

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In an article on BSJ today, Bedard urged the need for a "hard reset" to the Pats offense. Among his suggestions:
  1. Rethink the O-Line, in terms of who plays where. Bring in another coach or reset Patricia to let him focus on the Line only.
  2. Have BB call the plays.
  3. Focus on Jones, Mac Jones. Work with him to find out what he likes to run. Spend more time in uptempo.
  4. Bring back the fullback to the offense.
My takes on Bedard's takes:
  • 1 and 2 work a bit in tandem. I have felt all season that the Line and the QB are each getting short-shrift with MP calling the plays. Either he doesn't spend enough time between offensive series talking to his line or to his QB (leaving the latter primarily to Judge based on the few clips the network shows). I'm not sure about BB calling the plays. I much prefer letting him float to wherever he is needed rather than being tied down to play-calling. Regardless, the O-Line clearly needs a lot of work. Getting Andrews back will surely help, but the problems run much deeper than that. Among his specific personnel suggestions, Bedard offers the idea of swapping Brown and Wynn back to where they were last year. I think this is the one I would consider most seriously. I've often wondered what sort of power the line could open up if you put the two monsters (Brown and Onwenu) next to each other. Maybe Wynn would get back to being serviceable if he could return to the left side.
  • Mac Jones obviously needs work. But I do agree with Bedard that the play-calling needs to work to Jones' strengths (assuming he has any left). Can RPO work in this offense?
  • I noticed one play yesterday where they lined up Jonnu in the backfield and used him as a true lead-blocker. I can't recall the exact time, but if was definitely second half on a 3rd and short. Jonnu was successful in wiping out one defender coming thru the line unimpeded, allowing Rham to get to a different hole and get the first down. Perhaps more of that. Is there anyone else on the roster who could fill this role? Could Raekwon McMillan or Mack Wilson or Jamie Collins do it? If Strange isn't going to be the starting LG, could his speed (for an O-Lineman) work in this role?
What's Jake Bailey's issue? Is he hurt? Is he in his own head? Is there a mechanical issue? Two awful shanks yesterday and he seems to have lost his ability to land a punt down close that isn't fair-caught. His recent contract makes cutting him seem impossible, but do they need to bring in a punter guru? Or simply IR him and bring in some JAG? (a JAG named Palardy is on the PS already). His career average over 5 years with CAR and MIS is about 45 -- Bailey is at 42 this year.

What other possibilites could come about during this mid-season bye week? Perhaps something in the way of contract extensions?
 

DJnVa

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To me. the OL has to be issue #1--I think that needs to be addressed to get an accurate read on where Jones is. What did we do that one game where they allowed zero QB pressures. Figure it out. That's job 1.

That obviously leads to Jones. For a guy that looked very comfortable most of last season, he's been decidedly otherwise this year, starting in camp. They need to figure out why--if it's a new scheme giving him issues they need to ascertain if that can be worked through or it's simply not a for for him. If it's not and they change it, they need to grab what he likes from it and meld that with what worked last year. And I think that leads into the next issue--get the WRs and TEs touches in a scheme that works. Henry has had a weird year--last year 50 catches and 9 TDs. This year, he has 19 catches through 9 games, only 1 TD. Bring him back into this. Get Thornton involved more--jet sweeps, etc. And finally, figure out Bourne. The dude was legit last year, and he's MIA right now.
 

ShaneTrot

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As to the fullback, I remember Rhamondre saying a few weeks ago that he prefers running without a fullback because he can pick where he is going. Plus it's too late now, where do you get one? Screw Bedard, what does he know anyway?

This line should be a lot better. They have been dominant at times. If you look around the league, most offensive lines have been terrible. KC has a talented high-price line and they have sucked in some games. Cleveland has a top-five offensive line and NE trucked them for the most part. The best part of the Eagles is their offensive line, that is a big reason they are where they are.

Meyers has been really good, the other receivers except for Parker at times have mostly sucked. Shouldn't Bourne and Agholor be better than average?
 

BigJimEd

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OL needs Andrews healthy. That's first and foremost. With him, the interior should be at least be solid. Brown has had some tough moments but I'm not too concerned about him. Still probably above average, imo. RT is the main issue. Not sure the answer there though. Both Wynn and Cannon struggled. Not sure swapping Brown out there is the answer. I think they keep running the current group out there in hopes one of them steps up.
As long as they don't have a complete turnstile out and Andrews is healthy, the OL should at least be serviceable. But that might be more wishful thinking on my part.

We all love to complain about play calling. I was skeptical about Patricia but honestly, I don't think play calling has been an issue. I certainly don't see much upside in having BB call the plays. If Patricia has too much on his plate, bring in another OL coach. I don't see that as a big issue though.
They've already incorporated things Mac did at Alabama and they have been running more RPOs. Not sure how much they utilized it against the Colts but they ran it around 18% against the Jets, I believe.

The bye is a great time to self scout though! I'm sure they'll fine tune during the week but I'm not expecting any wholesale changes.
 
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nattysez

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Also, it was after last year's bye that the Pats had a stinker against the Colts and Mac made a strange reference in the presser to everyone "feeling sorry for themselves" after the bye.

“..maybe like feeling a little sorry for ourselves because we’re coming off the bye and stuff,” said Jones.”Not to get into details, but we just didn’t practice well, and that just reflects how we played. And I didn’t practice good, and I know a lot of guys on our team felt the same way. So, we have to come to work every day and just be positive. It’s one game. It’s not the end of the world, but at the same time, we can play with those guys. They played great, but we also just shot ourselves in the foot. So, we just have to move on.”
So let's try to avoid whatever that was all about. I think the guess at the time was that they were unhappy that they had a short bye because their bye started after MNF, but I don't think there was ever a clear explanation.
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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If I have the tiebreakers right, with a Chargers' loss next week the Pats, and the whole AFC East, will be in a playoff spot.
 

Al Zarilla

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OL needs Andrews healthy. That's first and foremost. With him, the interior should be at least be solid. Brown has had some tough moments but I'm not too concerned about him. Still probably above average, imo. RT is the main issue. Not sure the answer there though. Both Wynn and Cannon struggled. Not sure swapping Brown out there is the answer. I think they keep running the current group out there in hopes one of them steps up.
As long as they don't have a complete turnstile out and Andrews is healthy, the OL should at least be serviceable. But that might be more wishful thinking on my part.

We all love to complain about play calling. I was skeptical about Patricia but honestly, I don't think play calling has been an issue. I certainly don't see much upside in having BB call the plays. If Patricia has too much on his plate, bring in another OL coach. I don't see that as a big issue though.
They've already incorporated things Mac did at Alabama and they have been running more RPOs. Not sure how much they utilized it against the Colts but they ran it around 18% against the Jets, I believe.

The bye is a great time to self scout though! I'm sure they'll fine tune during the week but I'm not expecting any wholesale changes.
I understand that Andrews is an excellent center, but how can he materially make the guys on either side if him (the guards) better. Is it a practice thing, or an in-game thing, like reminders in the huddle or something?
 

BigJimEd

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I understand that Andrews is an excellent center, but how can he materially make the guys on either side if him (the guards) better. Is it a practice thing, or an in-game thing, like reminders in the huddle or something?
Continuity and familiarity are a linemen's friend but the guards have been solid for the most part. Some breakdowns recently but not the biggest issue with the team. I expect Strange will be fine. The issue appears to be over aggression. Coming off a double team too early might be OK with Andrews but might result in a loss of yards with Ferentz. Either way, very coachable and fixable.

Matt Chatham thinks best OL config is Brown-Strange-Andrews-Wynn-Onwenu :

View: https://twitter.com/chatham58/status/1590003464020848644
 

Super Nomario

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1. Rethink the O-Line, in terms of who plays where.
I agree they need to evaluate this. Why is Wynn struggling? Would he be better back on the left side, or at guard? If you're going to switch Wynn and Brown, or switch Wynn and Onwenu, now's the time to do it. I hate jerking Onwenu around again but I'd rather do it now than later. I don't see Cannon or Cajuste as serious RT options.

Bring in another coach or reset Patricia to let him focus on the Line only.
2. Have BB call the plays.
I get people have banging this drum since Patricia / Judge were announced, and probably will as long as they continue in their roles. I think this is one where it comes down to what's going on behind the scenes and not what we see. Only BB can evaluate if OL duties are distracting Patricia from OC duties or vice versa. We know the OC has pretty much always had another job (QB coach with McD / BOB, RB coach with Weis), and we know gameplanning / designing the callsheet has always been a collaborative process. I don't think there's a magic bullet solution here.

3. Focus on Jones, Mac Jones. Work with him to find out what he likes to run. Spend more time in uptempo.
As @BigJimEd pointed out, we have seen some of this. They're doing more shotgun / less under center, sprinkling in more RPOs, etc.

4. Bring back the fullback to the offense.
I could see this. The two TE offense has not materialized despite all they're paying Henry and Smith. They can move on (with some pain) from either or both this offseason. They could add a fullback to the practice squad, mostly with an eye towards 2023, but start sprinkling in some two back sets as the season progresses. That's what they did with Develin in 2012; he spent most of the season on the PS as the Pats were committed to the Gronknandez duo, then he got active a bit late in the year and played a bigger role in subsequent seasons.
 

ShaneTrot

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What I would like to see is the team improve over the second half of the season. Improvement was a hallmark of Belichick's teams. They have sucked down the stretch every year since 2018. They have been 6-11 (including playoffs) from 2019-2021 December - January.
 

tims4wins

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What I would like to see is the team improve over the second half of the season. Improvement was a hallmark of Belichick's teams. They have sucked down the stretch every year since 2018. They have been 6-11 (including playoffs) from 2019-2021 December - January.
And they only went 4-3 down the stretch in 2018 after starting 7-2 (blowout loss at Tennessee, lateral game at Miami, loss at Pittsburgh the following week)
 

BigJimEd

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What I would like to see is the team improve over the second half of the season. Improvement was a hallmark of Belichick's teams. They have sucked down the stretch every year since 2018. They have been 6-11 (including playoffs) from 2019-2021 December - January.
With the Pats schedule, their play could improve but the results still might not be there.

They are going to need a good jump in there offensive performance and more consistency on defense. Defense will face some challenges going forward.
 

BaseballJones

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What I would like to see is the team improve over the second half of the season. Improvement was a hallmark of Belichick's teams. They have sucked down the stretch every year since 2018. They have been 6-11 (including playoffs) from 2019-2021 December - January.
Unfortunately, they could "improve" and still lose more games than they win, due to the level of competition they're going up against.
 

BusRaker

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Reinforces the fact that a Broncos - Pats matchup would set the NFL combined punt record
 

BaseballJones

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Denver: 31st on offense, 1st on defense. I saw a post the other day that said if Denver scored 18 points in every game this year they'd be 8-1. Just 18.
 

BigSoxFan

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Denver: 31st on offense, 1st on defense. I saw a post the other day that said if Denver scored 18 points in every game this year they'd be 8-1. Just 18.
Yup. Russ being blah and Javonte getting hurt has been an absolute killer for them. Plus, their coach has sucked. And, to top it off, they lose their 1st and 2nd round picks because of Wilson, which are currently 7/43 overall. Ouch.

I feel for j-man this year.