Sneaky Good Amendola Clutch As Usual In Playoff Setting, But Has Been That Way All Season

The quarterback rolled to his right, escaping the collapsing pocket through a large gap created by his linemen who escorted the strong-side pass rush up and over the imaginary protective bubble, headed towards the line of scrimmage, where just beyond his receiver was engaged in a hand fight with the opposing cornerback...

...the receiver locking eyes with the quarterback as he pump-faked the ball once to cause the corner to react and break discipline on the receiver, who took advantage of the fake and sprinted towards the opposite sideline, raising his hand to give the quarterback a target over the big bodies converging on him...

Amendola, Gronk and Hogan celebrate a touchdown vs. Titans

And, yes.

When New England Patriots' wide receiver Danny Amendola saw Tom Brady breaking the pocket and chugging into the flat, he locked eyes with Brady who, by sheer familiarity with Amendola knew that he was going to sprint to the open flat on the opposite side. Brady stopped just short of the line of scrimmage, set his feet and fell backwards, lofting the ball over the outstretched arms of three defenders...

...delivering a perfect bucket throw that gained a first down and kept the Patriots' final scoring drive alive. Not that they needed more points, but once you get locked into a serious point scoring groove, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.

Amendola had other receptions in the 35-14 victory over the Titans - eleven to be exact - but that was most highlight reel worthy play of the bunch. That's because Amendola is anything but flashy - he doesn't possess elite speed, has all the size of a standard garden gnome and an injury history that reads like a human anatomy quiz...

...but it's worth noting that of those eleven receptions, seven went for first downs and five of those converted third downs - and you wouldn't know it unless you looked at the box scores the next morning.

Something else you probably wouldn't know is that including the performance against the Titans, Amendola is the second-leading receiver on the entire Patriots' roster with 72, behind only tight end Rob Gronkowski's 75 - of course, Gronkowski has a huge edge in yardage gained, but that's not the point.

The point is that Danny Amendola had a solid season. In fact, Amendola has the third most receptions in the league among teams remaining in the tournament, behind only Philly's Zach Ertz and Gronkowski.

Known for being especially clutch in the postseason and an afterthought during the regular season, Amendola teams with Gronkowski and running backs James White, Rex Burkhead and Dion Lewis to form the most formidable short game in the league, built particularly to take advantage of linebackers and safeties in isolation.

The versatility of the backs in particular make things challenging for opposing defensive coordinators - even for Todd Wash, the defensive coordinator for the upstart Jacksonville Jaguars who has guided his charges to being recognized as one of the top set of stoppers in the league and lead all of professional football in passing yards allowed.

That number is skewed some, however, when one considers that the Jaguars were thrown against only 509 times this season, which was fourth lowest mark in the league - why? Simply because their opponents had such success in rushing against them (4.3 yards per carry), so why test that excellent secondary?

With the backs that New England employs, defenses must be aware of the threat of the run, even on obvious passing downs, which gives the Patriots the advantage of fully calling upon their play action, led by the master of the play fake in Brady, whose wizardry and slight of hand can stagger a pass rusher and freeze a linebacker...

...and whose skill at looking off defenders only to burn them is unmatched, which can only help against the Jaguars' secondary, who are playoff neophytes despite their successes and regular season experience.

They get to deal with the likes of Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett and Kenny Britt - not to mention Gronkowski up the seam - who will rotate in and out of the lineup like a hockey line changing out, taking turns running corners down the field and just plain running them down. And if Brady is on with the uptempo game, the trend has been that he can toy with an exhausted defense for the entire second half.

And when a defense allows a quarterback like Brady artistic expression, the entire world gets to see Brady playing like he's drawing up plays in the dirt - a true men among boys, as it were.

And that's where Amendola makes his bones, hauling in the tough circus catch or a laser beam to the sidelines like he did in the overtime session of last February's Super Bowl to extend the game-winning drive - that notion, married to his performance in last Saturday's victory over Tennessee, causing Gronkowski to label him Danny "Playoff" Amendola for his penchant for heroics when the lights are the brightest and the stage is the largest.

But it's really just Danny Amendola - or "Dola", if you prefer - because he's just as clutch in the regular season. Just no one really notices.

New England Patriots Midseason Forum - Part 2: Passing Game Revisiting 2015, But Has The Tools To Overcome Issues

When is the last time you saw a running back leading the New England Patriots offense in receptions?

The answer to that is 1977, when fullback Sam Cunningham caught 42 balls out of the backfield on a 9-5 team that missed the playoffs, barely eclipsing wide receiver Darryl Stingley for the team lead - and it makes sense, given that the play calling was run heavy by design, as it was a year before the NFL made rule changes that benefited the passing game to the point that it changed the face of the league.

Cunningham also eclipsed the thousand-yard plateau on the ground. But the thing is, back then running backs were expected to be heavily involved in the passing game, as it was far easier for a back to run a delayed pattern out of the backfield than it was for wide receivers and even tight ends to fight their way through cornerbacks and linebackers who could lay heavy contact on them without much notice from the referees.

Now, one could argue that it is far easier for receivers to break off the line and into their patterns, as corners, linebackers and safeties draw flags from the officials if they look at the receiver in the wrong tone past five yards down the field - not to mention that we see offensive pass interference calls at an alarming rate, congruent to those called on defenders.

For example, it seems that a game doesn't become official until tight end Rob Gronkowski is called for pass interference, and pick plays that used to be called rub routes before the wimpification of the National Football League often result in big plays being nullified.

In 1977, it was a fist fight between a receiver and a cornerback to gain separation, while today it's a dance contest and God help you if you touch a player on the opposing team more than five yards down the field - so there is significant risk in targeting receivers down the field...

...but it seems particularly risky for Patriots' receivers because when they lost Julian Edelman to a knee injury, they lost a throwback type player who wasn't afraid to mix it up and gained separation by being tougher than the defender.

That is one of the reasons for the recent trend in the league to bring draft and develop bigger receivers who can be more physical with cornerbacks, but even then when a ball falls incomplete, more often than not we will see a receiver do a fancy pirouette with his arms extended and palms facing towards the sky, barking at the officials because the defender make contact with him, no matter how significant the contact is.

The truth is the rules in the NFL, well-meaning as they are in trying to protect players from head injury while attempting to make the game faster and more exciting for the fans, have actually made the game slower and, honestly, more frustrating to watch - and it has gotten to the point that we will look to the bottom of our TV screens to make sure a yellow box with the word "flag" hasn't appeared to impact the play.

But while the rules have turned each passing play into an episode of Dancing With The Stars, many teams have mitigated that effect by turning to their running backs to compensate.

The Patriots have a deeper problem than a perceived lack of toughness, however.

Edelman is considered one of the toughest covers in the league, and his absence only serves to confirm that, as the Patriots' offense has struggled more and more as the season wears on and opposing defensive coordinators are seeing more and more film on what the Patriots have left in their outside arsenal.

Chris Hogan and Danny Amendola define toughness in their playing style, yet they lack the quick twitch / explosiveness combination to immediately separate in their routes the way Edelman does. Brandin Cooks and Phillip Dorsett have speed to burn, and play their best ball outside the numbers where their speed can compensate for their lack of physicality...

...while tight end Rob Gronkowski suffers from constant double teams and sometimes labors to get open while being mugged downfield - all of this assuming Brady has enough time to go through his progressions.

So what they have is not as important as what they don't have, which is Edelman's ability to gain immediate separation in his routes and provide quarterback Tom Brady the option to target Edelman on the "bang-bang" play that enabled Brady to get rid of the ball more quickly than anyone else in the league - and even more crucial than that is that the defense can concentrate more on the intermediate zone and make Brady hold the ball longer.

The same phenomenon occurred midway through 2015 when Edelman was lost for seven weeks with a broken bone in his foot. In those games, which covered the final seven of the regular season, the passing yards dipped by 90 yards per game and Brady took a nasty beating, but what really sent the offense into a tailspin from which they never recovered, was the loss of LeGarrette Blount with four games left to play.

Without the running game to have to defend, New England's opponents were able to concentrate solely on defending the passing game, which produced less than 200 yards per game. The Patriots were resilient enough to salvage two wins in that span, but with no running game in the playoffs, their defense carried them to the AFC Championship game and nearly to the Super Bowl.

The thing that prevented them from going to the Super Bowl? A lack of trust in the offense that caused curious play calling, going for it on fourth down deep in Denver Broncos' territory instead of kicking field goals late in the game, as Belichick admitted afterwards that he was trying to take the pressure off of his offense by going all four downs, not trusting that they had the gumption or the time to get down in the red area again to score any more points.

But in those games, Belichick and Brady didn't have a Cooks or a Hogan or a Lewis, nor a running game - all they had was a hobbled Amendola and an equally limited Gronkowski along with a recently activated Edelman and some street-signings, and ended up losing by two points.

It was during this stretch that Brady started targeting White, who has since turned into a major weapon in the passing game, last season breaking Kevin Faulk's team record for receptions and turned in a performance for the ages in the Super Bowl...

...a trend that has continued to flourish in 2017 as White is on pace for unprecedented numbers as the safety valve that Brady is missing in Edelman, with his target and reception numbers nearing what Edelman's have been, while the rest of the group are all languishing in mediocrity compared to their past production.

This is not to say that the effort is not there, just that the way the receiving corps is constructed limits their effectiveness, particularly in the red zone, when their skill sets married with coordinator Josh McDaniels' curious non-usage of what has to be one of the best running back situations in the league has led to meager point outputs in the last four games.

So the Patriots are more or less revisiting the 2015 season on offense, but with better personnel to work through losing Edelman with, and a great set of running backs that could take a lot of the heat off of Brady and the receivers if Belichick and McDaniels would just use them in the running game, which has been limited to just 39% of the offensive snaps this season.

Sadly, they haven't learned that lesson from two years ago, but Belichick is taking field goals when he has the chance to do so, and in doing so has been able to scratch out four consecutive wins - ugly wins, but victories nevertheless.

They have the tools and the talent to overcome their lack of quick-twitch ability in the pattern, and have four running backs who are versatile enough to take over some of Edelman's function, particularly White and Lewis, though a healthy Rex Burkhead may be they key to getting this passing game back on track, as he helps form an imposing trio of passing backs that could well start forcing defense to defend the entire field.

That would open up the intermediate zones enough to help Cooks, Amendola and Dorsett more of a factor down the field and also open up the seam for Gronkowski...

Texans Win The Battles, But Patriots Win The War In Classic Shootout

For sure, the New England Patriots had been in bigger holes than they faced with time running down on them on Sunday afternoon.

The Houston Texans' defense had dominated the Patriots for the entire second half at Gillette Stadium, forcing three New England punts and surrendering just seven points and 131 total yards to what was supposed to be the most prolific scoring offense in modern history, and after being sacked six times, hit five more and fumbling twice, Tom Brady walked out onto the turf an Gillette Stadium needing 75 yards and a touchdown to beat the determined and violent Texans.

But after a holding call made the task a little taller, Brady did what Brady does and has done so many times in his storied career, pulling an eight-play drive out of his magic helmet, turning a five point deficit into a 36-33 Patriots victory that may just be a defining moment for the struggling Minutemen from Foxborough.

Ordinarily, one wouldn't call an offense that averages thirty-three points per game a struggling unit, but coming into the game, Brady had yet to develop a chemistry with newly-acquired wide receiver Brandin Cooks, and the rest of his pass catchers had been dealing with a variety of maladies that had been holding the New England offense far below their potential efficiency...

...but Brady found Cooks twice on the final drive, including the 25-yard gamer with 23 seconds left to go and the Patriots' much-maligned defense made it hold up as safety Duron Harmon emerged with the ball from a scrum in the New England end zone after a last-gasp Hail Mary from Houston rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson just missed it's mark.

Just the fact that New England is not purring along on offense and still averaging 33 points per game is both scary and ridiculous at the same time, but it becomes downright terrifying when it is considered that the line hasn't gelled as yet and the backs are spending more time picking up rogue blitzers than handling the football.

That is a trend that continued on Sunday, as James White and Dion Lewis had just four receptions between them, a direct result of the revolving door style of the offensive tackles needing two of the Patriots' most dynamic skill players to chip pass rushers coming off the edge so that the tackles can catch up to them.

That takes a critical element out of the Patriots' offense, holding it back from realizing it's potential, and the opposition knows it - but the alternative is subjecting Brady to undue physical abuse, and besides, Brady has started to develop a bond with Cooks, for which the blocking of the backs has a direct impact.

Cooks' breakout performance combined with the standard fare from fellow wide receiver Chris Hogan (4 catches for 68 yards and two touchdowns) and tight end Rob Gronkowski (8/89/1) helped the Patriots score 36 points for the second straight week - his five-catch, 131 yard performance doubling his production for the season and his two scoring grabs represented the first and second of his short career in New England...

...while Danny Amendola continues to show up in the most critical of moments to move the chains, hauling in four balls for 48 yards, none bigger than a tough 25-yard snag over the middle on third-and-eighteen to set up Cooks' gamer one play later.

A see-saw affair in which the team combined to use every inch of the new carpeting at Gillette, the contest between the two familiar rivals was an entertaining and physical main event that saw two heavyweights batter each other with haymakers, staggering each other but each unable to put the other away.

Watson was fantastic in just his second start as a professional, the zip he put on his throws when he stepped up in the pocket equaled only by his amazing Houdini-like escapability that had the New England defense on their heels all game and frustrated the pass rushers who had their hands on him several times, but ended up with nothing but thin air.

"That dude is a slippery quarterback" defensive tackle Alan Branch mused after the game, "It was really frustrating as a defensive front just seeing that we had him right our grasp and not quite being able to finish him off."

The Texans scored in combinations to keep the Patriots on the ropes most of the contest, New England scoring off the ropes like mean counter-punchers - and just like in boxing, when the hungry young fighter gives the gnarled old veteran a sliver of an opening, the veteran landed the fatal blow late in the match.

The Patriots opened the game like they usually do, marching right down the field to take the early lead on a Brady shot to tight end Rob Gronkowski, but then Houston gained control with a Fairbairn field goal and a Deshaun Watson laser to Bruce Ellington at the goal line to take a 10-7 lead in the first quarter - then after Chris Hogan found the corner of the end zone to give the Patriots the lead in the second, the Texans countered with fury...

...a Jadeveon Clowney fumble recovery for a touchdown followed another Fairbairn field goal gave the lead back to the Texans before another Hogan touchdown reception from 47 yards out gave the Patriots a one-point lead going into the room.

New England seemed to give themselves a little breathing room when Brady hit Cooks on a 42-yard deep crosser, who then engaged his thrusters to easily outdistance the coverage, but Houston's rookie quarterback took control of the game pulling Patriots' defenders to the weak side time and again and throwing across his body to complete the improbable pass.

His ability to extend drives coupled with the burden he put on both the pass rushers to chase him down and the secondary to hold contain on his receivers took it's toll in the second half, as he led drives that ate up at least three-and-a-half minutes on each, resulting in a scoring toss to tight end Ryan Griffin in the back of the end zone and two more Fairbairn field goals to put New England in the position of needing Brady to come through at the last second.

In contrast, and as much to the detriment of the defense as Watson's magic act, the Patriots' offense generated drives of more than three minutes just once in the game, more often than not holding the ball for less than two minutes, putting the defense back on the field without much of a rest.

"We (the offense) didn't do much there in the fourth quarter." Brady admitted in his post-game presser, "the defense kept holding them to a field goal and gave us just enough time."

So it is to the defense's credit that they found the intestinal fortitude to stop Texans' running back Lamar Miller short of the line to gain on the New England 18 - against a three-receiver set, no less - to force a field goal and give the ball back to Brady and the offense with a little over two minutes to play and with one time out remaining - and Brady rewarded them with a drive for the ages.

No need to elaborate further, as the old gunslinger converted on third-and-long twice to extend the final drive, eventually hitting Cooks for the toe-tapping gamer with an absolute rocket to fit the ball into the tightest of windows...

...and what great Patriots' comeback would be complete without Harmon coming down with a game-sealing interception in the end zone?

Brady channeled his inner John Lennon after the game stating, "I believe that love is the greatest thing we have. It overcomes a lot." - and so does practicing and focusing on situational football, because it was that which helped the Patriots to overcome the upstart Texans, who with sheer talent and a slippery quarterback won a lot of individual battles, but eventually lost the war.

Because, it's Tom Brady and he loves his teammates.

And because he's pretty good at what he does.

Starters Hammer Lions In Dominating Patriots' Performance

The third preseason game on the National Football League schedule is traditionally what the media has dubbed a "Dress Rehearsal" for the regular season, but don't call it that around Bill Belichick.

"I don't think you can compare this game to a regular season game, though I've heard people try to do that." the sometimes-virulent head ball coach of the New England Patriots said last year before their third preseason game. "In terms of game-planning and strategy, and what we see in the regular season compared to what we see in the third preseason game, I don't think you're in the same universe."

Chris Hogan hauls in a 32 yard TD from Brady

"We're still running our basic plays." the Dark Master continued, "Our opponents, we'd expect, would run their basic plays."

Assuming this is true, God help the rest of the NFL when the Patriots open up their playbook.

In a mere fourteen minutes of work and running their "basic" plays on offense, quarterback Tom Brady and his starting unit had their way with the Detroit Lions' top defense, scoring on four straight possessions to start the game and racing out to a 24 point lead before Belichick decided he'd shown the football world enough to scare the living bejesus out of them...

...benching Brady and the most of the starters on both sides of the ball in what eventually evolved into a come-from-behind 30-28 Patriots' victory, a last second Stephen Gostkowski field goal providing the winning margin at Ford Field in downtown Detroit on Friday evening.

So dominating and brutish were the Patriots that Lions' color commentator Chris Spielman was reduced to an exasperated bundle of cliches, spitting out sentence fragments and shooting barbs at the defense for what he termed as being a "failure to compete".

No, Chris.  That was simply what the Patriots' offense is going to do to folks this season.

Brady was white-hot, going 11 of 12 for 157 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter, finishing his night 12 of 15 for 174 yards - yielding the reins to backup Jimmy Garoppolo late in the first half after throwing an interception in Detriot's end zone when he and dangerous wideout Chris Hogan got their signals crossed on a deep out and up route into double coverage.

The rest of Brady's throws were a clinic in precision, the only footballs to hit the ground incomplete being a drop by Brandin Cooks on a crossing route, and a drop by tight end Rob Gronkowski on what was nearly a spectacular, twisting grab up the seam on a throw in which Brady was hit from behind just as he was releasing the ball.

The second and third offensive units were just plain offensive and unable to mount any sort of threat until late in the contest once the Lions had scored 27 unanswered points, gaining just 28 yards in four possessions until Garoppolo led two fourth quarter scoring drives.

Despite the miscommunication with Brady on the interception, Hogan was unstoppable and scored on a sit-down route from seven-yards out for the first Patriots' score, then displayed terrific concentration as Brady laid a perfect spiral right into Hogan's bucket from 32 yards out and into double coverage.

Dion Lewis started the game at running back and had a rather pedestrian showing before yielding to James White, who seems to have used his solid performance in last February's Super Bowl as a confidence springboard in the running game, posting 25 yards on only four carries (6.25 yards per carry) right into the teeth of the Lions' run defense...

...while Mike Gillislee took over from there and played the remainder of the first half, getting his feet wet in the Patriots' offense by scoring from the one yard line for New England's third touchdown, converting a two-point try with a burst up the middle, then later giving the Patriots' a little breathing room from deep in their own territory, rumbling 27 yards while displaying the foot speed and vision that caused Belichick to target him in free agency.

While all of this was happening, Matt Patricia's defense bared it's teeth in earnest on Friday night, sandwiching three punts between two turnovers and allowing just 78 yards of total offense before Patricia started replacing his entire secondary and most of his front seven late in the first half.

New England's rush defense came out in force, holding the Lions' running game to a paltry 33 yards on 11 carries in the first half, with five-technique ends Alan Branch and Lawrence Guy flexing their muscles and sealing everything inside, while flushing Stafford from the pocket consistently, Branch recording the game's only sack, a one-handed "get-back-here" job, dragging Stafford down from behind.

Cornerback Malcolm Butler bounced back from a horrific showing against the Houston Texans six-days earlier by punching a ball loose from Lions' receiver Golden Tate on Detroit's first possession - leading to the Brady-to-Hogan 32 yard connection for six - and then deflected a pass that ended up in the hands of fellow-corner Eric Rowe.

For the game, Stafford posted a decent stat line of 15 of 22 for 190 yards, two touchdowns and the Rowe pick, but much of that came late in the first half and early in the second as he led consecutive scoring drives to slice New England's lead to ten points before Lions' coach Jim Caldwell pulled him in favor of Jake Ruddock in the middle of the third quarter...

...but going just 7 of 13 for 55 yards before finally finding his rhythm in the hurry-up against a three-deep zone with time winding down in the first half.

Despite the dominating performance of the starting units, not all was cheeseburgers and beer for New England, as they most likely lost receiver Julian Edelman for the season with what is believed to be a non-contact ACL tear in his right knee and the reserves on both sides of the ball looked lost for most of the second half...

...though that can be chalked up to the fact that it looked as if Belichick was using this game as a conditioning tool, particularly for his defensive line as he kept his starters in the game until the last couple of series, and they appeared to be completely spent towards the end of their time on the field.

But that is nit-picking and reaching to find things to complain about on a night that was a seeming coronation of what most fans and experts already knew: this Patriots' team is loaded on both sides of the ball, and Friday night's short, intense blitzkrieg over, around and through a decent Detroit Lions squad should have color commentators around the league grasping at straws to explain to their viewers why their team looks like they are nothing but road fodder for a Patriots' team hell-bent on trophy number six...

The Art Of Football, Part 4: Belichick "Cooks" Up Enticing Receiving Corps

"A modern day warrior
Mean, mean stride
Today's Tom Sawyer
Mean, mean pride."

When Neil Peart, the world class drummer for the Canadian rock band Rush, penned the lyrics to the band's most recognizable and signature tune Tom Sawyer, New England Patriots head ball coach Bill Belichick was just starting to cut his football teeth as linebackers' coach for the New York Giants under the tutelage of Ray Perkins...

...the same Ray Perkins who, along with Ron Erhardt, devised the concept-based Erhardt-Perkins offense while they were both offensive assistants with the Patriots, a system so complex in it's simplicity that learning the playbook has ruined many competent veteran receivers with it's reliance on versatility.

Perkins' influence on Belichick is evident every time his Patriots take the field, as the mantra for the Erhardt-Perkins offense, "Pass to score, run to win" is pretty much how it's done in New England with their pass-first mentality and their ability to close out games by running out of their four-minute sets - but finding players that "get it" when it comes to the concepts is not an easy task.

The offense requires that every player knows what every other player is supposed to be doing, and relying on their diverse skill sets to give them the ability to line up at any position on the field, be it split wide, in the slot or in the backfield.

For years, Brady has called the play in the huddle - a simple one word designation that tells each player where to line up and what route he is running, breaking the huddle quickly and then using the rest of the play clock to survey the defense, unmask the coverages by sending any number of players in motion and gauging the defenses' reaction, then adjusting the pass catchers to a spot in the formation to take advantage of mismatches.

So, there's a reason why Belichick selects the pass catchers that he does, a reason why Patriots' receivers are no-name, often nomadic creatures who wouldn't make another team's roster because they lack any number of requisite qualities that fans will pay to see - literal jacks-of-all-trades, receivers that are successful in the concept have three things in common:

They are intelligent, both academically and in football vernacular.  They are versatile.  They are dependable.

Not a list of traits looked at with any degree of enthusiasm by the casual fan - or by many coaches, it seems - it is these traits that have fueled the Patriots' offense for close to two decades, ruining the aforementioned tenured veterans and making cult-figures of ambiguous, ill-figured athletes, some of whom had not played at receiver until Belichick got hold of them.

"Tom Sawyer was a collaboration between myself and Pye Dubois.  His original lyrics were kind of a portrait of a modern-day rebel, a free-spirited individualist striding through the world wide-eyed and purposeful.  I added the themes of reconciling the boy and the man in myself, and the difference between what people are and what others perceive them to be." Neil Peart

The gap between what Belichick is and what people perceive him to be has narrowed exponentially with each division title, with each conference championship and with each Super Bowl.  Initially, the man we've come to call "The Dark Master" was perceived to be a curmudgeonly old malcontent who loathed the media and didn't give two shits what anyone thought of him...

...his sole saving grace in the public eye was the obvious affection that he had for the men who played ball for him - and even that took hits every time he released or traded away a player whom the fanbase had decided had lots of gas left in their tank.

He discarded certain hall-of-fame receiver Randy Moss after he ceased to be useful, and dumped slot receiver Wes Welker after openly mocking him with the moniker "Wally Pipp" and giving his job to Julian Edelman.  He took chances on a washed-up Chad Ochocinco and Reggie Wayne, but both crashed and burned at the prospect of having to learn the playbook.

His track record of drafting receivers that could actually function in the system is abysmal, so instead he concentrates on collecting already broken-in talent with varying degrees of success and rides the lightning with them - his track record in that endeavor solid gold despite the failed Ochocinco experiment.

Moss set records and made mockery of secondaries throughout football.  Welker became the prototype for garden gnome-sized slot receivers, holding the fort for Edelman, a former-college quarterback that worked his way into the lineup.  Danny Amendola was signed the day that Welker was shown the door and became one of the most clutch receivers in team history.

Chris Hogan didn't even play college ball at Penn State, instead playing Lacrosse on scholarship then using his final year of eligibility to learn to play the position at tiny Monmouth College, and last season became the Patriots big play game breaker - and in Malcolm Mitchell, all indications are that Belichick may have finally gotten a draft pick right.

Indeed, Mitchell was the highest-drafted receiver on the roster last season - with the exception of late-season rental Michael Floyd - being taken in the fourth round and wowing the fans at Gillette Stadium with his toughness, resilience and electric moves after the catch, and all indications were that Mitchell was ready to break out onto the scene as a sophomore...

...that is until Belichick traded away his first-round draft pick to New Orleans in exchange for Brandin Cooks, a move that will either limit Mitchell's progress by taking snaps from him or make him that much more dangerous as opposing secondaries look to contain the speedy Cooks.

Running a blazing fast 4.33 in the 40 yard dash, Cooks routinely ran away from coverages operating out of the slot, his short area burst causing instant separation as he took slot corners inside out across the face of the intermediate zone and up the sidelines which draws the attention of the high safety and should leave the other pass catchers on the roster in single coverage.

That's bad news for defensive coordinators on the Patriots' schedule, especially considering that Mitchell and Hogan are no sloths, running 4.45 and 4.47 respectively - we saw what both did last season when left in man coverage, and the fact that they rose to the occasion when their team needed them most in the post-season makes them solid gold in Belichick's system.

No, his mind is not for rent
To any God or government
Always hopeful but discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent

Terminally discontent despite holding another trophy, in trading for Cooks Belichick addressed the most worrisome issue coming out of their championship season, that of not having a speed merchant to force the defense to defend the entire field and allowing defenses built on quickness - such as the Atlanta Falcons - to key down on taking away the short game that has been a staple of Belichick's offenses throughout his tenure.

His Patriots overcame that disadvantage in the Super Bowl, barely, but Belichick can't count on making epic comebacks week-after-week after spotting teams large leads - so he went out and did something about it.

In Cooks, Hogan and Mitchell, the Patriots are suddenly youthful in their receiving corps.  Cooks is 23 and still working on his rookie contract, though Belichick picked up his option for 2018 and making him a multi-millionaire.  Mitchell is in his second season at age 24 and also on his rookie contract, while Hogan is still just 28 and entering his sixth season...

...joining Edelman (30) and Amendola (31) to form perhaps the most dangerously versatile receiving corps in the National Football League.

Now add in the combined talents of tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen - both just 27 years old and under contract for multiple seasons - along with the pass catching talent coming out of the backfield in the personages of Super Bowl hero James White (25), Dion Lewis (26), Rex Burkhead (26) and Mike Gillislee (26), and one has to wonder how anyone is going to stop the apparent juggernaut that Belichick has built.

Luckily for opposing defenses, the Patriots are only allowed five skill position players on the field at any one time - but that is going to be hard enough for them to cover and account for...

Today's Tom Sawyer
He gets high on you
And the space he invades
He gets by on you

The Art Of Football - Part 1: Brady's Super Bowl Performance Showed He's Far From Finished

Tom Brady is filthy.

Not just your standard-brand, slip and fall in the mud filthy - no, Tom Brady is rolling around in the pen with the swine, hanging out in the shadows of an alley, no-you-cannot-go-out-with-my-daughter filthy - and if anyone thinks that he's not, all those people have to do is watch the last six minutes of regulation and overtime of Super Bowl 51...

Brady's perfect throw to Amendola

...and if anyone doubts that Brady still has the tools to play at a high level, all one has to do is watch the throws the man made in overtime to rip the hearts out of the collective Falcons' defense.

Entering his eighteenth season, Brady can still make all of the throws required of an NFL quarterback - and not just make the throws, but to fire them into a tight window like a boss and also take a little bit off of a throw to drop it into a bucket over the coverage.  The most amazing thing is, however, that he can do both at the same time.

Absolutely filthy.

In overtime of Super Bowl 51, and after throwing nearly sixty passes to that point in overcoming a twenty-five point deficit, Brady made two of the sickest throws a football fan will ever see.

After completing a short toss to running back James White, Brady dropped back on a second and four from his own 31 yard line, initially looking up the seam to freeze the single high safety in his tracks then looked to Danny Amendola running an intermediate out pattern to the strong side...

...throwing a dart with just enough tough on it to keep Falcons' cornerback Brian Poole from making a play on the ball, but with just enough velocity to put the ball right on Amendola's hands on the right hashmark, gaining fourteen yards and setting up the Patriots just shy of midfield.

The very next play, Brady went to the weakside, patiently waiting for wide receiver Chris Hogan to sell a fly pattern up the left sideline to Atlanta corner Jalen Collins, then firing a missile five yards behind Hogan, who planted his lead foot and broke back towards the ball, which found Hogan's midsection just a split-second before Collins could get his hand in to break it up.

On both plays, the cornerbacks had perfect, tight coverage, and on both plays Brady pit the ball into a window so tight that to miss by a a fraction of an inch in any direction could have spelled disaster.

Even his next throw to Julian Edelman was on a line that you could have hung your clothes on, hitting the receiver right in traffic to set up a chain of events that included a pass interference call on Falcons' linebacker De'Vondre Campbell on the goal line and White's subsequent game winning strong-side sweep.

Those were not the kinds of throws made by a quarterback on his last legs, like Broncos' quarterback Peyton's wounded ducks in Super Bowl 50, where he was fortunate to be supported by a defense that forced four turnovers, two of them inside the Carolina Panthers red zone, and scored a touchdown themselves on a fumble recovery in the end zone.

The 17 points supplied, essentially and literally, by the Broncos' defense in that game turned out to be plenty to mask Manning's ineptitude and send him into retirement a winner - but Brady wasn't facing a middling offense that was easily intimdated and who couldn't hold onto the football.  The Atlanta Falcons gave the Patriots defense all they could handle, yet could only score 21 points against them...

...though they did supply the turning point in the game with a Dont'a Hightower strip sack of Atlanta's Matt Ryan that gave Brady a short field to turn a blowout into a one-score game, setting the stage for Brady's epic display of clutch passing.

Many in the media doubted Brady when he said last season that he could play well into his forties, but no one on either sideline in the Super Bowl had doubts about his abilities, even after he suffered through what may have been the worst first half of football that he had played all season - except maybe from Falcons' receiver Mohamed Sanu, who was captured commenting on the sidelines to fellow pass catcher Taylor Gabriel that the Patriots hadn't seen anything like what they were facing.

"It's Tom Brady, though." Gabriel replied matter-of-factly.

Sanu thought for a moment then replied, "I know, I'm never comfortable.  We're about to put 40 up on their ass."

Well, forty points would have won the game for sure, but instead the Patriots put up 31 unanswered points on Atlanta in the space of about twenty minutes, and ripped the Lombardi Trophy out of their hands like a street thug would a gold watch off an unsuspecting tourist.

So, Brady is going to be around for a little while longer, which means different things to different people.  For the rest of teams in the NFL and their fans, it means that the Patriots will remain the team to beat for the foreseeable future.  For Patriots' fans it means that the chance for a another trophy or two is not just a possibility, but a probability...

...but for backup Jimmy Garoppolo, Brady's continued excellence presents him with a bit of a quandary.

Garoppolo is heading into the final year of his rookie contract, and is set to hit the open market in free agency after the 2017 season, ready to cash in on what will be sure to be one of the more lucrative deals ever handed out to a seasoned clipboard holder - so many were questioning why the Patriots haven't been inclined to deal Garoppolo this offseason to try and get value out of him now instead of letting him walk for nothing next offseason.

The answer to that lies in the history of professional football, and it appears that New England is ready to franchise tag the Eastern Illinois product if they can't come to some sort of agreement with him to compel him to wait for his opportunity in Foxborough, because judging from their actions leading up to and including the draft, the Patriots don't want to deal Garoppolo, no matter the price.

And why should they?  In Garoppolo, they have a ready-made heir to Tom Brady already under contract, and while Brady is firm in his resolve to play well into his 40's, all it will take is one significant injury - and without a quarterback to fall back on, the Patriots' championship aspirations take a momentous hit - and history is replete with examples.

For instance, when Trent Green went down in the 1999 preseason, what would the Rams have done without Kurt Warner?  How about in 1971 when Roger Staubach replaced an ineffective Craig Morton in Dallas? How about Jim Plunkett for Dan Pastorini in 1980?  Jeff Hostettler for Phil Simms in 1990? Trent Dilfer for Tony Banks in 2000?  All of those teams went on to win championships with their backups.

Of course, how can Patriots' fans forget a guy named Tom Brady coming off the bench in 2001 to lead the Patriots to their first title?

But if you want a more recent example of what can happen if a team doesn't plan properly for injury, all one has to do is to look at what happened to the Oakland Raiders last season, when Derek Carr went down in week 16 with a broken fibula and all they had to fall back on was Matt McGloin and Connor Cook, who combined for two touchdowns and four interceptions as Oakland lost their regular season finale...

...at the same time losing the AFC West and a chance at homefield advantage, then went to Houston as a wild card and got thumped by a Texans team that had Brock Osweiller at quarterback.  If the Raiders had actually employed a decent backup - McGloin had been a career clipboard holder and Cook was a rookie - they might have had the advantage over every other AFC team, including New England.

As has been said numerous times, Jimmy Garoppolo may be the best backup in the NFL, and it is obvious that his value to the forward thinking Patriots as an insurance policy against an aging Brady is worth more than a couple of draft picks or future considerations.

The Patriots have no holes in their lineup to speak of, and their depth is better than just about anyone else's in the league, barring perhaps at defensive end and at offensive guard, and now that the draft is over, the options that the Patriots have in replacing incumbent talent with a college kid are narrow indeed, no matter the position.

In the end, the Patriots are loaded - as loaded as any franchise in any city in recent memory - a literal juggernaut with the greatest quarterback who ever played the game, playing at a level and with a confidence that has never been witnessed before.

That in itself is enough to generate awe from every one of their opponents, but when you include the ridiculous talent that head ball coach Bill Belichick has assembled around Brady, it becomes downright frightening - even if Garoppolo is forced into the lineup.

Needless to say, the New England Patriots are set at quarterback.

Next: Part 2, previewing the Patriots running backs

Super Bowl LI - Patriots' Receivers, Akin To Misfits, Bask In Belichick's Offensive System

Keyshawn Johnson was right.

Sort of.

The loquacious, quite well-traveled former NFL wide receiver said on Friday that none of the receivers on the New England Patriots roster wouldn't find themselves on any other team's depth chart, simply because they are a product of the Patriots' system, which accentuates their limited individual skill sets.

Players no one else wanted: Hogan and Brady represent lethal hook up

Where the former Jets, Bucs, 'boys and Panthers' pass catcher has a point is where recent history suggests that receivers whom have been part of the New England culture since head ball coach Bill Belichick arrived on the scene at the turn of the century, just haven't been impactful - neither before they arrive on campus, nor after the leave.

Where Johnson is off the mark is when he says they are a product of the system - because they aren't a product of the system, they are the system.

You see, where most coaches and personnel men select players whom they can integrate into their offensive scheme, Belichick builds his scheme around his receivers combined skill set.  This allows Belichick much more latitude in game planning, expanding the concepts in his playbook and allowing a seemingly endless combination of personnel packages.

It's the theory of not trying to jam a square peg into a round hole, rather, to bore out the round hole to allow the square peg to fit.

And while Johnson is mostly correct in his assertion that Patriots' wide receivers wouldn't be contributing factors in most other passing games around the league, it is also true that Belichick is consistently above the curve when it comes to innovation - his concept-driven offensive philosophy requiring above average intelligence and intestinal fortitude, and if you have those things, he will put you in the position to succeed.

But Belichick is under no obligation to ensure that any player who leaves his team is ready to take on any other scheme - and, as we've seen and as Johnson points out, many are not.

Belichick's offense is predicated on the old New England standard introduced by offensive coordinators Ron Erhardt and Ray Perkins during their time together on Chuck Faurbanks' staff during the early and middle parts of the 1970s, and include the same plays that would conjure memories if one had played high school ball...

...only that the defense has no way of determining what they plays are because they are run from what coaches refer to as "concepts", which means that these simple and fundamental plays are formed in a group, depending on the personnel on the field, that gives the quarterback a myriad of options to take advantage of whatever formation the defense has committed to on any given play.

The concepts are easy for the players to learn, as they form a mental picture of routes, blocking assignments and running gaps from a single word.

Everyone who watches football hears a quarterback barking out numerical and linguistic instructions to the other ten offensive players on the field, and for most teams, the quarterback is simply calling an audible - changing the play at the line of scrimmage - or setting different blocking instructions for his linemen, but when one hears Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady's cadence, he is actually calling the play at the line of scrimmage.

The Patriots are able to do this because of their personnel, as every player on the field at any given time has the skill set that enables Brady to shift them into any position in the formation, knowing that each player is capable of running the route assigned to the position - in effect, each player has an interchangeable skill set that has been incorporated into the offensive system during the previous offseason and implemented during training camp.

If there is a drawback to the system, we saw it during the 2013 and 2015 seasons when the Patriots lost so many players to injury that the system broke down when replacement players were signed out of desperation, limiting the offense to simply running plays instead of utilizing their conceptual scheme.

In both seasons, the team lost enough pass catching threats that it altered the play calling to more of a bare bones playbook, reducing them to one-dimensional entities that better defenses in the NFL were able to take advantage of, losing in the AFC title game to Denver in both seasons because they simply couldn't impose their will on the Broncos' top-rated defense.

To combat this, Belichick turned his attention to depth signings this past offseason, not willing to chance losing another season because his offense couldn't operate at max-efficiency.

For example, instead of keeping his fingers crossed that All World tight end Rob Gronkowski could make it through an entire season unscathed, he send a late-round draft pick to Chicago to acquire Pro Bowl tight end Martellus Bennett - and while this move solicited visions of a revisitation to the days of Gronkowski and now-incarcerated thug Aaron Hernadez terrifying opposing defenses with a two-tight end attack, it was instead a depth move that worked out famously when Gronkowski went down midway through the season.

Similar moves have been made in the past few seasons, with names such as Chris Hogan and Dion Lewis brought in to ensure that injury wouldn't limit their conceptual system - a system that have seen them in six consecutive AFC Championship games in as many seasons, and are now vying for their second World title in three tries during the same time span.

The good news for the Patriots is that, with the exception of Gronkowski, the Patriots are whole on offense with no limitation to their concepts.  The bad news for their opponents, the NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons, is that no team in the past two-plus seasons have been able to contain the Patriots' offense with a full complement of weapons effectively enough to give their own offense a chance to outscore them.

The Falcons, in fact, are very similar defensively to what the Pittsburgh Steelers fielded in their title tilt showdown with New England, in that they are mediocre against the run, surrendering an eye-popping 4.5 yards per rush, while their secondary ranks in the bottom five - a number that is a bit deceiving in that Atlanta's offense tends to jump out to huge early leads, forcing the opposing offenses to be one-dimensional to play catch-up.

The result, of course, is that Atlanta's pass rushers pin their ears back and come after the opposing quarterback and their secondary goes into a dime look where they can shut down ordinary receivers playing in ordinary passing attacks.

Of course, the Patriots have anything but an ordinary attack and are led by the greatest quarterback to ever take a snap, playing in a system designed to take advantage of the considerable individual skill sets of their players - and with New England's offense playing with a full complement of weapons, feeding off of the top scoring defense in the National Football League, the chances for  Falcon's victory seem dim...

...and all of this from a collection of receivers that wouldn't be able to make another team's roster.

So says Keyshawn Johnson, anyway.

Texans Must Play Nearly Perfect Ball To Upset Patriots' Juggernaut

The Houston Texans have been called "Patriots' South" by more than one observant writer, and a quick peek at the coaching staff quantifies the axiom - but that doesn't mean they play anything like the Juggernaut Patriots.

Since the Texans showed former head coach Gary Kubiak the door following the 2013 season, no less than five former Patriots have populated their coaching ranks, starting with the hire of former New England offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien as their head coach - the caustic O'Brien bringing in former Patriots' defensive coordinator Romeo Crennell and quarterbacks coach George Godsey to man the same positions with Houston...

Patriots' power back Blount racked up 105 yards in week three

...and lining up former Patriots' players Mike Vrabel and Larry Izzo to be their linebacker's coach and Special teams coordinator, respectively, and also elevating Godsey to the office of offensive coordinator this past season.

So it goes to figure that there would be some similarities in the way the Texans are run, given the top shelf lineage from whence the powers-that-be spawned, but O'Brien has put his unique  stamp on his team to the point that only the manner in which he prepares his team - both in the classroom and the practice field - is similar to the philosophies that New England Patriots' head ball coach Bill Belichick maintains, and has maintained for the better part of two decades.

The reasons are valid.  First and foremost, the offensive personnel that he inherited from Kubiac featured smallish, agile offensive linemen, a pedestrian brood of pass catchers and hard-running but injury prone power backs. Conspicuously missing from his bag of tricks, however, are two staples of the Patriots' offense: versatile passing backs and Tom Brady.

So it goes to figure that O'Brien would be forced into an offense - and, indeed, his entire team - that is suited for the personnel that he does have, which means running the ball with authority to set up a play action, employing a timing-based passing game, then trusting in a defense inspired more by a Seattle Seahawks philosophy of aggression than the Patriots' constantly evolving scheme.

There are certain nuances missing from the equation, particularly on offense, such as an elite quarterback and a power back that looks to punish defenders - and they will be hard-pressed to win anything more than a purple heart in tournament play until they solve their deficiencies.

Though they don't employ a passing back, per se, the Texans do get some production through the air with lead back Lamar Miller and, to a lesser extent, Alfred Blue.  Neither Miller or Blue are going to scare anyone, as they both tend to avoid contact at the second level, but their proficiency at pass catching gives the Texans an advantage in that the play action is always going to be effective if a running game has been established, and Houston has the eighth-ranked ground attack in the NFL despite being more of an in-space entity.

As far as the Brady reference, he is a once in a generation talent, so the Texans would have to settle for a steady gunslinger, which is what they thought they had in prize free agent Brock Osweiler, but the return on their massive investment hasn't been what they had envisioned in Osweiler's first season. He has the potential to be a very good starting quarterback, the evidence being what we all witnessed last season when he was under center for the Broncos for a good chunk of their season...

...and also in what we've seen from him in the past couple of games, coming off the bench in relief of Tom Savage in a season-ending loss to Tennessee and in a solid start against the Oakland Raiders in the wildcard round.

That said, Osweiler doesn't match up well against the Patriots. For starters, he rarely throws to his running backs, which New England has shown a propensity to struggle defending. Instead, he looks to his monstrous tight ends C.J. Fiedorowicz and Ryan Griffin on shallow crossers and to his deep threats, DeAndre Hopkins and rookie Will Fuller, in the intermediate and deep zones.

Problem is, his arm to the deep sideline is shaky at best, meaning that New England's secondary can play their standard Big Nickle, the corners pinning the perimeter receivers to the sidelines while the safeties eliminate the tight ends - and all the while keep the Texans' running game in check with their athletic linebackers.

This is the very same game plan that the Patriots used against Houston earlier in the season, shutting them out in Foxborough - and should New England grab an early lead in the AFC Divisional round matchup on Saturday night, Savage is waiting on the sidelines.

At this point in their careers, Osweiler has made more headlines, but Savage may be the best option at quarterback against New England as he is steady in the pocket and won't take chances with the ball, and what the Texans really need from their offense is to protect the football, gain first downs and keep Brady on the sidelines, limiting his possessions, and therefore, his scoring opportunities.

Other than Savage getting a couple of late season starts, nothing has really changed for the Texans on offense since thier week three meeting, while New England has had tremendous turnover of personnel and have evolved into a top-10 unit, ranking 8th in total defense and a solid gold first in the NFL in points allowed, which, as everyone knows, is a compelling display of the effectiveness of the bend-but-don't-break philosophy employed by Belichick for years...

...all the while, the Houston Texans have been towards the top of the total defensive rankings, and actually ended the regular season as number one in yardage allowed, but have given up close to three touchdowns per game - a testament to their offense's propensity for turning the ball over and putting the defense in short-field situations.

If that trend continues against New England, the Texans don't stand a chance.

Turnover differential has been the bitch-kitty for Houston all season long, as they are in the bottom third of the NFL in opposition starting position, which would account for the disparity between total defense and scoring defense, but when the Texans are able to flip the script and force the opposition into more mistakes, it generally turns out well for them.

Defense is the Texans' calling card. Though they are ranked just twelfth against the run, they have overcome early-season troubles in that respect, and in the second half of the campaign have allowed just shy of 65 yards per game on the ground, far and away the best number in the league in that span, while their pass defense hasn't allowed a 300 yard passer all season.

But every defense in the league have had issues with the Patriots' offense - not so much because because their passing game is the reincarnation of the Greatest Show on Turf, nor because their newly-discovered power running game is dominating the opposition's front seven, but because of the Patriots' incredible balance.

That's right, the Patriots are winning ball games the old fashioned way, using their balance to keep the opposing defense back on their heels.

And why not?  Even with All World tight end Rob Gronkowski on the skids with a season-ending back injury, Brady still has one of the most dynamic offenses in the league - and perhaps the most versatile in franchise history. Funky free spirit Martellus Bennett is a fine fill-in for Gronkowski and is a top tight end in his own right...

...while perennial tough cover Julian Edelman is the most recognizable pass catcher on the team. But what makes the Patriots so difficult to defend in the pattern is actually a combination of he and slot man Danny Amendola taking care of the short reads, while newcomers Chris Hogan and Michael Floyd give the Patriots size and speed on the perimeter that they haven't had in nearly a decade.

Even that would be enough to task the Texans' secondary to the limit, but when you add in the three-headed Ghidorah of power back LeGarrette Blount and dynamic passing backs James White and Dion Lewis, it's just too much for defenses to handle - particularly since all of New England's receivers are capable of lining up anywhere in a spread formation.

So, how do the Texans combat such a juggernaut?

There is but one hope, and that is for their pass rush to get to Brady and force him off his mark, and to do it with just four pass rushers because Brady is at his best checking down against the blitz and finding his hot reads - and then when a team backs off to prevent the hot take, Brady will shred a secondary with his precision accuracy.

So it will take a complementary effort of the Texans' front three plus rush linebacker Whitney Mercilus getting past New England's eighth-rated offensive line to harass Brady, their fine set of run-plugging linebackers doing just that, and their equally fine secondary holding coverages on New England's pass catchers to have a shot at an upset - but it is a tall task indeed...

...as to accomplish this, they will have to get around left tackle Nate Solder and up the middle where Brady's pass protection is it's most vulnerable, they will have to fend off perhaps some of the best second level run blockers in the league in tackle Marcus Cannon and Shaq Mason off the strong side and they will have to physically contain Brady's receivers.

But the key, as mentioned, is the pass rush.  If we hear the names of Jadeveon Clowney, Whitney Mercilus and Quinten Demps in abundance during the game, then we'll know that the Texans' defensive game plan has given them a chance, but if we hear Brock Osweiler's name in conjunction with interceptions or fumbles, their offense will have killed their chances.

It's a tight line to have to walk for Houston, but if they are to advance to next weekend's AFC Championship Game, they will need to be as disciplined on both sides of the ball as they have been all season - and then some.

Dolphins,Patriots Playing For Seeding, Will Not Rest Starters

Where would you rather have to play in the dead of winter in a one-and-done playoff scenario?

Your first choice is in a climate-controlled domed stadium against an opponent with a weaker record and who just barely qualified for the playoffs by winning the worst division in all of football, while your second choice is in an open-air stadium in the northeastern United States where the temperatures are liable to be in the teens with a windchill of negative connotations against a team that also just scraped into the playoffs, but are battle-tested in the tough AFC North.

Martellus Bennett is part of New England's downfield threat

If you are the Miami Dolphins and you have control over a scenario where you could go to Houston to face the offensively-challenged Texans in the Wildcard round of the 2016 NFL Playoffs, you do everything in your power to take that kind of favorable matchup - but if you don't, or can't, make that scenario come true, you will find yourself smack in the middle of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania against a Steelers team that is operating on all thrusters and as dangerous as any team in the tournament.

All the Dolphins have to do on Sunday to win a trip to Houston is to beat the visiting New England Patriots.

The Dolphins need this game if they want the easiest path to the Divisional round and perhaps even to the AFC Championship game - the Patriots just need it, for a plethora of reasons, not the least of which is to secure homefield advantage throughout the playoffs - but there is a far more dark reason.

You see, the Dolphins represent the best on-field challenge for New England, which in turn will keep the team sharp going into their first-round playoff bye without being over-challenging in game-planning and preparation, since they are a well-known commodity in Foxborough.  Miami is relentless and plays with the heart of an underdog, and what they do well is what the other teams in the AFC East do when playing the Patriots: They find a way to hang around and give themselves a shot to win in the fourth quarter.

But unlike the Buffalo Bills, who have no defense, and the New York Jets who have no offense, the Dolphins have just enough of both to make things tough for New England on Sunday.

Much has been made of Miami's "prolific" running attack, led by second-year back Jay Ajayi, but the fact of the matter is that their ground game runs hot and cold.  For all of the coverage Ajayi received for topping 200 yards in consecutive games around midseason, the Dolphins as a team hit triple-digits on the ground only six times, going for two hundred against the Steelers and twice against the Bills...

...but in games against average to good run defenses, they sport an average of just 84 yards per game on the ground, which feeds into what the Patriots defense does best.

The New England run defense is ranked third in the National Football League, which illustrates how the Patriots approach each game - priority one being to stop the opposition's running game, which they have by holding nine of their fifteen foes under the century mark, and five of their last six, a period which has seen the Patriots surrender a league low 72 yards per game.

The New England pass defense gave up a season-high 387 yards to Miami in week two, but in truth 308 of those passing yards came during a furious second half rally which saw the Dolphins recover from a 24-3 halftime deficit, cutting the Patriots' lead to seven and knocking on their doorstep in the final seconds for the tie before centerfielder Duron Harmon ended the threat with a clutch interception at the New England nine yard line.

And therein lies the rub. Miami is not excellent in any unit on offense, but they are relentless with the style of a mean counter-puncher - and they have to be, because their defense, particularly their run defense, is absolutely atrocious, having given up nearly 150 yards per game since their bye.

Good news for a Patriots' team that sports a top-ten running game themselves, that has averaged 117 yards per game since their own bye week - and that phase of the offense is going to be important to the Patriots as they face a Dolphins' pass defense that is vertically challenged. Miami's opponents have demonstrated great balance on offense, and the ability to remain patient, knowing that their running game will set up their intermediate to deep passing game...

...which New England actually has this season. Since the departure of Randy Moss, the Patriots have relied purely on the short "Dink-and-Dunk" passing game, employing garden gnomes as receivers and monoliths as tight ends, and tying the entire thing together with prolific passing backs - but this season, with the addition of former Buffalo Bill Chris Hogan and rookie Malcolm Mitchell, not to mention recent acquisition Michael Floyd, the Patriots have demonstrated a protracted ability to go over the top of defenses.

That makes New England's offense even more dangerous than they have been in previous meeting through the past few seasons with Miami, and affords them excellent balance and depth - which, despite the aforementioned struggles for the Dolphins on defense, will be as important as any other factor for the Patriots' offense, as Miami is tops in the league in their down defense, accomplished simply by bringing heat from their violent pass rush in obvious passing situations.

This game has all the makings of a classic Patriots / Dolphins showdown, but with much more on the line for both teams. Last season, the Patriots sleepwalked through their season finale and lost home field advantage throughout the playoffs because of it - and that in itself should tell you everything you need to know about this game...

...because if the Dolphins played that hard and that mean in a meaningless game for them to end last season, how much more motivated are they going to be when the game means the difference between going to a toasty warm Houston as the fifth-seed or to iced-down Pittsburgh as the sixth-seed, something that a win over New England will provide them.

But the Patriots are not without motivation either, as they well remember what that loss to Miami last season cost them in the playoffs. New England is in a similar boat this time around, in trying to fend off a challenge from the Oakland Raiders for the top seed in the AFC, which a victory over the Dolphins will give them.

Play Action Deadly For Ravens In Patriots Dominant Victory

The Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots have had some epic battles in recent history.

The Ravens have been viewed as more of a bunch of tough guys that win with their defense and running the football while the Patriots just kind of morph into whatever they need to be in order to compete with their opponent, and the results have usually been one-score affairs that raise the collective blood pressure of both fan bases.

That was the case on Monday night when the Ravens visited Foxborough on the weekly, nationally televised showcase of the National Football League - the fans got another nail biter, a drama-filled encounter that saw one team take a big lead, squander it, then deliver a decisive dagger just when things looked hopeless.

Chris Hogan hauls in a perfect Brady rainbow

But don't let the 30-23 final score fool you - the New England Patriots dominated the Ravens, and only the final score was close.

Coming into the contest, the Ravens sported the top defense in all of football, ranked first against the run and fourth against the pass, holding nine of their twelve opponents under 65 yards rushing and all but one foe under the 300 yard passing threshold, and that figured to hold, particularly since New England was missing their top offensive target in tight end Rob Gronkowski and their steady slot man in Danny Amendola...

...but Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady shredded Baltimore's secondary for more than 400 yards through the air and power back LeGarrette Blount punished the Ravens' run stoppers for 72 yards and a touchdown - setting career highs in both scores and rushing yards in a season as New England had their way with the stout Baltimore defense.

In fact, New England fell just shy of laying 500 yards of total offense on the proud Ravens' defense as Brady unleashed hell to the tune of 406 yards and three touchdowns - but it was the one pass that got away from him, a floater in the end zone intercepted by safety Eric Weddle, that started a string of errors that nearly doomed the Patriots or, at the very least, made the game a lot closer than it needed to be.

Up 16-0 and poised from the two yard line to tack on another seven and put the game, essentially, out of reach, Brady threw across his body to the left corner of the end zone, getting nothing on the throw due to no follow through whatever, Weddle picked it off cleanly and started in motion a series of Patriots' gaffes that allowed the Ravens to stick around and Patriots' fans to reach for the Xanax...

So instead of going into the room at halftime down 23-0, the Ravens managed a field goal to trail just 16-3, then followed up on their good fortune by taking advantage of two Patriots' special teams turnovers in the second half to close the gap to just three points with just over six minutes to play in the game and the Patriots' offense in a scoreless funk.

Clearly, impetus was on the side of the Baltimore Ravens - but just when you think you've got the Patriots on the ropes, they seem to be able to flip a switch and shut down the other guys' momentum.

Against the Ravens on Monday night, flipping a switch meant calming down and just running the offense that prior to the trifecta of errors was pretty much moving up and down the field at will - and that is important to remember going forward. Without tight end Rob Gronkoswki, the Patriots' offense is forced into a dynamism that puts more players in a position to make more plays.

Two plays come to mind immediately that sets the template. The first was an intermediate crosser that James White, who was split wide and isolated on a linebacker, took for 66 yards right up the seam. Not only is that a release route that Gronkowski has run a thousand times - and that tight end Martellus Bennett ran to perfection in the game as well - but because the big man is not on the field, the free safety reduced down into the box to double the slot and Brady got White the ball on an angle that helped him run right past him...

...but on the play that turned out to be the gamer, a wide open Chris Hogan glided underneath a perfect Brady bomb at midfield and then engaged the thrusters, easily outracing a stunned Ravens' secondary to break the spell that the Patriots had induced on themselves in the blink of an eye, 79 yards up the seam as Hogan split the safeties, both biting on the play action and causing a full ten yards of separation.

Why did the play action have such a devastating impact? The Patriots' commitment to the running game has been a refreshing development since the start of the season, a very viable protection plan initially designed to shield the wet-behind-the-ears quarterbacking tandem of third-year clipboard holder Jimmy Garoppolo and rookie Jacoby Brissett during Brady's four-game suspension.

But a curious thing happened along the way. The running game was so successful - 135 yards per game worth of successful, even given that the Patriots' opponents knew the run was coming - that head ball coach Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels realized that they had a serious weapon on their hands and kept making it an integral part of the game plan for every game since.

And even though Brady returned in week five and has been playing at an All Pro level, it has been the threat of a running game that has helped along the way, the play action freezing linebackers and safeties alike, producing big plays and demoralizing opposing defenses - and the effect the running game has had on New England's offensive line can be directly attributed to this phenomenon...

...as the line has allowed just one Brady sack in the last three games, and just twelve sacks total in the nine games he has started - a far cry from the absurd 42 times that the Greatest of All Time was sacked last season - that sack coming on one of Baltimore's 12 blitz's. For the game, the Ravens were able to only pressure Brady on 15 of his 39 dropbacks, and if one were to eliminate pressure off the blitz, it means that in standard pass rush instances, Brady was pressured just three times.

After Hogans' touchdown gave the Patriots a little breathing room with a ten-point lead, the defense held the Ravens to a field goal the rest of the way, and Blount did what Blount does, hammering out crucial yardage in the four-minute offense to close out games, a reality not lost on McDaniels.

"We feel like it is our (the offense's) responsibility to finish the game on offense with the ball by getting as many first downs as we need to get." McDaniels said in a conference call on Tuesday, adding, "We always talk about trying to be a tough football team, and I think there's no better measure of your toughness on offense that you ability to run the ball when the other team knows you're going to run it."

That toughness was front and center on the Patriots' final possession, as Blount picked up 18 of his 72 yards on four bruising carries, running over linebackers and safeties with collisions clearly audible above the din of the cheering crowd - encapsulating the resolve of a team that overcame a series of misfortune that would have buried just about any other team, but was taken as a challenge to the Patriots, who never back down from one.

Patriots' Dismantling Of Bengals An Omen Of Things To Come

Coming into Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots' All-World tight end Rob Gronkowski had only six catches for 120 yards on the season. 

He eclipsed both numbers.

Gronkowski caught seven balls for 162 yards and a touchdown, owning the seam and frustrating the Bengals defense into submission, while quarterback Tom Brady registered a nearly perfect performance as the Patriots pulled away from Cincinnati in the second half enroute to a 35-17 victory in Brady's homecoming game at Gillette Stadium.

But the talisman for the second half, come-from-behind juggernaut came courtesy of the New England defense.

Midway through the third quarter and looking sluggish in allowing the Cincinnati Bengals a 14-10 advantage, The Patriots' defense had the Bengals backed up at their own eight yard line when terminally underappreciated middle linebacker Dont'a Hightower broke through the Bengals pass protection and gave Bengals' quarterback Andy Dalton the football equivalent of a high school swirly...

...spinning Dalton to the turf in the end zone with pure brute strength and registering his second safety in as many weeks to get the Patriots within two points.

Brady and Gronkowski took over the game from there.

New England scored on four consecutive possessions after Hightower's defensive spark, Brady throwing two of his three touchdown passes and leading a 24-3 onslaught that buried the Bengals, turning a tight game into a laugher, the Bengals defenders becoming so frustrated at the turn of events that they took to their typical antics of pushing and shoving and trying to goad the Patriots into retaliation...

...which did happen, but by the time the game regressed into a schoolyard shoving match, the outcome had all but been decided.

Brady was nearly flawless, going 29 of 35 for 376 yards, his only misses in the second half being throwaways toward wide receiver Julian Edelman while escaping pressure in the right flat and a purposeful overthrow of Gronkowski on a fade route in the left corner of the end zone - otherwise, Brady's arm was lethal to a besieged Cincinnati secondary that had no answer for Gronkowski, who had a career day in yardage.

Gronkowski caught five of his seven balls in that second half surge, while fellow monstrous tight end Martellus Bennett gathered in all five of his targets in the same time frame. In fact, the Patriots passing game went through the tight ends and running back for the second week in a row, with passing back James White picking up 47 yards on eight carries and power back LeGarrette Blount chipping in with tow receptions for 20 yards.

Overall, a full seventy percent of Brady's throws went towards either a tight end or a back, and three-quarters of his completions as the Patriots went solely 12 personnel for half of the game. On most other teams, numbers like that would be unheard of, but it's been standard brand in Foxborough since opening night - and the disparity in contribution between wide receivers and the backs and tight ends is only going to get wider.

Because while Bennett and White have been contributors since day one, Gronkowski has had a role in the passing game in just the last two contests and setting a personal pace that will see him right around 80 receptions and a ridiculous 1700 yards for the season despite missing the first two games of the season and being limited to a blocking role in two others.

Bennett, who seems to be just fine playing Robin to Gronkowski's Batman, is on pace for 70 catches and nearly 1000 yards, and White, who has earned a role in the offense while "filling in" for passing back Dion Lewis, is on pace for 65 receptions and almost 700 yards - between just those three players, the trio is on pace to deliver 215 catches and 3400 yards...

...while all of the wide receivers combined are on pace to account for "just" 160 catches and 2075 yards, which is a gap of 70% to 30% in favor of the backs and tight ends, and that doesn't even take into consideration that Lewis is due back this week and will add significantly to that total - and even if he and White split carries instead of the offense going 22 personnel, the gap remains.

Does this mean that the Patriots are devaluing the wide receiver position in favor of heavier sets?

If so, it wouldn't really be that much of a surprise, given that Edelman is the only one of the receivers that could be considered prolific from past experience, but even he may take a seat in favor of the taller and faster Chris Hogan, who owns a premium of 21.2 yards per reception as Brady's designated deep threat, and who is clearly ahead of Danny Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell on the depth chart.

This is not to say that the receivers aren't an integral part of the offensive skill set, just that they have been passed in overall dynamicism and, perhaps more importantly, in versatility. That being said and true, a look at the past two contests with Brady back from suspension reveals a trend emerging.

The Patriots have been in 12 personnel - for the uninitiated, that's one running back and two tight ends - a little more than half of the offensive snaps, meaning that there has been room for only two receivers in the set on more than half of the snaps, and when Lewis returns, there is every possibility that head ball coach Bill Belichick and his number one, Josh McDaniels, will integrate the 22 personnel package...

...having Lewis and White in together on some packages and either Lewis or White together with Blount in others, and an increase of two tight end packages.  This will force defenses to defend differently than they normally would, with both Gronkowski and Bennett receiving the majority of the attention from the secondary, while Lewis and White will have linebackers focused on them.

All the while, keep in mind, having to defend against the run, as Blount and Lewis are effective runners and White has shown some spark as well.

The Patriots are just now scratching the surface of what their offense can be, and it's frightening - not just in how they will be able to move up and down the field at will, but how they can control the clock and limit possessions for their opposition.

The main beneficiaries of this will be the defense, which is second in the NFL in points allowed at 15.2, and which has allowed just one three hundred yard passing performance in six games, that to Miami who mounted a serious comeback in week 2 with New England in a two-deep zone shell to prevent the big play - essentially a "prevent" defense.

Otherwise, New England's pass defense is yielding just 228 yards per game through the air, which would make them a top 10 unit, despite the criticism from media and fans that they give up too many yards down the field and can't get off the field on third down - and Sunday's win over Cincinnati is an encapsulation of their success.

Against the Bengals, the Patriots defense allowed only five third down conversions in twelve attempts, allowed just 7.2 yards per pass attempt and 3.8 yards per rush, collected two sacks, had an epic goal line stand and scored a safety for the second game in a row.

It's complementary football at it's finest, and the Patriots are about to get stronger and more dangerous on offense.

Somehow, it doesn't seem fair - but if the actions of the National Football League in the "DeflateGate" matter against Tom Brady and the Patriots tell us anything, it's that fair is in the eye of the beholder, and that Patriots' fans see this as turnabout being fair play.

The Patriots' 53 - Rough And Tumble Group Favors Substance Over Style

Defensive end Chris Long (95) and linebacker Dont'a Hightower (54) epitomize the relentless and tough Patriots' defense

The Patriots have chosen substance over style.

With the release of multiple wide receivers, including "certain" cap lock Keshawn Martin, the New England Patriots have announced to the football world the very thing that we've been projecting since General Manager and head ball coach Bill Belichick traded for tight end Martellus Bennett: Juggernaut.

Eschewing the stylish and casual fan-favorited finesse offense in which the Patriots would move the ball down the field utilizing small, quick wide receivers and passing backs and largely dismissing the power game that is the essence of professional football, Belichick has assembled an offense that will be nearly as old school as most folks can remember....

...or at least back to the mid-1970's, when the Patriots took what they wanted by force.  Back then, the running game was the focus of the offense and the passing game was in a transition from being just an aesthetic novelty to a way for innovative coaches to dominate the game.

Now, many are perplexed and even upset that the Patriots kept just four wide receivers on the roster, and are following the Boston media's supposition that Belichick cut the unit down to bare bones in order to seek "younger" wide outs, but this simply isn't true. 

Oh sure, if Belichick came across a good deal to supplement his pass catching corps, he would make a move if the price was right, but to solely leave himself with talent in the skill positions simply to go shopping for a receiver is akin to clearing out your cupboards of good food in hopes that someone stops by with better products to restock you.

Belichick doesn't work like that - instead, he did keep his top 10 pass catchers on the roster, it's just that he doesn't limit his roster by differentiating between units, and that there is so much talent outside of the wide receiver corps that the tight ends and running backs sucked some of those outside depth slots away from them.

So, instead of a diverse group of smallish wideouts with blazing speed, Belichick has collected a stable of matchup nightmares that, combined, open up his entire playbook, no matter the down and distance, no matter the defensive personnel and no matter the personnel that he has on the field at the same instant.

For example, the tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett are so complete for the position that they provide Belichick with both two large pass catching options in the pass pattern, but also two elite run blockers on the edge.  James White and D.J. Foster provide him with two wheel backs who are just as adept at picking up the blitz in pass protection as they are running patterns in the flat.

So what's left are two quick, shifty slot-sized receivers, an experienced possession guy and a developmental rookie with a ton of upside - there are no burners with world-class speed, just a collection of hands that do just about everything well, and who Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels can position anywhere in their concept-based offense, exploiting the defense's deficiencies.

The running game, which many seem to feel has been devalued is indeed thin where power backs are concerned, has been left entirely to pretty much what they had to work with last season, and that has to be weighing heavily on Patriots' nation, as are the question marks surrounding the offensive line.

Quarterbacks - 2

Jimmy Garoppolo
Jacoby Brissett


Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 18 months, you knew the Quarterback depth chart was going to look similar to this.  Certain Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady will be eligible to return to the team after serving a four-game suspension, but don't expect either of these guys to hit the bread lines when he does...

...that is, unless a quarterback needy team makes Belichick an offer he can't refuse at the trade deadline for Garoppolo - and that offer would have to be a second-rounder, at minimum.

Many are falling off of the Garoppolo bandwagon after what they deemed as an uneventful and mediocre preseason, but what has to be remembered is that - just like with every other team in the league - the Patriots ran their offense without having a game plan in place, rather, they wanted to put Garoppolo in a position to see how he handled certain tasks.

It doesn't always make for the best football and, certainly, the fan comments bear that out, but it gave Garoppolo and the coaching staff invaluable film to go back and study without giving up too much of his current skill set to upcoming opponents.

Running Backs - 5

LeGarrette Blount
James White
D.J. Foster
Brandon Bolden
James Develin

The structure of the backfield isn't any different than what it was last season, except that rookie D.J. Foster is, in essence, Dion Lewis. 

Now, this is not to say that Foster is the same type of player, just that he is the only player making his first appearance and is a relative unknown ready to burst onto the scene in a similar manner that Lewis did last season.  As most people are aware, Foster switched from being a running back at Arizona to being a wide receiver as his coaches desperately attempted to find his niche in the offense, and the result was a Patriots-like diversity.

LeGarrette Blount

New England's passing backs are required to be able to line up anywhere in the formation, run precise route and encompass the entire route tree - such as it is in this offense - and to be able to pick up the blitz in pass protection.  If you can't do those three things, you will not be able to contribute to this offense - but Foster and third-year man James White are excellent at all three.

The power back duties in Belichick's versions of the Erhardt-Perkins offense combine elements of the passing back duties along with the ability to grind out tough yards on the ground in the running game, and despite grumblings to the contrary, Blount is such an entity, and according to advanced statistics, he has been one of the best in recent years despite not putting up fantasy numbers.

To supplement Blount, special teams' ace Brandon Bolden returns, and is good for a couple of carries per game, and also has value in the passing game, and Belichick signed former Tennessee Titans' second round selection Bishop Sankey to the practice squad.  Sankey is like-sized with White and is best suited as a passing back, but has also proven the ability to run between the tackles, though the Titans' rarely used him in that capacity.

Tight Ends - 4

Rob Gronkowski
Martellus Bennett
A. J. Derby
Clay Harbor

This is the key to the entire offense.

The Patriots have four very good to excellent tight ends, the top two options on the depth chart at elite status among their peers, with Harbor a crafty move option who is more an hback, and Derby has flashed athleticism and great hands all through preseason.

There is no reason the Patriots should have any less than two tight ends on the field at the same time, given the mix of pass catching, work after the catch and inline blocking skill - And when one considers that, it makes the lack of depth in the wide receiver corps make a little more sense.

The abilities that Gronkowski and Bennett bring to the field means that the 12, 13, 22 and 23 personnel packages can be incorporated as standard formations in the Patriots' offense, regardless of down or distance - and in the latter two, with two backs and either two or three tight ends, and all able to line up anywhere in the formation, it puts a lot of stress on the defense to identify who is running what route and who is going to cover whom.

As we know, the Patriots' tight ends have enough speed to leave linebackers in the dust and the requisite bulk and nasty demeanor to trample defensive backs, requiring most defensive coordinators to double at least one of them, leaving someone open in the pattern.

It's a recipe for success that will leave defenses spent, and make the running game that much more effective in clock-killing mode, truly grasping the tenets of the Erhardt-Perkins scheme, "Pass to score, run to win."

Receivers - 5

Julian Edelman
Chris Hogan
Danny Amendola
Malcolm Mitchell
Matt Slater

To say that a receiving unit has been devalued in an offense that features the concept-based philosophy would be absurd - at least it would be absurd unless the pass catching talent among the tight ends and backs numbered so many and was so eclectic in their structure that they actually represented three of the top four receiving options.

That's what defenses opposing the Patriots are staring down the barrel at, and it proposes a dose of reality for New England Patriots' fans.

With tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett being who they are, rarely if ever would one imagine they will be taken off the field, and if offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels does as expected and plays at least one running back in each formation, that leaves just two "skill position" slots open for receivers.

Edelman and Hogan are the top options among the corps, leaving Amendola and Mitchell as dangerous depth options behind them.

Offensive Linemen - 9

Nate Solder (LT)
Marcus Cannon (RT)
Joe Thuney (LG)
David Andrews (C)
Jonathan Cooper (RG)
Ted Karras (G)
Shaq Mason (G)
Cameron Fleming (T)
LaAdrian Waddle (T)

The fact that Cooper made the 53 and was not waived with injury consideration makes him the favorite to start at right guard in the season opener, despite having zero reps in the preseason.

And, really, right guard is the only position on the line that isn't set with camp breaking.  Cooper battled a plantar issue throughout camp, while incumbent guard Mason broke his hand against Chicago in the second preseason game.  That left the position to be manned by the undersized-but-wily Kline (who has since been traded away, then not) and the stiff rookie Karras, so either Cooper or Mason would be a step up in talent.

Left guard Joe Thuney is drawing comparisons to a young Logan Mankins with his sound technique and nasty trench fighting while Andrews continues to be the feel-good story that won't go away - so with the interior seemingly buttoned up except the question at right guard, the conversation deflects to play of the tackles.

Sebastian Vollmer is gone for the time being - possibly for good as age and wear and tear on his body is starting to catch up with him - so the onus has fallen to Cannon, who has had a very nice camp and preseason.  Cannon caught a lot of grief last season as the main contributor to the beatings that Brady took, but the fact of the matter was that he was limited with a painful toe injury that forced him from covering Solder's spot on the left, and even made slide stepping on the right a challenge.

But he seems to be fully recovered and has mirrored opposing defensive ends well, not giving up the bull rush and showing the ability to push the more aggressive ends around the pocket.

If there is a question mark, it is with Solder, who appears a step slow against speed rushers and came up lame with what appeared to be a hamstring in the final preseason game.  If he can't go, Waddle will get the call, as he is experienced on the blind side, coming from pass crazy Texas A&M via the Detroit Lions.

*******************************************

These are exciting times for the New England Patriots' defense.

Last season, it was the defense that carried the team to the AFC Championship game, ranking ninth in total defense among 32 NFL teams, holding their opposition to under 300 yards of total offense nine different times, finishing the season second in sacks (behind only the Broncos), first in sack yardage, and were in the top ten in interceptions and forced fumbles.

All of this despite the fact that the Patriots' offense had the worst time of possession on offense in the league down the stretch, subsequently leaving opposing offense with the best drive starting positions in the league.

That shouldn't be an issue this time around, as the offense is - at least on paper - a literal juggernaut that should trample opposing defenses and do to them what happened to the Patriots' defense last season - but even if it doesn't, the defenders of Foxborough have gotten bigger, stronger, faster and smarter in the offseason, not to mention far deeper, and are poised for an epic run unseen in these parts in over a decade.

Consider: A front seven that had almost no depth at all last season is now perhaps the deepest in the league, spurred on by Belichick plucking "washed up" free agent Chis Long from the Rams, and "bust" DE/LB Shea McClellin from the Bears, then trading a third-day draft pick to Cleveland for misused athletic freak Barkevious Mingo - former first round selections, all...

...then fortifying the defensive backfield by drafting Alabama's Cyrus Jones in the second round and trading a fourth round pick to Philadelphia for their second round corner selection last season in Utah's Eric "Death" Rowe.

Barkevious Mingo

So now, instead of worrying if now-retired weakside linebacker Jerod Mayo was going to survive the season without going on IR with limited depth to replace him, the Patriots are stocked full of second level talent.  Now, instead of wondering how in the world Belichick was going to shore up the weakside edge so that teams didn't run for six yards per carry, he got rid of no-edge-setting Chandler Jones and replaced him with Jabaal Sheard and backed him up with Trey Flowers.

Now, instead of worrying that greybeard Rob Ninkovich was playing too many snaps and was going to be injured, the team has Long and McClellin to take over some of that workload - and good thing, too, as Ninkovich finds himself injured and suspended for the first four games of the season, so the depth is already paying dividends.

Defensive Line - 7

Chris Long (DE)
Malcom Brown (NT)
Alan Branch (DT)
Anthony Johnson (DT)
Vincent Valentine (DT/NT)
Jabaal Sheard (DE)
Trey Flowers (DE)

There may not be a younger interior defensive line in the NFL, nor one with such an eclectic skill set.

Brown is a nose tackle, plain and simple.  He takes on the double teams so that the players on the second level can step into the voided gap left by the guard and disrupt plays before they have a chance to get started.  Valentine has nose tackle size and is virtually impossible to twist and drive from his spot, as was evidenced in the preseason, but he also has some raw pass rushing skill and has worked at the three-tech...

Trey Flowers

...which is where Branch and Johnson will operate from.  Branch is a huge specimen for a rush tackle, but that's not all he is, as he proved to be very effective against the run down the stretch, and particularly in the post-season.

Johnson has the opportunity to become what Dominique Easley could not.  They are like-sized, but Johnson is no Easley in terms of sheer athleticism.  What Johnson does have going for him is that he is relentless and quick - perhaps a little too quick in college where he suffered numerous bouts of encroachment - and has experience from the 0, 1 and 3 tech spots.

The talent at defensive end is so good that it's almost unfair.

With Ninkovich Suspended for the first four games, Chris Long will continue his impressive work from preseason manning the strong side, where he proved to be every bit the first round draft pick he was early in his career with the Rams.  Sheard's health is a bit of a mystery, but when fully healthy he is a growing force on the weak side - and in his stead, second-year man Trey Flowers showed more than enough skill to fill in ably.

It doesn't hurt the ends to have names like Collins and Mingo backing them up on the second level, nor does it hurt that both Mingo and Shea McClellin can reduce down, put their hand in the dirt and be productive.

Linebackers - 6

Dont'a Hightower
Jamie Collins
Barkevious Mingo
Shea McClellin
Jonathan Freeny
Elandon Roberts

The largest and deepest linebacking corps in Belichick's tenure could also be the best.

Hightower and Collins are givens as starters, while the call could go to either McClellin or Mingo as the third in a standard 4-3 front.  Mingo changed the landscape on the second level with his performance in the last preseason game, when Belichick had him lineup in both outside spots to test his mettle on the edges and then in the middle to get an idea of his range...

McClellin

...which is ridiculous, as the Cleveland Browns' castoff chased the ball all over the field - and by the time he was done for the evening, he had given rise to the notion that, for the first time in four seasons, the Patriots actually had the talent-in-numbers to run a base 4-3, with Collins and Mingo - freak athletes, both - flanking the warrior middle backer Hightower.

Freeny and Roberts are inside depth and Roberts earned his niche on special teams as well.

Cornerbacks - 6

Malcolm Butler
Logan Ryan
Cyrus Jones
Eric Rowe
Justin Coleman
Jonathan Jones

Is Rowe a corner or a safety?  Lord knows, Belichick likes his hybrids and Rowe is Devin McCourty like in that he has the size and ball skills to match up with receivers on the outside, while having the speed and instincts to play centerfield in the Patriots' Big Nickle alignment - but with the safety positions ably manned, let's call him a corner.

Solid group of corners, young fire-pissers who like getting up in the craw of the opposing receiver.

Butler has ascended over his claim to fame to become what appears to be a perennial Pro Bowl cover guy, and Ryan has made the most of his extended reps last season to become a more-than-adequate partner in crime, while Coleman draws the ire of many-a-receiver with his in-your-face press style.

Cyrus Jones is just as aggressive, if not more so, and did some good things in the secondary, but his calling card this early in his career is already getting inside the heads of the opposing receivers and showing instincts of a much more experienced corner - yeah, he got burned a couple of times in the preseason, but when he becomes that experienced corner, those won't happen.

Safeties - 6

Devin McCourty
Patrick Chung
Duron Harmon
Jordan Richards
Nate Ebner
Brandon King

Interesting twist with the defensive structure - what with the gain in skill and depth in the linebacking corps - has this most talented safety corps even more dangerous than they were last season, when they lead the Patriots' defense to the ninth-best ranking in the league.

Much of that was due to the 4-2-5 Big Nickle alignment wherein Chung would reduce down into the box, where he would essentially become a weakside linebacker and key on the running backs, and wherein McCourty would align as a double slot and help out the corners in press coverage - all the while, Harmon would patrol the north forty like a junkyard dog, showing a ridiculous range, even for a true centerfielder.

But with Mingo now onboard and with all of the qualities desired in a weakside linebacker, is there even a need for the Big Nickle any longer?

The answer to that is a resounding "yes", as the defense is loaded with so many hybrid players that with three safeties on the field, neither the opposing quarterback nor center will be able to easily detect where the pressure will be coming from in the pass rush, not will they be able to identify coverages, leading to good things for the Patriots' aggressive corners.

The deal just made for Eric Rowe from the Eagles could be a leverage move to extend Harmon, as Rowe possesses an identical physical makeup and skill set...



Specialists - 3

Stephen Gostkowski (K)
Ryan Allen (P)
Joe Cardona (LS)

Gostkowski enters this season as the most accurate kicker in NFL history, though he's had a few lapses in the past 8 months, missing a vital extra point in last January's AFC Title game, then blowing a couple of field goal attempts this preseason.

Allen is solid, if unspectacular, with a penchant for pinning teams inside their own 10 yard line.  Belichick prefers left footed kickers because the spin on the ball is - as you might guess - exactly the opposite as it is for right footed kickers, which make up the majority of punters in the NFL.

Cardona was transferred to the Naval Reserves this summer so he could pursue his NFL career, and that's the only word you will hear out of him - as with any lineman, and especially for centers, the less you hear, the better the job he's doing...