Patriots 2021 season thread

I thought maybe I didn't remember right, so I just went back and watched every Mac Jones throw. I just don’t see any throws that I feel were in the air too long or a general lack of zip on his passes. The Meyers pass was perfect, that's just the issue using Meyers on routes like that. He underthrew a Bourne sideline pass, yet that was because of the defender, he wanted Bourne to come back to get the ball. Unless people of talking about his 5-10 yard touch passes, yet that's what those are. The Meyers pass that almost got intercepted likely had a little too much zip. We aren't talking about the avoid the rush, throwing off his back foot throws are we?

If you wanted too look at something that could be an issue, it's that only Nelson Agholor has elite speed and quickness. Meyers is a good possession receiver without elite traits, it's why he went undrafted. Bourne is basically the same, yet shifty with the ball in his hands. Our two TEs are the same, good receiving TEs, yet nothing another team is game planning around stopping. It's why I kept harping about taking another WR. Harry isn't helping that issue. Mac Jones doesn't have the Weapons Matt Cassell had, this is like early years Brady. So much of the two TEs with Agholor and Meyers, no team is keeping safety help to worry about Meyers. A lot of pressure on Agholor to stretch that field and the D game after game. Better than last year, it can work with a dominant running attack, yet certainly not ideal. Another WR that teams worry about deep could make that package deadly.

OK so maybe my thoughts on some throws lacking zip was a figment of my imagination, I did have those thoughts though.

Umass I am going to disagree on Jonnu not being elite athletically at TE. He made that one play and he looked like a WR with his run after the catch, to me that was elite. On the other hand as jmei pointed out, the LBs looked slow. They might have to game plan around teams locking in on that with more snaps for Phillips and Duggar.

The Patriots have gone to the Super Bowl the last 4 times they lost an opener, heard that on the radio so if I am wrong again I blame it on them. Sure it has a tangible effect but it is game 1 of a 17 game season and don't overlook the positives of out playing a good team. They were dominant in time of possession and first downs and with how they plan on playing this year that is very important. They made too many mistakes and they still should have won if not for the last one. And yes maybe that last one happened because BB had Stevenson in the doghouse and Harris was tired, who knows. One thing BB can do is coach those mistakes out of a team.

Although Miami didn't look great offensively I think they are going to surprise some this year. Flores has them playing great D and we could look back on this game and realize our O is better than they showed in that game and the Fins D is why.

I put a large chunk on the seasons win total going over 9.5 and I am not concerned yet.

I do hate the Brown injury situation and hope it doesn't linger and cost multiple games.

One more thought about the opening day loss after looking at the standings, lot's of teams in the AFC that were expected to be playoff contenders lost also. Small but not so small a fact as the season goes on, it will be tight in the end. Pats just need to take care of business and win the games they are supposed to win, starting with NY this Sunday.

Buffalo, Tenn, Browns, Indy, Ravens.

Mac Jones getting a lot of praise around the league after week 1.

He was open at the catch but showed pretty great straight line speed when he turned and ran upfield. If he didn’t barely step out of bounds, that would have been a 30+ yard gain.

My comments were about elite speed and quickness that allow a player to always get open and cause issues for the D. The response is that's wrong he's elite because the 3rd highest paid TE in the league isn't even covered and looked good when teams don't even account for him. Maybe I'm nutty, yet that play proves my point. Instead of teams game planning to stop him, putting their best defenders on him and doubling him, they left him wide open and that was his best play of the game.

We know his athletic profile, he's above average across the board besides a horrible three cone drill time which was well below average for even a TE. Which if you look at his career and last game seems about right.

I can't be the only one that worried about Smith getting that contract given his career yards per season right? He played on a team that had a vertical passing attack and they never used him that way. So you hope they just misused him, yet I didn't see anything from that first game to show me that. We can certainly hope that changes and I truly hope I'm wrong. Yet I can't call a TE elite until he shows me the ability to get open and make plays down field consistently. Which is something Smith has never done.

We signed two TE to contracts that have them tied for third highest at their positions in the whole NFL. Both are good players that will help us, yet they aren't in the same universe has some of the top TEs. Heck they might not even be in the Hernandez or Bennett mold. George Kittle is making 15 million per, our guys make 13.5 million per. So much talk about Neleon Agholor being overpaid, yet he looked darn good and he did it against that D with those CB.

So no Van Noy and Brown. I think Nordin is going on IR…. This means they will sign Folk to 53… still leaving the roster at 52. I wonder who they elevate from the practice squad. Open roster spot, maybe they sign Hoyer too since they’ll need to Monday.

Player to watch today:

www.bostonsportsjournal.com/2021/09/19/Five-Patriots-who-need-to-pick-things-up-quickly


Damn vegans…

Lawrence Guy, DT

The big man has been one of Bill Belichick's best free-agent signings since he came to the team in 2017, and this space has definitely been fond of Our Guy. He's traditionally been underrated, like many Patriots inside stalwarts (Vince Wilfork), because he doesn't put up the stats like players in other schemes. But make no mistake, Guy has been a very good player his entire time in New England.

But in Week 1, he was one of our 3 Down players, and that followed on a preseason and camp that was also underwhelming.

But don't take just our word for it. Guy was the third-worst Patriots defensive player in Week 1 according to PFF, ahead of only Ja'Whaun Bentley and Joejuan Williams. Yikes. In the preseason, PFF had Guy as the second-worst Patriots defender. Only Rashod Berry, who was let go in an early cutdown, was rated worse.

What's the problem? Guy is not holding the point of attack as well as he used to. Guy routinely would stand up to and fight through double-teams. Now he's getting pushed a bit by single blockers. The Patriots need Guy to be a stud against the run for this defense to work.

If Guy, who will be 32 in November, is indeed trending downward, age and also mileage could be catching up with him. Due to personnel shortcomings, Guy had to take on even more inside last year, and it might have taken something out of him.

I asked Guy, who was recently featured in GQ for being a football-playing vegan, if his diet was kosher to the Patriots, and if he felt he was playing any different.

"Everything that we do here they communicate with Ted (Harper), our nutritionist and he'll help you out through everything," Guy said. "They're a very open-minded organization, so they have no concern about what you do. As long as you to continue to go out there and perform, you can do pretty much whatever you got to do that's legal.

"I haven't lost not much at all. Still the same player that was the last couple of years

If it was just the fumble, I probably agree with you. But Stevenson also had a busted blitz pickup that almost got Jones hurt, he had fumble issues in college (three fumbles in just 165 carries) and he has a really great backup in Taylor. Plus, even if he didn't fumble last game, he's probably in the game for what, 10-15 snaps at most? Big difference between swapping out one rookie backup for a roughly comparable player in game two of the season and benching your CB1 in the Super Bowl.

I said let's hope this isn't Harris 2.0. Harris is what I compare to Butler, not Stevenson. Yeah it's nothing huge right now, let's just see how long he stays in the doghouse. Rookies will make mistakes, I wouldn't let a few plays overshadow his great work for months and months. 10-15 snaps is a rather large role in my book for a rookie.

The whole team made mistake after mistake.

Why is Durant playing?

Because Herron sucks too and apparently so does Wynn