notthatbluestuff Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) (aside from the golf course) Despite their annihilation last night, making the playoffs is arguably a better season than expected for this team with a rookie QB. How do they best ensure Mac's continued progress? Do you foresee another summer of spending, and which areas do they need to address? And is the defense a major problem or does Josh Allen simply present a major mismatch for their current system? Edited January 16, 2022 by notthatbluestuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notthatbluestuff Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 (This was supposed to be one of the playoff GDT threads but I was ninja'd twice, so I haphazardly turned the thread into the first question that came to mind, sorry) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggie. Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) Defense needs to be straight up rebuilt. Hightower/Collins/Van Noy/McCourty are like oil that hasn't been changed in 100k miles. Need a LB that can keep QBs in the pocket. Also not a fan of Bill's kid being DC. Much rather have Mayo call the shots. Edited January 18, 2022 by biggie. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncofan Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) 2 minutes ago, biggie. said: Defense needs to be straight up rebuilt. Hightower/Van Noy/McCourty are like oil that hasn't been changed in 100k miles. Need a LB that can keep QBs in the pocket. The D got old in a hurry. Lacks athleticism, and part of why the TO's dried up. They're still good, but not great, and they've got weaknesses in speed that BUF figured out after the first game. I said it in the GDT post-game, but NE is on the right track, but their spending in FA this past offseason (which rarely works out, and I think we see the issue in going vet-heavy) really limits their ability to bounce back into the upper tier of contender. They'll need at least 1 if not 2 WR upgrades, and a speed/athleticism infusion at LB & secondary, especially if JC Jackson leaves. Edited January 16, 2022 by Broncofan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggie. Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) Offense could use some tuneups because we can't go into the season with Jakobi Meyers as a starting WR. Adding o line depth never hurts either. But the absolute biggest priority is rebuilding the defense. That performance was unacceptable. Edited January 16, 2022 by biggie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncofan Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 (edited) 3 minutes ago, biggie. said: Offense could use some tuneups because we can't go into the season with Jakobi Meyers as starting WR. Adding o line depth never hurts either. But the absolute biggest priority is rebuilding the defense. Meyers is a very serviceable slot guy, but being your top guy (or Bourne) is not really a good situation for sure. There are also options to upgrade the WR corps fairly easily in FA. Still, that's probably the main priority on O. The big priority is getting upgrades on D. Given how the draft is depth-wise, I'd be surprised if NE's first 3 picks weren't on the D side. Edited January 16, 2022 by Broncofan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notthatbluestuff Posted January 16, 2022 Author Share Posted January 16, 2022 3 minutes ago, biggie. said: Offense could use some tuneups because we can't go into the season with Jakobi Meyers as starting WR. Adding o line depth never hurts either. But the absolute biggest priority is rebuilding the defense. Would Allen Robinson be too pricey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biggie. Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 1 minute ago, notthatbluestuff said: Would Allen Robinson be too pricey? Not interested. Closing in on 30 and had a down year. We in Pats Land are very interested in Calvin Ridley though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stl4life07 Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Get Mac Jones some elite level weapons. If Belichick treat Jones like he did Brady in terms of putting average to below average guys around him hoping he can elevate them to being good to great then the Pats will continue to get embarrassed in the playoffs IF they make it on a consistent basis bc the AFC has tons of big time QBs with big time weapons. I don’t know how much Jones will develop but it feels like he is at best the 9th best QB in the AFC right now and it could be worse if Lawrence and Wilson take off but mainly Lawrence bc Wilson is with the Jets and we know how that usually plays out. So the Pats are in a situation that could stay about the way we saw last night but not to that extent but it could be bad with Jones if he don’t get extremely better and the Pats don’t get elite level weapons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StatKing Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 Getting Mac Jones some actual wide receivers would be a start Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-ALL-DAY Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 1. Re-sign JC Jackson 2. Draft a WR in the first two rounds 3. Improve the athleticism, especially at the LB position The Pats had the type of season you would hope with a rookie QB. No shame in losing in the WC round. Just make some improvements and hope Jones is able to get better. Pats are in a good position all things considered. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matts4313 Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 :Pats almost have a 50 burger served to them in the playoffs: :all the fans can talk about is getting a WR: Interesting strategy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StatKing Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 1 hour ago, notthatbluestuff said: Would Allen Robinson be too pricey? Hes toast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancerman Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 They still need to build. 1. they need to flush out old guys like Hightower and McCourty and develop younger talent who can hang with more explosive players 2. they still need a true number 1 receiver and probably a solid 2 as well 3. for all the gains they made in the off season, losing Gilmore hurt the defense more than anything helped it 4. get Patricia away from this team. He’s overrated for having a defense that was stupidly loaded playing really well. His style doesn’t work when he has something closer to the mean. Bill, Flores, and Mayo/Steve Belichick were all more aggressive and better for it Really they just need to build and stay the course. They gutted the team 2 years ago. They are developing a QB, they have lots of work, but they made the hard decision to restart which is the most important one 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancerman Posted January 16, 2022 Share Posted January 16, 2022 6 minutes ago, Matts4313 said: :Pats almost have a 50 burger served to them in the playoffs: :all the fans can talk about is getting a WR: Interesting strategy. Football is a symbiotic game. The Patriots team is built on the idea they can keep the score in check or build and early lead. Then use their run game to shorten the game and limit the other teams attempts and beat up on the defense upfront to tire them out. This game was over the minute Buffalo intercepted a pass on a good drive via and amazing play and then drive to go up 14. The Patriots are not built to go for score or make up a deficit quick. They don’t have the receiving talent to do it. Once they went down 14-0 they had to play outside their strength and we’re getting off the field faster and Buffalo was getting more and more attempts and their defense just faded. They do need some additions on defense. But they legit do not hand an NFL quality passing game and it makes them one dimensional. Once we couldn’t go to our run game, we couldn’t do enough passing and it caused a mountain of issues across the board. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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