Broncos Film Review - 2020 Season

[AKRNA]

Well, @lomaxgrUK you've answered a bunch of my questions. Trying to watch OL play from a sideline camera is almost ridiculous. 

My take on the IOL changed a bit with your observations. Seems like Williams was just the better player, it happens. Risner will never be a "nelson" but he got beat, one on ones .pretty badly. Whats your take on how much of that was due to communication issues between he and Cush? From my vantage point it seems they're having some "A" gap issues between them, not something that can't be corrected.

Liked your take on Dotson. We kept him covered a lot but he seems pretty solid on the basics. 

Also, a few weeks ago you mentioned you weren't quite sold yet on Bolles. Has that changed any?

Once again bud, great stuff. Oh yeah, while watching the tape I focused on Jewell on defensive snaps. First time I've done that and I've got to agree with you. I've heard a lot of negative so thought I'd look and watched him every play. I came away pretty impressed. He looks to me like a damned good short zone coverage guy. My only knock on him wouldn't be in the passing game. He seems to get swallowed up a bit on interior runs. Not dreadfully so but he's no Tommy Nobis.

Edited October 9, 2020 by AKRNA

[lomaxgrUK]

4 hours ago, AKRNA said:

Well, @lomaxgrUK you've answered a bunch of my questions. Trying to watch OL play from a sideline camera is almost ridiculous. 

My take on the IOL changed a bit with your observations. Seems like Williams was just the better player, it happens. Risner will never be a "nelson" but he got beat, one on ones .pretty badly. Whats your take on how much of that was due to communication issues between he and Cush? From my vantage point it seems they're having some "A" gap issues between them, not something that can't be corrected.

Liked your take on Dotson. We kept him covered a lot but he seems pretty solid on the basics. 

Also, a few weeks ago you mentioned you weren't quite sold yet on Bolles. Has that changed any?

Once again bud, great stuff. Oh yeah, while watching the tape I focused on Jewell on defensive snaps. First time I've done that and I've got to agree with you. I've heard a lot of negative so thought I'd look and watched him every play. I came away pretty impressed. He looks to me like a damned good short zone coverage guy. My only knock on him wouldn't be in the passing game. He seems to get swallowed up a bit on interior runs. Not dreadfully so but he's no Tommy Nobis.

Re: Risner and Cushenberry - I think it's more just a natural chemistry thing rather than communication. You know OL play really well; chemistry is everything inside. I.e if the DT moves from 0 technique to 1 technique at the snap, both of them know it's now "me" taking the inside shoulder, and "you" taking the outside. Or, it's now me going to the 2nd level rather than you. It just takes time, and Cushenberry is likely making mental mistakes because he's having to focus so much on his individual battles which he's losing, especially in pass pro.

What I would say about Risner/Cushenberry - they've had a ROUGH schedule thus far. Jeffery Simmons, Cam Heyward, Stephon Tuitt, Vita Vea, Quinnen Williams - that's some serious talent there.

Re: Bolles - my opinion couldn't have changed any more. I am going to do a quarter of the season grading when I am done with this game and here's a spoiler - Garrett Bolles has been our best player this  year and it's not even close. Unbelievable transformation. I would say that technically, his opposition hasn't been top level but he shut down Landry (1st round pick), Dupree (1st round pick) and JPP (1st round pick, all pro) - not scrubs by any means. Besides - Garrett's problems were mental a lot of the time which wasn't impacted by the level of opposition. He's really fixed that and he's been brilliant (both in pass pro and the run game).

Re: Jewell - again, this is a bit of a hot take; I think he's been one of our best players too. He's got a nose for the football inside and he's been good in space too. We ask a lot of him in space because we send Alexander Johnson on more 3rd down blitz than any other ILB in the league. That puts a lot of pressure on Jewell in space and he's done a good job.

Edited October 9, 2020 by lomaxgrUK

[BroncoBruin]

Josey has looked like the player he had the potential to be coming out of Iowa. He’s not fast but he does have the instincts and short area quickness to be a good zone defender. 

To my eyes, the defense as a whole was pretty tentative last year and several players are starting to play faster and looser with more familiarity in the scheme, Jewell being most noticeable. That isn’t surprising. Fangio’s scheme is pretty mentally taxing, and was also a major adjustment from what players were doing before with Wade and VJ. I would have liked to see how this defense incorporated a sub-package coverage LB, which was the plan for Strnad before the wrist injury.

One thing I can’t imagine is Vic being able to send AJ or Josey that many times consistently. Vic’s defense is built around having the numbers in coverage to rally and tackle or make plays on the ball. The dam is going to break at some point with some of those middle zones opening up. It worked against the Jets, but they’re truly awful.

[AKRNA]

9 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

Re: Risner and Cushenberry - I think it's more just a natural chemistry thing rather than communication. You know OL play really well; chemistry is everything inside.

Chemistry! Thats the word I was looking for. The best my head could come up with was communication.

Like I said, trying to watch IOL play from a sideline camera is absurd. Rookie center new RG and a brand new OC isn't really a formula for instant cohesion, especially when you take away preseason. I'd guess our OL play should improve by leaps after the bye. This was our cleanest Ol game to date it seems, not so much confusion. 

It takes a while. 

[jsthomp2007]

Looks like the Broncos won this week! 

[lomaxgrUK]

1st Quarter Notes

- Drove down to the 30 yard line, and Jeudy turns his man inside out. Shame the play is designed the other way, and lock takes the 1v1 shot to Albert. You can see the route here:

You can also see in the clip above a new wrinkle to our PA game. It's a staple of the Brady Offense, whereby the Guard actually pulls on Play Action to really sell the run fake. What is strange, however, is that you normally run a crosser/slant behind the LBs on a playcall like this, to take advantage of LBs biting. Rob Gronkowski is going to the HOF because of this play ...
You can see both Nickel LBs of the Patriots bite on the fake. However, there isn't a route behind them to take advantage. Perhaps the idea is to get a Safety in a two deep shell to bite? The Pats are in Cover 1 so the PA has little impact on the play really. Nice athleticism by Glasgow to get over there on the trap, though
- On 3rd and 7 the Patriots are in sticks coverage, meaning all of their DBs are just protecting the sticks. There is zero respect to us going beyond the sticks. We go deep to Jeudy and it's a great ball, but Jeudy can't track it. Pats send 6, and all are picked up

- Great play design by the Patriots on 3rd and 2. They motion the back out wide, then bring him back in motion across the formation to the strong side, fake the run to him and then Cam keeps it on a designed run to the weak side. The motion gets both Johnson and Jewell going to the wrong side of the play
- Patriots have already single blocked Malik Reed in the run game with a TE. Clearly spotted something on film, there
- I mentioned our Safeties in the run game in the gamethread. Simmons just made a TFL on 2nd and 2. Aggressive read and trusted his instinct
- I thought the Harris deflection for the INT was a designed HB flare with OL pulling out, hence the quick pressure, but it's not - Harris just wins straight off the LOS with a club over to force the throw

- Man, look at Bolles on the 2nd level. The LOS was the 35 and Bolles is out here pancaking his LB at the 25 ... Phil makes his 2nd bad read of the game on this play by not cutting up inside earlier. If Dotson had managed to turn his hips to seal, I think Phil would've seen the lane

- Bolles drives his guy to the floor on the next play too, this time a DE. Wow.
- 3rd and 3, Patriots run the exact same sticks coverage. DBs stop at the marker, since their hips, daring our routes to be beyond the sticks. Single high safety. The play design sees Jeudy come across the formation into the slot, with 2 receivers outside of him. It's a typical NFL man coverage beater, whereby you are attempting the 'natural pick' of Jeudy's guy getting caught in traffic. As you would expect from a BB coached team, the DBs pass it off perfectly and we have to force a ball deep that had very little chance

- Patriots have ran around 12 plays thus far on Offense; not one with 3 WRs
- A lot of 'gap' power run concepts. FB has been in on around 80% of the snaps. Purcell is definitely playing hurt. First time Harris wins in the run game and he gives Jackson a lane to stop the play for no gain
- 3rd down and Patriots motion James White into the slot, Johnson follows him. Slant across the middle, easy money. Johnson ain't covering White from the slot I am afraid
- Another Simmons stuff at the LOS in the run game. Beats the WR (Henry) to the spot with a quick read
- Ojemudia actually fell down on the play with Chuckillo sacked Cam. Got away with one there, as Cam should've thrown with anticipation on the levels concept
- This Patriots team haven't got a chance on 3rd and 15. Chuckillo gets a genuine pressure this time, beating the RT around the edge

- Nice play design by us on 3rd and 1, and it's a similar concept to the Cam keeper I explained before. The difference is, we use Lindsay in motion to attract the LBs, but rather than Lock keep it, we hand it off to Freeman who is also in the game with Lindsay. It's Cushenberry who springs the run, as he seals off the NT
- Lindsay then goes for 10, after he makes a good read when Simon (OLB) drives to move inside to make the tackle, but loses contain. Vannett too big for Jonathan Jones (CB) on the outside 
 

Edited October 21, 2020 by lomaxgrUK

[lomaxgrUK]

2nd quarter notes

- I don't think we used Albert O inside our half of the field in the 1st quarter, but on 1st and 10 in the 2nd quarter he's in the game in our 22 personnel alongside Vennett. It keeps the Patriots in their 3-4 base, creating a mismatch for someone on Albert O. He comes across the formation, and the Patriots LBs (in zone coverage) can't run with him. Easy pitch and catch for 15. Nice play design, as Patrick had cleared out the CB on the playside of the field (Patriots use man coverage almost exclusively with their CBs)
- The next play is that deep shot to Patrick. As can be seen below, that is wide open in the NFL (Patrick is the guy above the '20' marking on the field). Lock doesn't feel the RCB peeling back, so he leads Patrick to the left flag rather than the post. The RCB is able to get back and make a good play to break up the pass, but he shouldn't have had a chance to. You can also see Bolles on the floor in this picture - he gets away with a definite hold on Calhoun (OLB) 


- Cushenberry still struggling with run blitzes. Bentley comes right up the gut and Cushenberry can't get playside quick enough to stop the penetration, which disrupts the run
- 3rd and 8 and it goes for 20+ to Albert O. He's in the slot, and the Patriots bring a rare blitz on 3rd down (Devin McCourty from FS, but the Patriots had 3 Safeties on the field). That leaves them in their familiar Cover 1, but bracketing Patrick. That's 1v1 everywhere else, and Albert O is 1v1 vs Dugger (Safety) and he doesn't stand a chance. Dugger plays with outside leverage, and Albert is on a crosser that brings him right across Lock's face for an easy completion. I tell you what, though - Albert O sure does look good when he's running at full tilt. Darren Waller type speed for a man that big. 
It's a bad throw, to be honest. Albert has to reach high for the grab, and if it's in stride then it is a TD. See below.

- Too much hesitation by Freeman on the 1st and goal run. Stopped at the LOS
- Didn't like the 2 pass calls that followed, really. Little motion, no misdirection. Just two shotgun throws with traditional route trees. Tough drop on Albert O in the back of the endzone. Low % throw and catch, really

- Patriots are targeting Johnson in the short passing game when they recognise man coverage
- Chubb blows a run play up in the backfield when the Patriots run a rather strange play design. Edelman comes on a jet motion, they snap the ball just as he comes past the Center, but the right side of the Patriots OL crashes down with the intention of both the LG and LT pulling to 'trap' Chubb. The timing is all over the show, and the LG/LT get nowhere near Chubb in time, who just gets a free shot to the RB. Weird play call given the injury issues the Patriots have on the OL
- 10 mins left in the 2nd Q, first time with 11 personnel for the Pats (3 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB). They align all WRs to the left with the TE inline to the right. Play goes to the TE for 12 yards. We've got a great call for the concept, with Simmons playing as a 'robber' (low zone) bracketing the TE with Bausby who is in man coverage. Simmons just doesn't feel Izzo (TE) coming across the formation and it's a easy completion because Bausby is playing with outside leverage (Simmons responsible for the incut). Shame really, because Chubb beat the RT clean but Cam got the ball out quick
- I've said in previous notes how improved Josey Jewell is in coverage - he feels Edelman coming across the formation and plays his role (underneath) perfectly to prevent a throw to Edelman
- Below is almost a perfect play by Bausby. It's a play action 'leak' play. All of the OL and RB movement is to the right of the formation. The WR aligned to the right (#19 below, facing the Patriot logo on the field) 'leaks' through the traffic with the hope that the CB either gets caught in the traffic, or gets caught looking in the backfield. Bausby reads it the whole way, drives on the ball, but somehow misses it when he tries to swat it and it goes for 15 yards

- Zero pass rush on 1st down when the Pats get us in in our base 3-4. Couple snaps in a row for Sly Williams and Jernigan
- Fangio bringing 6 on 3rd and 13. Gusty. Incomplete. Don't think he respects the receiving options of the Patriots

- https://youtu.be/H9w-xKEC2Ac?t=120 - watch the blocking on that run (should load at 2 mins). Glasgow pulls from RG to fill and replace the LT, Bolles pancakes Winovich by blocking down, Risner and Vannett get perfectly to the 2nd level, and Beck sweeps around with Glasgow. Absolutely flawless execution 
- We run our own 'leak' concept which sees Patrick go for 20 yards
- Love seeing a run conversion on 3rd and 1. Glasgow and Cushenberry get the NT on the floor early, and its an easy conversion from there
- Patriots match our 11 personnel with a Nickel that has a Safety replacing a LB. Makes them light inside, and we run for 7 yards on a HB counter from shotgun. Could've gone for more if not for a very good tackle by Gilmore
- We run the same play the very next play - that's a Shanahan throwback! (With Freeman rather than Lindsay). Doesn't work as well due to the Patriots having an extra box defender, but goes for a 1st down
- The Pats secondary is so well coached. Switching off on crossers, bumping WRs inside 5 yards, tackling - the whole lot. What makes the Patriots so unique in this league is that they focus EVERYTHING on fundamentals. Everyone knows what they are going to play defensively 90% of the time - it's Cover 1, with a bit of Cover 3 thrown in. But the communication and understanding between their defenders is just so good, year after year.
They take your #1 option away with Gilmore, then bracket your #2 option with a safety and the #2 CB. They have been doing it for 20 years now.
- Sack on 2nd and 10. It's a DT / DE game where Glasgow doesn't feel it and gets bullrushed to the floor by Simon (DE). Still, the route concepts weren't creative again and there was nowhere to go with the ball. We need to change our playcalling inside the 30 to score against teams like these. For the record, Dotson played the stunt/game perfectly. He's been impressive
 

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by lomaxgrUK

[lomaxgrUK]

(some) 3rd quarter notes

- Patriots on 3rd and 6 and we go with our big dime package by putting Duke Dawson in the box, lined up over the two Patriots RB in the backfield. It's an unbelievable rush by Chubb; he gets low and just sticks his left arm straight into the chest of the LT, and drives him back one handed directly into Cam for a sack/fumble. That's his best rush of the season. I have NO clue what Shelby Harris is doing when trying to recover the fumble .... Just gets himself in a right mess trying to pick it up and the Pats recover

- Justin Bethel is so good on punt coverage. Duke Dawson just doesn't have anywhere near the athleticism to run with him. He forces a fair catch on a 60 yard punt.  

- Risner plays one snap of the 2nd half and gestures straight to the bench
- Jeudy with another perfect release from the slot to get separation for an easy throw on a crosser. The Patriots bring pressure, meaning its Cover 1 and the box Safety is in man coverage, which leaves the shallow middle wide open. Perfect play call. Lock gets whacked because both Bolles and Schlottmann fail to recognise the game from the DE and DT
- Look at the hole below if Vannett (#88) could get a hand on #31. Goes for a 1 yard gain

 

- Missed blitz pickup right up the gut by Freeman. Lock had no chance
- The 3rd and 21 throw might be the best throw of Lock's career thus far. Patriots don't give up 3rd and 21 .. They are in Cover 7 which basically means two deep Safeties, a third DB playing shallow zone in front of the Safeties and man coverage everywhere else. The play goes down the right sideline to Patrick. The key to keeping the Safety from locking in on Patrick is the go route from the slot. Jeudy, from the slot, gets upfield quick enough to hold the safety long enough to give a window in between the CB and Safety down the sideline. Unreal throw. I do think the Safety will be a peaved he didn't get over there quicker
- Good rep for Glasgow on a inside zone run. Below you can see presnap. Glasgow knows it's going to the left, and that Dotson has to get playside (i.e to the left) of the DT

So whilst moving to his left, Glasgow jabs the DT with his right arm, which gives time for Dotson to get playside whilst also leaving room for Dotson to get playside. If Glasgow just stood there and sealed the DT, it leaves no room for Dotson to move into. Glasgow is now free to get to his 2nd level block and Dotson is playside. See below.

It's a shame that Cushenberry makes a bad read to double the DT rather than getting to the 2nd level and blocking #51. Its #51 1who slows Lindsay down, but he still gets 9
- Whenever Ty Cleveland comes in at WR, we run. Think we like his blocking prowess
- Another A+ throw by Lock on a PA rollout to Jeudy for 15 down to 12 yard line
- I know it is a tough one, but Albert O has to catch that ball in the endzone on the corner route. Perfect route, perfect throw, has to catch it. Great hand fighting by the DB but Albert has to bring it in
- One thing that has irked me about Jeudy - his effort on routes where he's clearly a late read is frustrating at times. A lot of ambling, poor body language. Hoping it's his way of setting up his DB rather than poor effort
- 3rd and 6 from the 8 and no motion again. Too predictable. Literally nothing doing, Lock has to throw it away

[lomaxgrUK]

Remaining Q3 & Q4 notes

- One thing I hate about keeping CBs on the same side of the field is that it makes it so easy to manipulate favourable matchups. The Patriots go 3 WRs to the left, and only a TE to the weakside. We bring in Bausby in our Nickel, but he stays on the weak side to cover Izzo (TE). That means we have to either match a Safety with a WR, or a LB. In this instance, it's Jewell and Edelman beats him easily for a 1st down. Chubb with the instant pressure too. Inside move (poor play from the LT)
- The forced fumble by Ojemudia is really strange play. He reads the incut by the receiver, but then second guesses himself and goes back outside, only for the receiver to then incut. The receiver gets 5 yards separation as a result, but Ojemudia punches it out after the catch

- Phillips (safety) blows up run play for 3 yard loss. Further example of great coaching, as Phillips only comes into the box when Vannett is motioned to his side of the formation. He reads it the whole way and run blitzes straight from the snap
- Schlottmann does well to get playside on a zone run play, when the DT had playside leverage, but he can't hold the block to really spring the run. Still goes for 8 but could've been more
- 3rd and 4, nothing there at all for Lock. Patriots playing Cover 1 buzz as usual, and their DBs play with perfect leverage to force the route back to the Cover safety. Hamilton is the primary read and he gets zero separation. Just doesn't have the speed or quickness to threaten the cushion of DBs. Winovich beats Dotson for a pressure

- Really athletic play by Simmons on the Callahan INT. Simmons is in man coverage on the RB, who stays in to protect so Simmons gets himself in a passing lane and jumps to deflect the pass

- Patriots matching our 22 personnel (2 TEs) with their small Nickel, i.e 3 Safeties rather than 2 LBs. Clearly not respecting the run ability of our interior OL to get to the 2nd level. All of our TEs have struggled in the run game so far
- Patriots playing aggressively downhill now. It's 2nd and 7, and look at how many men they have around 2 yards of the LOS straight after the snap.  Bentley (#51) gets a great jump on the ball, and Schlottmann can't redirect to get a body on him. Bentley goes straight into the backfield and blows the play up

- Another 3rd down, another Cover 1 buzz from the Patriots. Why have we got Hamilton running the deep route ISO? Lock makes a prefect throw to him, despite no separation and it's dropped. I am not sure why Lock looks this way, though. He's got Jeudy, Patrick and Albert stacked to his left and the Patriots are in man coverage. That's a tough cover in that traffic for the outside WR (Jeudy) coming across the formation, and Jeudy separates. Lock just never looks his way. Patriots send 5, pass pro is perfect

- Patriots call the pitch option on 3rd and 3. Chickillo does well to force the pitch, but it's Jewell who makes the play by getting outside quick enough to stop the RB when the pitch is made. Besides Bolles, Jewell is the most improved player on this team in my opinion (his tackle wasn't great but he did enough to force the punt)

- Between D.Harris and Dawson, we have no speed on our punt return team on the outside. May as well call fair catch before the punt

- Try to throw on 1st down, no separation by Jeudy on the incut. Bit sloppy at the top of his route, in truth. Incomplete
- Bentley is just playing run every snap at this point. Patriots basically playing with 5 DL. That is why their 2nd LB in the Nickel is actually a Safety; it gives them a bit more coverage out there
- 3rd down, Cover 1 buzz. We run the same play again where we didn't throw to Jeudy, but it's Patrick who's coming under the stacked alignment to try and lose his man in the traffic. The problem is, the Patriots buzz the opposite Safety to normal, meaning the play runs right into the buzz Safety (playing in the low zone). It's just top quality playcalling and execution by the Patriots. See below for the presnap showing 2 deep Safety look, then the further photo to show how the weakside Safety comes down to play the buzz and Patrick runs right into him

 

- Long completion by Cam on Ojemudia down the left hand side should've been a push off on the Patriots WR (Byrd). Ojemudia is right on him until the push off. Great throw by Cam. Insane velocity on the ball thrown 30 yards to the sideline
- Again, that long run by Cam is just ridiculous. Missed tackle by Johnson, but how does a guy that big run that fast? I've not a clue why the Patriots didn't just spread us out and do that more often
- There goes Jewell making plays on the perimeter vs the option again. Stuffs the run at the LOS
- See, there you go. Patriots go with 4 WR, no RB on a designed Cam keeper. I get you want to keep him clean but it's criminal they've waited this long to do this. Broncos just don't have the athletes on the DL and at LB to stop him

- Two big Lindsay runs in a row. Don't know why, but the Patriots have called off the Bentley run blitzes and they are struggling to defend the inside zone runs without two LBs in there. Phillips is a nice run defender if he can penetrate, but he's not chance holding up when Guards get to the next level. He's giving up 100lbs ... Nice seal by Schlottmann on the OLB who tries to dive inside
- Another 3rd down, guess what coverage! Again, the Pats pass over the crosser from the Nickel to the buzz Safety so seamlessly. The weakness of a Cover 1 buzz is down the sldeline and that's where we go. Unfortunately, Drew reads back shoulder and Patrick carries on going upfield. I am not blaming Drew for this, but if he had chosen the other sideline to go down, Hamilton had absolutely cooked Gilmore (I know ...) But like I said - you can't blame Drew for not looking that way. Pass pro is perfect again

- Our CBs have been dominant in this game. All 3 of them. You have to say - it was a poor decision of our Coaching staff to not go with Bausby, Ojemudia, Callahan from the get go. The Bassey experiment failed and Bausby had proven he can play in this league. Anyway, when Bouye returns that is going to be a foundation group to this Defense

- Bull rush by Chubb gifts the sack to Reed. Forced Cam to step up and Reed read it
-Callahan blows the WR screen up. Edelman motions to a stack behind Byrd, and you can see Callahan tap his helmet to alert the others to the play. He just goes straight off the snap to blow by Byrd's block and force the play inside for a loss
- First real Shelby Harris sighting of this half on 3rd and 12, as he beats the LG to force the Cam scramble. Hell of a tackle by Bausby on Cam. Comes up short, FG is good

- So the 2nd INT of Lock's ... WHY are you calling a pass play from Shotgun without play action in that scenario? I get not wanting to run 3 times. But you have to do SOMETHING to get pass defenders out of the play. Now, of the 3 deep routes called, Lock picks the worst one. Both Jeudy and Hamilton have won their 1v1s, but Patrick is bracketed. But that's irrelevant really. The playcall is a terrible one. It's a bad rep for Schlottmann, too. See below. He fails to recognise the delayed Bentley blitz. He should've peeled off his double team but he's turned his back to the LOS (Lineman 101 to never do this in pass pro)

 

- Josey Jewell with the pressure on 1st down. Great move on White to force the incompletion
- Malik Reed loses contain on 3rd and 3, but Callahan chases the run down the from opposite side of the field. Honestly, that and the screen blowup are two of our better defensive plays from this season
- Thuney peels too early on the HB screen and Jackson comes down from Safety to make the play. Savvy vet play
- On that Edelman to Cam throw, Ojemudia makes such a good read to move from his RCB to the other side of the field. But again, it's his tackling that lets him down. He NEVER tackles with his arms, man. Stop using your shoulder ... Cam breaks the tackle and goes for an additional 10 and a 1st down
- On the Patriots last set of downs, we sent 5, 6, 6 and 7. Our secondary won us this game - no doubt.

[bMiller031]

3 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

- Another 3rd down, another Cover 1 buzz from the Patriots. Why have we got Hamilton running the deep route ISO? Lock makes a prefect throw to him, despite no separation and it's dropped. I am not sure why Lock looks this way, though. He's got Jeudy, Patrick and Albert stacked to his left and the Patriots are in man coverage. That's a tough cover in that traffic for the outside WR (Jeudy) coming across the formation, and Jeudy separates. Lock just never looks his way. Patriots send 5, pass pro is perfect

No doubt he has special arm talent and can make WOW throws - but it seems to be a theme that he is missing open guys and forcing some unnecessarily difficult throws as a result.  Is that fair?

[lomaxgrUK]

11 hours ago, bMiller031 said:

No doubt he has special arm talent and can make WOW throws - but it seems to be a theme that he is missing open guys and forcing some unnecessarily difficult throws as a result.  Is that fair?

Hmmm I think that's a tad unfair. Sure, there are times where presnap Drew can do better and that was highlighted in this game where your matchups are pretty easy to identify. The Patriots aren't much of a disguise defense.

But in this game, Drew was let down more by drops and playcalling than he let others down. We didn't punt until the 4th quarter - against a BB team that is excellent.

However, the margins are so much smaller around the redzone and the Pats don't GIVE you anything. You have to earn your TDs.

 

[AKRNA]

9 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

Hmmm I think that's a tad unfair. Sure, there are times where presnap Drew can do better and that was highlighted in this game where your matchups are pretty easy to identify. The Patriots aren't much of a disguise defense.

But in this game, Drew was let down more by drops and playcalling than he let others down. We didn't punt until the 4th quarter - against a BB team that is excellent.

However, the margins are so much smaller around the redzone and the Pats don't GIVE you anything. You have to earn your TDs.

 

That's what impressed me. We controlled the game and the clock. Not an easy thing to do at NE.

I'm pretty sure that's Schlottmans first game at LG. I'd expect some improvement this week. 

PFF agrees with ya. Bolles and Jewell both were on their "Team of the Week".

[AKRNA]

So, at around the 11:30 mark of the 2nd quarter I'm pretty sure I saw Bolles pull to lead a sweep. The picture was pretty fuzzy and the angle was bad and I never could see the number. Check that for me would ya?

[BullsandBroncos]

50 minutes ago, AKRNA said:

So, at around the 11:30 mark of the 2nd quarter I'm pretty sure I saw Bolles pull to lead a sweep. The picture was pretty fuzzy and the angle was bad and I never could see the number. Check that for me would ya?

Not sure about the mark but I did see Bolles pull on a sweep play at least once or twice today and did a helluva job doing it.

[AKRNA]

12 hours ago, BullsandBroncos said:

Not sure about the mark but I did see Bolles pull on a sweep play at least once or twice today and did a helluva job doing it.

Thanks. I was pretty sure it was. 

Not too many coaches can do that with their LT.