Throughout Bill Belichick's tenure as coach of the New England Patriots, his mantra has always been, "Do your job" - and he has been extraordinary at devising a game plan that puts his properly motivated players in position to be successful...
...he's coaching the entire time that his players are performing and, generally speaking, the way he handles his players works out pretty well - but one has to wonder whether some of the coaching staff should be trusted with the amount of autonomy he seems to give them - and to whether situation dictates what punishment befits a crime.
Belichick is obsessed with situational football - I'm envisioning a Denzel Washington moment in remember the Titans, kids practicing in the dark, the headlights of half a dozen cars illuminating the field, making them run the same play over and over again until they get it right.
Right, do what needs to be done, improvise, adapt and overcome - but if the coaches aren't sticking to the mantra, and if they aren't being held accountable to it, what's the point?
The Patriots were doomed to a poor performance on the offense last Sunday because the coaching staff put them in a situation where they were playing right into the strength of the Bengals' defense, and by the time they figured that out, it was too late.
Passing offense: D
Quarterback Tom Brady and his receivers need to sit in a cafeteria somewhere and and get on the same page, because to be as discombobulated as the Patriots' passing attack was in the fifth game of the season should give them and their fans a bit of a pause.
Granted, the play calling left Brady a sitting duck, but his line did ok enough times for him to get throws off, but he was shell-shocked to the point that the commentators on the CBS feed wouldn't go out of their way to separate Brady from his receivers on a couple of misfires throughout the game, when usually they would be quick to edify the future Hall of Famer beyond reproach.
But the play calling doesn't excuse the bad throws, wrong routes and dropped passes.
There were still plays to be made, and had the Patriots connected on just one of the near misses, this is a different ball game: the perfectly executed tear screen intended for running back Brandon Bolden could have gone for a score had Bolden not taken his eye off the ball to look at all the open real estate he had to run to; Aaron Dobson's catch and run was absolutely gorgeous and had a chance at finding paydirt if Dobson hadn't of fumbled the ball inside the twenty...
...and had Danny Amendola the field vision to reach out and cross the plane of the goal line after his catch at the one yard line on the same drive as Dobson's miscue - Convert on any of those and it's a different ball game.
Enough with all of the chatter about rookie receivers and injuries and no Rob Gronkowski - if they'd just do their job and leave the idle blather to the rumor mongers in the media not hang their heads when things go wrong, this offense could be something special - but right now it just seems like Congress, where the two sides can't come together on anything.
Special Teams: B+
Not much one can find to criticize this area for the Patriots - in fact, the coverage teams enveloped and gobbled up the returners on both kickoff and punt returns, Stephen Gostkowski was dead-center perfect on his two field goal attempts - though it is certain that he would have preferred kicking extra points.
Rookie punter Ryan Allen is turning into a viable weapon in his own right, pinning the Bengals' inside their own 20 numerous times, and as many times as he's had to punt the ball away from the stagnant offense, his efforts to flip field position in New England's favor can not go unnoticed.
Return teams lack imagination, still, yet have not hurt the team by turning the ball over, though punt returner Julian Edelman had heart-stopping moment running up to field a kick that probably should have been left to die.
Rushing offense: B
That's right, a "B" - and if it weren't for LeGarrette Blount's second quarter fumble, it would have possibly been an "A". In fact, were it not for Blount's fumble on Carlos Dunlap's hack job with eight minutes remaining in the first half, the entire outcome of the game could have been different.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda - I know.
The offensive line was getting good push and the backs were averaging 4.6 yards per carry before offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels suddenly stopped the assault and went almost exclusively to the air for the last seven drives of the game.
Maybe in a game where there's more running back depth you can bench someone for putting the ball on the ground, but McDaniels couldn't very well do that in this game, though he certainly made sure he limited his touches - which even three days later still makes no sense. When you are running the ball as well as the Patriots were before Blount's fumble, you keep running the ball until they prove they can stop you.
The offensive line was generating big holes for Blount and Bolden to run through against one of the top defensive lines in the NFL, but the Bengals never had to prove they could stop them - McDaniels took care of that for them.
Pretty sure nothing else needs be said about that.
Rush defense: C
Like they should have, the Bengals attacked the teeth of the Patriots defensive line and gouged out 162 yards on a Patriots defense missing elite run stuffer Vince Wilfork, but it took them 39 carries to do it.
Take note: That's what has a chance of happening if you stick with the running game.
Cincinnati tried running left and right up the middle and found virtually nothing, but when they took to running behind their pro bowl right tackle Andre Smith and guard Kevin Zeitzer, they found the pot at the end of the rainbow, which in football speak means an obscene six yards per carry.
The most success that the Bengals found was off tackle and on the edge, where obscene took on a new meaning, averaging a pornographic 8.2 yards per carry - most of the tackles made by defensive backs, as one might imagine. Obviously the Patriots were having problems setting the edge and as a result were getting blown off the line by the powerful right side of the Bengals' line.
Brandon Spikes and Jerod Mayo had excellent games in run support, but made a disproportionate amount of tackles compared to the line - which was by design, obviously, but this is an area that needs to be addressed immediately, particularly in light of the maybe-it-is / maybe-it's-not injured knee of defensive tackle Tommy Kelly, because if that's allowed to fester it will have a trickle down effect on the rest of the defense.
Pass defense: B+
Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis must have been feeling pretty froggy coming into this contest, because not only did he attack New England's injury weakened defensive line, but he also went after the Patriots' best corner in the passing game.
Before the contest Aqib Talib was reminded that Cleveland Browns cornerback Joe Haden had held Bengals' receiver A. J. Green to 7 catches for only 51 yards and was dared to do better - and he very nearly did, allowing Green just 4 catches for 59 yards. With the effort, Talib cemented his reputation in the league as a top five corner - and if Alfonzo Dennard keeps it up, he's going to start receiving the same accolades.
Most of Bengals' quarterback Andy Dalton's targets were to his dynamic set of tight ends, who abused the Patriots' cover backers until safety help limited them in the second half - but surprisingly, Dalton didn't go after Alfonzo Dennard at all. Not once, as Dennard had impressive blanket coverage on every receiver and on every route.
Unfortunately, the success of the running game negated the pass rush of Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich, though Jones was again a beast against the screen and in setting the edge in the running game while Ninkovich was handled pretty thoroughly by Andre Smith, having a difficult time with the edge against one of the best right tackles in the league.
Coaching: F
The Patriots were not ready to play on offense, plain and simple.
The defense found itself on the field for 10 more minutes than the offense, and you're not going to win many ball games with that level of disparity in time of possession.
It's a dead horse, but it bears repeating - it doesn't matter who is on the field, if the game plan and/or play calling is sub-par, the end result is probably not going to be what the team and the fans desire - and with things starting from the top and rolling downhill, the debacle on the sidelines in Cincinnati must be addressed before game planning for the New Orleans Saints can proceed.
No comments:
Post a Comment