2019 Patriots Regular season thread

I know this is a kick in the stomach, but this is not a Super Bowl team. Their one-receiver offense makes it almost impossible to think it is. It seems that they depend on their defense to not only stop the other team, but score points, too. That's not a formula to succeed.

Meyer and Harry are rookies. Sanu has been here a month. Watson is 38. Dorsett is just okay. That leaves 2 receivers you can count on...Endelman and White. You think other teams don't notice that? They dropped Gordon for Brown. How did that work out?

Tommy is highly frustrated, it seems, like on every play. Body language is not good. If he decides to move to another team next year, I wouldn't be surprised. And I wouldn't blame him. He can't do it all by himself, but that's what he's being asked to do. That's not fair to him or to the rest of the team.

Is there one team out there that is just a quarterback away from being a good team? Brady might be theirs next year. And the Patriots did that to themselves.

On 12/16/18 the Pats had just lost for the 3rd time in 5 games and where 9-5. At that point they certainly didn't look like they were going to do much in the playoffs did they. The D was just ok and the offense hadn't found an identity yet.

Not to disagree with everyone as I am watching the same games you are and am thinking much the same way, TBs body language and performance at this point is not good. But their is still time to improve in all areas of the game, obviously much needs to happen on the offensive side for them to contend. And they still have an excellent defense so that is a little bit more than they had last year at this point. Establish the running game, which looked much better this past week, then the passing game gets a little more room to operate. Tom needs to distribute the ball better and the guys he is throwing to need to do a better job of being where they are supposed to be. But it isn't all on them as Tom has not been very accurate. I still think they can contend, they have a month still which is more than they had last year.

How about they come up with a play action pass with Elandon and Sony on the field...
How about throwing a few more of those TE seam routes...

Do you guys think that int was on Harry? Not sure that I do, trust the kid.

I like the current group of WR over what we had last year when we won the Superbowl. I'd take Sanu over Hogan. Brady has to trust his WRs. Throws that interception going to Harry and he's not targeted again in the game. Throws to Meyers in the endzone and Roby was closer to the ball. Meyers is a big WR, throw it up and let him make a play on it. Brady bounced another ball on the ground going to Meyers when he was open. He's just off all year, we've seen him play very well with less at WR.

It's why I would have kept Gordon, teams would double team him. Which meant you couldn't double Edlemen. Brady also put in a bunch of time and trusted Gordon. He'd throw him those 50-50 balls.

The bigger issue is the lack of a running game. Teams are just playing the pass and that makes rushing the passer easier. It also means more nickel D on the field. We have to start being able to run the ball effectively.

Story isnt complete on Williams and Dawson.

I'd also argue that there are guys that were ranked as early rd picks, were taken in the early rounds and played less than Jordan Richards.

Not saying he was a great pick but how much of a bust he was has been overstated.

Just a thought.

How about the Pats scale back the read option route running for the WR's and just stick to patterns that are coordinated together to create openings? I know it is a step back but WTF what they are doing isn't working. This whole thing has got to be getting into the guys heads and they are thinking too much which leads to mistakes. Let them get some confidence in just running the route they are supposed to run, get some success and then expand the playbook. Anything has got to be better than what we have been watching. These guys don't suck as bad as they have looked. This on the coaching staff and Tom.

Realize what you have right now and adjust to it, isn't that what they are supposed to be the best at?

AB uses his entire brain for football and has nothing left when he opens his mouth or uses social media.  He's a very smart football player.

Very few WR could be an impact player after getting traded mid-season.  It just takes a lot more time than they have to learn the reads and gain chemistry, especially in such a complicated offense like the Patriots have.

Brown would have been great by now if he were a normal human being, but he's also an elite athlete and extremely hard working and intelligent football player.

Even Edleman wasn't an impact player until his 5th season.

I expected more also but as Tex said he did get hurt.

On top of all the WR's they brought in how about all the TE"s they brought in that have been even worse. Sure they didn't go high end with any but I think they really tried but failed on anybody they thought could be available. Maybe they should have drafted one but that is a crap shoot year 1 also. I'm not going to try and list them all but I think their was 6,7.

Considering the Pats are 10-2 it sure feels like it has been a tough year to watch. Any other fan base would be celebrating a historic D.

For me the Killer at TE is 100% that aren't great blockers. You could live with that production if they were great blockers giving Brady extra time and really helping the running game. They basically give you nothing.

At the same time plenty of the TEs drafted this year have made impacts. Seems like a massive mistake not taking at minimum a chance on a TE in the draft.

I'm not talking about making a big move to get an elite TE or day one starter. Just a depth guy that could develop into more down the road. The only drafted TE going into spring training was Ryan Izzo a 7th round pick a year earlier. At the minimum it seemed smart to add another guy for depth and competition.

A guy like Foster Moreau who went in the 4th. Known as a very good blocker and he tested as a top TE at the combine. Not huge numbers 22 targets, 18 receptions and 4 TDs. Yet he's a very good blocker and can be an option in the Red Zone. Something we don't have.

We had a ton of picks and needed a TE. I would have been happy if they took any number of guys. I don't get not picking up a guy in a very deep TE class. Just like I don't get at minimum trading for a good blocking TE at the deadline.

I know we shouldn't question Bill, but it didn't make sense on draft day and still doesn't make sense now.

I don't buy the part about the midseason part. Brown was a force in the one game he played in and barely practiced at all with the Patriots. It's more like, Sanu isn't on that level when it comes to talent. Good number two wide receiver in a good offense.

Wes Welker, Randy Moss, and Gronk were all impact players the minute they were paired with Brady.