In the days leading up to the return of the freakishly large and athletic man/child from offseason surgeries, it was assumed that the best tight end in the league would be limited in some manner in regard to snap count as he played his first meaningful football in nearly a year.
51 snaps, 17 targets and 8 catches for 114 yards later, the claim could be made that he had a full day at the office - and ultimately successful on an individual scale, yet his numbers tell a tale of frustration and the resultant failure when combined with the team's overall stat line.
Make no mistake, Gronkowski was thisclose to making the game winning catch on the Patriots' final drive of regulation - had he been able to get his bulky brace-encased left arm up in time to help snare a slightly overthrown pass from Tom Brady...
...but, alas, he was fighting double teams, getting hammered by defensive ends and linebackers coming off the line of scrimmage and being mugged by safeties on every break into the pattern - which is par for the course for defenses trying to stop the human wrecking ball, but not with the regularity and ferocity that he encountered on Sunday.
Why? Simply put, a wide disparity in the pass/run ratio caused the Patriots to become one dimensional, and caused every player on the offense to become targets - the line reduced to playing a twisted game of Red Rover to try and protect Brady, who's tied to a pole and been given a blindfold and a cigarette...
...and his pass catchers became big clay pigeons for the Jets' secondary to fire at.
You see, this offense screams for balance, it is at it's optimum performance when the veteran offensive line works from a baseline from which the opposing defense has to respect the running game and can't just come after Brady like they were shot out of a cannon.
The trickle down benefits are too numerous to list, but Brady having time to throw, the receivers not having to fight out of flooded zone coverages and controlling the time of possession and field position are among the top incentives of running the ball, something that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels says that he understands.
"We definitely need to hand the ball to our backs," McDaniels said on Monday "If I haven’t done enough of that, then certainly we’re going to try to make sure that we go into each game with a good plan and give all of our skill players an opportunity to make an impact in the game, definitely including the backs."
Sounds like a little self-speculation going on there, Josh. The fans of your team certainly hope so.
Pass offense: C
It all comes down to protection, and part of the trickle down from being one-dimensional is that the Jets' pass rushers were able to pin their ears back and go after Brady with impunity and the defensive backs only had to have bracket coverage that Brady was forced to throw the ball into.
No matter how stout and talented the offensive line may be, when your opponent knows what the offense is doing - as in knowing that the play call is going to be pass - there is no hesitation in their rush, no having to worry about play action.
And while Gronkowski had a decent debut, but his 17 targets ate up almost half of Brady's throws - eventually taking that dimension away from the Patriots, which made it nearly impossible to find Gronkowski open in the second half, Brady having to loft balls over the top of double coverage or jump balls in man.
Again, curious play calling in spots, particularly taking shots downfield when prudence dictated that the running game or underneath routes were the better choice - and it's tough to tell whether the deep throws were designed or if Brady checked into them at the line, but the objective of each play should be to gain a first down, not try to throw the ball over a Jets' defense that knew what was coming.
You want stats? Brady was an efficient 20 of 36 for 179 yards in the short to intermediate zones, while just 2 for 10 on deep routes for 49 yards. Granted, many of those incompletions were near misses, but in the end they weren't completions - because the Jets' knew what was coming.
Rush offense: B
What little of it there was, it was very good.
Stevan Ridley busting out 4.5 yards per carry against the leagues' number two rush defense that normally only gives up 3.1 suggests a level of success that begged for more, yet was curiously abandoned.
Stats don't always tell the entire story - which is what McDaniels was hanging his hat on - but he can't hide from this: On four scoring drives, the Patriots ran the ball 15 times for 72 yards and two touchdowns. The rest of the game - nine possessions in all - he called five running plays for a grand total of eighteen yards.
'nuff said.
Rush defense: C+
The New York press is lauding the return of Rex Ryan's "Ground and Pound" offense - and why wouldn't they? The Jets' ran for a total of 177 yards- but it took them 52 carries to do it, and the entire premise of "Ground and Pound" is predicated on dominating the interior line of scrimmage, which didn't happen.
The interior of the Patriots defensive line held their ground to less than three yards per carry on nearly half of New York's rushing attempts - the real issues coming when the the defensive ends either couldn't set the edge on the wings or lost containment of Geno Smith...
...so is it any wonder that coach Bill Belichick went out on Tuesday and got him another defensive end in old friend Andre Carter?
As always, it was fun to watch Brandon Spikes blow up running plays, and he deserves a lot of credit - as do the rookie tackles for taking on blocks and providing The Predator gaps to fill. This is a recipe for success that should be ongoing.
Pass defense: C
Kyle Arrington is not a cover corner, he is a slot corner who plays the run very well - so needless to say starting him outside in Aqib Talib's haunt was a monumental disaster.
But the coaching staff deserves some kudos for lifting him after the third series, promoting rookie Logan Ryan from the slot and replacing Arrington with Marquice Cole - and the return on this investment paid off immediately. Sure, Ryan got burned a time or two, but he gave as good as he got, and for a rookie in his first extended action, it can be called a win.
What is not a victory, however, is the coverage of the linebackers on the tight ends and running backs - and this is where the team is going to miss Jerod Mayo's versatility. Once the safeties got involved in covering underneath the blood letting ceased for the most part, which suggests that the Patriots should use some combination of the 4-2-5 Big Nickle or 4-1-6 Dime going forward...
...with perhaps some extra practice reps on the tackling dummy for safety Steve Gregory, who apparently needs some instruction on tackling fundamentals - specifically, to be reminded that he has arms and hands, and that it's still ok to hit the receiver hard, but he has to wrap up as well.
Not sure if that's going to help though, because in his eighth season he's an old dog that may not be able to learn new tricks.
Special Teams: A-
Again, as solid as any in the league.
Gostkowski and Allen are true weapons who have yet to create a faux pas to put their team in a bad spot, and the coverages were excellent. What wasn't excellent, however, were the penalties on kick returns, particularly Jamie Collins blocking a Jets' kick coverage player in the back that was so obvious that even Dierdorf noticed.
The units got a huge lift from the return of special teams' ace Matthew Slater, broken wrist and all.
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